Joyce Whitlock Reiling, Class of '66 - One of my favorite shows long ago was Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges; I'm not sure if that's the show you're referring to or not. SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I love all the work you do getting the newspaper to us each week! Thank you for all you do!
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Thomas Jan Hunt - S.C.U.B.A. stands for SELF CONTAINED UNDERWATER BREATHING APPARATUS and was invented by the French oceanographer Jacque Cousto. I may have misspelled his name.
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John Scales, Class of '66 - OK, here's my try. SCUBA - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. "Sea Hunt" (? - just a guess), Lloyd Bridges.
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Vern Lucan, Class of '64 -Tommy, The TV show was 'Sea Hunt' starring Lloyd Bridges (father of Beau and Jeff) and SCUBA was for 'Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus'. I had learned to dive before moving to Huntsville and watched the show every week. Thanks for the memories.
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Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly, Class of '64 - SCUBA stands for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus." The series would be "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges. See -- I told you I knew guy things! And I have played with the little soda-powered toy, although I don't remember owning one.
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Jim Myrick, Class of '66 - SCUBA stands for self contained underwater breathing apparatus. The show was Sea Hunt starring Loyd Bridges. Thats staright from a worn out 59 year old memory.
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Aaron Potts - I was totally amazed that you would even mention SCUBA in the Traveller. I worked at NASA for several long years in their Neutral Buoyancy Test Simulation operations Group. I was a SCUBA diver working very closely with two of the American Astronauts for several weeks. One of them went to the moon and tried to put a golf ball in orbit around the moon. That was Commander Allen Bean. The series you are making reference to (I think) is Lloyd Bridges in the series of Sea Hunt, that was filmed at Silver Springs, Florida. I know very well what S.C.U.B. is. It is an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. N.A.S.A. would put large things in their underwater tank (about half the size of a football field about 50 feet deep) and then they would spray it with a very buoyant material. Afterwards, they would shave enough of the material off the item to make it neutrally buoyant. A device that is neutrally buoyant is in a state of not rising to the surface now would it sink. This would simulate outer space because the item being tested would be essentially weightless as it were in outer space. We immediately started testing doors after Grisom, Chaffy, and White were killed in a fire inside the command module caused by a nylon space suit creating static electricity in a pure oxygen atmosphere. Les than 10 seconds later they were dead!!!
My Association with Lee High School.is that I was one of the first to attend Lee when it was combined with Lincoln and Rison Schools.
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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - No Google needed for this one, Tommy. "SCUBA" is self contained underwater breathing apparatus. The show was a Fussell family favorite -- Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges. A real trivia guy would remember his character name -- I don't. I do remember that he always had the twin tank SCUBA gear while the bad guys only had a single tank. Kind of an underwater Roy Rogers thing, I suppose. Now - off to Target.
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Kevin Rice, Class of '71 - This week's trivia question........Sea Hunt with Loydd Bridges as Mike Nelson. My favorite afternoon show. SCUBA, self contained underwater breathing apparatus.
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Patsy Hughes Oldroyd, Class of ‘65 - For your other bit of trivia… SCUBA is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Lloyd Bridges starred in the television series that you mentioned. I can’t really remember, but I think it was titled something like “Treasure Hunt or Sea Hunt”??? Anyway, maybe I got part of this correct for once. Have a great week, and thanks so much for your hard work publishing the news each week. I am guilty of being an active participant as far as reading it, but I have done nothing as far as contributing to it. Bad Patsy.
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Don Wynn, Class of '67 - The show was 'Sea Hunt' and the star was Lloyd Bridges, the father of all the Bridges who are popular in movies now. It is odd that this show helped make SCUBA diving popular but the star violated to most important rule in diving, to always dive with a buddy. Lloyd Bridges always went diving alone. In the show, his stage name was 'Mike' but I have forgotten the last name.
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Dwight Jones, Class of '64 - SCUBA...Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. This is something that brings back several memories to me. I remember the summer of '63 after watching the TV series, FROGMAN staring Mike Bridges, I decided I wanted to get involved with scuba diving. Back then, untill I knew the real definition, we refered to it as "skin diving" rither than scuba diving. Skin diving is somewhat the same sport, the difference being that you don't use an air tank in order to stay underwater longer or go deeper into the water. You use only a facemask with a snorkel and "rubber flippers" or "fins" on your feet to move faster or easier. The snorkel is used to breath through while you float on top of the water looking down through the facemask at whatever lies below.
I found out through someone, I don't remember who now, that you could take scuba lessons at the YMCA so I preceeded to get involved, thinking about all the "treasures" that lay in the Tennessee river that awaited me as soon as I knew enough to attemp going underwater and exploring everthing. I obtained the equipment I needed for the great experince, being one scuba or air tank, one set of fins, one underwater facemask with snorkel, a spearfish gun, and of course, a shark knife, as it was called, that u could strap to your lower leg just in case a shark showed up and you had to defend yourself while diving in the ocean, more about this later. I took several leason's and learned the basics for diving with the first being , never dive without a partner. This kinda put a knick into my plans but I was sure someone would be interested in trying this along with me. As it turned out I talked Mike Gray "class of '64", my running around buddy at the time, into going to the river and watching from the bank.
Since he didn't have any scuba equipment at the time and couldn't dive with me as I dove into the dark deep Tennessee river to see what awaited me, I felt this would be ok for the time being.
Where I attempted my first dive was in water between Hobbes Island and the bank. For those that don't know or remember this area, it's about a 1/2 mile east of the bridge that crosses the river on the 231/431 highway running north and south from Huntsville to Arab.
Things didn't work out like I had planned though. First of all, I needed another piece of equipment called a weight belt, which is a belt with lead weights weighing about 10 lbs or so that your strap around your waste to help you sink in the water and stay under easier since the human body floats natural, as most of you know, and with the air tank on which also adds to the bouncy.
Another problem was I was a bit nervous not knowing what I might run into once under the water. I had heard tails of catfish big enough to eat a human body in the river along with snakes and turtles that could bite you, but since the area I was in was only about 6 feet deep, I felt like being no deeper than that if something went wrong I could manage to resurface safely. I managed to get to the bottom of the river anyway without the weight belt. To my "surprise" the water was so muddy I couldn't even see my hand in front of my facemask. I think I did feel around and found a couple of mussel shells while under the water. Afterwords it seems I recall Mike telling me that during my great adventure of around 5 minutes or so under the water I was really just standing on my head with my feet out of the water. Hey, don't laugh. How was I to know that with my head 6 feet under and water so muddy I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, that my feet wasn't? I wasn't even thinking about my FEET!!
Anyway as it turned out when we graduated in 1964 I'm sure most remember, it was "Panama City or Burst" so Mike and I had already decided we had to go plus I had all this scuba equipment that needed to be tried in the ocean where you could at least see something. We were all excited about being able to scuba dive, well I was more than Mike since he still didn't have any equipment, but hey, I told him he could use mine and see what it looked like under the water if he would like to, so he agreed he would try it out once we got there.
Once we arrived in Panama City, there was so much going on I almost forgot about the scuba diving, you know, girls and beer and more girls and beer, but we did adventure out for a short time to try the scuba gear out. I remember Mike wanting to try first so I told him I would just float around on the surface while he was under the water and let him look all he wanted to. He got all the equipment on and we swam out into water about 8 feet deep or so. He managed to get under the water close to the bottom even without the "weight belt" while I swam around on the surface. After about 3 or 4 minutes under He came "flying" to the surface and swimming as hard as he could to the bank with the look on his face like he had seen a ghost. By the time I made it to the bank he had all the equipment off and was saying " did u see that big shark". I had no idea what he was talking about since I was only floating on the surface without anyway of seeing what was going on under the water. I told him no..I didn't see anything and he keep insisting that he had seen this "BIG" shark swimming around him. As it truned out, after things settled down, we figured out what he had seen was not a shark after all but was my shadow showing through the water as I swam above him while he was underneath. I can remember kidding him aftewards that he had no reason to be afraid since he had the "shark knife" straped on his leg he could have used since that was a part of the scuba diving equipment.
I'm sure whoever reads this may question it to be the truth, but it really is, and if you look in the Silver Saber Annual of 1964 under my picture you will see I had big plans for scuba diving. I had planned to join the Navy and become a "Skin Diver" but because of a certain health reason I was turned down by the Navy. So that's my experience as far as SCUBA goes.
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Established March 31, 2000 89,786 Previous Hits Monday - February 20, 2006
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
Okay you Sunday morning Lee's Traveller Coffee Drinking Club, I hope you made an extra cup or two today, since this week's issue should keep you busy for a while. Thanks, thanks, thanks to all of you who elected to participate and not just "lurk" with last week's issue. I'm happy that so many of you found something memorable to comment on.
Please include your name and class year with your e-mail to me.
T. Tommy
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Last Week's
Mystery Photo
From Our
Mailbox
For those that really like Trivia, take the really hard test below before you read your classmates' comments. No cheating now.
Sea Hunt Trivia
by Tommy Towery
Class of '64
1.What was the name of the character played by Lloyd Bridges on Sea Hunt?
2.How soon before shooting the pilot for Sea Hunt did Lloyd Bridges take diving lesson?
a.1 day
b.3 months
c.1 year
d.5 years
3.What color was the wetsuit he wore?
4.Did he normally wear a single or a twin air tank?
5.What was the name of the boat used in Sea Hunt?
6.In what year did Sea Hunt first air?
a.1955
b.1958
c.1960
d.1962
7.For how many seasons did it run?
a.2
b.4
c.6
d.8
8.How many total episodes were filmed?
a.39
b.66
c.99
d.155
9.How many of those episodes were filmed in color?
a.None
b.Two
c.Half
d.All
10.Which famous site in Florida was used for filming many of the underwater scenes?
After you've written down your answers, then read the comments below. Send in your guesses if you wish. Answers will be printed next week.
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Sea Hunt Was Popular
With Our Fami-LEE
Click photo above to hear "Sea Hunt" Theme
Father of Lee Boyer James, Jr.
Class of '65
Passes Away
(From The Huntsville Times)
Lee Boyer James
April 16, 1920 - Feb. 12, 2006
Retired Col. Lee Boyer James passed away peacefully Sunday in Huntsville. He was born in Charlestown, Ind., the son of school teachers Floyd Ellsworth James and Nina Boyer. He had a strong interest in the Boy Scouts and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He took his senior year at Columbia Military Academy in Tennessee to prepare for appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Immediately following graduation from West Point in 1943, he wed Kathleen Galloway of Columbia, Tenn. The ceremony was held in the West Point Chapel. He was assigned to the European theater and received a Bronze Star. Post-war, his work with the U.S. Army was in guided missiles. Missile related assignments were at Fort Bliss, Texas, the Florida missile test site at Cape Canaveral, Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and finally Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. After 21 years of Army service he retired with the rank of colonel. The family remained in Huntsville, where he joined NASA and directed the Saturn V rocket program during the moon launches. His NASA service also include time in Washington D.C. as deputy director of the Apollo Program. The James' traveled extensively after retirement to visit their son in Washington State as well as many parts of the world that they had never seen. Col. James is survived by Kathleen, his loving wife of 63 years; his son, Lee Boyer James Jr. of Coupeville, Wa.; grandsons, Michael James of Olympia, Wa., and David James and his wife, Jamie Garcia James, of Oak Harbor, Wa.; daughter, Janet James Holland of Huntsville; and granddaughter, Victoria Holland and husband, Mike Low of Evanston, Ill., and their two sons, Chapin and Conner. Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at First Presbyterian Church with Dr. Mel Strain officiating. Burial will be in Maple Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the National or American Parkinsons Associations or First Presbyterian Church.
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You Know You're Old When
1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of "hook up" and "break up."
8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."
10. You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo.
11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers.
15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
16. You take naps.
17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good stuff."
21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
22. "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again."
23. 90 percent of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking "Oh S*$#, what the hell happened?"
Bonus:
26: You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old butt. Then you forward it to a bunch of old pals and friends 'cause you know they'll enjoy it and do the same.
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Subject:Baking Soda Submarines
Bruce Fowler
Class of '66
American Science and Surplus (www.sciplus.com) sells the submarines and many other items of interest. What's interest? My wifee Carol refers to this firm as the nerd's toy store and has been known to hide the monthly catalog when it arrives so I won't waste time. money, and storage space on ths indispensible stuff they sell. I beleieve ASS is the outlet organ of Edmund Scientific, which is a name familiar to those of us who were more interested in the year's science fair than the prom. Yours in Rocket Science.
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Subject:Snow Cream
Ann Franklin
Guest
I enjoyed your article about snow cream. How well I remember eating snow cream as a child. It's been a long time, but I've also made snow cream for my children. When my mother made snow cream, she was careful to skim off the top layer of snow saying that it wasn't clean. Did you skim off the top layer?
I hope that you don't mind, but I'm including your Snow Cream recipe in our Rison-Dallas Association Cookbook. I grab recipes wherever I can find them!
I also hope that you've marked your calendar to attend our next reunion on Saturday, August 5, 2006; I'll send you a reminder.
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Subject:Danny Prady
Eddie Burton
Class of 66
Tommy, I just read the note from Dianna (May) Stephenson and I will ask Danny's brother for any details of his later life and eventual death at too early age. Hopefully I'll have more a little later.
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Subject:Danny Prady
Barbara Seeley Cooper
Class of '66
I wanted to send my memories of Danny Prady. I cannot say when he started at Lee or when he left, but we dated a few times. I will never forget him coming to our house in Lakewood with a go cart, and him asking me to go on a ride around the neighborhood. It was truly amazing that my parents allowed me to ride with Danny. I was terrified on the ride because I had been led to believe those gadgets were a "death trap", but it was wonderfully exciting as well as a really unusual date. Danny was a very sweet and thoughtful person. I was not aware of his death, and am very sad to hear of it.
One other comment. I am sorry I could not make the reunion this year due to family obligations. The photos were wonderful, and there was one very significant constant throughout all of the pictures. What amazing, joyful, happy smiles! We may be getting on in age, but everyone seems to be focusing on the things that matter. Even better, the photos of the prior reunion were very much enjoyed by me. I had not seen any of them before....ordered a video that never came, so it was great to relive that reunion.
T. Tommy, thank you for keeping all of us on the right page.
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Subject:Rainer's Darwin Downs Article
Charles Bradshaw
Father of Carole Bradshaw 1964
Message to Rainier Klauss. I read his article about Darwin Downs. We moved there in 1953-April-June. We were at 31 Bide-a-wee. He moved in before we did. I car-pooled with his Dad and Prof. Buchhold who lived on Pratt or close. We pooled for several months. We moved in the fall of 1953 and I lost track of his Dad. We returned to Huntsville in 1956 and lived at the corner of Waltham Dr. and Lee Hwy, just across the fence from the scchool. Children Carole, Bob and Alan all graduated there. Rainier tell me about your Dad. Charles Bradshaw
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Escoe German Beatty, Class of '65 -I knew it was the old "Tony" Theater, later the "Martin" but I didn't say anything because I thought so many others would answer. Alas, never assume! Do I win a cruise??? Ha Ha!
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Kevin Rice, Class of '71 - Thanks for that hint......I new I had seen those faces many times. It's the old Martin theater. I think that was the orginal name, the one across from the Lyric.
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Martin Theatre (Tony Theatre)
Opening date: 1960/05/26
(From hsvmovies.com)
First movie shown: Wild River
The Tony Theatre opened on Washington Street on Thursday, May 26, 1960. The address changed from 114 to 112 to 116 over the years. There was an open-house from 7:00 to 10:00 on Wednesday, May 25, 1960, where admission was free and people were free to tour the theatre and see the projection equipment in action while cartoons and short subjects were continuously played. An RCA engineer was on hand to answer questions about the projection and sound.
This theatre advertised that it had, at the time, Alabama's largest indoor screen. It also claimed in its ads to have the first traveling-message sign in Huntsville and the first one to be used in the nation for theatre attraction. Other features of the theatre were 4-color hand-screen painted curtains, 4-Track stereo sound, and "staggered seating vision". The seating and stage setup equipment were furnished by Massey Seating Company, Nashville, TN.
The first movie shown at this location (on May 26, 1960) was "Wild River".
This theatre became the Martin Theatre on September 19, 1962. At least that is the date that the theatre was advertised as such.
This theatre's last day of business was August 23, 1982.
Some previous managers: Edwin W. Story (1961), Calvin J. Brown (1962-1970), James C. Boyett (1971), Buren A. Eidson (district manager for Martin Theatres, 1972-1977)
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More Snow Cream Thoughts
by Joy Rubins Morris
Class of '64
How well I remember snow cream. I think the first time I tasted it was where we were living in Kingsport, Tennessee (I was about eight at the time). I thought it was wonderful. And we were also told to only seek out the freshest snow which was on top and never to choose any snow that was any other color than white.
Our three small grandsons have never tasted snow cream and I was hoping that the recent snows Tennessee was having would bring us snow as well. But no such luck—we got a dusting and there was no way to scrap enough snow even if we wanted to to make snow cream.
Watching the wonder and delight on our grandsons faces at what snow we did get really brought back a lot of fond memories. We, too, could not wait for snow days so we would not have to attend school. We would bundle up in anything we had handy and put old bread wrappers over our shoes to try to keep out the snow as well as keep our feet dry. It never worked but we didn’t care. Mom or Dad would take pictures which later ended up in the family album.
I don’t know if anyone remembers the ice storm that hit Huntsville (somewhere between 1959 and 1962?) but I do remember Dad driving us up the mountain to see the trees covered in ice. It was beautiful and again there are pictures in the family album of us standing in front of ice laden trees and power lines. How Dad ever got up the mountain and down again without taking a short cut down through the side of the mountain I will never know. I certainly would not attempt such a trip today. I do remember it was cold and I could not wait to get back in the car to get warm.
I am hopeful that before this winter is out, we might still get snow so that our grandsons can have their first taste of snow cream, bundle up in whatever is handy, cover their shoes in bread wrappers and have the time of their lives. And, of course, Granna or Granddad will be out there with a digital camera to take lasting memories of their wonder and delight in their snow adventures.
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This Week's
Mystery Photo
This photo was submitted by Gary Hatcher, Class of '66, who said he's had this little fellow since 1966. Anyone know the history of this endangered species? Send your thoughts for us to share with your classmates.
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Hunting Accident?
by Lehman Williams
Class of '64
The current ruckus over the V.P. shooting his friend brought back memories. I seem to recall that Dwight Jones, his Dad and I, went hunting when I was about 12. I don't remember exactly what we were hunting, anything that moves is my guess. ( Could be confused with looking for a girl to take to Woody's Drive-In ) But that's another story. Anyway, I seem to remember Dwight shooting his Dad in the face and chest with a shotgun from about 50 yards. I don't think Dwight gave a press conference and I don't really remember him saying that it was an accident. Maybe Dwight could add something to the story. I'll give some thought to the Drive-In story and see if it is possible to clean it up for publication. Don't worry Ladies, I don't remember your names either - anyway - they went to either Huntsville, Butler or Grissom. ( Did I spell that correctly?)
