Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Another Fami-LEE Loss

Sean Barnes

Son of

Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid

Class of '66

(From The Huntsville Times)

Jan. 18, 1971 - Sept. 29, 2008

Sean may have been best known as local DJ 'Champagne' before joining America's Party Pros and later forming 'I Do Declare' wedding minister services with his wife. He could also be heard as the voice of Domino's Pizza throughout Madison County.

Sean is survived by his wife of 12 years, Charmion and their five pups; his mother, Judy Kincaid and her husband Nelson of Huntsville; father, Danny Barnes of Clearwater, Fla.; in-laws, Bob and Dorothy Smith of Athens; uncle, Bob Fedrowisch of Huntsville; uncle, aunt, and cousin, David, Cheryl, and Natalie Fedrowisch of Hazel Green; and extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins; and a countless number of friends.

Visitation will be at Berryhill Funeral Home from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday. The funeral service will follow at 7 p.m. in the chapel. At Sean's request, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the S. Barnes Leukemia Fund at Redstone Federal Credit Union.

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John Scales, Class of '66 - OK - it's a Boy Scout mess kit. If I remember correctly, it was aluminum with two pans, utensils, and (perhaps) a cup. One of the pans had a handle so it could be used as a frying pan; a nut and bolt allowed you to rotate the handle over the other pan, holding the kit together for storage, or to rotate and fix the handle out so you could hold the pan over the fire. Don't forget to tighten the nut! That small pouch in the bottom of the picture is for the nut and bolt. Do you remember how scrubbing the pan with sand (as you were told to do) never seemed to get it as clean as it should have been?

I was a Life Scout in Troop 7 at the First Presbyterian Church - dropped out at 15 to do other things.

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Charlie Hancock, Class of '66 - I dropped out of cub scout not very far along. No idea now why. It had been fun.

The photo reminds me of a G.I. Issue Mess Kit. I had one in a similar bag when I was in Korea. Mostly we ate C-rations, but sometimes had hot chow. The mess kit included a fold in half plate with silverware inside. I only used it a few times. C-Rats were better than Marine Corps hot chow.

I'd never seen the "Alabama smoke detector" before. Pretty funny!

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Karen Tucker Oliver, Class of '65 - I believe the Mystery Photo is a Boy Scout Mess Kit. It consists of a skillet with a handle, a small pot with lid and a plate to eat on. The one I have has a cup with it.

I was never a Boy Scout but my daddy was a proud scouter for over 45 years receiving his Eagle Award and then as an adult received his Silver Beaver. While an invalid he was recognized for his committment to scouting with a Cross and Flame Award given by the Methodist Church. He was Scoutmaster at Epworth and then Holmes Street United Methodist Churches. I was a Girl Scout for over 25 years and received my Curved Bar - the equivalent of an Eagle Award at the time. We were a scouting family and Daddy loved his moccasins as much as you do.

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Gary Hatcher, Class of '66 - The mystery item for this week is a Boy Scout mess kit. Inside the carrying bag there is a metal cooking pan with handle, a metal plate/bowl, a small metal cup, and a set of metal fork, knife, and spoon. I used mine on many a scout camp-outs. The cooking pan is so black on the bottom it looks more like a cast iron skillet. I became a Life Scout. My last adventure in scouting was as a Junior Scout Master at Lakewood Methodist Church. I passed my mess kit onto my oldest daughter for her Girl Scouting. She now works for the Girl Scouts as a troop leader for parts of Shelby County and Jefferson County. She has now passed it onto my grand-son, who is in his second year of Cub Scouts. Thanks for bringing this memory back, there are a lot of good ones associated with scouting.

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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - Relying strictly on memory (or what passes for it these days), the Boy Scout Mess Kit in the photo held two small pans, a lid, and eating utensils. I’m unsure if the drinking cup and plate were part of it, but it seems they were. The handle of the fry pan rotated around and held the nested parts together and the whole thing stowed in the green drill cloth bag. I’ve probably missed (or added) something, but that’s what I recall.

I started Scouting when we lived in the Detroit area. Scout leadership there was pretty strong on uniform protocol. Showing up at a meeting even slightly out of uniform just wasn’t done. We were subject to detailed inspection for such items as patch location, proper neckerchief roll, slide position, and so on. It was a part of the deal and, because it was important to the leaders, it was important to us. What a concept!

When we moved to Huntsville in 1961, I was disappointed to see that uniform standards were minimal to nonexistent. I felt like an idiot showing up in full uniform with the other scouts in jeans and open-necked shirts. I missed that element of scouting. It wasn’t the same for me, so I resigned scouting holding the lowly rank of second class.

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Don Blaise, Class of '64 - If I remember correctly the round object was a cooking kit that had several pieces to it for cooking over a camp fire or stove and then eating what you cooked. This is what it should contain. (New Ones)

The old one on eBay had these items.

(Click on Map for larger image)

Where Lee Now Stands

by Collins (CE) Wynn

Class of ‘64

Over the last 10 years or so I have become increasingly intrigued with the early history of Huntsville and Madison County. I thought I was well informed but that has proven not to be the case. Some of the journeys down memory lane you have led us on prompted a good bit of my curiosity. For example, four or five years ago we had a running commentary for a few issues on the source of the name for Lee Highway; our own Lee High School; and our trademark gym painting and the name of “Lee Generals”. Most things I learned from those internet conversations were news to me.

Since then, during quiet moments from time to time, I often wonder what the area was like before our homes and schools were there in the neighborhood. I have found myself doing searches for maps and other documents and have even written a few articles for the Rison-Dallas Association on the same subject but with a slant toward Dallas Village.

As a part of those efforts I stumbled on the map archives of the University of Alabama. They have a tremendous library of maps and a history buff can spend hour upon hour just scanning the content. I have looked at all the maps available involving Madison County and Huntsville and several pieces of information have caught my eye over the years. For one, a map of the time shows a US Army Camp in 1875 or so located in the southeast corner of Oakwood Avenue and Maysville Road. I’m sure that is true but I wonder why it would not be common knowledge or why there are no historical markers. With a date of 1875, whatever force there must have been a part of the Federal occupation army. Since Huntsville was an occupied city, it is reasonable to assume many hard feelings remained long after the war which might explain the lack of local lore. My own family had many stories to tell: one grandfather wounded in Tennessee, captured and held for 2 years in a military prison in Indiana; and another grandfather, a civilian, murdered by Federal troops on his farm in Big Cove – but those are stories for another time.

As interesting as all that is, I was completely taken aback by another map I recently discovered. This one is from 1898 and documents the stay of a large military force in Huntsville during that year. The tie to our fam-i-Lee is that part of the force was quartered where Rison School once was with another part where Optimist Park now is. I could not download the map electronically so I ordered a paper copy from the University, then took the paper map to an architectural printing firm and had it down loaded to a CD as a PDF file so I could share it with everyone. The map is quite large so I have cropped out the portion dearest to us and have included it here. There is much more I could say but I’ll stop now and see if anyone has comments. Please note the comment “Old US Barracks” on the map – do you think it might be referring to the 1875 bivouac site – if so, one of the two descriptions is off by ½ mile or so. I’ll send along other parts of the map from time to time.

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Some New "Oldie Goldies"

submitted by Pat Stolz

Some of the artists from the 60's are re-releasing their hits with new lyrics to accommodate us...good news, for those feeling a little older and missing those great old tunes...

Herman's Hermits - "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Walker"

The Bee Gees - "How Can You Mend A Broken Hip"

The Temptations - "Papa's Got A Kidney Stone"

Ringo Starr - "I Get By With A Little Help From Depends"

Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grape Nuts"

Procol Harem - "A Whiter Shade Of Hair"

Johnny Nash - "I Can't See Clearly Now"

Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"

ABBA - "Denture Queen"

Paul Simon - "Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver"

Roberta Flack - "The First Time I Ever Forgot Your Face"

Commodores - "Once, Twice, Three Times To The Bathroom"

Rolling Stones - "You Can't Always Pee When You Want"

Bobby Darin - "Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' A Flash.

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