Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Paradise Out of Reach

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

I don’t know when I first got the desire to go to Florida. I think it was after seeing “Where the Boys Are” so that must have been in 1960. I was 14 in 1960 but I knew I wanted to go to Florida no matter what. My mother had gone and brought home some souvenirs sometime around then, but I wanted to go myself and see the sand and the beach and swim in the ocean. I WANTED to go to Florida.

My good friend Dianne, and my girlfriend Ginger went to Florida with one or the other’s or both their families on July 6, 1962. Dianne sent me a post card of girls and boys playing on the beach. I couldn’t go because I was a boy and for many reasons, the most obvious was that I wasn’t invited.

The Lee High School Band went to Florida for the 1963 Orange Bowl – the whole band and even a horse named Traveller. I wasn’t in the band, so I couldn’t go.

During our senior year, 1964, the Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y went to Florida for Spring break. I was in Hi-Y, and had joined it just because I knew they went to Florida in the spring. Spring came and I couldn’t go – I couldn’t afford it.

As a matter of fact, I graduated from Lee and went off to college and had yet to go to Florida. I made it through my first two years of college and never went to Florida. I had gone to the Mississippi Gulf coast with Bob Walker and his dad, but that was not Florida. The Gulf waters are dark and muddy in Mississippi, and even though it had white beaches, it wasn’t Florida.

Finally, when I was a junior at Memphis State, a car full of my fraternity brothers and I went to Florida during Spring Break. We drove down from Memphis, through Mississippi and Mobile and went to Panama City.

We were driving along somewhere and we topped a dune and there in front of my eyes was the magnificent blue water, the white sands, and the green vegetation and blue skies and white clouds. It was one of the most inspiring moments of my life then, and even now, 40 years later, I still remember that sight. I will take it with me to my grave. I don’t know if tears came to my eyes, but if I had not been with a bunch of boys, I think they would have.

Now, in 2006 I can look back at many trips to the Sunshine State. I have been to the north, south, east, and west of the state. I have been to Key West and mile marker Zero. At one time I considered moving there. I have a best friend, Bob Walker, who lives in Florida and is always asking me to come down. Many of you who read this live in Florida and I envy you in many ways. None are more memorable than that first trip.

To me, the first trip to Florida was like going to Mecca. It was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and winning the lottery all in one. It is so hard to explain why it meant so much to me, but it did.

I had a great time on my first trip, but being there was half the fun. I would love to hear from any of my classmates who also felt similar feelings on their first trip there, whether it was a band trip, Y-trip, with the family or with friends.

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Meri Susan Simms, Class of '65 - It’s a sweater clip! Back in the early 60’s sweater sets were the rage . . . you remember, one sweater (usually short sleeved) was a pull-over; the other a cardigan. These clips would help keep the cardigan around your shoulders. The one I owned had “pearls” between the alligator clips. Now days cardigans stay “attached” to their wearers by looping the sleeves together! Onward and upward!!

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Barbara Seely Cooper, Class of '64 - The mystery item was used to clip both sides of a cardigan sweater so that the sweater would stay in place when you draped it over your shoulders. I can't recall if the item had a name - sweater clip?

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Cecilia Watson, Class of '68 - The mystery item is a sweater clip. It would go on your best angora sweater and you would be so preppy looking! I had a little pearl one I think I took from my sister Linda.

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Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - This is a sweater clip. When girls didn't want to wear the sweater but only wanted it around their shoulders, this was clipped to each side of the sweater at the collar/top to hold the sweater so that it would not fall off.

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Barb Biggs Knott, Class of '66 - If I am remembering correctly, I believe the item is a sweater clip used to keep your sweater from falling off when you wore it on your shoulders. I think I may have an old photo of me using one.

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Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, Class of '65 - This week's mystery item is a sweater guard designed to keep a sweater thrown "casually" about one's shoulders in place. The girls of the sixties wanted everything to "stay put". Think how much hair spray we expended to keep those hairdos in place!

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Joy Morris, Class of '64 - The mystery item appears to be a sweater guard? I am not sure if that was the correct name but it would keep your sweater from falling off your shoulders. There were a number of decorate styles--some almost jewelry like. I had one but do not know what happened to it. In fact I had forgotten it until I saw the picture. It was one of those "girl" things that you had to have and my guess is just about every girl had at least one but probably more.

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Sally Dawley Stroud, Class of '65 - I may be way off base, but that looks like a sweater guard to me. You would clip it on each side of the neck of your sweater to hold it on without having to button it. Keep up the good work with the newsletter. I look forward to it every week!

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Bob Walker, Class of '64 - Looks like a "Sweater Guard" used to keep a girl's cardigan from falling off her shoulders OR a double roach clip.

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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - The item in this week's mystery photo is a sweater guard. They may have gone by some other name -- I didn't actually own one. The girls clipped each end to the lapels of a cardigan sweater to keep it closed without buttoning it. I don't remember them using actual alligator clips like the picture, though.

My main experience with alligator clips was connecting the battery to the glow plug of a model airplane engine. I heard that there were more novel uses for them, but wouldn't know anything about that.

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Jo Scholter - This was a sweater guard, girls used to keep their sweaters on without actually using the arm holes.

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Dianne Hughey McClure, Class of '64 - Hey I actually know this one! It is a sweater guard. It was used to keep your sweater on when it was around you shoulders. Thanks Sue! I was beginning to think I had my head in the sand when some of the mystery items were being used.

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Linda Kinkle Cianci, Class of '66 - This week's mystery item is a sweater clip. I think we used them to hold sweaters on our shoulders when we didn't actually put our arms in the sweater. Hmmmm...wonder if my two daughters-in-law (26 & 28 years) would want one for Christmas??

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Lehman Williams, Class of '64 - The mystery photo looks like roach clips. You could hang them over the rearview mirror until needed to clip the last inch of your joint to fully take advantage of that last little bit of magic smoke.

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