Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly, Joy Rubins Morris, Rainer Klauss, Bobby Cochran, Collins (CE) Wynn, Eddie Sykes, Don Wynn, Paula Spencer Kephart, Cherri Polly Massey
Contributors: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 and Others
From Our
Mailbox
Not much e-mail activity this week, so this issue will be a little smaller than usual. Hope everyone is getting their acts together for the reunion. I know the Reunion Committee is working hard.
Please include your name and class year with your e-mail to me.
T. Tommy
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This Week's
Myster-Lee Photo
Reunion Opened For Visitors
Remember that you don't have to be a member of the Classes of '64-'65-'66 to sign up and to come to our reunion. The Reunion Committee has elected to open our doors and hearts to members of other classes or just friends from other schools who would like to attend. Even if you did not graduate with us, you're still invited. The Reunion Application can be found below and you are welcome to send it in with your money and attend all the activities. We welcome all who want to party with us.
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Last Week's
Myster-Lee Photo
Here's The
Deal On The Golf
by Tommy Towery
Class of '64
Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter, Class of '65, e-mailed me to say that her brother Todd tried to get a tee time for us but he said that he can't get them until one week before the reunion. Some of you wrote that you can't play on Saturday...some can't play on Friday. Some are still not certain if they will play or not. Hey, I can't "play" at all, but I try.
If we stay up late on Friday as we have always done in the past, then an early Saturday morning Tee Time is not atractive to a lot of folks (me included), even if we could find a course that will accomidate us.
So, here's what I've set up. I called the Sunset Landing Golf Course out by the airport (where we played after the last reunion) and they are having a big tournament on Saturday, but Friday is open. It is first come - first served. Since they are very close to where we are all staying, then that is a good choice of courses, in my opinion.
This course, formerly known as Jetport Golf Course, reopened under new management and a new name in 1997. It is six miles from the Marriott, by the airport. The design is somewhat flat and easy to walk. The fairways are wide open, and the greens are well maintained. There is a lake that comes into play on one hole, and the wind can be a factor. The #5 hole is par 4 and the #8 hole is par 3.
So, I am planning on playing at 3pm on Friday afternoon, August 19, and will join up with whoever shows up to play. The cost is $16.00 w/cart. If we can get two or three foursomes up we'll go from there. If there is only one, we'll have a good time. We don't have enough definates to get much more attention from the courses. We'll all meet at the clubhouse at about 2:45pm, pick groups and have fun. That's about all that I can work out based on the options available. We'll try to work out a longest ball, closest to the flag and things like that, but we'll really just play for fun and to visit.
When we get through we'll head back to the hotel for a quick shower or dip in the pool and then party with the rest of the class.
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The Russel Erskine Hotel
by Tommy Towery
Class of '64
The photos we have been using for our Mystery Photos for the last few weeks were supplied by Collins (CE) Wynn, Class of '64. When he sent them in he wrote, "You ran a group photo from this same event about two years ago - it was the only photo I had at the time. Walt Thomas told me the event was at the Russel Erskine Hotel ballroom in 1962 but neither he nor I could name the occassion. Pershaps some of the readers could offer some input - even identify everyone in each photo. I know the bottom left photo is Woody Beck, Miles Ramsey, and Lynn Baeder. I don't have a yearbook for reference so I'm seriously handicapped when trying to name names. I'm certain I know the guy trying to get under the stick but I just can't call it. By the way, how many would remember the "Limbo"? Do you think anyone would dare try that now?"
The photos of the hotel above are from a 1949 postcard. It is interesting to see what they brag about offering to their guests on the back of the card. "150 rooms each with Bath, Circulating Ice Water, Electric Fan and Radio, Fireproof Garage connecting with Lobby, Air Conditioned Coffee Shop." The postcard had a one-cent stamp on it, so I wonder how much one of the rooms cost back then. And was circulating ice water an early attempt at Air Conditioning or water to drink?
As usual, I had to do some investigation about the hotel before I asked my Classmates for some of their own memories of it, if they have any. I'll wait until next week to give my own personal memories of this historic building.
On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, the following article appeared in The Huntsville Times.
Happy days are here again at the Russel Erskine Hotel. An evening party on April 28 recalling the landmark hotel's glory days will put you in good spirits. Historic Huntsville Foundation invites you to revisit the 1950s at the Russel Erskine and enjoy delicious food, wine, beer and soft drinks while you tour the public areas and note items of architectural interest.
The hotel hosted teen dances, civic-club functions, an "Ed Sullivan Show" segment and actress Bette Davis. This is where many children had their first formal meal, complete with REH-monogrammed napkins, and where many men had their first sips of alcohol. The Blue Room was the first cocktail lounge in North Alabama. The hotel has since been converted to apartments and is anticipating another renovation.
Another Huntsville Times article talked about the history of the hotel:
The 12-story Times Building was completed in 1928 at the corner of Holmes Avenue and Green Street. The Times Building, with its terra cotta eagles above the main entrances and a giant beacon mounted on top, was Huntsville's second skyscraper.
Legend persists that Times editor Emory Pierce was determined to construct the tallest building in town, and, fearful that the Hotel Russel Erskine would be taller, he hastily added another floor. Since elevator service had only been planned for 11 floors, visitors to the top story faced one flight of steps.
Construction workers kept building up in 1928 as they worked on the Hotel Russel Erskine. The 12-story building was completed in 1930 and was the scene of Huntsville's prominent social functions for years.
Built on a bluff overlooking Big Spring Park, it could be spotted from several miles away - that is, if you had the right angle when you were coming into town on a clear day. The decline of downtown in the 1960s forced the hotel to close and an attempt to reopen it in 1970s failed. Today the building has been converted to housing for the elderly and handicapped. It is located at 115 W. Clinton Ave.
I also found out that the contract for the hotel construction was let for $500,000. The Hotel Russel Erskine was named for Albert Russel Erskine, who was born in Huntsville,Alabama, on Jan.24,1871 and died in 1933. He was an industrialist and president of the Studebaker Corporation from 1915-1933. He ;donated the Erskine Addition to Maple Hill in 1918 and the stone entranceway in 1916 in memory of his mother, Sue Ragland Erskine.
If any of you Huntsville residents have an idea what is currently going on with the hotel, I wish you would share it with the rest of us. I'll publish all the comments next week. I have a few stories of my own about the hotel and will print them next week as well. Surely some of you remember something about it.
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Tommy Towery, Class of '64 - No one else sent in a guess at who this was in the floor at the party, but to me the one in the white coat looks like Lehman Williams. Anyone else have an idea?
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Subject:Golf at the Reunion
Richard Lyons
Class of '66
Tommy,
If we play on Friday, I want to play. However, if it is on Saturday, I cannot not. When plans get finalized, please post in the news letter. Thanks for what you do!!!
(Editor's Note: We had several e-mails from those that want to play or cannot play, but will not print them all here. Instead we ask you to see the golf notice below)
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Okay, I know the editor is in this photo and so is another famous person. So who else recognizes any of the classmates? Stories anyone?
