June 17, 2001
Here's the results of our poll last week asking:
How far did you go at this
place as a teenager at LHS?
Results: 21 Votes
24% I didn't do anything here (5)
10% I did some heavy petting here (2)
14% I did a little petting here (3)
5% I kissed or was kissed here (1)
48% I had fun,but I won't tell you how (10)
Looks like more of us have memories of this place than not. I'm a little dissapointed in the small number of you who participated in the poll. We have a lot more people than 21 who visit this site regularly, and only a small percentage participate in the contents of the site. The story and the poll are still available by
clicking here.
clicking here.
It's Never Too Late to Live Those Dreams
This week marks my 54th birthday. Fifty-four didn't exist when we were young. For someone to have been 54 when I was a senior at Lee, they would have been born in 1910!
One of the things I always wanted to do (I mean always) was to skydive. During my 20 years in the Air Force I logged over 5,000 hours. I soloed a twin-engine jet. I flew as a crew member in B-52s during bombing missions in Vietnam. I also flew what the newspapers call spy planes (remember the China thing last month?) Well, I flew 3,000 hours of the USAF equlivant missions and have close up photos to prove it.
I was trained how to eject out of jet planes, how to do a PLF (parachute landing fall). I parasailed behind a jeep in the South Texas desert. (Kind of like skiing on a 300-foot long rope behind a vehicle driving through cactus.)
I also parasailed behind a skiboat in the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Thailand doing the same things over water. I jumped off high towers and rolled in the dirt wearing boots, gloves and a helmet. After all that training, I never got to, or HAD to jump out of an airplane, and I felt something missing in my life.
So to make this short. Last month while on vacation in Florida, I finally found a place where I could live that dream. I found a place where they offered tandem parachute "rides". I paid my money, watched a 10-minute video that explained that I could get injured or die in the process, and filled out about 10 sheets of papers that said I would not sue if I did die.
Then we went out to get suited up. I expected the helmet and golves and boots and all that stuff, but N-o-o-ooo. I put on the harness over my shorts and t-shirt, walked to the plane in my sandles, and off we went. We climbed to 13,500 feet and the two of us jumped out sharing the same parachute. We free-fell to 6,000 feet where I pulled the ripchord and we drifted the rest of the way back to the airport. It was great!!! (The second or third greatest feeling I've ever had - you guess the first two).
I was not 53 or 54 when I was falling through the sky. I was 16 or 17, and I was having a ball. To keep it simple folks. There's still time for our dreams. Go live life.
A Sad Note from Gail Woodard Rogers
I doubt that many of our classmates remember me, and fewer remember my mother. But I feel the need to tell you all that my mother died on 1 June 2001after a three year battle with cancer. She wanted to die in her home and not alone. Ronnie and I were able to grant her wish. She died in her home, in her bed, with me holding her and cradling her head on one side and Ronnie (my husband) on the other side holding her. One of my cousins was also in the bed with us holding her. If one must die, how better to go? Had she lived until 8 June 2001 she would have been 82 years young. Daddy died on 31 May 1983, Mother told Ronnie about 2 months before she died that "Mack is going to say....."What took you so long?"..........." As much as I miss her and want her back healthy and active, there is a peace and comfort that comes from knowing that she is where she wanted and begged to be.
Gail Woodard Rogers in memory of Wilma Reid Woodard
E-Mail Gail by clicking here.
