Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

For all of you who are participating in the world of computer instant messengers, I want you to know that I have joined you as well. I will probably keep it running in my office during the workdays and if anyone wants to Instant Message me, use ttowery@memphis.edu and send a request and I'll add you to my contacts. I've also added a video camera and sound if you are that tech savy! If you do not know what I am talking about, you can go to Microsoft.com and download the MSN Instant Messenger version 7 for free. You need that version for the video. Boy, wouldn't this have been fun years ago?

I've still got a few graduation stories for future issues, but please keep them coming. It's amazing how few e-mails I get when I do NOT include a Mystery Photo, so I've included one this week.

Please include your class year with your e-mails.

T. Tommy

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My Graduation Present

by Linda Kinkle Cianci

Class of '66

Graduation gifts, oh how sweet. I received everything from frilly pajamas to pearls. The only gift I still have is a strand of pearls given by a friend's family. When Mike's nieces graduated from college last week, I wanted to give them the standard - money. Isn't that what everyone really wants? Mike wanted to give the girls a personal gift that lasts. After much deliberation and looking around, the answer was before my eyes - a single pearl surrounded by tiny diamonds on a fragile chain. When I fastened those necklaces on their necks last week, they were both as thrilled as I was 40 years ago. I hope they will still think of us every time they wear those pearls over the next 40. And I have changed my thinking about the perfect graduation gift.

Now...if only guys wore pearls on fragile chains! Anyone have ideas on gifts for guys?

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Lee Classmate Retires

From 30-Year Arsenal Career

Leading A New Team

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

By REBECCA SALLEE

For The Huntsville Times

Emily Vandiver retires after 30 year-career on arsenal, to head AUSA.

The first woman to head the Huntsville/Redstone Arsenal chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army is accustomed to going against the grain when need be.

But when the going gets tough, Emily Vandiver of Huntsville remembers the words of wisdom a general once spoke to her: "If everybody loves you, you're not doing what's best for the Army."

Vandiver has spent the last 30 years in work at Redstone Arsenal, where she began as an administrative assistant and retired in April as the director of the Applied Technology Initiatives Directorate in the AMCOM Research Development and Engineering Center.

For Vandiver, there is still plenty of work to do. She'll dedicate several hours a month as a special consultant for the center under the Army's volunteer emeritus program. She is also the vocational director of the Huntsville Rotary Club, the first vice president of the University of Alabama in Huntsville Alumni Association, and a volunteer for (and alumni of) the Huntsville/Madison County Adult Leadership Class.

And as president of the local AUSA chapter, which has some 2,400 individual and corporate members, Vandiver also will be immersed in a number of projects, from Armed Forces Week activities this summer to activities before and during the annual Veterans Day parade, Christmas support programs for military families, deployment and welcome home ceremonies for troops and much more.

"We do a tremendous amount of activities for soldiers and their families," said Vandiver, the mother of two grown children, Melissa and David, both of whom work in sales jobs in Atlanta.

A 1987 electrical and computer engineering graduate of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Vandiver worked in numerous jobs at the arsenal before her children were born, including those in travel, personnel, graphic arts and editorial. She left full-time work and returned several years later as a UAH co-op student, having chosen to major in engineering.

"I was thinking about the fact that I liked math and science, and it seemed to be an interesting arena - and it could add value," said Vandiver, who received the university's Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 2004.

While at Redstone, she served as technical manager for numerous programs, including the Rapid Force Projection Initiative Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration and the Commonality Study for Smart Weapons. She was named MICOM's "Woman of the Year" in 1994 and AMRDEC's Supervisor of the Year in 2005.

Jane Romine, administrative officer for the Applied Technology Initiatives Directorate, said Vandiver is "a wonderful boss" who is "very professional and wants things done correctly."

Vandiver also encourages her employees to continue their training and is "a fighter for what she thinks is right," Romine said.

Vandiver's plans for retirement? "I'm taking a couple of months off," Vandiver said. "Then I'm going to decide what I want to do when I grow up."

Already on the agenda are arts and crafts projects, metal sculpture, dancing and gardening, she said.

But two-year presidency at AUSA is probably the most challenging thing on her plate.

"We have established a really good team spirit and rapport," she said.

Vandiver said new members are always welcome to join the group.

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Subject:Slide Rule

Skip Cook

Class of ’64

My son graduated from college last month and we were making room for his 4-year collection of treasures to fit in our house on a temporary basis. In cleaning out the guest bedroom to make room for his things, I stumbled across my old K & E slide rule. He asked me what it was and I told him it was the forerunner of the calculator. I then attempted to show him how to do simple calculations on the slide rule…..I failed miserably. I guess what they say is true, if you don’t use it you lose it! I seem to recall that the slide rule was referred to as an “Auburn Dangler” when worn on the best.

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Subject:Slide Rules

Tommy Towery

Class of '64

I took a one-semester-hour course in "Slip Stick 101" as we called the slide rule course at Memphis State. I don't remember much about it, but in my piloting days I used a circular slide rule a lot, even one with a drift correction calculator on the back.

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Subject:Slide Rule and Job

Charlie Hancock

Class of '66

I didn't learn to use a slide rule until Chemistry 140 in 1973 after my military obligation was over. I still have it but would be hard pressed to use it.

I wanted to share some comments about my first job.

I started working at Big Brother's Grocery #4. It was a bit west of the (then) brand new Kroger store. I started at $.75/hr then as a 16 year old Junior. I graduated to $.80/hr. That was as high as I could go. I asked for $1 and was told no. So I quit and went to Winn Dixie. It was $1.25/hr but everyone was busting their but the whole shift. Every day. Hussel, hustle, hustle! Busting butt!

I asked Mr Bridwell for my old job back at $1/hr. I got experience in produce. I learned a lot. I met Steve Cook and Alan Davis, also of the class of '66 there too.

My family moved back to the Seattle area in June, 66. I continued to work in grocery stores until I entered Military Service. I'd be in a grocery store somewhere today if I could have had weekends off. It's a good job, but it means working weekends. You meet all kinds of people, some of them interesting. I've no idea what the wages are in (union) grocery stores now. But it's a good first career. I see new young people there all the time.

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Found recently on e-Bay. The description says: "This 19XX telephone directory for Huntsville, Gurley, and Madison, Alabama distributed by Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company states on the front cover: "IMPORTANT Do not use this directory until midnight, Saturday, December 18, 19XX. At that time, all telephone numbers will be changed to DIAL ...." This must have been the first phone book published after the telephone company changed from operator to the 'dial' system--instructions on 'How to Use the Dial Telephone in Huntsville and Gurley' are included.

The directory is in excellent condition for its age--pages have yellowed. There are 106 numbered pages and several unnumbered. There are 35 pages of Huntsville residences, about 1 1/3 pages for Gurley, and about 1/2 page for Madison."

We have two questions about this item. (1) In what year did Huntsville change from an Operator Assisted phone system to a "Dial" system? (2) How many of you still remember the first telephone number you ever had, even after all these years? I do.

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