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
Still busy at work, but the end is in sight. Classes start at the university on Monday and the freshmen will be wandering around lost like every other year. I had a good time in college, but I had a better time at Lee High School.
Please include your class year with your e-mails.
T. Tommy
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Last Week's
Mystery Photo
Current Open Topics
Do you have any memories of a special something that you were given, but may not still have? Send in any graduation present memories you would like to share with your classmates.
Do you have a story about the first big thing you bought with money earned from your first real job, either during or after Lee?
What did you do or do you have planned for your 60th Birthday?
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This Week's
Mystery Photo
From Our
Mailbox
It's been too easy these last few weeks, so this week we will cater to some of you specialists out there. This is a tricky one.
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Don Stroud, Class of '65 - This weeks mystery pic is used to lower into a well to obtain water before the advent of electric pumps. Brought back many memories visiting my Grandparents in the country. Great work and thanks for the many memories!
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Sherman Banks - The mystery photo is a well bucket. Used to get water from a deep, small diameter water well. Drop it down the well, listen for the gurgle as it fills, pull it out, and pull the ring on the top to release the water from bottom of the well bucket into the bucket used to take the water back to the house. Learned about if from in-laws in West Virginia.
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Mike Griffith, Class of '66 - This week's photo is a well bucket. Unlike the "Norman Rockwell" well with a large hole, surrounded by a cute rock wall, and a large wooden bucket hanging from a pulley, this belonged to a "modern well," circa late 50's / early 60's. Much like drilling for oil, the well drillers would drill and add pipe somewhat larger in circumference than the bucket shown in the picture.
When I was growing up, my grandparents in Tennessee did not have running water into their farm house and used a well such as this. I was fascinated with how it worked, in that it would be lowered into the well until the top was under water, the bucket would fill and after raising the bucket, it would be emptied by placing the bottom in a larger bucket/container and by pushing down on the middle ring (below the rope
hanger) a stopper-valve would open and the water would run out of the bottom. For my grandparents, this water was used for drinking and cooking, but water for washing clothes, etc. came from a rainwater collection system of gutters and a large metal reservoir (after seeing how yellow rainwater is, I never opened my mouth in the rain, again!).
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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - You stumped me on this one. A feedbag for an anteater comes to mind. Guess I'll sit this one out and just read the mail.
Incidentally, the pressure cooker story was absolutely true and unembellished. I was talking with my mom about it and had a good laugh. Fifty years later, she still has the "bottom half" of her Mirro-Matic pressure cooker and uses it on a regular basis.
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Betty Jo Key Scholter, Class of '65 - I’m taking a wild guess…..A galvanized well bucket….??
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Walt Thomas, Class of '64 - Water dipper for wells.
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Elbert Balch, Class of '65 - The object in the mystery photo is a bucket used to draw water from a drilled well which typically has an 8" steel or PVC casing.
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Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - I don't know what this is called and I have never seen it just sitting in the grass, but it looks like what Uncle Sam lowered into the well the get water for the horses. The water was cold. You have to remember that this memory is a bit fuzzy because this was before I moved to Huntsville which means I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. How wrong am I?
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Patsy Hughes Oldroyd Class of ‘65 - This week’s photo looks like one of those long skinny well buckets that slides down in an equally skinny well pipe. I never lived in the country, but I did visit some distant relatives occasionally who had a well. The water was always cool and wonderful. Maybe it is just fond memories, but I don’t think that even Evian could taste better.
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Subject:Small World
Linda Beal Walker
Class of '66
When my mother died in 2002, I had her obituary placed in the Huntsville Times. My first husband read it and called me to express his sympathy. We have been communicating ever since then. We seem to be better long-distance friends than we were a married couple. He called last Saturday morning and wanted me to listen to a message that was on his answering machine. Imagine my surprise when I heard the caller identify himself to his "old buddy" as Jimmy McBride, who gave Glenn his toll free number in Nashville and told him to call him. That started a whole new conversation of "did you know" or "do you remember". This proves that communication is very important in a marriage and evidently before also. When I met Glenn Pike, he was living in an apartment in Huntsville but had moved from Guntersville. I had no idea that he had previously lived in Huntsville and had attended Rison. Who knows I probablly was at Rison at the same time he was. He is only a year older than I am. I can not remember all the names he mentioned other than Jimmy McBride and Glenn Swaim, but I got my yearbooks out and we had a fun walk down memory lane. He had lived on Humes, O'Shaughnessy (did I spell that right?) and Rison, I think. I lived on Humes, O'Shaughnessy, McKinley and Halsey. He named several boys that he had played ball with that I remember from Lee High. For any of you that remember Glenn, he is working with the Marshall County Sheriff's Department.
After Pike and I divorced, I moved from Guntersville back to Huntsville and bought a house on Beirne Avenue from Glenn Swaim and his wife. Small world.
By the way, Chip Smoak, I wish I still had the shape of a violin instead of the bass fiddle.
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Subject:Pot Luck Birthday Bash
Judy "Fedrowisch" Kincaid
Class of '66
njkincaid@hotmail.com
It's only six weeks until the Pot Luck Birthday Bash for our classmates that are turning 60 this year. It will be held at the large pavilion at Monte
Sano State Park on October 8th. I understand that someone is bringing a birthday cake. It would be great if a few folks signed up to bring the ice,
beverages, cups, plates, napkins, utensils and tablecloths. Everyone one else would bring a covered dish to share - and viola!! - we're having a party!!!!!
The park opens at sunrise and closes at sunset and the pavilion is ours for the entire day. So if some folks want to meet there for an early morning hike, etc - go for it! But let's plan on having the food spread out and ready to eat by 1:00 p.m.
This will be a very informal get-together. Everyone is invited. So be there or be square!!!!
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Subject:Pressure Cooker
Patsy Hughes Oldroyd
Class of ‘65
Hi Tommy and all,
I received a Mirro pressure cooker years ago as a wedding gift. I used it often until I accidentally allowed it to build up too much pressure , and yes, it did make the biggest mess when the soft lead safety plug blew. I had to throw the pot away because the bottom rounded out like a basketball, and the top was obviously messed up, but for some unknown reason, I kept the pressure gauge. I still have it in one of my many utensil drawers. I always think that I am going to need some of these strange things that I save later on. Sorry to be late with a comment about last week’s photo, but school just started back here in Athens, and it is megabusy getting everything all cranked back up for a new year.
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Still Rock - N
and
Roll - N
by Tommy Towery
Class of '64
Yes, that's me on roller skates, even at 60 years old. I've still got it! Last week we had a Rock-N-Roll party for the staff at my College and I got to DJ the event. Got to or was forced to is still being debated. Notice my Tics and Precious Few T-Shirt? Anyway, in the process I had a great time and the highlight of the event that shook up all my friends was when I came out onto the floor in my skates.
We all know my history with Carter's Skateland and my Wednesday, Friday, Saturday night routines and then again on Sunday if I knew someone who went to a church that was having a skating party. Well, I didn't have my percision skates, but I had my street skates with soft wheels and showed off forwards and backwards. It was funny because one of the students who came by was really interested in the skates, making a quote of "Man...I always wanted to try some of those old skates with four wheels!" This is from a member of the Roller Blade era.
I took my laptop with my 3,200 Oldie Goldie MP3 tunes and played the music that we ('64-'65-'66) danced to at all those parties and dances. A group of us danced as well, and I got the opportunity to show them that at 60 I could also still do the "splits". What I missed most were my old Bradley's Cafeteria, National Guard Armory, Madison County Coliseum, and Lee High School lunch room dance partners.
I want to remind some of you of another place where we used to hold dances. I've been saving this topic for a long time, and now is the time. It was a place that was located at the corner of Oakwood Avenue and Jordon Lane. It was a private club but many dances were held there, including a semi-formal Hi-Y dance that I took Linda Shaffer to in the fall of '1963.
How many of you remember this place and some of the dances that were held there?
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Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me.I want people to know why I look this way.
I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.
Maturity means being emotionally and mentally healthy. It is that time when you know when to say yes and when to say no, and when to say WHOOPEE!
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.
One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young. One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
