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Hello Classmates from Hilton Head Island, SC. Sue and I arrived tonight after a great five day cruise on the Carnival Celebration. We sailed out of Jacksonville, FL and went to Key West and Nassau and two fun days at sea. The cruise was a great experience, but we did not get back in time to get this issue of Lee's Traveller done before now. But, we're still on schedule.After our reunion this past August, I traveled down to our home in Sandestin, Florida for a month or so. In late September, I drove back up to Chevy Chase, Maryland taking an alternative route that took me through Sylacauga, Alabama where I remembered that I had last heard from my favorite Lee teacher, Miss Penelope Moore. I was one of several Lee Students that had Miss Moore for both 10th and 11th grade English. Without question, this was the best learning experience of my 20 or so years of formal education. She even influenced me and several other Lee students to attend Birmingham-Southern College, her alma mater.Though I had never seen her over the intervening years, I had period telephone contact with Miss Moore every four or five years, just to see how she was doing. In 1991 she contacted me to ask whether I would write a letter of reference for her as she had been nominated for Alabama Teacher of the Year. She went on to explain that she probably wouldn't be selected since she had primarily worked as a librarian for many years after developing voice problems that made classroom teaching difficult. I recalled her several bouts of laryngitis even back in 1963 and 1964. Naturally, I was delighted to write the letter and took pains to make sure it was grammatically correct and even a bit witty. About six months later, I received a nice packet of press clippings from Miss Moore with the happy news that she had won the Alabama Teacher of the Year honor. Some of the clippings even quoted my letter. So arriving in Sylacauga this past September around 4:30 in the afternoon, I pondered how I would find her phone number. Just then I saw the public library up ahead and pulled over to a parking space right in front. I went to the front desk thinking to ask for a phone book. As it was nearly closing time (a rather sad commentary on library funding), I asked the several people behind the counter whether they knew Penelope Moore. All immediately replied, "Of Course we do!" and started telling me about her home (one of Sylacauga's older houses), her recent illness (she was hospitalized for two months with a debilitating stomach ailment), and her Uncle Johnny (the 92 year old Uncle that she cares for at home). One guy drew a map to her house and said, "You can't miss it...it's right next to the McDonald's." Thinking "what's the worse that could happen?" I decided to drive right over rather than calling. So I did. Her beautiful old home is indeed next to the McDonalds but happily separated by a graceful line of very old trees. The house could use a new coat of paint and badly needed to have the leaves raked but I'm guessing that retired teachers have little extra money for home maintenance. It was very clear that no one uses the front door but rather the side entrance by a screened in porch. I knocked on the door and Miss Moore, very recognizable as the teacher I remembered, came to the door. Apparently 40 years made me less recognizable than she (perhaps because I no longer have a flat-top haircut) but she did recognize my name. I went in and spent a lovely two hours or so with Miss Moore and Uncle Johnny. It was quite a thrill for me and she even seemed to enjoy the intrusion. What was really startling to me was the realization that she is only about eight years older than me. She taught at Lee when she was about 25 years old and roomed with Ann Ingram, another Lee teacher, in a little apartment. She said that she had taught more than 3000 students over the years but that her fondest memories were of the Classes of 64 and 65. (She probably says that to all her old students but I was happy to let her assertion go unchallenged). She asked about several people whose names she could recall and I gave her the news of our 40th reunion. She said that she would have liked to attend but was hospitalized during that time.She told me several shocking stories including how she and Jimmy Blackburn (math teacher extraordinaire) would bring a bottle of champagne to the graduations where they passed out the cap and gowns. They and several other teachers would sip champagne from paper cups while the class went through the ceremony of graduation. She also recalled how Mr. Blackburn once played his electric piano for someone's wedding on a bridge over in Scottsboro. Apparently Mr. Blackburn was in a boat below the bridge where the wedding was held. Or something like that. She couldn't recall the Lee student, a girl, whose wedding it was. Do any of you know?Should any of you want to write her, do so at PO Box 479, Sylacauga, AL 35150. Her phone number is in the Sylacauga phone book under Penelope Moore. Or just stop at the library for detailed directions to her home.
My step-daughter got a great kick out of the fact that I waited until the year I turn 60 to take my first flight in an ultralight. Although I'll technically not turn 60 until June 21, I like the way she worded it.We went on the cruise with our travelling buddies from Colorado, and the one thing he wanted to do in Key West was to ride in an amphibious ultralight that his brother had ridden in when he visited there last year. We tracked it down and both took a ride. We flew out over Key West and as a special treat, took a look at our cruise ship. Later on I was talking to one of the other passengers on the ship and he said he saw the ultraflight fly over and told his wife "Look at that crazy SOB." I told him he was probably right. Although the wind was up a little, it was a great feeling. Ask me about it someday.
