Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Auld Lang Syne, 2005

by Skip Cook

Class of ’64

My right hand ran over the shirts in the closet while getting ready for work this morning. My hand stopped on a certain pink shirt and a smile started to creep over my face. I greeted that shirt with a “Hey old friend, I remember wearing you on Saturday night at the LHS Reunion in August. Son, we had a great time that night, didn’t we?” As I grabbed a cup of coffee for the short drive to work my mind kept going back to that August weekend and the vivid memories of old friends, shared experiences, a great band, and a few adult beverages.

One question kept rolling around in my head “Why hadn’t you attended a reunion celebration before?” At the five year interval, I had an easy excuse for not attending. I was in the army, stationed at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. For the 10 year reunion, I had just moved to Tallahassee, bought a house, and money was a little tight with that new mortgage payment. For a 15 year reunion (did we have one?), divorce and its corresponding financial impact caused a tremendous hit. At 20 years, it was a new marriage and a baby. Yes, I was a first time father at age 37…..the entire class should remember that I was a very slow starter.

Looking back I could have attended most of the reunion. I think inertia set in at this point and it was a matter of “Why should I go to a reunion now?” In hind sight and considering the experience from this summer, that was an absolutely dumb question….my friends will also remember that I was not at the top academically either.

If I am physically capable of travel, I will never miss another Lee High School Reunion again. As I look at the photo of John Drummond and me that was posted in Lee's Traveller for the reunion edition, I don’t think that anybody there that weekend could have possibly had a better time than I did. The following are just a few of those memories that will be with me for a long time.

Huntsville’s sweltering summer heat didn’t even begin to dull the smiles that were in abundance that evening as old friends recognized each other. You couldn’t take two steps without bumping into an old friend that you hadn’t seen for so many years. The time melted away that night as I tried to talk to everyone I knew or recognized. Due to the efforts with the weekly newsletter, I had reconnected with several old friends and communicated regularly via e-mail. Although e-mail has been a great was to stay in touch with classmates, friends, it was a thrill to see and talk with them in person. There wasn’t any pretentiousness, just honest joy at the opportunity to say “How have you been? Catch me up on your life”. While getting caught up with Bobby Cochran and his wife Sandy, someone behind me yelled “Skip Cook, where have you been?” It was Phil Stewart, a close friend that I last saw in about 1970. We reflected on a trip to Panama City during the summer of ’68, drinking beer at Woody’s Drive-In, and old girl friends that shall remain anonymous.

A few extra hours of sleep on Saturday morning, helped erase that extra one or two Coronas from Friday night. Saturday evening’s affair was extremely well planned and appeared to go off without a hitch. My thanks to all who made that happen. Niles Prestige was perhaps the best master of ceremonies in the world that evening. He moved the program along with grace and the ease that must come from doing television commercials for his business. Niles let me know that I had been selected as one of the six mystery classmates. My claim to fame? Being turned down for a date by Tricia Nixon….yes, the president’s daughter. Actually I was turned down twice by Tricia Nixon for a date but that’s a story for another day. Dwight Jones took the prize for giving up cigarettes after smoking for most of his life. Good job Dwight. The program came to a close and the band started to play. I’m sure that most minds went back to dances at Bradley’s as we saw Jerry Brewer in his true home….sitting behind a set of drums. I may not have felt 18 again, but I did feel a lot younger as I danced with classmates that I never had the courage to dance with in high school. Everyone appeared to be enjoying the band at least as much as I did. Tommy Towery has the moves of James Brown in his prime; Terry Lee and John Drummond can still do the “gator”; but John Fulda stole the show in my opinion…..on the dance floor, on crutches, recovering from a knee operation. An operation necessitated by a knee injury while participating in a rodeo (steer wrestling I think). You go big guy!!!

The band stopped playing and with the exception of a few conversations, the night ended. The next morning, breakfast in the main dining room reminded me of the Lee cafeteria in 1964. Greg Dixon and I reminisced about growing up in Lakewood, riding the bus to school, old girl friends, and life in general. Sally Dawley and her date joined us for breakfast and the conversations expanded from there. It was all over too soon and followed by a quiet ride back to Tallahassee, Florida. As I look back on the reunion, I am thankful for those that traveled much greater distances than I did to attend….Lehman Williams from California, Bob Cochran from Missouri, and Susie Wohlschlager to name just a few.

Thanks for the efforts. It was great to see you again. While looking through the directory for the classes of ’64, ’65, and ’66, I couldn’t help but notice the classmates who live in, or near, Huntsville that chose not to attend. Don’t miss the next reunion….I certainly won’t make that mistake again. Who knows, maybe the pink shirt will be around to make the reunion as well.

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Subject:Last Week's Issue

Gale Thompson

Class of '64

Tommy as I set here this Christmas morning, I read your article and I want everyone out there to just read that again. How true it is we may be here one day and the Lord will take us home we never know. Let us all live one day at a time a be thankful for all that we have. I had all the family over for Christmas and the one that was very dear to us and that loved Christmas was not with us, the Lord took him home 2 yrs ago. I hope that you folks have a good christmas, and I would like to which each and all of my classmates a very MERRY CHRISMAS and a very good NEW YEAR

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Subject:A Merry Little Christmas

Jim McBride

Class of ‘65

Hi Tommy, I’m writing to thank you for the article you wrote around the song, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. The article was honest and thought provoking. I thought about how fragile life is last weekend as I visited the gravesite of our dear friend, Terry Preston. I pay very close attention these days to special moments, whenever they occur, and wring every last once of pleasure out of them. That moment is never coming back.

I also wanted to share some info concerning the song. One of the writers of the song is from our great state.

Hugh Martin (born 1914 in Birmingham, Al) wrote the melody and Ralph Blane wrote the lyrics of that song. It is one of my favorite songs. Hugh wrote songs for stage and screen. He scored movies and wrote arrangements for Broadway.

He wrote the songs for “Meet Me In St. Louis”. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was from that movie.

He now lives in California. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall Of Fame as well as the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

His life is an interesting story that is easily tracked via the internet.

I’m very sorry to learn of the passing of Al Stewart. He was one of my favorite teachers.

I worked with him when I carried papers and I considered him a friend in later years. He was always honest with me, didn’t mind giving his opinion, controversial though it might be, and was easy to talk to when a problem arose. I learned a lot from him and most of it was not from the sociology textbook that we often times never got around to opening in his class. He was easily led into conversations concerning real life and I loved that. So much of what he said has turned to be the true. Adios Al.

Happy New Year to all.

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Subject:Thanks

George "Lehman" Williams

Class of '64

Tommy - Hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. Just wanted to say thanks for helping all Lee High graduates to recall faded and forgotten memories. I personally am lucky and thankful to have had the time to rekindle friendships with Terry Preston and Jerry Brewer, and to have started a friendship with someone that I just knew back then, Tommy Towery. I'm also a little sad that so many of our classmates and friends did not come to the 2005 Reunion and have the opportunity to remember and renew all those memories. Let's hope they do not miss the next opportunity.

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I AM GLAD THAT YOU

ARE IN MY "DASH"

Author Unknown

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone,

From the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth

And spoke the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

(1934 - 1998)

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth...

And now only those who loved her,

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;

The cars...the house...the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left,

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real,

And always try to understand

The way other people feel

And be less quick to anger,

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,

And more often wear a smile.

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy's being read

With your life's actions to rehash...

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

I am glad that you're in my life and part of my dash.

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My Daughter's Gift To Me

Is My Gift To You

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

This Christmas my daughter Tiffany gave me a gift of a one year subscription to one of the best photo storage/sharing sites on the internet today. The website is for Smugmug. This site allows you to upload an unlimited number of photos and share them with your friends and Fami-Lee.

A major feature of the site is that anyone viewing the photos can order copies of them for 25-cents each...and no, I don't get any of the money. You can also view the photos and if you PC users right click on the photo, you can select to "save" it and it can be saved to your own computer.

So, since I have yet to do anything with the 379 pictures I took with my 6.1 megapixel Digital Rebel, I uploaded them to Smugmug. Many of you have been asking for more photos from the reunion, so here they are. You can also view a slideshow of them if you click the right button.

I don't have all of them labeled, but I think you are allowed to add comments, so help yourself. So, if you want your own copy of the photo above of Skip Cook and John Drummond, or any of the other 378 photos, you can buy them and have them mailed to you at home. Let me know what you think if you decide to view them, and let me know how they turn out if you buy prints.

Click the link below to go view the photos.

http://ttowery.smugmug.com

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