Adivsory Board: Barbara Wilkerson Donnelly, George Lehman Williams, Patsy Hughes Oldroyd
Contributors: The Members of Lee High School Classes of 64-65-66 and Others
This issue has a lot of information but not too many stories. Every once in a while we have to do some business stuff so this is the time.
Please include your class year with your e-mails.
T. Tommy
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Last Week's
Mystery Photo
This Week's
Mystery Photo
From Our
Mailbox
Lee's Traveller -
Our Mission
by Tommy Towery, Editor
Class of '64
Certain events in the last couple of weeks indicate that I need to restate some things about the concept behind Lee’s Traveller so that everyone might have a better understanding of its purpose. At the suggestion of the adviosry board I will do that. Since this is an anniversary week of sorts, it seems appropriate that I share the following information with you. Part of this story was told in the past but has been updated with current information.
This week we celebrate the 6th anniversary of doing a “weekly” issue of Lee’s Traveller online. Several of you have sent me e-mails in the past, asking how it got started and what it takes to keep something like this going week after week. This seems like a great time to take the opportunity to tell the full story.
First of all, many of you remember that I was editor of Lee’s Traveller back in 1964 when my class graduated. When I left Lee I went to what was then called Memphis State University and earned a degree in News/Editorial Journalism. Although I never wanted to be a full time news reporter, I did enjoy learning the skills it took to write news and feature stories. Later on, while in the Air Force, I earned another degree in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland. The writing skills and the technology skills became a successful combination when the world wide web became so popular in the late 1990s.
In 2000, I had already worked on setting up and maintaining several websites at my office, and was becoming quite skilled in the process. When I was teaching small businesses how to establish themselves on the internet, I saw an opportunity to use those same skills and the world wide web to create a site for the ’64-’65-’66 alumni of Lee High School. Since those three classes have taken the opportunity to combine resources when it came time for reunions, they were the focus of my main audience. My original goal was to have a “meeting place” to exchange information about the upcoming 2000 reunion.
As I was working on setting up the web site, I found out that a classmate from 1968 was also thinking of doing the same for his class. He was not as far along with his design or moving in the same direction or speed in setting one up as I was. I contacted him and told him of my idea, sent him a sample link to view what I was doing, and asked if he wanted to cooperate on a multi-class site. He said that it was his idea and he was working on one for all the alumni including our classes. He stated that had been trying to work on his for several months, and by his own statement, had put it on the back burner because he did not have the time to devote to it.
I suggested to him that one site for all the alumni would include too many people and might be more than one person can handle and do a good job. When I showed him what I had done, he must have felt threatened because he quickly registered the web name that I was considering and started sending out notices that his site was the “official” site for all Lee High Alumni. I should point out that recently I noticed that site has ceased to exist, and the web name had not been renewed by the owner but is still unavailable.
At that time, our reunion committee had just started working on the 2000 reunion. I contacted them, told them of my idea, and asked for approval of my site as the official site for our three class years and was granted that status. The reunion committee was getting together at Carol Jean’s house for a session, and so I found a web hosting service and created a simple web page. I drove down to Huntsville that weekend and showed them how it could be used to help spread the word about the upcoming reunion. The night we all got together to view it, everyone seemed pleased with the concept.
I was only given “official status” for the site by those three year groups, and that is why 1967 and 1968 were not added to our site. Although we are the ’64-’65-‘66 official site, other class year alumni along with anyone else who wants to join in with us are welcomed as visitors with full participation rights.
The official launch of the site was March 31, 2000, with the initial idea of having a place to post notices about reunion activities and to keep everyone informed about the progress being made on reunion plans. The concept of a weekly newspaper was not part of the original plans.
Reunion update information and a few photos were added in a random and arbitrary order over the next few months. The method used to update the site was to remove the older stuff and replace it with new stuff on the same page. Most of these items were just notices about the upcoming reunion and not really stories. The manner used did not back up the old pages or content, and as a result, most of those items were lost. A few of the stories were saved however, but not all of the content of the site. I still have a way to recall any issue done since June 10, 2001, so if you are interested in a back issue then please contact me.
At the reunion in August, 2000, I made a public announcement of the availability of the website and the site’s address was posted in the directory. Apparently very few classmates either heard the announcement or read the directory, because some of those that attended that reunion still have not visited the site. The updates continued past the reunion at random times, but were not of a frequency that people knew when to visit and read the new stuff.
Finally on June 10, 2001, the first issue of a "weekly" website was posted. It included mainly stories written by me and e-mail responses to those stories and ideas from many classmates. The weekly idea continued, again only with limited usage by many.
On July 23, 2001, the web page first used the name Lee’s Traveller. I had not used that name before because I thought that the Lee High School newspaper was still using that name and I did not want to conflict with them. When I found that Lee had changed the name of the paper, I adopted the Lee’s Traveller name to the site. Lee’s Traveller was the name given to our first high school paper by Woody Beck. Mrs. Parks was the sponsor of that paper and felt that the name (which came from the name of Robert E. Lee’s horse) was a fitting name for a school paper.
Since that first weekly issue on June 10, 2001, we have missed only one week in putting out a weekly edition. That was the week following September 11, 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist event, and I ended up having to drive to Iowa instead of flying so I was unable to meet the deadline. We have not missed another weekly issue since that date. So, officially, we have missed only one week of giving you news and memories in the last 364 weeks.
The Traveller was originally established with these goals in mind:
Lee’s Traveller Mission Statement
Our primary goal is entertainment and to have fun. We do not desire to offend any person or group, but we will not let political correctness cause an unnecessary hardship.
We avoid religion and political issues and do not post e-mails that talk about such subjects unless they have a direct connection with a classmate. We do not forward bulk e-mails or jokes to the group.
The purpose of most articles will be to inform and inspire. We want articles that will make our classmates relate to the subject and force them to remember common things. A good article will include as many names, events, and items that other classmates remember and if possible some visual aid should be included. Some articles will be designed to show that we are not dead yet, and to let our classmates know that there is still a lot of living to do. We want a lot of humor in our lives, and the more we can add the better. The primary goal of most articles is to encourage feedback from other classmates with similar stories or to enhance or expand on the ideas presented. Of course, death notices, sick families, etc. will be the exceptions.
For memories of most music, entertainment, events, etc. we should try to use 1966 as the cutoff. If that is not possible, at least try to relate what we write to that time, such as going to a concert today for someone we listened to back in school, or something that happened in college or afterward, but with a classmate from school. Lee High School and Huntsville in general are our most common bonds for the entire group. Most of our readers are entertained by the things that happened from 1st grade to the time of their graduation.
I want to point out that the mission statement does not state that we will completely avoid issues, but will consider whether or not the issue is directly connected to a classmate in a manner that is newsworthy to others. Basically topics such as abortion, the war effort, specific religious beliefs, and immigration in and to themselves are not appropriate subjects as a whole. The concept of religion and patriotism will continue to be honored by this site.
Here are some of the technical details of the process behind Lee’s Traveller.
E-mail from the readers starts coming in as soon as the issue is published. Each week, normally on Friday or Saturday night, the new issue begins to take shape. The site is constructed solely by me, using the software supplied by and supported by Homestead. I use stories submitted by the readers or the staff, include any e-mails received, and post any notices that have been sent to me. Inputs such as e-mails received after Friday sometimes may not be included that week; depending upon how much of the work has already been done on the issue. Sometimes inputs that only identify a mystery item by “name only” with no supportive story or information may not be used. It does not entertain readers just to give the name of an item.
The official publication date of each week’s paper is Monday, but it normally comes out on Saturday night. It is like a magazine that may arrive a month early but has an official publication date printed on it. It takes between three and four hours each week for me to collect the e-mails, to edit photos and save them in the right format for the web, and to find mystery items and Lee-Bay items. If I have to write the main story, that takes another hour or so. I usually spend an hour each week answering e-mails as well.
For those that wish to have a weekly notification of when the new issue is available, a mailing list is created from the information submitted to the site. Due to the complicated process of maintaining this mailing list, the only way for anyone to have their name added to it is to submit their information from the site. People sending personal e-mails asking to be added will be directed to the appropriate area.
The number of hits the site receives is listed at the top of each issue. We average a little over 350 visits a week. That number is very conservative, since it is the addition of the number of hits each week, added to the total number of the week before. If someone goes back and looks at past issues, those hits are not reflected in the total. Currently we are approaching 115,000 first time hits, but actual real hits are much higher because of people going back and catching up on missed issues..
My current plan is to continue the weekly publication as long as there are those who will participate in the discussions and memories. As long as we have readers, Lee’s Traveller will still be around. Many of our contributors have stated that they have run out of stories or ideas for stories, but as long as we have readers I will continue to try to find something to write about. I often feel like Andy Rooney on TV, who each week always seems to come up with something to talk about.
We adopted the phrase “We are Fami-LEE” to reflect the nature of our true feelings for our fellow Classmates. One of our Classmates, Tommy Esslinger, Class of ’65, claims to have come up with the original use of that phrase and we are grateful to him for doing so.
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Subject:Class Carnival
Eddie Burton
Class of 66
Tommy, from the film of the class carnival from 1966, does anybody know who that band was that playing there?
(Editor's Note: Perhaps someone has some old Travellers from 1966 that might include some information about the Carnival and the band?)
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Subject:Video Clips
Eddie Sykes
Class of ‘66
Thanks Tommy and Jimmy for the '66 senior video clips. The person Coach Sullens was throwing the egg at was me. I was the one who came up with the idea for the booth. It was for my homeroom or the letter club, I’m not sure. But I cut the hole in a piece of plywood and nailed two 2x4 to it for support. The best I can remember we raised almost $80 after expenses. That was about 30 dozen eggs at 25 cents a throw. We had to make frequent trips back to multiple stores.
For those that have never been hit it the head with a egg. It hurts! However, we did not have that many good egg tossers in the Class of '66. We had lots of volunteers, but they usually only lasted until one direct hit.
The idea and booth was simple and easy to construct, but the clean-up took several hours. I would like to hear from anyone else who put his head on the line that day.I know Coach Sullins did it. That is why I think it may have been the letter club that sponsors the booth.
Thanks again for the video clips.
(Editor's Note: I am not sure why, but as of Friday night the Second Part of the Video had only been viewed 80 times, and the first part had been viewed 232. Perhaps you readers did not understand that last week's video clip was completely different than the week before's. If you did not click on last week's video, here's the link again. It has a lot of stuff the first week's did not have. Click the link below.)
The 8mm films were wonderful to watch. The clothes & hairdos! Such a wonderul innocent time. I lived four houses from the school on Forrest Circle.
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Shirley Harville Steele, Class of '65 - I believe the 'Mystery Photo' is of a mustard seed. I had a necklace with one on it when I was in school.
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Although the sign was gone by the time we all learned to drive, the landmark was still there. Anyone want to send in some information on this famous attraction?
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Growing Old -
This Made My Day!
The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.
Old Age, I decided, is a gift.
I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my cousin!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?
I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50 & 60's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.
I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.