Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Reading Lee's Traveller

With Your Morning Coffee

In Your Favorite Mug

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

We'll avoid a discussion about your favorite make of coffee or your favorite place to get it. Personally I think it is crazy for people to fuss about gas costing $3.00 a gallon while they sip a $3.95 eight ounce cup of coffee. But this is not that bandwagon! However, many of you have written in the past saying that one of your favorite morning activities is to read the latest issue of Lee's Traveller while you enjoy your morning coffee.

In a new effort to try to get some more participation, I'd like to know how many of you have a favorite coffee cup that you drink out of each day. I find that coffee cups are like T-shirts that you don't wear. They make good souvenirs and often have good memories associated with them. It might be a favorite pet, a favorite place, or an event or family member's gift. But for many a coffee cup or mug is more than just a vessel to hold coffee. It has a special meaning associated with it.

Personally, I have a couple of mugs that I use each week, and like special dinnerware or special clothes, each one has a time to be used. The mug in the photo above is my daily (at work) cup. I've had it for many years and though sometimes it gets misplaced somewhere in the building for a day or two, it seems to always find its way back to the sink in the conference room somehow.

This cup was picked up when I was traveling a lot when I worked for the Tennessee Small Business Development Center which had a grant with the University of Memphis. I traveled a lot back then because I supported the computer systems in 17 branch offices located in two and four-year colleges and universities across the state of Tennessee. Often I would go out for a week or sometimes two weeks at a time and stayed in some nice and some not so nice hotels and motels during my trips.

A favorite spot of mine was the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, because I could stay there at state discounted rates and the rooms were nice and the location was handy. The coffee brand got its name from the hotel and they have a story about it in a showcase in the lobby. Legend incorrectly has it that when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Nashville in 1907 he drank a cup of Maxwell House at the hotel and proclaimed it "Good to the last drop." The hotel has a wonderful big hot tub and steam room there and I really enjoyed the place. I enjoyed the travel and the job. My new job does not involve travel and I must admit that I miss it some times. These days I drink my coffee on trips from Mapco or Road Runner Gas stations. It's not quite the same and the paper cups are not saved.

The mug reminds me of the fun times I had and the trips I made, but I only use it at work. At home I have a favorite B-52 Association mug that I drink out of on Saturdays, and a Lee Homecoming 2003 mug that I drink out of on Sundays after the Traveller is put to bed the night before. It reminds me that many of my friends are also having coffee and reading the stories at the same time, and it gives me a bond with all of you in an odd way. On Tuesday's when I stay home in the morning a little later to have coffee with Sue, I use whatever mug she has put out for me, but it is usually one of those two. When we go to Hilton Head for vacation I use a Coffee Bean Mug that we bought for ten cents at a thrift store. We were going to use them one and leave them, but somehow they got packed and returned home with us, so each year we pack them back up and take them back with us. I find it odd how things like that happen and become a routine.

So, why don't you help me out and e-mail me with a photo or description of your own favorite coffee mug and why it is your favorite? I would enjoy hearing from all of you.

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Bobby Cochran, Class of '64 - Hi Tommy. Boy, the "Where's the Photo" is a real puzzler. (Editor's Note: I find this amusing, since Bobby was the one that sent me the link for photo several years ago.)

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Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter, Class of '65 - I think the mystery photo this week is taken on Clinton Avenue just about where the Parkway is today. As you look East towards town you can see red trucks to the right that may be milk trucks.

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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - I don’t recall the Texaco station in the middle of the photo, but the Russel Erskine Hotel is very recognizable. With Monte Sano in the background and the Huntsville Times Building to the left, it appears that we are looking southeast on Jefferson Street toward Holmes. Am I close?

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Steve Craig, Class of '71 - Hi Tommy, thanks for your work. Is the photo Holmes Ave at Woodson just east of the Parkway? You can see the Times Building, the train tracks, and beautiful Monte Sano.

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Escoe German Beatty, Class of '65 - My best guess is that you are looking east down Holmes St. at the intersection of about where the Parkway crosses above today...Monte Sano is in the background and the Russel Erskine is visible.. it is somewhere just to the west of downtown and I think the RR tracks are in there.

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Rod Dixon, Class of '69 - The photo this week is Holmes Avenue looking east towards downtown. Of course I565 zigs and zags across this area now. The street to the right is Woodson and connects to Clinton Ave. My only question is what is the building further up on the left. Looks like a school but there was an East Clinton school just a block over. And, of course, the Russel Erskine Hotel is the "skyscraper" looming in the distance!

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Steve Cook, Class of '66 - Looks like the picture was taken from the Parkway overpass at Clinton Street. You are looking East toward downtown Huntsville with the Times Building and Russell Erskine Hotel in the horizon. Pin Hook Creek is nearby as is the L& N rail road crossing. I believe Woody Anderson had the car lot there on Clinton close to the intersection shown in the picture. Just a wild guess. Keep up the great work.

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Subject:Lee Class of 1959 Reunion

Suzette Yost von Kamp

I am wanting to put on a class reunion for the class of 1959. We only started at Lee in January 1958 and went there 1.5 yrs. In May of 1959 we split and some went to Butler and the others went to Huntsville High. Then in 1960 they started adding and dropping a year to make it a high school.

When we started in Jan 19658, we only had one wing and the lunchroom. Had to go under and over scaffolding to get to the lunchroom. The next year it was completed when we returned in Sept 1958.

But there is only the one year that was special as we had to split up and we just were getting to know each other as we came from Lincoln and Rison and a few from East Clinton.

If you know of anyone on the list, please let me know and I can contact them.

Suzette Yost von Kamp

4106 Toftoy Dr

Huntsville, Al 35805

256-533-1674

suevkamp@aol.com

Lee Junior High

Anderson, Arthur

Arndt, Karin

Baker, Sue

Beene, Peggy

Bennett, Janice

Blackburn, Jo Ann

Brand, Robert

Brazier, Janey

Broadway, Gary

Brooks, Christine

Buckelew, Juanita

Byars, Irene

Campbell, C.V.

Chambers, Richard

Cobb, Sue

Cox, Bill

Curry, Charles

Davis, Veryl

Duncan, Annetta

Ekis, Sherry

Erbskorn, Christl

Ethridge, Ronald

Farrell, Brian

Fike, Susan

Gipson, Deloris

Glover, Butch

Harding, Verlon

Hardwick, David

Harrell, Jack

Higgins, Jerry

Holder, Linda

Hoop, Mike

Hosch, Jane

Humphrey, Pat

Johnson, Mike

Keith, Perry

Kelner, Shirley

Kephart, Jacky

Kilpatrick, Rex

Klan, Judy

LaPier, Freddie

Lee, Annette

Lee, Glenn

Lindner, Diethard

Linton, Sylvia

Luna, Matha

Manley, Bonnie

May, Larry

McAlister, DeVede

McCarver, Randy

McGinniss, Steve

Meeks, Johnny

Meeler. Peggy

Micheal, Louise

Mitchell, Nancy

Mooney, Tom

Newby, Max

Owens, Larry S

Packrus, Rayburn

Pearce, Mickey

Pierce, Joan

Pierce, John

Plant, Phillip

Ray, Lewis

Reeves, Tommy

Rhodes, Brenda

Rudd, Rebecca

Russell, G.L.

Samples, Kyle

Shannon, Charles

Sharpe, :Larry

Shipley, John

Smith, Bobby

Snelling, Don

Staggs, Nancy

Stahely, Robert

Stanley, Brenda

Stinnett, Linda

Strawbridge, Ann

Tate, Linda

Troupe, Daryl

Uselton, Barbara

Williams, Frances

Williams, Nelda

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Subject:Brooks Glover

Richard Simmons

Do any of you folks know of the whereabouts of Brooks Glover? He was at the 1995 reunion, but not at 2000; I don’t know about 2005. (Editor's Note: Last time I saw Brooks, he was working in a federal government job in Nashville.)

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