Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Last Week's Mystery Classmate

Skip Cook, P.E., DEE, Class of '64

That has to be Ray Walker. He hasn't changed much except for the glasses.

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Craig & Jennifer Bannecke

The Mystery Classmate is Ray Walker. Class of '64. I saw Ray for the first time in probably 32 years when we were all together at Carol Jean's for Thanksgiving. Ray and I were roommates at Florence State my freshman year. Ray, Tommy Bush and I had a big corner room in Keller Hall and Tommy and I drove Ray up the wall.

You're right - no change. A few wrinkles and some gray hair but otherwise he looked the same. Really enjoyed seeing Ray and his lovely wife.

Hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas.

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Dale Thompson, Class of ' 64

This weeks mystery classmate is Ray Walker.

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Terry Davis, Class of '64

This week is Classmate is Ray Walker.

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Tony Thompson, Class of '64

The MYSTERY CLASSMATE is Ray Walker. Ray spent a number of years Coaching at Grissom High School and lives on the South end of Huntsville where the Tire Store I Manage is located. (across the Street from Niles' Furniture Store) I see Ray often to take care of all of his family's vehicles.

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Annette McCraney, Class of '64

Oh, No!! Could that possibly be my buddy BJBJBJBJBJBJ????????? (Pseudonym for Mr. Brian Pfieffer???????) I think maybe so...I could be wrong, but I've got a warm fuzzy feeling that I'm right.

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Glen Swaim

Ray Walker. He is in my sunday school class. He and his wife are good people.

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Full Story on

Zesto Closing Reprinted

Printed on

12/11/03

by Mike Kaylor

Huntsville Times

Holiday cheer is spiced with mixed emotions this year for Huntsville's nightlife followers. Two Five Points area cafes are temporarily closed during the holiday season, but new restaurants continue to appear in other parts of the city.

Zesto Pub & Grill closed its doors Tuesday night, pulling the curtain on more than a half-century of memories for native Huntsvillians. The business will be reincarnated about a mile away as Zesto's Copper Top Bar & Grill.

CityScapes Inc., founder of three restaurants downtown, has a plan for two new concepts in the former Zesto spot at the corner of Pratt Avenue and Russell Street, but it has not closed a deal on the property. CityScapes president Ralph Gipson said the new restaurants would take 60 to 90 days to develop after the sale is official.

Former Zesto owner Jim Rigsby has transformed an old Hungry Howie's Pizza restaurant into Copper Top in the Winn Dixie shopping center on Oakwood Avenue. It will have an expanded menu and a full bar. Rigsby said he hopes to open next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another Five Points area tradition, Eunice's Country Kitchen, remains closed as its owner, Eunice Merrell, recovers from recent health problems. She had hoped to return to the diner on Andrew Jackson Way last week, but her rehabilitation has been slower than she expected. Aunt Eunice, as she is affectionately known to her customers, has been in Big Springs Specialty Care on St. Clair Avenue since her release from the hospital in late October. She undergoes kidney dialysis three times a week, and some days are better than others. She certainly misses her customers and hopes to be back with them in due time.

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A Cop's Christmas Present

by C.E. Wynn

One of the best pieces of advice I received from my education colleagues when I first got into the teaching game here at Robertsdale High School was the social life and interaction of the students is not the real world. In other words, high school is a make believe environment insofar as what is socially important is concerned. Over the last few years I have found that to be true partially because of the 40-year age gap between my students and myself. Oftentimes I have to really work at being tolerant.

I have found that it can be a bit of a trick to keep an open mind with students because my professional career was spent in an environment where everyone, while not socially perfect, was at least honest and forthright. To bring myself back to reality, all I have to do is sit quietly and recall some of my own escapades as a student. Along with some friends I had an experience just before Christmas in 1963 that was especially humbling and could have, had circumstances gone the other way, adversely affected all of our futures.

You know, when it is all said and done, we were just a bunch of knuckleheads (both boys and girls) trying to get along. Hanging out, gossiping and kidding around, all the while wondering what was going to happen to us. In those circumstances sometimes the smallest consideration can make a difference.

It seems a carload of boys was cruising up and down North Parkway in a 1951 Chevrolet one dark cold night in late December of 1963 (isn’t that a song lyric?). As everyone can guess we were all laughing and joking, singing songs along with the radio, and of course, drinking beer. I know that Goose Shelton and I don’t object to being named but I’m not so sure about the other 2 or 3 so you’ll just have to guess about the remainder of the pact based on past performances.

We were just coming down south on the Parkway from Lakewood (possibly from Harold Tucks’s house) and I was driving merrily along. Most everyone was pleasantly relaxed from having 2 or 3 beers each. I happened to glance up in my mirror just in time to see the flashing blue lights of a Huntsville Police Cruiser. “Oh my god, it’s the Cops!” With a carload of beer and several slightly inebriated boys, it seemed our world had suddenly come to an end. We ended up pulling over in the parking lot of the Hardee’s at the corner of Highway 72 and the Parkway. In a 6 cylinder 1951 Chevrolet, one has no choice but to pull over.

The officer came up to my window, peered into the car, and asked for my license. I am sure he ascertained the situation immediately. After that, he carried me back to his patrol car for a consultation. After looking at my license, he said to me “Boy, don’t I know your Daddy?” Since it was pretty obvious he did my only acceptable response was “Yes Sir, you do.” After that he spent 10 minutes telling what all was going to happen to me in jail, and just to make sure I didn’t think he was joking, he went up to the car and shared that information with my passengers. Believe me, I was terrified, and I am fairly sure every one else was as well. Of all the pranks I had pulled, I had never come even close to getting into serious trouble.

He then had me get back into my car and sit there while he took my license back to his patrol car. I remember the color draining out of everyone’s faces. Of course, the question on everyone’s mind was “What am I going to tell my Mom and Dad?” And then, what do you know, a most kind and unexpected thing happened.

The officer walked up the car and aid to us, “Boys, I am about to give you the best Christmas present you have ever had!” And he did. “Pour all that beer out on the ground and get your butts home right now. I know where you all live and I’ll be by to check on everyone of you in the next 15 minutes.” And, of course, everyone when home right then. My Dad never mentioned it to me so I don’t believe he ever knew about it. You know, if I had been arrested that night my life would have taken a completely different course because the career I chose did not allow for a criminal record. I have often thought of that Officer’s kindness and tolerance. It probably did not mean much to him but it was very important to us. When I am dealing with a student who is a little astray, I try to use a little of his wisdom from 40 years ago. Forgiveness and tolerance are wonderful things and grand Christmas presents.

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It Wasn't Santa

Kissing

Underneath The Mistletoe

by Eddie Sykes

Class of '66

Christmas break marked the single time each year that I would go hunting. I was not a hunter, but each year my friend, Buddy Lewis, and I would hike up the mountain at the end of Oakwood with 410 shotguns (both his) in search of mistletoe. We would search for that magic growth that would grant you seasonal permission to kiss the girls. We would shoot it down out of the top of trees to sell. It was a rare and treasured item that made a great cash crop during the Christmas season..

I also sold firecrackers. My family always went to Mississippi during the holidays and I would use the money that I made from selling mistletoe to buy bundles of firecrackers and boxes of cherrybombs. I would buy a bundle of 100 packs of firecrackers for $2.00 and sell them for .25 a pack and make a $10 profit. Cherrybombs sold for .10 each and would net me $8 a box.

Cherrybombs were also water proof. Do any of you remember that time someone flushed one down the boys bathroom at Lee and messed up the plumbing ? Well, I was the one who sold the cherrybomb and I was scared to death that I would get in trouble for my part in the incident. The sell of cherrybombs was banded in many states not long after that because that destructive craze caught on and spread everywhere. It was the last year I sold firework. I turned 16 and was able to get a real job. My interest shi! fted from fireworks to girls.

I kind of liked a girl that was a friend of Sandra Parks and she liked one of my friends. I would go over to her house and we would go walk by our friends house in hope of arranging a meeting. One night it worked out perfectly. The four of us walked down to the ball park. I went in one dugout with Sandra's friend and she went into the other with my friend. I found myself more concerned about what she was doing than on my own romantic opportunity. When we got back to her house Grady Reeves, her step father, invited me in and talked football. Little did I know he was doing a little match mating himself. It was the Christmas season and he gave me my first sip of Champagne and then he pointed to the mistletoe that Sandra was standing near. The magic of Christmas mixed with a little Champagne and a kiss sent me spinning. As I returned home that night I felt like I was walking on air. I wasn't sure what it meant, but I knew I liked Sandra a lot more than her friend and I was praying that she felt the same.

There is nothing like falling in love for the first time.

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Subject: Re: Train, etc.

Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly

class of '64

Boy, do I remember the train!! It was worth standing in the cold, cold weather just to see that train during the Christmas parade. What's this about Helen saying there was no Santa Claus? What? What? No way! He was always on that train throwing out the penny candy Tommy remembers. It was good, too.You could always count on it being exceptionally cold for that parade.

Remember? My dad would get us a really great spot on the side of the street every year and hold me on his shoulders until I got too big (13? 14? HA!) That parade brought the Christmas season to a head every year for me. I loved going downtown and seeing the bell ringers, all the decorations, people rushing from store to store. Huntsville was a great town then and still is.

I remember the Grand News Stand really well. I went there EVERY Saturday night before going to the movies at either the Lyric or the Grand. We always ate at either the Krystal or the Ritz Cafe, went to Kress', Woolworth's or Grant's where I bought a toy, and then to the Grand News Stand. I always got a quarter to spend and had to figure out how to divide it up each week -- i.e., which was more appealing: a comic book or a toy. Always ate the same thing at the Krystal -- two hamburgers, fries, a Coke, and a piece of chocolate pie.

I do not remember the models, but I wasn't into models. Seems as if I remember buying stamps there, though. I remember buying comics: Nancy and Sluggo, Archie, Superman, Batman and Robin, Little Lulu, Casper. I remember that they used to cost 10 cents each, but you could buy a really BIG one for 25 cents. I think Mother always threw in 2 cents more for tax, but I'm not really sure. I loved the Grand! Didn't it have ceiling fans -- 2 or 3 at least?

Enjoyed Rainer's article this week, and of course, all the memories from all our classmates. Thanks for sending them in. Cannot believe the Zesto closed. Another place I visited on a regular basis since my mother worked next door. Those were the best dip dogs in the world.

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