Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

The Jack of Diamonds

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

Preface

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the death of my best friend from Lee, Bob Walker, Class of '64. What I didn't tell you was that he had called me back in January and told me that his illness was terminal and that back in September of 2006 he was given six months to live. I swore to to him that day that my last trip to see him would not be to go to his funeral. In February I flew down to spend a few last days with him while we could still visit and enjoy some time together. On November 16th, Bob lost his fight with cancer.

I contacted his friend Lynne and told her that if they happened to find a half of a Jack of Diamonds in his things, that it was important to me. A week later his son called me and told me that he had found the card that I was looking for and he would send it to me. He asked the story behind it, and I told him I had written it down and would send it to him shortly. This week I got the card in the mail. Above is a photo of both halves of the card, put back together, for the first time in 43 years. What are the odds of that? Below is the story I wrote in February after returning from my last visit with Bob about the two halves of the card.

The Jack of Diamonds

It was getting into the morning hours and I still faced a long drive back to my hotel in Orlando. For a moment it was déjà vu back to that early morning in 1964 following graduation. That night neither of us wanted to say the final goodbye and we kept dragging out our inevitable parting.

We never knew exactly when we could feel that we had said all we could say without repeating things. That morning in 2007, I finally felt comfortable and I was personally satisfied that I had expressed my feelings to Bob about our friendship, as he had to me. Throughout the visit not a word was spoken aloud between us about his terminal illness. I had told him a final goodbye for the third time in my life. I turned to get into the car to drive away from our last visit, expecting Bob to turn and head on into his house for some much needed rest.

“I’ve still got my Jack of Diamonds!”

I heard the words in the still night air and stopped dead in my tracks. Those words came from my friend who for the last few years could never remember any story I started talking to him about until I prodded him with detail after detail. In my recollection of the last decade of visits with him, he never once brought up any old memories first. It was my job to come up with the “Hey, do you remember?” things. He must have told me a dozen times, “I can’t believe that you still remember all that stuff.”

Now, out of the blue, in what might be our last meeting, he came up with that statement. To me it was a concrete testament to our friendship. He remembered something that we had not spoken about in probably 40 years.

The night before graduation and our first final goodbye in 1964, we wanted to find some way to symbolize the end of our constant companionship. In dramatic fashion I came up with a page right out of a Hollywood script. We should take a dollar bill and cut it in half and each of us keep one half of the bill. It was kind of like the sweetheart jewelry that was a heart split down the middle and it took both pieces to make a complete heart. We each would always have half of the dollar bill. Each piece by itself would be worth nothing, and only when we could put the two halves together would there be something of real value. Quite simply, using this method, as long as we were friends, we would never be broke.

We had a little problem putting that idea into motion. We were both broke that night. We may have had our friendship but on that night neither of us had a dollar bill to cut in half. So, we decided to substitute a card from a deck of playing cards for the dollar bill. We cut a deck of cards and came up with the Jack of Diamonds. We took scissors and cut the card into two halves. Bob put one half into his wallet; I put the other half into mine.

I carried my half of the playing card in my back pocket for many years, stuck into one of the many compartments that are built into men’s wallets. It got faded and a little worn on the edges, but each time I searched for something or swapped wallets, I came upon the card half and thought about my shared friendship with Bob. When I had to sanitize my wallet for combat missions in the Air Force, the card had to be moved into a dresser drawer. It moved from drawer to an envelope to a box – but its meaning was never lost and the card half was never thrown away. It was always with me in spirit and like my friendship with Bob, I still had it.

I turned and faced Bob with a broad smile and nodded at him.

“I still have mine too,” I told him.

There was no further response.

For once we didn’t have to explain or expand the statements. We both knew the significance of what we were telling each other with those simple words. We still had that bond between us. We’d still be part of each other. It would always take two halves to make one whole.

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Subject:Classmates Celebrate

Rose "Sharon Towery" Linsky

Class of '65

How pleasant it was to "open up" the Traveller this a.m. and see the smiling faces of former classmates. Congratulations to the "1st time" grandmother (Carolyn) and to Janice on her 60th:-) It does appear that a "good time was had by all"...

I wish each and everyone of our Fami-LEE a Very Blessed Christmas and prosperous new year...let us not forget our brave soldiers and their families this Christmas as well.

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Subject:Old Traveller Copies

Jim Ballard

Is there a website showing contents of old editions of the Lee High Traveller?...back to the 60's? OR is there a way to find/procure any copies? I looking for ones about Sring semester '65 through Spring of '67; mostly I'm looking for a good/clean edition (if possible; I know if I recall the grade of paper they used one can't be too fussy!!)...that contained the (prominent w/photo) article titled "Spotlight Glows at Lee"...probably Fall of '66...about a student/model/actress Ilona Podsada, transferred here from Chicago. The article/photo of her stands out very well (inside the paper) & shouldn't be hard to find. Your help would be appreciated.

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Subject:Class of '67 Yearbook

Bob Hendrix

Class of '67

I attended Lee in my junior and senior year,didn't know many there had been in the county Monrovia and Sparkman,and worked after school (DE). I have not had any contact or reunion because I didn;t know anybody. Had Mr. Stewart for civic and have seen him since I left. Never got a class album,but would love to see one. This chapter has an empty hole in my memory. Wish I had taken care of memories better. My family went through changes during this period and so I have this follwing me all my life. Does anybody have class of '67 album? I'd die to see it.

From: Chattanooga

Email: bamabob65@hotmail.com

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