Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

MEMPHIS, TN - We do not have any definate plans yet for the Mini-Reunion on August 30th, but I guess it is time to come up with some ideas. I think we should plan on a pot-luck lunch at the Optimist Recreation Center starting to eat at noon. We have the place for five hours (12-5pm) but they said we could show up early to set things up. Although it is rented in my name, Sue and I will be driving in from Memphis that morning so we will not get there real early - maybe in the 10:30ish timeframe. If everyone who comes will just bring their speciality for pot-luck affairs, I am sure that thre will be plenty to eat. It worked out fine doing that when we last met up on Monte Sano, so we'll trust the fates to let it work out again. As of this moment there are no plans for that evening after we break up at 5pm, so if anyone can come up with an idea, send it this way. Linda Taylor has volunteered to work with us on Sunday if we want to go out to the Space Center, but I don't know if Sue and I will have time to stay around enough on Sunday to take her up on her offer. The primary plan is just to sit and visit on Saturday and get a chance to see each other once more.

Please include your class year with your e-mails.

T. Tommy

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Sharon McCallum York

Class of '66

Died in Florida in 2000

by Beverly Taylor Swaim

Class of '66

Sharon and I both graduated from Lee in 1966. We stayed in touch after graduation and even worked together for a couple of years. After Sharon moved to Florida in 1974, we still called or wrote each other at least once a month. When Sharon and her husband would travel to Huntsville to visit her parents and brother, they always found time to come by and visit before they headed back to Florida.

When Sharon's phone calls and letters stopped, I began a quest to find out why. Her phone had been disconnected and my letters were being returned. I could not remember her husband's name, and I could not locate her brother that still lives in this area. So as chance would have it, my husband and I made a trip to the Sarasota-Bradenton area. I was determined to find Sharon. With the help of a friend, we found Sharon's obituary. I don't know why she never mentioned being sick (I am guessing she died from cancer)......I would have helped her if she would have let me.

Please post it on the website, as I am sure some of her friends still here in Huntsville, would like to know some of the details and put closure to this. Below is Sharon's obituary.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) - March 30, 2000

Sharon York, 51, Bradenton, formerly of Sarasota, died March 28, 2000. She was born in Germany and came to Sarasota in 1974 from Huntsville, Alabama. She moved to Bradenton three years ago. She was an owner and operator of a cleaning service in Sarasota.

Survivors include a sister, Maureen Schofill of Bradenton; and a brother, Robert H. McCallum, Jr. of Huntsville. A service and burial will be private. Brown and Sons Funeral Home, 26th Street chapel, is in charge. Memorial donations may be made to Bradenton hospice House, c/o Hospice of Southwest Florida, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34238.

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1956 was the year the novelty song above was played on the radio in Huntsville for the first time. For many years I collected 45rpm records, eventually ending up with over 2,500 of them in my collection. This is one record I was never able to find. Most of the time when I asked people about it, they had no idea what I was talking about and no one knew where I could find a copy. Unlike "Purple People Eater" and "Monster Mash" this one just did not seem to have stayed in people's memory. I thought for the longest that I was the only one who did remember it, until my last search took me to youtube.com and there it was. The funny thing is that even though I have not heard the record in almost 50 years, I still could recall the basic songs used in it. So, my question to you this week is not whether or not you can identify the song, just let me know if you remember anything about it. To listen to it, click on the following link.

The Flying Saucer

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Subject:Concerts

Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter

Class of '65

While reading CE's concert article I realized that I too was at the James Brown concert in 1964. Matter of fact we were so close that when he did one of his famous moves we were showered with his sweat! That didn't deter me from continuing to go to concerts, like James Taylor, Carol King, Bob Dylan, the Doobie Brothers and Elton John. Even now when there is music being played I try to attend the function but now we go to the Monday night concerts in the park, City Lights at the Burritt and the DooWoop bands performances that you see on Public Television!?! We hate that we missed seeing Jimmy but we had already purchased tickets to hear another group that night. Looking forward to seeing you on the 30th.

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Subject:`Heart Attack

Aaron Potts

First Class of Lee

Boy did it hit me by surprise. It was like someone had kicked me in th echest and I couldn't breathe. I thought Bgl Al from Alabama was sitting on my chest. it's a helpless feeling to try to breathe and as hard as you try, you still can't breathe. Anyone that has played Football and got hit hard enough to knock the breath out of you, it is not as painfull as that is but the same affect. I could see my heart beat in my eyes. each time my heart beat I could see my vision get a little dimmer then brighter again. I was pretty weak when I woke up. I guess god had a way of guiding Jennifer and her husband my way while I went to Texas. She's a pretty good kid and has a pretty good husband.

I have finally got my blood pressure back to the 100 over 88 and my pulse rate is back to a good 76. Taking a blood thiner and some other pills, I guess I'll have to disappoint a few people and continue to live. No, I think both of them know who they are.

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Karen Tucker Oliver, Class of '65 -I love the Mystery Photo because it gets my brain to thinking about the past. This week's photo is Johnny Yuma, was a Rebel. The Rebel starred Nick Adams who I thought was really hot at the time. The theme song was sung by Johnny Cash I believe. Obviously, television is more my genre than poetry unless it is Canterbury Tales in old English that Ms. Faulkner made us memorize. I still have nightmares about that one.

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John Drummond, Class of '65 - This week's is a softball for guys who grew up in the 1950s. "The Rebel" was a 30-minute western about a post-Civil War drifter who continued to wear his Confederate Army field cap--dumb choice of headgear, rather like wearing a blue and orange Auburn cap to Homecoming in Tuscaloosa. Johnny Cash sang the title song; opening line "Johnny Yuma was a rebel, he roamed through the West / Johnny Yuma was a rebel, he wandered alone...." The actor was Nick Adams, whose other noteworthy appearance was as Andy Griffith's sidekick in the hilarious black-and-white film "No Time for Sergeants." The mocie also featured the then-unknown Don Knotts and, in a small role as a pilot, Jamie Farr (Klinger on TV's M.A.S.H.).

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Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, Class of ''65 - The mystery TV character in this week's Traveller is Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma in "The Rebel." (I absolutely refuse to look at Google, Ask Jeeves, etc. to determine who sang the title song.) This show reminded me of the fact that several of the TV cowboys of the fifties and early sixties were decidedly Southern. I remember Bronco Layne (Ty Hardin) as an unreconstructed Confederate. Yancey Derringer was another Southern gentleman. Have I exhausted the list or do some of our group remember others?

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Paula S. Kephart, Class of '65 - I believe this show was "The Rebel" starring Nick Adams; he was a former Confederate? soldier I think who roamed the West carrying a sawed off shotgun. Was a decent show.

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The North and South

The North has Bloomingdale's, the South has Dollar General.

The North has coffee houses, the South has Waffle Houses.

The North has dating services, the South has family reunions.

The North has switchblade knives; the South has Lee Press-on Nails.

The North has double last names; the South has double first names.

The North has Indy car races; The South has stock car races.

North has Cream of Wheat, the South has grits.

The North has green salads, the South has collard greens.

The North has lobsters, the South has craw fish.

The North has the rust belt ; the South has the Bible Belt.

FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . . .

In the South: --If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store... . do not buy food at this store.

Remember, 'Y'all' is singular, 'all y'all' is plural, and 'all y'all's' is plural possessive

Get used to hearing 'You ain't from round here, are ya?'

Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.

Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective 'big'ol,' truck or 'big'ol' boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper!

Be advised that 'He needed killin.' is a valid defense here.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, 'Hey, y'all watch this,' you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.

Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.

In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.

AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.

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