Est. March 31, 2000                33,722 Previous Hits                          January 6, 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, Cherri Polly Massey,                      Paula Spencer Kephart, Rainer Klauss Staff Photographers:  Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66

Still Crazy After All These Years

Est. March 31, 2000                33,722 Previous Hits                          January 6, 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, Cherri Polly Massey,                      Paula Spencer Kephart, Rainer Klauss Staff Photographers:  Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66

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Last Week's Mystery Classmate? ____________________________________

Frankie Juanell Kennedy Weeks June 20, 1946 - Dec. 29, 2002 Frankie J. Weeks, of Hazel Green, died Sunday. She was 56. Mrs. Weeks was a native of Madison County and was a member of Shiloh Church of Christ. Survivors include husband, Tom Weeks of Hazel Green; sister, Sheila Landman of Huntsville; mother, Mary E. Kennedy of Hazel Green; one niece, one nephew and a host of friends. The funeral service will be 3 p.m. today at Spry Funeral Home Chapel with Ron Little officiating. Burial will be at Huntsville Memory Gardens. Published in The Huntsville Times on 12/31/2002. As I was getting the photo from the 1964 Silver Sabre I could not help but smile a little at the activity box next to Frankie's photo.  I copied it to include so that it might help you remember her days at Lee. Her desire for a MRS. Degree was fulfilled. ___________________________________________________ As usual, I didn't check my e-mail messages until now.  I was going to write you to ask if the Frankie Kennedy that I saw in the obitiuaries was the one we went to school with.  It was in today's paper.  I see that Sherry had sent you the news.  I didn't know that she had cancer and have really not had any contact with her, but needless to say, our hearts are sad to loose another one of our classmates.  There is a hole left each time we loose someone, and I hope it makes the rest of us more aware of  how much we mean to each other. Carol Jean Williams Carroll jdcaroljosh@comcast.net Class of '65 _____________________________________________________

On December 31st, I got confirmation that we did in fact lose another classmate for the year of 2002.-  Frankie Juanell Kennedy Weeks, of the Class of '64. I had heard reports of her death earlier in the week, but could not confirm it so I could not let anyone know earlier. By the time we did confirm the story, it was to late to get anyone the word in time for the funeral, so we elected not to send out a special notice. We will have to go back an add her name to the Classmates we lost last year. Again, our prayers go out for Franki'e's family. Speaking of families, Jimmy Preston can have credit for sending me a thought in one of his e-mails.  In it he wrote about us all being FamiLEE and I think that should be something we can all relate to. It may become our saying for the new year.  "We are FamiLEE" expresses many of our feelings toward each other, so embrace that thought in the year to come. On a happier note, this week we add Rainer Klauss' name to the masthead as the newest member of our staff.  Rainer's previous contributions to the web site make him a natural selection to fill a void in our writing staff. And while we are on the subject, I want to encourage any of you out there that might have a story to share with the rest of your classmates to feel free to send it in.  We're actively looking for stories about "best friends at Lee" and would like to hear from many of you. We sometimes try to jog memories, but many of you have stories that we have never heard and would make great reading. If you don't feel like you have the writing skills necessary to express yourself, then call one of the staff writers and give him or her your story and they will write it for you. T. Tommy ___________________________________

The mystery man is Sonny Turner or somebody real close. Roger Pentecost Class of '66 ___________________________________ The shadowy gent is Sonny Turner, mild-mannered- looking here, but a terror when I first got to know him in the 4th grade at Rison. I went to East Clinton for grades 1-3, but Darwin Downs was re-zoned for Rison for the 4th grade. Before school started I heard rumors that life was rough at Rison: mad dogs roamed around the building and almost every boy inside was looking for a fight. I can't remember how much dread I carried with me the first day of school, but I was probably a little worried. Things were different at Rison, but it wasn't an elementary school Blackboard Jungle either. I don't think Sonny was in my class (Mrs. Ward), but I encountered him on the playground soon after school started. His feisty personality and un-inhibited cussing were valuable parts of my broader education that year. Welcome to reality, Rainer. It turned out to be the year of school I loved the most. Rainer Klauss Class of '64 _______________________________________

From Our Mailbox Subject:         Terry Preston's Memorial Page Tommy, thanks so much for your efforts with the memorial to Terry. Terry was a cousin that I grew up with in the village. We grew up playing stick ball by the water tank, tackle football in Milton Shelton's yard or in the street. I remember vividly sitting in the swing on Terry's front porch and listening to him imitate Elvis Presley and others for hours at a time. Oh, we also had many a fight as we were so competitive. My sister even at times felt the need to take up for me and was not at all reluctant to take a stick or baseball bat after Terry. Did I forget to mention that she was my baby sister. It was great to see so many Lee High graduates at Terry's funeral, it was like a reunion of sorts. We have our family Christmas at my mother's house on Christmas eve every year. Tommy Thompson and his wife Judy have come to my mother's house every year that I can remember. Terry has joined us on Christmas eve on occasions that he was in town. I was installing a new entertainment stand this year for my mom before Christmas and put in a tape to check out the VCR and when the tape came on it was Terry at our Christmas eve get together a couple of years ago. Again thanks for your efforts in helping us to remember Terry and for doing such a great job with the web page. This is my first visit to the page but it will not be my last.                                                                                                     Wayne Gentle gentleg@mindspring.com Class of 1965 ___________________________________________________ Subject:         Terry Preston Terry was an old friend from high school. He will be missed. Roger Pentecost rpenteco@hiwaay.net Class of '66 _______________________________________ Subject:         Mailing list Tommy :  I am obviously on your mailing list because I receive each week's issue.  However, my e-mail address is not shown on the mailing list page.  I would appreciate being added. J.R. Brooks jrb@lfsp.com Class of '64 (Editor's Note:  The e-mail address page is a mess....it's been that way since the Homestead Service that hosts our web page changed and dumped the program they had.  The one that was available there was the last good one I had in June of 2002.  Since it is so out-of-date we have removed the link to it. My hope is to get it corrected and up to date in the next month or so.) ________________________________________ Subject: The Loss of Classmates Tommy, Happy New Year, 2003.  I wish for your happiness.  I am still saddened by our classmates, Sandy and Terry's untimely deaths.  I am also saddened to hear of Frankie's passing.  We are losing our classmates too young. Thanks for replying and Happy New Year. Charlotte Massey Charlotte.Massey@hsvcity.com Class of '64 ________________________________________________ I really enjoyed the e-mail from Paulette Reddick. Nice to know how she's doing.  I'm curious about the whereabouts of Mike Shawver also of the class of 1966. Tom Provost Class of '66 _________________________________________ Subject:         new e-mail address I have a new e-mail address, shirleymoore@bellsouth.net. I have really enjoyed reading the old issues, keep up the good work. Thanks, Shirley Jones Moore Class of '66 ____________________________________________ Subject:         Computer Problems Sorry for the inactivity. My PC has temporarily died and is currently being worked on by my son. Tim has an Apple ibook we are using to access the internet with right now and we are still trying to learn that system as we speak. Please let people know that if they have tried to contact me in the last few days that I will respond as soon as my PC problems are solved. Paula Spencer Kephart Class of '66 _________________________________________________

My Best Friend, Tennessee River Submarines,  And A Smooth-Talker by Cherri Polly Massey Class of '66 My best friend in high school was my cousin, Lynn Judge, Class of '64.  Lynn and I were close as children even though she was an "Army brat" and was living away from me.  In high school, we became even better friends.  She was two years older than I was and had that much more experience in life than I did.  So I listened very closely to what she had to say, especially about boys and dating.   We spent many hours talking about any and everything. We went on diets together.  One summer, we went on a diet where you only eat eggs.  Then, we tried only eating cans of green beans (they are very low-cal, so you can eat all that you want --- yum yum).  We also tried a diet of only hot dogs.  I don't think we stuck to any of them for more than a week.  The green beans became particularly difficult to choke down.  And I don't think that we lost any weight. We went to church, to football games, to  movies and just about everywhere together.  We would support each other in just happening to be in a certain place at a certain time to "accidentally" run into whichever boy we were interested in at the time.  There were even a couple of boys that we both ended up dating.  One boy had taken me out a couple of times at the beginning of my sophomore year and then asked Lynn out after their graduation ceremony in May.   When Lynn and I had a chance to talk about her after-graduation date, she told me that they had gone down to the river to watch the submarine races.  I was very puzzled and asked her how you could see a submarine if it was submerged and besides that,  how did the submarines get into the river?  All she said was, "Che-e-e-ri!" and rolled her eyes in disbelief.  I then figured it out myself, duh!  I then told her that the same guy had taken me to the mountain to see the airplane races and now I understood the strange look he gave me as we were leaving and I said, "But we didn't get to see the airplane races".  I think that Mr. Smooth-Talker will recognize himself and I expect to hear from him. A year after graduating from Lee, Lynn moved back to San Antonio.  We both went about our separate ways in life and have only seen each other a few times since then.  She was visiting my mother a couple of months ago,  and we were able to visit with each other for a little while.  She commented that it had been a very long time since we had had an opportunity to just sit and talk one-on-one and that it was so nice.  We tried to catch up a little bit on our lives  and we shared memories of our time together in Huntsville.  We even talked about Mr. S-T and I told her what I knew about his life now. I have always loved Lynn as my cousin, but I will always remember her as my best friend during a very special time in my life and cherish  those memories. __________________________________________

This Week's Mystery Classmate Bob Cochran's brother sent him and he subsequently sent us the photo below that appeared in The Marshall Star, a publication of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He thought his Classmates might want to guess too. I find it exciting that when this mystery person was giving a description of herself that one of the first things she bragged about was being a memeber of the first graduating class of Lee High School.  How many graduates of other schools would do the same over 35 years later? Send in your guess on this classmate and we'll print the answer next week.

I.D. Fraud Information submitted by Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly Class of '64 This is excellent info, especially important in this day and age of identity theft.  I encourage you to pass this along.  The more of us who do this, the harder the thieves will have to work. Good information to know . . . A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company. I pass it along, for your information. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them.  If someone takes your check book, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks.  If you have it printed, anyone can obtain access to it. Never have your driver's license number printed on your checks. The less information you have printed, the better! Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc.  You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.  I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards, etc. Unfortunately I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month.  Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information on-line, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one). But here's what is perhaps most important: (I never even thought to do this) Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.  Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them in their tracks. The numbers are:       Equifax: 1-800-525-6285       Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742       Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289       Social Security Admin. (fraud line)1-800-269-0271 We pass along jokes; we pass along just about everything. Do think about passing this information along. It could really help someone you care about. _______________________________________

Rison Times by Tommy Towery Class of '64 When I was looking for the photo (above) to go with Rainer's memories of Sonny Turner and Rison, a memory of my own came to me. Like several of you, I started my school experience at Rison Elementary School.  We lived on Halsey at the time and I would walk to school with others who now remain nameless and faceless.  Maybe it was some of the gang that Rainer talks about. Nothing to do with Rison School, but something to do with the crowd I walked there with each morning, is the memory of us playing on a street bridge after school somewhere in the neighborhood and the thing that happened one day that has stuck in my mind forever.  We were playing a game (which I now hear called  Pooh Sticks) where we dropped things off one side of the bridge and ran over to the other to see them come under in the rushing waters.  One day I started back to the dropping side of a bridge and saw a boy's figure go tumbling down the street, rolling like a basketball, throwing up dirt and dust.  I thought that he had fallen out of the pickup truck that was screeching to a halt but quickly found out that one of the boys I was playing with had not been watching and ran in front of the truck and was hit by it.  I don't know the boy's name, (maybe it was one of you even) but the vision of his body rolling along the side of the street still flashes in my mind. I do not know how bad he was hurt but remember that he was not killed. Can anyone else add to this tale? Another thing we did in that neighborhood that now seems crazy was going down in a concrete drainage pipe and crawling many yards up to where it came out under the bridge and to where we were looking at the water from what seemed like several stories high.  I still remember those days whenever I catch the new "The Fugitive" movie on TV and see Harrison Ford looking out the hole in the dam just before he does his "Peter Pan." I know it wasn't that high but it seemed so at the time, and today the idea of crawling down a pipe that is too small to turn around in makes me a little claustrophobic.  But we would get in there and crawl until our head was sticking out of the hole under the bridge and we were looking down at the water far below.  I'm sure Dr. Woody Beck could spend hours with me on why I did that back then. Even though we all ended up at Lee, many of us took different routes to get there.  I'll have some more stories later about my brief stay at Rison. Anyone else want to send in a Rison, East Clinton, Chapman, or any other school memory?

Bumper Stickers We Would Like To See! submitted by Bob Walker Class of '64 Jesus loves you...but everyone else thinks you are an asshole. The proctologist called...they found your head. Everyone has a photographic memory... some just don't have any film. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them. If you can read this...I can slam on my brakes and sue you. Some people just don't know how to drive...I call these people "Everybody But Me." Guys...just because you have one...doesn't mean you have to be one. Welcome to America...NOW speak English ________________________________ Bobby Cochran, Class of '64 sent this: THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK      Indubitably      Innovative      Preliminary      Proliferation      Cinnamon THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK      Specificity      British Constitution      Passive-Aggressive Disorder      Loquacious Transubstantiate THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK      Thanks, but I don't want to have sex      Nope, no more booze for me      Sorry, but you're really not my type      Good evening officer, isn't it lovely out tonight      Oh, I just couldn't.  No one wants to hear ME sing

Hang up and drive!

I don't know if this happened to Paula's computer or not but here's a Southern error message from Billy Bob Gates! ______________________________________________