It Was Not Quite A Mission From God, But We Had To Raise Some Money Somehow by Rainer Klauss Class of '64 We weren't the Blues Brothers, but in order to help finance our trip to the Orange Bowl Parade on January 1, 1964, the Lee High Band cut a record in 1963. I have no idea about how many copies were sold. Perhaps Roger or Sylvia Becks, wherever they are could shed some light on that, since their father was the main driving force behind our journey to Miami. (Some of us did get a "Senior Trip" that year we just had to sell thousands of donuts, records and whatnots to get it.) As far as I remember, the recording was done in the band room by a local outfit, so we're not talking about a state-of-the-art sonic product here. It is completely listenable, though, and if you were a member of the band, it is an enjoyable trip down memory lane an actual "record" of certain moments of our lives. There are few if any solos on the tunes, so the stars of the band like Mike Acree, Randy Roman, and Roger Becks didn't get a chance to shine. What one hears is the whole band, all of us doing our best to entertain and inspire. Along that line, Don Cornelius and Bob Ramsey told me several times how instrumental we were in several football victories. It looked to me like Billy Byrom ran harder and faster every time we played "Rebel Rouser." (For obvious reasons, we didn't play that song against Butler, but that didn't help us either time we faced them in 1963. November 1, 20-7; City Championship, November 15, 21-6.) Anyway, to get to the point: I've kept my copy of the record these 39 years, through all the moves and garage sales. (Actually, I have two copies; my wife brought one to the marriage as part of her dowry.) Recently, I bought some software that allows me to convert all my records to CDs, and the Orange Bowl record was one of the first I transferred. I would like to let the visitors to this great website know that I would be happy to send any of them a copy of the disc. All I ask is $5.00 (that's for the CD, the mailer, and the postage). I'll throw in my autograph for nothing. So, friends, fellow band members, and long-lost groupies, let me know if you want to recapture those moments. You won't see this offer on late-night TV or e-Bay. To refresh your memories, here are the contents of the record. Side one: Star Spangled Banner, Manhattan Beach, Mexican Overture, High Barbary, Black Knight, American Red Cross. Side Two: Dixie, Alabama Jubilee, Alabamy Bound, Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer, A Swinging Safari, Darktown Strutters Ball, Rebel Rouser (Mr. Foley called it "Rabble Rouser"), Washington and Lee Swing, Tamerlane. With the record, if you played "Dixie" backwards on the turntable, you heard George Wallace yell over and over again : "Lurleen, Lee High School is my favorite high school not Robert E. Lee." Unfortunately, that doesn't carry over to the CD. Rainer Klauss, Class of 1964 rglklauss@mindspring.com Rainer Klauss 1895 Victorian Court Snellville, GA 30078 (Editor's Note: You can order the CD directly from Rainer now, or look for it in the Souvenir Shop where you will also find items like copies of reunion photos, the 1964, 1965, and 1966 yearbooks, the 1990, 1995, and 2000 reunion videos, and the Top Hats of Dixie CD, which are being sold to help support the web site ***blatant advertisement***. Let's also use this idea to solicit inputs for next week's Traveller from those of you out there who remember anything associated with the Orange Bowl trip, The Orange Bowl Capers, or the record and wish to share those memories with us.) _______________________________________________________ July 20th Mini-Reunion Plans Are Coming Together This week we should be getting some plans formalized, at least where and when we will be meeting. Again, this is going to be an informal reunion, not the sit down dinner and dance with a band function (unless some of our classmates bring their own instruments and still know how to use them). Judy "Fedrowisch" Kincaid, Class of '66, njkincaid@hotmail.com has been instrumental in rallying the classmates in Huntsville to help find accomidations for the event. She reports: At the monthly Mullins Breakfast Get-Together arrangements were made to reserve the "Mullins" Room for the evening festivities on July 20th. The room will seat 40 comfortably - 50 if we scoot close together. (Any overflow can be seated in the next room while dining.) There is no charge for the room and everyone can order whatever they want off the menu. Currently there are 34 individuals signed up to attend - including two "mystery" guests. So hurry and sign up to insure a good seat!!!! All pavilions in the area are already booked up, so we need to pray for nice weather for our afternoon visitation. We're planning on getting together at Monte Sano State Park. More details later. Classmates attending this planning session were: Joe Barran; Dwight Jones; Elbert Balch and wife Opie; Judy "Scarborough" Milner; Lynn "Bozeman" Van Pelt; Bob Crump; and me and my hubby Nelson. Beverly "Taylor" Swaim & hubby Ronny and Dwight Clark also stopped by. Here is the list of Classmates who have expressed an interest in coming to the Mini-Reunion and Linda Taylor Joy Rubins Morris Skip Cook ? Mystery Guest from the Class of '64 Wayne Deason ? Mystery Guest from Etowah, NC Rainer & Gudrun Klauss Judy Scarborough Milner Bob & Sandy Cochran Jim Bannister George Lehman Williams Beverly Taylor Swaim (Class of '66) Ronny Swaim Dwight & Pat Jones Danny & Jeanne (Clutts) Hill Elbert & Opie Balch Ed ('65) & Barbara Wilkerson ('64) Donnelly Joe& Darlene Barran Tommy Towery (Sorry, Sue is working that weekend) Mike & Jan Vaughn Debbie Christiansen Thompson Terry 'Moses' Preston & Jan Costin Judy "Fedrowisch" & Nelson Kincaid We've had requests for classmates to bring pictures, cards, and other items from our Lee Days! I will try to bring a digital scanner and see if we can capture some of those for use on the website. The other requests seem to center around lots of booze and good times, both of which are possible. We do expect one special guest. We got the following registration form submitted: Number to attend 1 Time attending Both Names of Attendees BRITNEY SPEARS Graduation Years Another Year Comments Anything, as long as I get to meet that "Lehman Express Guy". Place living CALIFORNIA Place staying Hotel/Motel We've developed a planning form to gather information about those who might be planning to attend this get together. It is for planning purposes just to get some idea of a head count. This is not binding in any way, but if you think that you might want to attend, then please fill this out and let us know. We need to hear from those of you who live in Huntsville and surrounding areas too. We are thinking of getting a room somewhere and need an approximate number to work with. Click on the button below to go to the form page, fill in the information, and then click on the send button at the bottom of the page. Thanks. ______________________________________________________ |
From Our Mailbox Subject: Fwd: Lewis-Tyson Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 18:57:08 -0500 From: "Jim Bannister" <jbann@hotmail.com> Tommy, You wrote in your article that you & Bob couldn't get fight tickets.... These are a little late but it's the thought that counts..... Jim Bannister Class of' '66 ______________________________ Subject: Help Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 07:42:17 From: Jennifer Bannecke <jbannecke@yahoo.com> Tommy, I'm trying to find a form or outline to start a family tree. Just a simple form that I can get started with before I start the hard research. Can you help? Thanks, Jennifer (Editor's Note: There are many programs out there, one such one can be downloaded free from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/sfeature/wind ows.html I have a lot of genealogy stuff on my computer and encourage everyone to document the information they have on their own families.) _____________________________________ Subject: Tony Thompson Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 15:48:06 -0500 From: "Massey, Charlotte" <cmassey@ci.huntsville.al.us> Tommy, check out today's edition of the Huntsville Times. Very good article on Tony Thompson with color photograph. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the Lee High Website. Charlotte Massey Class of '64 (Editor's Note: I didn't see the article, but if any of you did and could scan it and send it to me I'll publish it for the rest of the class.) ____________________________________ Subject: The Website Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:13:16 -0400 From: Julius.Smoak@sba.gov None of the other schools that I attended do anything like this. I can not tell you how much I look forward to the update each week and hearing from Generals that I knew and even those that I did not know. Thanks again, Tommy, for all the hard work in maintaining this website and thanks to all the contributors and everyone who writes in. It brings back some very good memories of Lee and Huntsville and Alabama. While I would like to attend the mini-reunion, I doubt that I will get the chance. However, I wish everyone who does attend a very good time and I will be thinking about you and wishing I was there. Chip Smoak Class of '66 ______________________________________ Subject: Jim McBride Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 20:18:13 EDT From: GURGANUS9@aol.com I enjoyed the latest article on Jim McBride. In the "it's a small world category", my son has lived in Nashville for about eleven years. For ten of those years, he worked for Gibson Guitar. He met Jim on several occasions at various functions, but did not know that his old mom and Jim graduated from the same high school. My son now builds guitars for a company called Crafters of Tennessee. They specialize in steel guitars and mandolins. Someone this week mentioned the large area that Lee students came from in Huntsville. I am the oldest of eight children. We lived in the same house in Huntsville, near Pulaski Pike & Mastin Lake, but the school districts were realigned so many times that the eight of us graduated from three different high schools! Pretty strange!! I really enjoy the sight. Keep up the good work. Nancy Corl Gurganus Class of '66 ____________________________ |
Est. March 31, 2000 25,440 Previous Hits July 1, 2002 Editor:Tommy Towery http://www.leealumni.com Class of 1964 Page Hits This Issue e-mail ttowery@memphis.edu Staff Writers : Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly , Joy Rubins Morris ,Terry "Moses" Preston Collins Wynn Staff Photographers: Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 |
Est. March 31, 2000 25,440 Previous Hits July 1, 2002 Editor:Tommy Towery http://www.leealumni.com Class of 1964 Page Hits This Issue e-mail ttowery@memphis.edu Staff Writers : Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly , Joy Rubins Morris ,Terry "Moses" Preston Collins Wynn Staff Photographers: Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 |
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Still Crazy After All These Years |
From Our Mailbox Subject: Fwd: Lewis-Tyson Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 18:57:08 -0500 From: "Jim Bannister" <jbann@hotmail.com> Tommy, You wrote in your article that you & Bob couldn't get fight tickets.... These are a little late but it's the thought that counts..... Jim Bannister Class of' '66 ______________________________ Subject: Help Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 07:42:17 From: Jennifer Bannecke <jbannecke@yahoo.com> Tommy, I'm trying to find a form or outline to start a family tree. Just a simple form that I can get started with before I start the hard research. Can you help? Thanks, Jennifer (Editor's Note: There are many programs out there, one such one can be downloaded free from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/sfeature/wind ows.html I have a lot of genealogy stuff on my computer and encourage everyone to document the information they have on their own families.) _____________________________________ Subject: Tony Thompson Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 15:48:06 -0500 From: "Massey, Charlotte" <cmassey@ci.huntsville.al.us> Tommy, check out today's edition of the Huntsville Times. Very good article on Tony Thompson with color photograph. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the Lee High Website. Charlotte Massey Class of '64 (Editor's Note: I didn't see the article, but if any of you did and could scan it and send it to me I'll publish it for the rest of the class.) ____________________________________ Subject: The Website Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:13:16 -0400 From: Julius.Smoak@sba.gov None of the other schools that I attended do anything like this. I can not tell you how much I look forward to the update each week and hearing from Generals that I knew and even those that I did not know. Thanks again, Tommy, for all the hard work in maintaining this website and thanks to all the contributors and everyone who writes in. It brings back some very good memories of Lee and Huntsville and Alabama. While I would like to attend the mini-reunion, I doubt that I will get the chance. However, I wish everyone who does attend a very good time and I will be thinking about you and wishing I was there. Chip Smoak Class of '66 ______________________________________ Subject: Jim McBride Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 20:18:13 EDT From: GURGANUS9@aol.com I enjoyed the latest article on Jim McBride. In the "it's a small world category", my son has lived in Nashville for about eleven years. For ten of those years, he worked for Gibson Guitar. He met Jim on several occasions at various functions, but did not know that his old mom and Jim graduated from the same high school. My son now builds guitars for a company called Crafters of Tennessee. They specialize in steel guitars and mandolins. Someone this week mentioned the large area that Lee students came from in Huntsville. I am the oldest of eight children. We lived in the same house in Huntsville, near Pulaski Pike & Mastin Lake, but the school districts were realigned so many times that the eight of us graduated from three different high schools! Pretty strange!! I really enjoy the sight. Keep up the good work. Nancy Corl Gurganus Class of '66 ____________________________ |
It Was Not Quite A Mission From God, But We Had To Raise Some Money Somehow by Rainer Klauss Class of '64 We weren't the Blues Brothers, but in order to help finance our trip to the Orange Bowl Parade on January 1, 1964, the Lee High Band cut a record in 1963. I have no idea about how many copies were sold. Perhaps Roger or Sylvia Becks, wherever they are could shed some light on that, since their father was the main driving force behind our journey to Miami. (Some of us did get a "Senior Trip" that year we just had to sell thousands of donuts, records and whatnots to get it.) As far as I remember, the recording was done in the band room by a local outfit, so we're not talking about a state-of-the-art sonic product here. It is completely listenable, though, and if you were a member of the band, it is an enjoyable trip down memory lane an actual "record" of certain moments of our lives. There are few if any solos on the tunes, so the stars of the band like Mike Acree, Randy Roman, and Roger Becks didn't get a chance to shine. What one hears is the whole band, all of us doing our best to entertain and inspire. Along that line, Don Cornelius and Bob Ramsey told me several times how instrumental we were in several football victories. It looked to me like Billy Byrom ran harder and faster every time we played "Rebel Rouser." (For obvious reasons, we didn't play that song against Butler, but that didn't help us either time we faced them in 1963. November 1, 20-7; City Championship, November 15, 21-6.) Anyway, to get to the point: I've kept my copy of the record these 39 years, through all the moves and garage sales. (Actually, I have two copies; my wife brought one to the marriage as part of her dowry.) Recently, I bought some software that allows me to convert all my records to CDs, and the Orange Bowl record was one of the first I transferred. I would like to let the visitors to this great website know that I would be happy to send any of them a copy of the disc. All I ask is $5.00 (that's for the CD, the mailer, and the postage). I'll throw in my autograph for nothing. So, friends, fellow band members, and long-lost groupies, let me know if you want to recapture those moments. You won't see this offer on late-night TV or e-Bay. To refresh your memories, here are the contents of the record. Side one: Star Spangled Banner, Manhattan Beach, Mexican Overture, High Barbary, Black Knight, American Red Cross. Side Two: Dixie, Alabama Jubilee, Alabamy Bound, Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer, A Swinging Safari, Darktown Strutters Ball, Rebel Rouser (Mr. Foley called it "Rabble Rouser"), Washington and Lee Swing, Tamerlane. With the record, if you played "Dixie" backwards on the turntable, you heard George Wallace yell over and over again : "Lurleen, Lee High School is my favorite high school not Robert E. Lee." Unfortunately, that doesn't carry over to the CD. Rainer Klauss, Class of 1964 rglklauss@mindspring.com Rainer Klauss 1895 Victorian Court Snellville, GA 30078 (Editor's Note: You can order the CD directly from Rainer now, or look for it in the Souvenir Shop where you will also find items like copies of reunion photos, the 1964, 1965, and 1966 yearbooks, the 1990, 1995, and 2000 reunion videos, and the Top Hats of Dixie CD, which are being sold to help support the web site ***blatant advertisement***. Let's also use this idea to solicit inputs for next week's Traveller from those of you out there who remember anything associated with the Orange Bowl trip, The Orange Bowl Capers, or the record and wish to share those memories with us.) _______________________________________________________ July 20th Mini-Reunion Plans Are Coming Together This week we should be getting some plans formalized, at least where and when we will be meeting. Again, this is going to be an informal reunion, not the sit down dinner and dance with a band function (unless some of our classmates bring their own instruments and still know how to use them). Judy "Fedrowisch" Kincaid, Class of '66, njkincaid@hotmail.com has been instrumental in rallying the classmates in Huntsville to help find accomidations for the event. She reports: At the monthly Mullins Breakfast Get-Together arrangements were made to reserve the "Mullins" Room for the evening festivities on July 20th. The room will seat 40 comfortably - 50 if we scoot close together. (Any overflow can be seated in the next room while dining.) There is no charge for the room and everyone can order whatever they want off the menu. Currently there are 34 individuals signed up to attend - including two "mystery" guests. So hurry and sign up to insure a good seat!!!! All pavilions in the area are already booked up, so we need to pray for nice weather for our afternoon visitation. We're planning on getting together at Monte Sano State Park. More details later. Classmates attending this planning session were: Joe Barran; Dwight Jones; Elbert Balch and wife Opie; Judy "Scarborough" Milner; Lynn "Bozeman" Van Pelt; Bob Crump; and me and my hubby Nelson. Beverly "Taylor" Swaim & hubby Ronny and Dwight Clark also stopped by. Here is the list of Classmates who have expressed an interest in coming to the Mini-Reunion and Linda Taylor Joy Rubins Morris Skip Cook ? Mystery Guest from the Class of '64 Wayne Deason ? Mystery Guest from Etowah, NC Rainer & Gudrun Klauss Judy Scarborough Milner Bob & Sandy Cochran Jim Bannister George Lehman Williams Beverly Taylor Swaim (Class of '66) Ronny Swaim Dwight & Pat Jones Danny & Jeanne (Clutts) Hill Elbert & Opie Balch Ed ('65) & Barbara Wilkerson ('64) Donnelly Joe& Darlene Barran Tommy Towery (Sorry, Sue is working that weekend) Mike & Jan Vaughn Debbie Christiansen Thompson Terry 'Moses' Preston & Jan Costin Judy "Fedrowisch" & Nelson Kincaid We've had requests for classmates to bring pictures, cards, and other items from our Lee Days! I will try to bring a digital scanner and see if we can capture some of those for use on the website. The other requests seem to center around lots of booze and good times, both of which are possible. We do expect one special guest. We got the following registration form submitted: Number to attend 1 Time attending Both Names of Attendees BRITNEY SPEARS Graduation Years Another Year Comments Anything, as long as I get to meet that "Lehman Express Guy". Place living CALIFORNIA Place staying Hotel/Motel We've developed a planning form to gather information about those who might be planning to attend this get together. It is for planning purposes just to get some idea of a head count. This is not binding in any way, but if you think that you might want to attend, then please fill this out and let us know. We need to hear from those of you who live in Huntsville and surrounding areas too. We are thinking of getting a room somewhere and need an approximate number to work with. Click on the button below to go to the form page, fill in the information, and then click on the send button at the bottom of the page. Thanks. ______________________________________________________ |
Many of you realize, and some even understand, that our site is hosted by a company called Homestead. We used them at first because they did not charge for hosting. Last year they started charging a small yearly fee for this service and this year they have gone up on that charge. Money collected from the Souvenir Shop has been applied to these costs. The fee is not a problem, but one thing that does cause some problems is that periodically they "change" things to make them better. Well, all change is not for the better. Last week I was informed that they were dropping the Mailing List service which we have been using in the past to notify you of the weekly updates. They promised to send me a file containing all the e-mail information so that I could build our own mailing list, but as of publication date, I have not received that list, which is why you did not receive an e-mail this week informing you of the update. I do have all of the e-mail addresses and changes to e-mail addresses, but they are not in a format that can easily be used. It is going to take a long time to convert the information if Homestead does not hold true to its promise to send me the list. Until that time you will just have to remember to come here on your own. If any of you have some computer skills and some free time and want to help with the mailing list conversion, please let me know. To help you remember, the Traveller's official publication day is Monday of each week, so you should always be able to view the new week's edition on that day. Like many other publications, we often beat the deadline and have it "on the streets" by Sunday (often late Saturday night). On weekends that I am out of town, it may actually be Monday before it is released. Those of you who ever worked with me on the Traveller know that the "Illustrious Editor" name was given to me by Mrs. Parks. She loved to give people nicknames. Before that, she had pinned "T. Tommy" on me and that stuck as well. At least she didn't name me "Sue" like she did "Mickey Sue". I don't know where she came up with it, but she always called me her most illustrious editor, and so to honor her spot in my education, I adopt that name for the heading of my planned column. I am the "Editor", not the writer of The Traveller. The production part of the weekly updates are done by me alone. I can only do my job if my fellow classmates participate and send me things to edit. Anything! I usually print stories as they are sent, but since I have a degree in journalism, I often try to correct small errors and will format certain things to the style we use. I usually start working on the next week's issue on Monday, and have it ready for press by Friday. If you wait until Saturday to send me something, it may be too late to be added, so please try to help me out and not wait until the last minute. To date the respose and e-mails have exceeded my expectaions and I thank all of you who have contributed. The focus of the publication of course is on our three classes, what we did back then, and what we are doing now. We also include Lee High School, the town of Huntsville, and the music and events of our time. I try to stay away from political comments and use nostalgic fillers to even out the columns. If you submit something to us for a filler, such as a list or a joke, it may not be used, or it may be used weeks or months after you send it. Please continue to tell our classmates, and your friends and family about this site. It is open to all who shared the experiences with us. Thanks again for your support. T. Tommy ____________________________________ |
Bobby Cochran's Huntsville Trivia (Editor's Note: Here's some tough questions from one of the all-time great "brain full of trivial things" of our class. See how you can handle these. Even I get to guess on this one, since he has not sent the answers yet.) 1. It's 1956-1960 in Huntsville, and you don't have cable TV. How many TV stations can you pick up clearly on a TV with an antenna? Bonus points: Give the stations' call letters AND their channel numbers! (Hint: Both of them were in Birmingham) 2. What was most every kid's favorite TV show late Friday night 1958-1960? (Hint: It was broadcast from a Nashville station) Bonus points: Which station was it? More bonus points: What were the station's call letters? 2. What was the name of the "cowboy" costumed guy on the first local afternoon kids' show on Channel 31? 3. What is the REAL name of the "cowboy" in question 2? 4. Most of us listened to WAAY radio all through high school. Do you know what WAAY's call letters were BEFORE they became WAAY? 5. Another radio station in Huntsville at the time was WFIX, broadcasting at 1450 KC. Do you remember what it's call letters were BEFORE it was WFIX? 6. The radio station in Question 5 had a unique situation: It broadcast a show at night from a REMOTE location! Can you name the location? 7. There was an ad from "Henry's Hamburgers" on last week's web site. I am a PROUD ALUMNUS of that outstanding organization. I worked there for several months. Henry's is gone now, but do you remember where it was? 8. What was directly across the street from Henry's? 9. Besides me (Bob), can you name at least two other members of the class of 1964 who worked at Henry's? (Hint: There were at least 3 of us.) 10. What "cola" bottling plants were located in Huntsville while we were at Lee? Send in your answers with a comment to "Validate" your entry. The comments are more important than the correct answers. Thanks to Bob for this contest. _______________________________________________ |
A clue for one of Bobby's questions. Can you name him? |
