Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Something Smells

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning." That famous line comes from the war movie Apocalypse Now. It came to my mind the other day when I was walking down the hall of the art department here at the University of Memphis and smelled the scent of turpentine coming from one of the studios. I smell it almost every time I go into that building and have become to associate the unique smell with the place. In the process I started thinking about what other smells have earned special associations to me.

Obviously, we all grew up with smells. My childhood homes always smelled of cigarette smoke because my parents smoked. The smell of a paper mill reminds me of the summers I worked at a YMCA camp that was always downwind it seemed and my morning appetite could easily be killed with a whiff of that odor.

I relate the smell of clothes being ironed to my home on Clinton Street and my grandmother. She used the sprinkler bottle long before there were steam irons and would sprinkle down the clothes before she pressed the hot iron to them. I think it was an art to know how much water to sprinkle and where to sprinkle it. The hot steam rising off the freshly pressed shirts had a unique smell. She still comes to mind during those rare times when I am around someone ironing clothes.

In my first months in the Air Force I was assigned to a pilot training base on the Texas-Mexico border. Once I started learning to fly jets I was met each morning with the smell of JP-4 jet fuel exhaust – a smell that still takes me back to that depressing period of my life. Similarly, the smell of diesel fumes reminds me of the buses I used to ride on when I was growing up in Huntsville, and that was my primary means of transportation besides my bicycle.

There is no way to describe the smell of the inside of a B-52 aircraft, and 1,600 hours of flying inside of one had permanently imprinted that odor into my brain. The smell of tapioca can instantly transport my thoughts back to the months I spent in Thailand.

When I decided to write about all the smell relationships, I tried to center in on one smell that most reminds me of my days in Lee High School. I can’t remember any specific smell from the school. Not the lunch room or even the gym smell can be isolated to just Lee High School. I’ve been in lots of gyms. I never took shop, so none of those smells jar my memory.

I must admit that the one smell that most reminds me of those days is one that we have talked about before in Lee’s Traveller. That one smell is English Leather. That smell takes me back to the innocent days of my youth and the early attempts to woe females with the manly scent. It was Tommy Thompson, Class of ’64, who first got me to wearing it. I remember that he had a bottle in the glove box of his car and I would take a splash from the bottle each time I rode shot-gun with him. It later became a necessity each night before I went to Carter’s Skateland or to a dance at Bradley’s Cafeteria. It made me feel grown up, and I was sure it was a turn on for the girls.

I can’t remember any special perfume smell from girls I dated back then. I do remember that my mother loved White Shoulders, and one time I dated a girl who wore the same perfume. It was a major turnoff to any desire to go parking with a girl that smelled like my mother. The smell of Obsession reminds me of some very passionate times in my later life – but I digress. Another smell that takes me back to those teen years is Coppertone Suntan Lotion. It reminds me of the first time I was asked to rub it on the back of a girl. It was a bare back and I was a teenager…enough said.

But if I have to settle on one smell for the Lee High School period of my life, it has to be the scent of English Leather that still makes me think of those teenage years.

I would be interested in hearing from any of you that have similar smell stories they wish to share.

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Tom Gilbert, Class of '67 - Tony Dow as wally Ken Osmond as Eddie and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.

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Chip Smoak, Class of '66 - These are three of the cast members of "Leave It To Beaver" which ran from 1957 to 1963. The comedy was a little juvenile but better than a lot of what is on television for kids today. There was always a moral for us. I guess the writers were more talented.

The three in the photo, from left to right. are Ken Osmond who played the biggest of suck-ups Edward "Eddie" Haskell, the title character Jerry Mathers who played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and was forever known as the Beaver, and last but by no means last Tony Dow who played the kind big brother that many of us probably wished we had Wallace "Wally" Cleaver.

Kids today are deprived in my opinion because of the lack of programs that we enjoyed as children and as teens.

Anyone who wants to get in touch is invited to email me at calsmoak012506@netzero.net.

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Mary Ardrey Aukerman, Class of '66 - My boss shared this with me on Friday. This is "The Beav", Wally and Eddie Haskell from "Leave it to Beaver" and, even tho' they are older, they are still very recognizable. Boy, they look so much OLDER than I feel! This was a show that families could identify with, like the boys fighting with each other and Eddie B.S.ing the adults.

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Eddie Burton, Class of '66 - Ken Osmond, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow from Leave It To Beaver. It's still one of my favorite shows on TV, even today. Don't we all think that was a better time for America? I sure do.

God Bless the Beav.

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Jerry Dorriety, Class of '70 - My family spent many evenings watching TV together, and "Leave It To Beaver" was one of our regular shows. Hard to believe those simple story lines held out interest. Guess I remember the time spent with my family more than the TV show. Pictured are Eddie Haskell, Beaver Cleaver (Jerry Mathers), the Beave's big brother, Wally.

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Marti Howard Pierce, Class of '66 - The picture of the week has to be Wally and the Beve. Seeing them looking that old is depressing because it remindes me of how old I am.

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Also correctly identifying the people were:

Carol Bailey Olson, Class '65

Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66

J.R. Brooks, Class of '64

Shirley Gomez, Class of '71

Dink Hollingsworth, Class of '65

Kathy Broughton Cotney, Class of '64

Bob Cochran, Class of '64

Sis Watson

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