Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

S.W.A.K.

by Eddie Skyes

Class of '66

It is so amazing how seeing or hearing something will trigger thoughts and memories that were deeply buried out of your current consciousness. Just as those old video clips instantly brought back events that I haven’t thought of in 40 years, so did a song that I heard on the oldies station this week. On my way to work I heard these words: “Though we've got to say good-bye…For the summer…Darling, I promise you this…I'll send you all my love…Everyday in a letter…Sealed with a kiss”. I can only say that the song “Sealed with a Kiss” trigger more thoughts that I have time to write about. However, I will comment on a couple of them.

My high school girlfriend, Sandra Parks, went to South Carolina each summer to be with her father. That is common today, but very unusual back then. That is a topic all by itself that I will not address here. Sandra, was very faithful to send me a letter nearly every day and it was always marked with “S.W.A.K.” and a lipstick imprint on the back. I probably never told her how much those letters meant to me, because I always felt guilty for not being much of a writer myself. I only sent her a letter every week or two.

All of this brings me to my point “The Lost Art of Letter Writing”. For thousands of years, letter writing was the only way of communicating to people other than face to face. The Persians developed the first known postal system that covered over 1600 miles in nine days in 539 BC. We only know that, and just about everything historical in nature, because of the preservation of those writings. Any document important enough to be hand delivered was important enough to be preserved. Most of the New Testament was letters sent through the Roman Empire mail system to churches or believers in Roman provinces. The importance of written documents is that they can be stored, shared, and reread over and over again and less likely to be misunderstood than spoken words.

I know those letters were important to me, because they made me feel important. Back then, long distance phone calls were expensive and I would save my money until I had the $3 to cover the call my girlfriend. I would do that a couple times during the summer. Being able to talk to someone seemed more of a “real feeling” than just reading a letter. But, I know now that feelings and truth have very little to do with one another. Spoken words usually do not include a lot of thinking and they are gone as fast as they come, but a written document can provide the same emotion and information over and over.

Interestingly the Pony Express delivered mail 2000 miles in just less than 10 days. Lincoln’s inaugural address was delivered from coast to coast in 7 days. The Pony Express came to an end with the invention of the telegraph. The telegraph basically came to an end with the telephone. Letter writing basically ended with cheep long distance. With the internet and email there has been a resurgence of that important and almost lost art form. IM (instant message) is kind of a cross between verbal and written communication. But, neither of these will ever be as personal and intimate as a hand written letter marked with “S.W.A.K.” So, why not send someone special a hand written note this week.

(Editor's Note: I totally agree with Eddie. In January of the last few years I have made it a point to sit down and write a long "personal" letter to someone from my past who meant a lot to me but for one reason or another had fallen off my radar. I called this plan "Operation Phoenix". This usually shocked the receiver and I have to this date received a return letter from anyone of that group to which I wrote. But that was not the intent. My intent was to put in words so things that I wanted to tell someone, and to let them know how much they meant to me.)

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Rolling Through Life at 60

(61 This Week)

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

The Class of '65 has been reluctant to send me any stories about how they are celebrating their 60th birthdays, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to encourage them on. It seems like the Class of '64 has always had to point the way for the other classes.

Above is a short youtube.com movie I made a week or so ago to show someone that I wasn't dead yet. The Heelys were my Christmas present from my wife Sue, and my daughter Tiffany got me a pair as well. Most of you know that I started my love for skating at Carter's Skateland. I can't be sure if it was the love of skating, or the pursuit of "love" that took me there at least two, but sometimes as many as five nights a week.

Skating didn't come without its share of torn pants and bruises, but eventually I mastered the art of using wheels on my feet as a mode of transportation and recreation. Some of my early skating buddies were Mack Yates and a kid from Huntsville High named Mike 'Thompson. Early "couples only" skating holding hands with Pam Grooms, Barbara Seeley, Ginger Cagle, Sherry Adcock, Linda Pell, Carol Jean Williams, Dianne Hughey, and Carolyn McCutcheon was a great reason to learn how to skate. Once I learned to skate really well forward I moved on to doing it backwards. The learning curve was punishing, but eventually conquered. Then I could skate backwards with the girls, usually putting my hands on each side of their waists while they gripped my shoulders. A favorite skate of mine at the time was the "two-step" which did not resemble the dance in any way, but was done to fast music like "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" by Freddy Cannon, "Wild One" by Bobby Rydell, or "Rebel Rouser" or "Theme From Dixie" by Duane Eddy. There were also trio skates, reverse skates, boys and girls only, and of course "The Hokey Pokey!" As a kid entering puberty, I loved that "backside-in" section of that dance. The girls' short skating skirts were also a punch to the harmones, and the tassels on the skates were cute too.

Many of you who were more hip or "wild" might also remember a custom called "going outside" at Carter's, which entailed going around to the side of or behind the building for a few intimate moments before parents came to pick up their teenage daughters to take them home. Many a night there were up to a dozen couples outside saying goodnight for long periods of time.

Once I graduated and left Huntsville, I continued to skate at a local place here in Memphis, but never found the "home" I had at Carter's. I do often brag that (I) me and a few of my fraternity brothers were some of the first to bring the world of "Skateboarding", or "Sidewalk Surfing" as it was called then, to Memphis State. We bought the primitive wooden boards with hard wheels and rolled around our sidewalks - again learning by tearing pants, skin, and collecting bruises. We did none of the tricks that they do with the boards today, but we were the pioneers. I remember one of my fraternity brothers went and sold a pint of blood so that he could buy his own skateboard.

My early Air Force years saw little skating, primarily because the craze had gone away and there were few skating rinks to be found. The next highlight of my own skating life came with the invention of soft "urethane" wheels. I got myself a pair of tennis-shoe looking skates with those soft wheels and started carrying them with me on my trips around the world. I skated in Okinawa, Alaska, and on the rooftop of the hotel we stayed at in Greece. I even skated aboard the airplane when we were flying over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

I kind of missed out on the "inline" skate craze, finding that the inline skate concept and I did not agree on basic principals. I couldn't find a way to stop them, especially when I was used to a toe stop and they had heel stops. Whoa! So, during that period, I continued to use my tennis shoe four-wheel skates. Last year we had a "rock and roll" party here at the university and I wore them to everyone's surprise. I am probably also the only one of my age that has skated in the loft of Niles Prestage's barn, which I did at one of the parties there.

When the Heelys fad came along and the kids started zipping through the malls, I was ready to join, but had problems finding the wheel-heeled shoes in my size. Most of them were designed for kids! How stupid was that. But, eventually the world changed and they made them for my size foot. I know it was probably designed for a teenager with a big foot, but they work just as well for a 60-year-old.

And before you ask, no I haven't "busted my butt" yet, but I probably will some day. It took a bit of a learning curve to have only one wheel on each foot instead of four, but eventually the concept took hold. I do get a few smiles, especially from the freshmen, as I roll down the halls in the Journalism Building where I work. I am not going to let life pass me by.

So, what's everyone else doing these days? The world wants to know.

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Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - When we moved to Huntsville, Daddy worked for a furniture store and was allowed to bring the old black furniture moving truck home with him. Whenever the Tennessee relatives came to visit, the women and the children rode in the back of the truck (it wasn't enclosed, slats on the side and the tall, solid tailgate) while the men rode in the cab. Daddy took them to see Big Spring Park, Monte Sano Mountain and the Burkett museum, and ---- upside down hill. It always fasinated him. Remember I was only a little girl and didn't know much about these things, but I believe you put the vehicle in neutral and some "mysterious" force pulled you up the hill, which by the way, wasn't really a hill. Everyone always got real quiet when this happened. (It didn't take a lot in those days to entertain all us country folk from Tennessee.) I wonder what all the residents on that street thought about all the people that had to try out upside down hill. What was the name of the street?

I have to admit that when I finally got my driver's license, I took a few of my cousins to the same place AND it even worked for me in the old white Valient (with a steering wheel as big as a truck's).

By the way, Tommy, in case I haven't told you lately, thank you for our website.

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Paula Spence Kephart, Class of '65 - The Upside Down Hill is on Big Cove Road in Huntsville. When I was a small child, before the area was so populated, my Mother took relatives and me to it. She stopped the car and it absolutely rolled up the hill and back down. When I say hill, I mean a slight rise in the road. It is east of California Street, but before one goes to the mountain. I did know how it was explained, but I don't remember now. Was an interesting phenomenon.

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Dianne Hughey McClure, Class of '64 - The upside down hill was somewhere on Big Cove Road near the Women and Children's Huntsville Hospital if I am remembering correctly. We would always take out of town family and friends to the site when I was a child. If you stopped at the bottom of the hill and put your car in park you would roll up the hill, therefore the name upside down hill. I may have some of the details wrong but I believe I have the concept right.

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Jerry Dorriety, Class of '70 - Upside Down Hill - It was considered great fun to drive up Governor's Drive and turn off to the left (don't remember the name of the street) about halfway up, and drive down a couple of blocks until you came to what appeared to be a slight hill rising before you. We would put the car in neutral, sit expectantly for a few moments, and then the car would begin to slowly roll up the hill! We were entertained very easily in those days. It was some sort of an optical illusion but my brother and I couldn't wait to show it off to visitors who came to our house.

Thanks for the memories, and thanks for this website!

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Subject:Traveller

Chip Smoak

Class of '66

Hi to all the Fami-Lee,

I want to express my deep appreciation for the clips in the Traveller. I did not get to participate in those events then but they brought a strong feeling of nostalgia and renewed my fondness for the time that I attended Lee. I appreciate being able to attend them vicariously now. It is a privilege to be among the members of the Fami-Lee. I hope everyone has a great summer.

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Subject:Website

Charlie Hancock

Class of '66

Hey, Tommy:

Thanks for all the time and labor that you put into these project. I'm certain it is unappreciated by many readers.

Thank you! We appreciate it!

We raised Hell

Just for kicks!

We're the Class

Of Sixty-Six!

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Subject:Memories

Dink Hollingsworth

Class of '65

Let me express my thanks for Tommy's on-going effort to have the desire and energy to keep our weekly newsletter up and running. Reading the latest issue has become as normal for me on Sunday afternoon as digging through the huge Sunday newspaper.

Tommy has stimulated memories that may have been gone forever but one story will remind me of something that I had totally forgotten.

I had knowledge of the site but just did not visit after the 2000 reunion. Several years ago my daughter phoned to ask if her mom (Marty Fincher) and I were in the Classes of '64, '65 and '66 and she suggested we go to this real neat site. It seems she had a good friend from Shades Valley HS she was trying to find and tracked her to Lee High where she was on staff. During one of their initial contacts my daughter's friend told her of this great site and all of Lee's staff knew of the site and were impressed that the three classes were staying in touch after all these years.

We owe this contact to you Tommy for having the vision to not only get the site up but keeping it up even on slow news weeks. I can ramble on about my six years at Lee but lost touch leaving for the military in 1966 and ending up in Germany for a couple of years. Marty and I did come back to Huntsville in 1969 but then relocated to Birmingham, Marty's home before joining our Family-Lee in late 1963.

I love Huntsville and the memories I have of maybe the most importnat six years of my life.

Thanks for your effort, it is appreciated.

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Subject:Thanks

Shirley Latta Gomez

Class of '71

I really like this site and appreciate that you allow us to participate! I live in Hazel Green and work in Huntsville but I hardly ever run into anyone I went to school with and this site keeps me posted and connected. Keep up the good work!

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