Peppy, optimistic, sweet, are just some words to describe Erin Drumm, a NH junior who passed away suddenly in December after a short battle with leukemia.
In many clubs and activities both inside and outside of school, Drumm had the opportunity to meet and interact with a large number of people. Among her interests, Drumm loved art, drama, chorus, agriculture, swim team, lacrosse, and Girl Scouts.
Choral teacher Mrs. Angie Jones interacted closely with Drumm over the last three years.
Jones described her a being a creative student who was a good writer as well. She also recalls that Drumm was an avid reader. “She loved to sing whether it was in chorus or this year she wasn’t in chorus so she could do drama class and she felt so bad about it. And I still think of her on her rollerskates, how much fun she had with that,” said Jones. The chorus teacher also added that Drumm had a “love of animals, love of people, and that she was kind, gentle, generous, and caring.”
Drumm’s peers also remember her fondly. “Erin was always the girl who I knew from swimming. We swam for nine years together, in club and in high school. She always had this positive attitude no matter what we were doing,” said senior Rachel Beichler. “She always had a good time and she always brought something to the table and made everything fun and interesting.”
Freshman Kate Anderson recalls that Drumm was probably her first friend on the swim team and that “she tried to make everyday the best day possible for me.”
Those who knew Drumm would agree and claim that she was nice to everyone. Freshman Emily Catrambone described her as being “ a really, really nice girl who made me feel welcome in this school because I was nervous about being on the swim team and nervous about coming into high school and she wanted me to feel really welcome.”
Erin has been described by people who knew her as someone who always had an optimistic attitude towards every challenge she came across. Beichler stated that “She’s one of the only people who I knew that wanted to swim in the 100 butterfly. And even in our last swim meet when her back was hurting she still said that she had to swim it because it was her favorite event.”
Freshman Lizzy Catrambone said, “Everyone got together and supported each other and her family. Also the instagram and twitter posts that went out were amazing.”
“She was a nice and kind person and always talked to me when no one talked to me,” said junior foreign exchange student Natalie Sauter.
Aside from swimming, Drumm was heavily involved in the fall musicals since she had such a love for singing, dancing, and acting. Junior and drama student Jill Nooney said, “Erin was a really close friend of mine and we had lacrosse freshman year and that’s how I met her. I became friends with her during Footloose when we were waitresses with Kyle. I was always with her backstage with her, and really knew her well.”
Nooney recalled how much Erin loved the“Phantom of the Opera”, the way she loved turtles, and the way she always told jokes and everything. “I just will never forget how much she wanted to be Christine Dia.”
Senior Scarlet Dare also said, “I will always remember how into drama and into theatre she was, like in drama 2 I was the master tutor in that class and she was always so into everything and did her all for every scene she did.”
Senior Maria Auth then stated. “Erin was the kind of person to always make you smile even when things were hard. Like if we were losing a game she would make up some joke or do an animal noise to break the tension. She was the spark of energy that our team is really going to miss this year. She left such a huge impact on our team, not just me, and now we are always going to have someone to fight for. I can honestly say losing a friend like Erin was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through. It still doesn’t feel real to me that someone I was cracking jokes with in the hallway just a couple weeks ago is now gone from my life. I’m just glad we all recognized and came together to celebrate how amazing she really was. I never realized how much she impacted my life and now she’s gone. I would do absolutely anything to get her back.”
“Erin was the sunshine on the cloudiest day. She was the silence filler, with her crazy laugh. She was my first ‘hello’ in the hallway every day. She was an inspiration to me, I only wish that one day I can be as selfless and as kind as her, ” said senior Hillary Young. Young was on the swim team with Erin and started a GoFundMe page for the Drumm family.
The loss of Drumm left the NH community in shock, however, drama teacher Mrs. Nancy Green said, “It was very inspirational to see our school and community come together and I think that was a reflection of the kind of life that Erin lived and the people she touched in her time here. So many people came together and I think that’s also a testament to our community and to what sort of place North Harford is…not everybody has that.”
The NH community continued to rally around the Drumm family, including Jones’ choir students who sang at Erin’s funeral mass. The choir sang some of Erin’s favorite songs for twenty minutes and Jones said she believed that it “was healing to people.”
“I was proud of my singers for being able to come and sing…they came that morning and learned the music two hours before the funeral. Other than True light and Climb Every Mountain they were all new pieces. They gave up their time to honor their friend in such a special way,” said Jones.
Auth stated “I think that when everybody found out about it they realized what kind of impact Erin had on everyone’s lives. It sounds cliche but you don’t realize it until she’s gone. I think it was nice to see everyone come together at such a rough time.”