Est. March 31, 2000 39,242 Previous Hits May 12, 2003 Editor:Tommy Towery http://www.leealumni.com Class of 1964 Page Hits This Issue e-mail ttowery@memphis.edu Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly , Joy Rubins Morris, Cherri Polly Massey, Paula Spencer Kephart, Rainer Klauss, Bobby Cochran, Collins (CE) Wynn Staff Photographers: Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 |
My Job As The " Fruitman" by Jim Bannister Class of '66 One of the best jobs that I ever had was working at Quillan's Fruit-Arama. Mr. Quillan had two sons, Tommy and Jim who were younger but both attended Lee. I was hired as a delivery man but also worked around the warehouse loading & unloading produce. Mr. Quillan would spend a lot of time sitting and talking with me about everything under the sun. I learned the difference between indive, romaine, amd leaf lettuce. Before then I thought it only came in heads. Work started before daylight every morning and by noon we were finished. I made deliveries to the Russell Erskine Hotel, the new jet port (airport), and many small grocery stores. The afternoons were sometimes spent delivering fruit baskets to the local hospitals.Most days I did deliveries in the van but sometimes I got to pick up a load of potatoes in the big truck, what a thrill. At Christmas time Mr. Quillan gave me a huge fruit basket with everything you can think of in it. The only downside to this job was that I became known as "FRUITMAN" by everyone including my buddies. I really didn't mind, the Quillan family was good to me and I worked there until I went into the Navy. I often wonder that if I had stayed in Huntsville my future would have be as Fruitman. __________________________________ |
Alex, I'd Like Lee Class of 1964 For $600 - "Which Classmate Just Might Be On Jeopardy Someday?" by Rainer Klauss Class of '64 Last Friday afternoon, as stormy weather was blowing in from Alabama, I joined about 80 other people at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta to see how many of us could qualify to become contestants on the television quiz show, Jeopardy. I had made it to this intellectual trial because my wife, Gudrun, submitted my name to a local TV station several months ago. At the beginning of April, a cheery young fellow called to notify me that I had advanced to the second stage of the process: I had been chosen to compete for this desirable opportunity. "Are you still interested in giving it a try, Mr. Klauss?" he asked. You bet! In addition to interviewing and testing people in the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, where the show is now filmed, the Jeopardy producers also hold try-outs in cities across America. Atlanta was the first recruiting site for a new cycle of contestants, and the crew in town for this process had been running three-a-day sessions since Tuesday, winnowing the wheat from the chaff. Future sessions will be held in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Washington. In smaller cities, you might be on the look-out for the Brain Bus, Jeopardy's Winnebago promotional vehicle (their answer to the Oscar Meyer Wiener Wagon). On its website Jeopardy proclaims that the "Brain Bus will drive its way into your heart." Say that dramatically and it sounds like it's straight from the coming attractions to some schlocky 1950s sci-fi film, the kind seen on Mystery Science Fiction Theater, doesn't it? All sorts of allusions spring from that endearing phrase. Anyway, back to the serious matter at hand. Travel time can be difficult to predict in Atlanta sometimes, so I ended up getting to the hotel about 40 minutes early. That gave me a chance to case the joint, size up the competition, stuff my pockets with any freebies, and begin entering the state of deep concentration necessary for this task. I also riffled through my flashcards of American presidents, formerly my weakest Jeopardy subject. Let's see, Bill Jefferson Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States and a boyhood friend of Mike Acree. Having had a few wonderful "it's a small world" experiences in my life, I'm always looking for someone I know when I go to large gatherings. I didn't get a chance to scan the whole crowd this time, but I didn't spot any acquaintances in my group. That was disappointing, but not surprising since this call for trivia pursuers attracted people from parts of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, as well as Georgia. We were ushered into the meeting room, the crucible of competition, at 2 o'clock. As we were taking our seats, a very animated young lady, obviously the mistress of ceremonies, welcomed us to the proceedings, cracked a few jokes, tried to establish a relaxed, have-a-good-time atmosphere, and then explained the sequence of events. First we would be subjected to a 50-question test on a wide range of subjectsreligion, science, art, composers, literature, etc.the usual Jeopardy smorgasbord of categories. The questions would be projected onto a screen at the front of the room, and one had 8 seconds to write down an answer. Those who scored high enough (the cut-off score is never revealed nor is what you actually scored) would proceed to the next stage, a mock-Jeopardy game. I had done this sort of thing once before when I was in the Army in Kaiserslautern, Germany in 1970. Beginning at the local unit level with three-man teams and then ending with a showdown in Heidelberg that brought in the conquering teams from all over Europe, the Service Club Organization ran a Tournament of Knowledge modeled after the 60s television quiz program, GE College Bowl. My team won our local area, then our region, and thus advanced to the final competition in Heidelberg. We made it through the first round there, but then we encountered a death squad headed by an intellectual hitman named Specialist 5 Goodbody. He must have had a PhD in EVERYTHING. This guy singlehandedly froze us out of the game with superhuman speed on the buzzer for the toss-up questions and then buried us with the points on the follow-up and bonus questions. So much for the boys from K-town. You know something? There's nothing bad about losing in Heidelberg. We consoled ourselves with Wiener Schnitzel, beer, and wonderful Rhine wines. Meanwhile, back in Atlantatwo of my friends from the library system had tried out for Jeopardy earlier in the week and failed to advance to the final round. One of them gave me this assessment of the test: "It's humbling, man." I was prepared for a rigorous examination. I had my game face on and the propeller on my beanie was spinning confidently, cooling off the CPU. Bring it on! The first two questions weren't tough, but I blocked on the third one. It called for the name of Steven Spielberg's Holocaust movie. I had seen the film twice and read the book years ago, but the title just wouldn't come to me. In the eight frantic seconds I mentally fast-forwarded through the whole movie and hummed some of the music, but what is that bloody name? I had to leave the answer blank and move on. Fortunately, I can multi-task and after several more questions Schindler's List popped up from the database. The rapid-fire quiz was over quickly, and the tests were collected. Since no one sees his final score, I can only guess at how well I did. I was pretty sure of 44 of the answers, I took a wild stab at 3 of them, and I had to leave 3 blank. No Heidelberg Scenario this time, but would it be good enough to advance? While the tests were being graded, we got a special treat: Sofia Lidskog, one of the Jeopardy Clue Crew members, a promotional team that was formed last year (to the dismay of many Jeopardy purists), came out to answer questions about the show during the lull. Originally from Sweden, Sofia is a vivacious ambassador, smart (a cum laude graduate of Harvard, no less) and beautiful (I'm including a picture of her, but copyright laws may prevent Tommy from posting it here). I came to be standing quite close to her after the question session ended, but the one Swedish word that Ed Paulette taught me last year was not one I could safely use in a conversation with her. After 15 minutes, the test sheets were brought back, and the emcee called out the names of the survivors. She announced 7 of them before she got to mine and mis-pronounced it (I've come to expect that), but whatthehell, I made it! In all, there were 10 of us, 3 women and 7 men. I thought we would slug it out to see who was ultimately the smartest and toughest that day, but that's not what happened. We were called up three at a time, given buzzers and instructed in the proper way to use them, and then we played a short game maybe 12 questions for each group with no score being kept. This pretend game is just to make sure you won't freeze or wet yourself under the pressure of competition. The final stage is a short interview with each contestant: be funny and fascinating for 30 seconds. I need to work on that aspect. If I get the call to fly out to LA, maybe I can rent some stories from Collins. What are my chances? Pretty slim, I would think. I'm in a big pool of potential contestants twice as many as they need, probably. What I hope, of course, is that there will be a high turn-over of contestants in the next few months very few champions carrying over past two days. That way the odds of me getting there increase. If you watch the program, in addition to yelling out the answers and having fun, please send out a mental vibe on my behalf. Let's spread the wealth until I get there. ____________________________________________ |
We Are FamiLEE! |
Est. March 31, 2000 39,242 Previous Hits May 12, 2003 Editor:Tommy Towery http://www.leealumni.com Class of 1964 Page Hits This Issue e-mail ttowery@memphis.edu Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly , Joy Rubins Morris, Cherri Polly Massey, Paula Spencer Kephart, Rainer Klauss, Bobby Cochran, Collins (CE) Wynn Staff Photographers: Fred & Lynn Sanders Contributers: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 |
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How I Ended Up In Augusta, Georgia by Jennifer White Bannecke Class of '66 |
May 17, 2003 Click on photo above if you might be interested in going. The following classmates have indicated that they would like to attend: Michael & Sue Griffith Sally Dawly Stroud Betty Jo Scholter Key Rainer and (maybe Gudrun) Klauss John Drummond Linda Collingsworth and Tom Provost Carolyn McCutcheon and Dean Hanks The event will be held at the home of Linda and Tom Provost. Linda says that they will be happy to provide the following:sodas, bottle water, plates, napkins, a ham and a turkey, rolls for sandwiches and condiments. They would like to ask those coming to the event to bring their own liquor/beer or wine and a side dish (appetizer, dessert, or a dish that could be served with ham and turkey.) - something simple.What is most important is to have a fun evening with friends. The time has been said at 7pm(ish). If you need directions to their house follow the directions below or e-mail the editor and they will be e-mailed to you. _______________________________ |
Last Week's Mystery Building Location: 601 West Clinton Street Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly Class of '64 I think the mystery photo is the old Meadow Gold Milk building. I went on a couple of field trips there. I remember that it smelled pretty bad from the outside. I used to walk past it going home from school each day, and there were days I had to hold my breath. It was sort of a sour milk smell, if I remember correctly. Boy! Did I love Meadow Gold Milk! Mmmmmm! Really! I used to trade those mystery meat hamburgers at LHS for cartons of milk. Also traded the sugarless "sugar" cookies that everyone else seemed to like so much. I drank a LOT of milk. ___________________________ Andrea Gray Roberson Class of 1966 I know I got the mystery buildings correct last time and I should let someone else win this week but I just had to write again about this mystery building. This is Meadow Gold Dairies that is located at 601 Clinton Ave. One reason I know this building is because my husband, Terry, has worked there for 33 years. I think the dairy has been at that location since 1940 but what is so sad is that after July 2003 they will stop bottling milk there. They are going to bottle the milk in Ky and bring it to Huntsville and the milk will be put on the trucks and taken to the stores. I feel that the Von Braun Center will buy this property and some more of Huntsvlle's history will become a PARKING GARAGE. ______________________________ Pat Torzillo Stolz Class of '66 I believe the mystery building is the Meadow Gold plant. I don't ever remember going on a field trip there, but i know over the years there were many. It is a shame that they are moving, but according to the Meadow Gold lady that comes every week to the noon show on Channel 31 and makes goodies, the cow will be going with them. Should be an interesting sight. __________________________________ Tommy Towery Class of '64 I remember going on the field trip to Meadow Gold while I was a student at East Clinton. We went there in a city bus and they took us on a tour of the place. The thing that sticks out the most in my mind was that at the end of the tour, we were given ice cream cups! Free ice cream - what a way to win the heart of a kid and to get him or her to beg for more when their parents took them shopping. I also remember the smell that Barbara spoke of in her comments. I don't think that I ever had milk anywhere in the country, or world, that tasted as good as I remember Meadow Gold milk tasting. Now, does anyone but me remember the little glass cream containers that was served with coffee in the Huntsville cafe's and drinking the stuff from the little bottles? I remember it was always warm and did not taste real good, but I would drink it just the same because my parents drank their coffee black and so it was my treat to get to drink the cream that came with their order.. __________________________________________ |
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Pre-Lee Mystery Photos Answers #1 is still an unknown person ______________________________ #2 is Mike Thompson, the one that I told you was a fireman in Huntsville (or at least he was in 1985). _______________________________ Collins (CE) Wynn Class of '64 Tommy, could mystery photo number 3 be David Mullins? ___________________________ Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly Class of '64 I recognize all four of the photos, but cannot put the names with the faces on three of them. I feel like I should know a couple of them without thinking, but the only one that just POPS OUT at me is # 3, who is undeniably David Mullins. What a cutie! We used to play together just prior to entering junior high school. He looks so young in this picture. _________________________________ Don Blaise Class of '64 My only guess is # 3, David Mullins. Can't tell about the others. _________________________________ Tommy Towery Class of '64 #4 is Donald Butler "Buddy" Crabtree. My friend Buddy Crabtree died of heart problems in Hunstville Hospital on December 19, 1997. I first met Buddy when I moved to East Clinton Street in 1953. Thinking about it, he is the oldest friend I can remember. He lived two houses away, and we were closest friends until our teen years, and stayed in touch until his death. Each Easter his mother would take our pictures together out on the sidewalk in front of our houses. The picture below was probably made on Easter 1955, with Buddy on the left, and little me on the right. My porch can be seen behind us. His mother used to call us "Mutt and Jeff" because of our size difference. Buddy and I were closest when we were Boy Scouts together, and I owe a lot of my Scout progress to him. ________________________________________ |
Remembering Steve Roberson Class of '64 by Andrea Gray Roberson Class of '66 (Editor's Note: Last week when Andrea wrote her e-mail to The Traveller, I wrote back and asked her if she could fill us in on the death of our classmate Steve. I only found out about his death at a reunion, and no one seemed to know how he died. Below is what she had to say. Perhaps others can follow suit and send us a short bit about how someof our other classmates died.) Steve's birthaday was Dec. 24th and his middle name was Noel. The story is that I dated Steve for several years but married his brother, Terry. Steve was two years older then me so we dated when he was in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade at Lee. He went into the Air Force for four years after he finished at Lee. After he got out of the Air Force he married someone from Mississippi and I had married his brother. This made if very hard for my husband to talk about my old boyfriend!!! Steve and I stayed good friends plus he was my brother-in-law. He moved to Mississippi in 1970 and lived there until his death in 1989. He was a father of a beautiful daughter, Amy. He worked for the Stae of Mississippi and loved to fish. He lived close to Florence, MS. and his house was on a lake. He always said he came in the front door and changed into shorts and walked out the back door with his rod in his hand and fished until he could not see anymore. His death was April 15, 1989 and the caused of death was lung cancer. He is missed by his family because he was a good person. I was happy to call him a boyfriend, a good friend and my brother-in-law. ______________________________________ |
From Our Mailbox Subject: It was not a matter of political correctness J.R. Brooks Class of '64 I feel I must come clean with respect to my role in changing the focus of the "Generals" from the Robert E. Lee Generals to several Generals, both black and white. First, a little history--When Lee was built, it was intended solely for white students in a completely segregated school system. To the school board, parents, and students at the time, naming a school for a civil war hero was entirely appropriate. But, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Huntsville schools, including Lee became integrated. Lee, in fact, had a significant percentage of black students (now approximately 55%). Black students and their parents had a decidedly different view of General Lee and his place in history. To them, he tried to keep their grandparents,and if he had been successful, even later generations, enslaved. They wanted to feel as proud of the school they their children attended as we were of our school. But, having their school named for someone who, from their perspective, stood for their enslavement was offensive to them. In the 1980s, The issue threatened to become very serious at the school and in the city. The principal at the time was Tom Owen, a very tough minded former football coach and hardly a left-leaning political correctness type. He wanted to preserve the name of the school and he wanted to keep "Generals" as a part of it. Yet, he realized that an increasing percentage of the school population was offended by the history of slavery associated with the name. This did not need to be a divisive issue in our community. He discussed with me, a Lee High graduate and the attorney for the school board, his compromise. He decided that the best way to preserve the historic name was to associate it with several generals who could be viewed as heroes. I felt this was a creative way to preserve the past without offending the present and I encouraged him to pursue the compromise. I remember being amazed at Bob Bertoldi's talent when the painted the logo in the gym. I also remember how proud Mr. Hamilton was of the logo and Bob. I'm not sure Bob even knew how proud Mr. Hamilton was of him. I remember my pride in playing basketball (or at least sitting on the bench) in the gym with the Lee logo. But, with a changing student body, change was necessary. My apologies to those who do not understand. _______________________________________________ Subject: Re: photos Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly Class of '64 Hey, Tommy! You were a "jerk," weren't you? HA! HA! Just kidding. Enjoyed the story, and it brought back memories of my jobs. I'm working on a story. If I had had your job, the shop would have made no profits, I'm afraid. We will not be able to attend the reunion, unfortunately. Ed is travelling a good bit with the new job, and we have had plans for every weekend in May for quite a while. I know everyone will have a great time! I'm looking forward to attending another mini-reunion in the near future. ________________________________________ Subject: Looking for an ex-1984 alumni Alice Joan Brooks Class of '84 Dear Editor, I´m at a loss of where to look for a good friend from the class of 1984. I haven´t found any evidence of reuniones of our class at all, as a matter of fact, and would be very interested in getting in touch with anyone from my graduating class. The friend I´m looking for is Steve Ponder. My name is Alice Joan Brooks (now Alice Brooks de Alborta), I live and work in La Paz, Bolivia. If this e-mail should ever fail I could be reached through my husband´s at : albortarg@state.gov. Thank you much, Alice Brooks (Editor's Note: I was able to locate the classmate for her and get them connected. I only included this in our Mailbox so that you might appreciate how close we three years really are and to show you that we are still the upperclassmen that have to look out for those that follow us.) _____________________________________________ Subject: Boy Scouts Karen Tucker Oliver Class of '65 Dear Tommy, I recently learned of the website and have been enjoying my walks down memory lane ever since. You mentioned Lucky Sandlin this past issue and it was a name that brought back fond memories. My dad, Robert (Bob) Tucker was the scoutmaster at Epworth United Methodist Church for some time until he moved the troop to Holmes Street United Methodist. He and Lucky had great fun together. Daddy passed away in February (the reason I was home visiting when I happened to run in to Patty Pagano). For a while I really thought my memory was failing me because I could not recall as much as everyone else seemed to, but you hit a nerve at the mention of Lucky. Thanks for sharing your youth experiences and those days at Lee. Huntsville has certainly changed a lot since the 60's but as the alma mater says "our hearts will be true to Lee" (unless of course, they have changed the words to that too out of political correctness). Thank you for once again touching my heart with memories. ___________________________________ Subject: Class of 1964 Linda Ragland Dykes LRD4BAMA@aol.com Class of '64 Tommy, please add my name / address to your mailing list: Linda Ragland Dykes 8445 Enterprise Ave. North Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 205 - 345 - 4703 My husband and Ihave been in Tuscaloosa since 1971 when we relocated from Cape Canaveral, FL. We have one daughter, Jamie, a graduate of the University of AL who also lives here. Frank is with the University of AL, Athletic Dept. I am office manager for a physician group. My daughter was planning her 20th high school reunion this weekend and I wanted to know about my class of 1964. I think my address must have been lost as I did attend the very first reunion. I would love to hear from anyone who might remember me - I was saddened to see the many who are no longer with us. Venita Boyd Brocato was one of my dearest friends. ______________________________________ Signing the Guestbook this week: Karen Lee Clanton Class of '67 From: Athens, Alabama E-mail: kclanton@pclnet.net ____________________________________ Sharron Smith Beck Class of '66 Hi friends. I am not going to be able to attend the Atlanta mini-reunion after all. Will be thinking about you and looking forward to the next time everyone gets together. Hugs to all! ________________________________________ |
I Lost Count A Long Time Ago. After I graduated in 1966 I moved three times in Huntsville until November 1972. I moved to Barnwell, SC (three moves there) and lived there three years. Next move was to Cleburne, Texas and I lived there three years. Then on to Jefferson City, Missouri for another lovely three years (three more moves there). Then, lucky me, I moved to Saudi Arabia and stayed 18 months. I also had three moves there. (Three must be my lucky number). I returned to Jefferson City, Missouri in January 1983 and in August moved to Greenville, SC. I actually lived in Greenville ten years, but had four moves (for some reason people kept coming to get rent. I never had to clean house. I just moved). Ha! In 1993 I moved to North Augusta, SC and lived there four years. In 1997 I moved to Augusta, Georgia and in 2001 I moved one more time in September to my present location in Augusta as Mrs. Craig Bannecke. (Thanks to the reunion committee). I have one more move planned in about four years from now and that is with Craig to Guntersville, Alabama to retire my moving shoes and to let Craig fish his heart out. _______________________________________ |
This Week's Mystery Building This building has it's name covered but was also the site of many school visits. Care to guess what it is and it's location? ______________________________________ |
This week we had mail returned from the following addresses, most of them giving the reason as "USER UNKNOWN." When we first started this site you were given the option of joining the mailing list. Those of you who elected to do so have been sent weekly updates when the new issue of Lee's Traveller was published. In this world of SPAM many of you might think these updates fall into that category, so I will once again remind you that if you do not want to receive the updates, please send me an e-mail and you will be removed from the list. These people were identified as USER UNKNOWN: jjfrost@sonet.net pdcaptain@hotmail.com bebeatty@bellsouth.net glssmith@mindspring.com sonja8449@att.net faulkner@glatmos.com jimwhite20@comcast.net philcons@ix.netcom.com mkuet27@aol.com jturre9708@aol.com rain62467@aol.com daledee8@aol.com ghoffmeyer@aol.com alanda898@aol.com If you identify an old e-mail address for you in the list above, please notify us of your new address and we will correct it. On June 1, the names above will be removed from our list. One e-mail to slawson700@aol.com was returned stating that the person was "Not Accepting Mail From This Sender". If for some reason these e-mails have been blocked by an anti-spam software filter, then please let us know and we will remove you from our mailing list. Thanks to Rainer for his lead story and to those of you who we can count on to respond to our Mystery Pictures with your thoughts and comments. T. Tommy _____________________________________ |
Click on the button below to get directions to Linda and Tom's house. The page is password protected and the password to see the directions is the last name of the LHS principal in 1964-65-66. NOTE: Make sure you capitalize only the first letter. Send an e-mail if you cannot get it. |
The Garden Corner |
May 6, 2003 - After one week. I planted some birdhouse gords in the corner of my backyard this year. I'll update the photo of the progress each week. (So what does this have to do with LHS 64-65-66? I'll think of something I'm sure. ____________________________________ |
