Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - This the pressure gauge that fits on top of a pressure cooker, Mirro Matic, I think. I know that when Mother used the pressure cooker I was always afraid it would blow up, especially when the gauge starting moving up and down and letting out the steam.

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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - The object in the photo is the regulator for a pressure cooker. It sat on top of the vent and bobbled about when the pressure inside the cooker built up to the prescribed level. It was a simple device, but not infallible. Just beside the center vent there was a safety vent with a soft lead plug in it -- like a freeze plug on an engine block -- to prevent the whole thing from exploding.

Pressure cookers were great for cooking cheaper cuts of meat. I do believe you could cook an army boot in a pressure cooker and cut it with the side of your fork. (I'll wager the Lee cafeteria had one!)

Best I recall, Mom never cooked boots, but was cooking a beef stew in her pressure cooker one day when the regulator failed. The lead plug blew out of the lid like a shot and beef stew spewed out of the breached vent like a science fair volcano from hell. It was on the walls, ceiling, cabinets, windows, and floor. I guess that did it for her -- she never repaired or replaced it.

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Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, Class of '65 - I believe that this week's mystery item is the pressure gauge for a pressure cooker. My mother used a pressure cooker to can the produce from her vegetable garden and also to cook some great Southern-style vegetables.

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Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter, Class of ''65 - A group of five of us (three Huntsville High grads!) all put our minds together and one good mind came up with the name of the mystery photo this week. She remembered her mom cooking with a pressure cooker and that the mystery item was a pressure regulator. I remember my mom cooking with a pressure cooker too but I wasn't allowed in the kitchen while it was in use just in case it blew up!

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Tommy Towery, Class of '64 - I see by the letters received this week that I was not the only child who grew up in fear of being blown up in my own family kitchen by a bizerk pressure cooker. It appears that it was a sign of the times. I know that when my grandmother was cooking with one I saw the steam escaping from the top and listened to the little silver "hockey puck" rattling. I am sure that my fear came from her and my mother who told me that they could blow up. My question today is, "If they were so dangerous, why did they still use them?"

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Remembering Steve Norrod

JP Hargrove

Thank you for printing the article in the Lee High School newsletter on Steve Norrod's death including the information about his Mom, Mrs. Margaret Apple, his ex-wife Nancy, and the love of his life, their daughter Baylea. Shown below are some of my remembrances of him. While I do not want to belabor Steve's passing, if appropriate, please feel free to print any or all of the following in the next issue of the Lee Traveler.

Steve Edward Norrod

Born: April 13, 1948

Died: July 24, 2006

Steve was a good friend of mine for over 40 years. We met in our high school physics class and our friendship saw us through our clueless high school days, some tough times learning life's hard lessons and many great times enjoying each other and life's fun times. One of Steve's outstanding personality traits was his easy going ability to see humor and make others laugh. From our high school English class when his impersonation of a well endowed lady forced Ms. Faulkner to laughingly expel him just so she could regain control of her class to the last time we visited, if Steve decided to make you laugh, you had better start holding onto your sides and get ready to start smiling.

Another of Steve's outstanding traits was his endurance. Starting with his high school days when he represented Lee High as a long distance runner to our numerous adventures in the mountains of Montana and Alaska, there was nobody who could outlast Steve. Our last such trip was just three years ago in the summer of 2003. My interest in the Cabinet Wilderness in NW Montana led us to a memorable trip. Due to numerous constraints, we ended up with just one day available to attempt a 30 mile (and 10,000 feet vertical gain) mountain climb. We left the car before daybreak and as we approached the summit in the early afternoon, my legs were acting as lead weights while Steve was still jumping from rock to rock investigating all kinds of interesting geological features of the mountain. Well after dark, while working our way down, we were surprised by two large yellow eyes which were coming up the mountain. We had just come face to face with a large cougar (mountain lion). Fortunately, he yielded to us and we were able to drag our tired bodies back to the car by midnight. We threw our sleeping bags alongside the car at the trailhead and enjoyed a well earned night's sleep.

While work was not always a strong passion of Steve's, he was inspired by the stories of forest fire fighters. He first worked on a trail crew in the Bob Marshal Wilderness about 1975, but soon moved up to a "hot shot" crew fighting forest fires. After earning his spurs working there, he was offered the opportunity to apply for a position as a member of the "smokejumpers". With his passion for the hard and dirty work and his endurance, he was soon a valued member of this elite group which jump out of perfectly good airplanes to fight fires in remote and difficult terrain. He worked with this group of mostly young strong men until he became one of the old timers. His adventures with them led him into and out of many dangerous situations from Arizona to Alaska.

When he at last retired from smoke jumping, he chose as his next line of work, another difficult profession - that of a social worker with troubled teenage kids. The pay is not high and the work is often frustrating, but it was a passion for Steve. He stayed with this line of work until his last day of life. When Steve got up to go to work on Monday morning July 24, 2006, he was not feeling well and instead went directly to the hospital. He died at 10 PM that night from complications from the cancer that he had fighting for three years.

While Steve always took the position that he would beat his cancer, recently, it was beginning to look to us that this battle would be his last. However, we thought that he probably would be alive for at least several more years and we would have more opportunities in the future to be able to spend time with him. We had even talked about attending the next Lee High reunion in a few years. Nevertheless, to celebrate his 58th birthday in April of this year, CF traveled to Seattle to visit with Steve Boyer and my families and lots of old friends. During his visit, while he was short of breath and had little of his legendary endurance, he had no obvious pain and seemed to function much as he always had - he made us laugh. We even went to a local gym and while he could not run the court, we shot some basketball hoops. His jump shot was as accurate as ever. In hindsight, we are more thankful than ever that we were able to enjoy a last few days of quality time with a man whom we all enjoyed and loved.

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Subject:Steve Norrod's Passing

Don Wynn

Class of '67

Steve Norrod's passing has been on my mind a lot for the past few weeks. He and I were not close friends but we were on the track team together for two seasons. Steve was a long distance runner and like a lot of guys that specialized in longer races was not flambouyant. He just went out and competed quietly. He trained hard, was self assured and had confidence in himself. Steve won a lot of races but he lost some too. In spite of the outcome, Steve always showed a lot of class. I am not surprised that he accomplished the things he did in his life and that he continued to show that same grace and dignity that I remember from high school.

I am really sorry that I did not know Steve better!

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Subject:Last Week's Stories

Chip Smoak

Class of '66

I want to tell John Turrentine thanks for reminding us of Coach Godsey but I could have done without the memory of literally spitting dirt during those two-a-day practices. Golly the showers after practice felt good.

My thanks to Meri Susan Simms for the nostalgia. Cars with running boards, yes, I remember one that my parents had although jumping on the little sliver of a running board that car had would have been taking your life in your hands, had more character than any on the road today. And the carhops gave better service, and did it with a smile, than any sales clerk today. All that we call progress is not necessarily good, but, as has been said many times, we have to take the bad along with the good.

Lehman Williams, play nice. Remember that the best part about your exes is that they are exes and you survived the experience. That makes you a winner. We presume that you came through the experience a wiser and a better person. Hang in there, buddy.

Linda Beal Walker is right about the song writers not writing lyrics like they used to write but they don't compose melodies like they used to compose either. If anyone has an old song that they want to hear again and want to hear similar music I recommend going to www.pandora.com which is free.

I was able to listen to a song from the 40s that was still popular in the 50s on the country stations "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" (that cigarette).

By the way Linda, you are not getting older you are getting better like a fine violin.

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