Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

The Playgrounds Of Our Minds -

East Clinton Elementary School

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

From my western approach to the place, East Clinton Elementary School rose in the distance like a fortress, sitting high on a hill with its straight brick walls. It only needed a moat to become a true castle. From an eastern approach it looked just like another school I suppose, not an imposing building at all. I think one of the most unique things to me back then was that it was not made of red bricks like most of the other buildings in Huntsville. The school was light because it made of yellow bricks. They were not the golden yellow color of the Yellow Brick Road, but were about the shade of a sandy beach to me.

I did not start school there but showed up following a first grade year that I split between Farley and Rison schools. We lived in Redstone Park when I started the first grade at Farley and I was still there when we got out for "cotton picking" in the late fall. Then sometime during the Christmas holidays, I think, was when we moved to Stevens Avenue and I attended the last half of the first grade at Rison. I started going to East Clinton in the second grade and continued there for the rest of my elementary years.

But to me, East Clinton was my elementary school, and I guess I'll always identify with it. We moved to East Clinton Street during the summer of 1953 I suppose, and my first association with the school was before classes started. I first walked up the hill to East Clinton School during the summer, when the city had the summer programs at many of the local schools and parks. That program hired high school or college school people to conduct programs to keep us youth occupied and out of trouble during the warm Huntsville summers. But that is another story that we have already touched at least once in the past and I am sure will cover again someday.

As a child of that age, the most important part of the school during the summer months was the playground. It was located on the southeast corner of the school grounds, and to someone who was just turning the age to go play there; it was a wonderland of fun. There were two swing sets, a merry-go-round, a big slide, a set of see-saws, a monkey bar, and a sand box. They were all clustered together in a area shaded by some giant trees and, to a youngster then, seemed as magical as Disney World does to today's youth. I seem to remember some type of concrete picnic table there as well, where we could play checkers and other board games during the summer program.

The first things I think I loved about the playground were the swings. It was on those swings that I learned to stand up and "pump" to get the things going really high. I also learned to cooperate with others to get pushed, and to push by running under the person sitting in the seat as you propelled him or her high into the sky. Sometimes we'd get them going so high that the long metal links of the chains of the swings would get slack in them and they'd pop the swingers when the things started back toward the earth. One of the first challenges of the playground was to see who could go the highest, followed by who could jump out of them at the apex of the swing and jump the fatherest - a fete that would break many bones if the same people were to try that today. The long links of the chain were not good for winding up and spinning like some other swing sets, but we did it as best we could anyway. Of course you could spin in them by sitting normally, or by lying in the seat on your stomach while your friends did the winding and then assume a sky-diving pose as they spun you wildly back down.

The merry-go-round was another challenge to early childhood. Just how many RPM could one make one of those things spin? And how good did you have to be to jump on it as it was spinning? The third challenge was to try to walk straight across from one side to the other while it was spinning without loosing balance. All were tried many times by many challengers, especially by my new found playground friends. I do remember that it was a big metal heavy-duty one, and that there were ruts dug into the ground all around it that filled with water and mud during the rainy seasons. Seeing how long you could ride it without getting sick did not seem to be the challenge then that it would be today. Many a blue jean knee and toes of tennis shoes showed the effects of their wearers being drug around while hanging on for dear life with one or two hands while the other kids continued to push hard to pick up speed. The act of letting go would result in a situation similar to a Saturday morning matinee cowboy falling beneath the stagecoach and being run over by the stampede of riders following it.

An early attempt to teach children the laws of physics was disguised as a playground contraption called a see-saw. We learned early that it was no fun to be a small kid on the opposite side of a see-saw with a big kid. Most often the larger one will trap you suspended in the air for hours on end while you dangle your legs try to make an immovable object move. We learned that two small kids could counter-balance one large kid. We learned that if you walked up one side to the other, you could make one end go down and the other come up. We learned that sitting somewhere in the middle of the beam made you weigh differently than on the end of the beam. And we learned how to "Bounce!" Yes, if you were happily see-sawing with a friend and you wanted to, you could not stop the downward motion with your legs as normal, but let the end of the see-saw hit the ground and the person on the opposite end had to hang on for dear life. I know that is where I found it was easy to get annoyed at a friend who repeatedly did that when he said he would stop, just like Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown when he went to kick it. I also remember getting off the see-saw one day when I was at the bottom and a friend was at the top and I was so short that my end came bolting up and caught me right below the chin - resulting in about the hardest lick I ever took to my chin while in grade school. Lesson learned!

The sandbox was fun, but held few challenges except to the mind. What could be made, what could be used to make it and how could you transport water from the fountain behind the school to the sandbox to make the sand stick together were always of importance. So to was finding what was buried beneath the sand and who the heck let the cat in? And how many times did we go home with our shorts filled with sand thanks to someone we thought was a friend? I have a great story I'll share someday on meeting one of my best friends as a result of the East Clinton playground sandbox.

The monkey-bar was a tangled web of steel rods and pipes and offered many avenues for fun. Hanging upside down from one of the bars seemed to be a common thing to do, especially from the top center bar. From the top of the monkey-bar you should see probably 15 feet further than you could from the bottom, but the view seemed to be worth the climb. It probably does not exist today, not because it is not politically correct to call it after a monkey, but because child safety is of more concern today than it was back then. After all, someone could fall and get hurt, couldn't they?

In the middle of the other items, stood the Matterhorn of slides - at least to a soon to be second-grader. The huge metal slide was scary to climb from the steps side, and even a greater challenge and fright to climb from the slanting, shiny, slide side. (Try saying that three times in a row!) At the top landing of the slide was a metal platform maybe three foot square with a roll-cage type contraption topped off with a bar that allowed sliders to do a flip entry onto the slide if one had the guts. If that was not your preference, then you could use it like a ski jump assist to propel yourself down the slide with a muscle assisted launch for faster speed. And while on the subject of speed, few can forget that the application of a little elbow-grease with a sheet of waxed paper could increase the speed potential of the stainless steel ramp multi-fold. I can not begin to guess how many rolls of wax paper disappeared from my grandmother's pantry to help me and my friends get the fastest slide ride possible. Later I found it odd that surfers used wax to keep a surfboard from being slippery instead of making it so.

On the opposite side of the school grounds from the playground was another type of speed thrill. It was the hill that seems to be not as big now as it was back then. On the west side was where we'd get cardboard boxes and use the dry grass of summer to slide down the hill in as many ways as possible using the cardboard vehicles. The boxes were usually procured at Kroger's or behind Kress's downtown. We'd ride down in the boxes forward, backward, sideways in solo and Gemini configurations until the sides finally broke loose on the boxes. Then they were spilt full open and we'd continue the rides, holding the front up to form a sled-runner type device. Again, at the end of the day our clothes usually revealed the level of fun we had.

While I am sure that the playground was used during recess by the lower grades, the back of the schoolyard became the place to have fun during the later period of my time at East Clinton. In the next installment we will look deeper into our memories of the school itself.

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Subject:Rison Sign

Bob Alverson

Class of '65

To answer Jim Pierce's question about the location of the Rison sign. If I remember correctly Bob Wilkinson, President of Coca Cola, got possession of the sign to keep it from being destroyed. The siren tower that is located by the Rison sign was originally located on Halsey at the end of Schiffman Street. It dated back to the old mill. I believe Bob is just attempting to keep some of the mill village treasures visible.

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Subject:My Sister Freda

Charlotte Massey

Class of '64

I was so honored and touched by you featuring the memorial of my beloved sister, Freda Massey Dobbs. The obit that appeared in the paper was corrected in later addition which stated she was from Courley and should have read Gurley and stated she had three great grandchildren and should have read grandchildren. The later addition also mentioned that she was a 1968 graduate of Lee High School and failed to mention that she attended Florence State College now know and UNA. Thank you also for signing the guestbook. Freda also attended Rison School for those that remember. I have printed copies of the edition to keep.

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Subject:Ice Cream

Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly

Class of '64

I remember being present on many occasions at many places during the process of making ice cream! The first one that popped into my head, however, involved Pat Mullins and her cousin, David Mullins (both Class of '64), and his sister, Myra (Class of '66?). I lived across the street from Pat at 114 Humes Avenue until I was in the 4th grade, at which time we moved to the west side of town. I used to play with Pat a lot and, of course, when David and Myra came to visit, they were a lot of fun! I just remembered that David was sort of my boyfriend briefly in the 9th grade. I just loved his father, "June," who owned the Shell Station at the corner of Oakwood and Parkway.

My parents both really thought highly of June, also. So when David asked me to go to the drive-in one night with him, accompanied by June, David's mother, as well as Myra, I figured this one was a no-brainer. If Daddy wouldn't let me "date" David before I turned 16, then he wouldn't let me date anyone! Well, you guessed it! I didn't get to go, because technically, Daddy pointed out, it was still a date. I can still remember wailing, "Daddy, I'll be sitting in the backseat with David and Myra!" All to no avail! Daddy finally let me start really dating about six weeks before I turned 16 (and was really mature!!!! HA!HA!HA!). I suppose that's not exactly true.

As I have previously written, my first "car date" was with Tony Thompson (he of the day-lily fame!) to our 9th grade banquet. His dad drove us. So homemade ice cream just set loose a slough of memories! I remember waiting for what seemed like forever for the ice cream to be ready, and boy, was it good! The members of the Mullins family sure knew how to churn out some great ice cream. We usually ran it all off chasing and catching lightning bugs and playing tag and hide-and-go-seek afterward. Hello to Pat, David, Myra, and Tony!

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Ginger Cagle Moore, Class of '66

This flowered pattern you have on the last issue is on dishes. My Daddy's mother had a whole complete set of it. It was from Jewel Tea and they gave it to her when she bought things from them. I guess the way Kroger's/ Winn Dixie does now. I wish I had it now. But I'm sure when she died it was all given out to different family members. I know Aunts and Uncles had some of it. Daddy does too. I ask him to look on the bottom but couldn't find the name of the pattern. Just that it said Mary (I think) and Jewel Tea. We talk about them every time we see pieces of it somewhere. My grandmother use to save them for special occasions, like Xmas and Thanksgiving. . She use to let me eat on it tho because she said I was her special one. She always had me raw cabbage when I went becasue it's what I loved to eat. I still do. I love the website. Keep up the good work

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Mike Griffith, Class of '66

I have no idea what the pattern is called, but I have a cup and saucer left from what I believe was an entire set of dishes that my mother had in this pattern. We lived on Virginia Boulevard until I finished the second grade and I remember the "Jewel Tea man" making regular rounds to the neighborhood; I remember that he drove a brown truck that reminds me of the current-day UPS "brown." I don't know whether or not we bought tea from him, but my mother bought these dishes one or two at a time until she had the set that she wanted. I am sure that it took quite some time for her to get all of them and I have no idea what else Jewel Tea sold. They probably matched very well with the brown glass mugs (wooden handles attached with metal bands), painted with wagon wheels and western scenes, that we got one-at-a-time from the service station as my dad bought gas!?!

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The Rest of the Story...

Jewel's connection with the Hall China Company of East Liverpool, Ohio dates from the early to mid-1920's with the introduction of teapots offered as premiums to customers. The most famous "Autumn Leaf" pattern china appeared in the 1930's and remains today as one of the most collectible Hall China patterns ever offered to the public. The Morning Glory pattern appeared during the 1940's but would never compare to the illustrious china decorated with the familiar yellow, brown, orange motif and trimmed in gold often referred to as "Jewel Tea" or "Autumn Leaf." During the 1950's "Cameo Rose" china became available which only recently has developed a large popularity of collectors.

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