Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Looking Back At This Week in 1964

From "A Million Tomorrows...Memories of the Class of '64"

Where the Boys (and Girls) Are

Sunday, March 15, 1964

75th Day 291 days to follow

Clear

Got up at 3:30 A.M. Troy came over and we went to Janice's to tell her bye - she left for Florida at 4:30 A.M. Arrived at the houseboat around 7:30 A.M. and cooked breakfast. The weather cleared up nicely. We took a nap till 12:00 A.M. then ate lunch.

Rode over to Pickwick Dam and saw what the tornado did to it last week. Earlier Paul and I drove back to Alabama at Buzzard Roost to get him some fishing license. After we left the dam we went to a little store then went back to the boat.

Started up Junior our fishing boat and went riding around. Ate supper and at 9:15 P.M. we went to bed. Getting up at 3:30 A.M. makes a person sleepy at night.

Beware the Ides of March! Watch it Julius, or everyone will go off to Florida and leave you alone. It was on the Ides of March when all of Caesar's friends turned on him and left him lying in a bloody lump on the steps and then got in a bus and left for Florida. One other thing was memorable about the Ides of March - it is Bob's birthday.

Bob was not available to go to the lake with us that morning nor did he have the money to go to Florida. He wouldn't have gone with the Florida crowd anyway. They were not Bob's type of friends. He thought they were too snooty. Today, he lives in Florida where all the high school students drive up and down his street raising hell and having fun on spring break. It somehow isn't the same.

Even though we were not catching the early bus to Florida, we got up early too. We all went to where the bus was being loaded to tell all our friends goodbye, and for one brief moment be a part of the crowd. We mingled, helped load the luggage onto the bus, and laughed and talked with everyone. Then we watched the crowd crawl onto the bus, and with a "whish" the door closed and the bus disappeared into the darkness Florida bound. We waved into the night. With the smell of bus exhaust fumes in our noses, we climbed into Paul's car and drove off ourselves. There was nobody left to wave to us. We didn't go south; we went north and west. There we would have the water, but would not have the beaches, nor the sun, nor the girls. Still, it was better than staying in town and doing nothing.

The houseboat was located at State Line Boat Dock, on Pickwick Lake, near the intersection of Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. At that time, nearly all the boats docked there were older, mostly home-built boats. Those were the days when houseboats were built on old fifty-gallon oil drums or homemade pontoons. One or two of them were made from surplus Air Force jet tip-tanks, long since discarded from the sleek jets to which they used to be attached, giving up their Mach-two performance for a slower speed of two knots or less. The whole State Line Boat Dock was built on oil drums with wooden decks attached. The dock rocked precariously up and down whenever a boat came by. The monthly charge for keeping the houseboat there was ten dollars.

In 1964, the State Line Boat Dock was not a tourist attraction.

Hundreds of love-starved students were not arriving by bus or car. Still, our trio arrived from Lee and started our vacation with breakfast. We followed that with an energetic nap. Then lunch. What excitement! To spread out the fun, we went to the dam to see the tornado damage. The tornado that had spared Huntsville the week earlier had not been so kind to Pickwick. One of the electrical yards looked like it had been used in a Godzilla movie. The steel towers were bent and twisted in a tribute to the force of the winds and a permanent reminder of why people are afraid of tornados.

The big excitement of our day was a trip to Buzzard Roost for an Alabama fishing license. Buzzard Roost was just across the state line and was the first place inside Alabama with a store. It had one store. It was not too far from the famous Coon Dog Cemetery. Needless to say, it was not a big place, but they sold fishing licenses and Paul needed one to fish. It looked like fishing would be the big activity of our trip.

The first day of my senior year spring vacation ended at nine-fifteen. In Florida, the parties were just starting, people were wearing crazy T shirts, playing loud music, dancing, and taking moonlight skinny-dips. The vacation romances were already starting and beautiful girls in two-piece bathing suits were spending intimate moments with boys they wouldn't speak to a week earlier. At Pickwick Lake, the frogs were croaking and the lights were going out. Paul was snoring on the front cot.

Spring vacation had started.

I was only forty dollars and 500 miles away from a great time.

# # # # #

EPILOG

It all started for me when I first saw "Where the Boys Are" in 1960. I wanted to go to Flordia for my senior year Spring Break. It seems that every year when Spring Break time approaches, my mind wanders back to 1964. Of course, having retired from a university where Spring Breaks still happen, it was easy to be led down that path each year.

This year I once again look back at my life in 1964 and see one of the most unforgettable scars ever placed upon my high school and teenage heart – missing out on a trip of a lifetime to Florida with all my true friends. This year, my reflections upon that time have an added pain over the loss of my best high school friend Bob Walker, Class of ’64, a couple of years ago.

Bob’s loss also highlights something that is very current for all of us this year, our upcoming reunion. Bob didn’t make it to our last reunion in 2005, and by failing to attend he missed seeing and being seen by many friends. Bob did not know it would be his last opportunity to attend a reunion. Even if he did know, he could not have done anything differently – he was fighting cancer at the time. He was too sick to attend and no one can hold that against him. That’s a valid excuse.

Bob is not the only one that those of us who attend this year will not see. Bob and 17 other classmates from our three classes of ’64-’65-’66 have left our ranks since we last met. That’s only the number that we are sure of. There are probably many others that we have lost touch with that adds to that number.

Back in 1964 I wanted to go to Florida in the worst way, but couldn’t. When Bob told me that he was terminally ill and that his time was short, I allowed nothing to stop me from going to Florida to see him one last time. We sat and talked about old times, old friends, trips cruising between Jerry’s and Shoney’s, and loves conquered and lost. We talked about food and school and trips we took.

Bob didn’t physically look anything like he did when we were at Lee together. His sickness showed. His physical looks did not matter to him, nor did mine to him. We were still the same people. We still shared the same experiences. We were still the same friends. Looks meant nothing.

We talked about the same kind of things that many of us will talk about at the reunion this year. We talked about the things I hope I get to talk to many of you about, should God have the grace to see that we live to see that day break.

I’ve been working for the last two years on planning a reunion for an Air Force group. They have selected a period of time that will conflict with the time frame of our high school reunion. Yesterday I made a decision. Despite all the work and hours I have put into the other one, I will pass on it so that I can attend my Lee High School Class Reunion. You are where my heart lives; you are the ones who matter to me.

I hope many of you will understand that, in all probable chance, this may be the last time you get to see some of your old friends. Don’t pass it up.

___________________________

Senior Prom - 1965

by Greg Dixon

Class of '65

The Senior Prom is one fine school event that gets lost in the mist because it happens too late to be depicted in the yearbook. In springtime, I sometimes think of our Lee High prom and revisit both its frantic stress and wonder. Forty five years ago, preparing for the prom was the principal task of the class officers (probably the only task now that I think about it). Though my memory of who did what is a bit dim, perhaps others can add their recollections to my sketchy tale.

I remember that we had a prom committee and that it was quite large. The big tasks were getting a band, decorating the cafeteria, arranging refreshments, and managing the clean-up. For most of us, this was our first big experience in organizing anything much beyond a Saturday night date. I recall little or no grown-up participation in the process though that may be wrong. Maybe Mrs. Brewer (senior class sponsor) and the art teacher, whose name I forget. Our committee started serious work in February or March though my contributions were minimal until basketball season was over. I seem to remember John Drummond, Janice Hanson, and a bunch of folks from the art department being involved. Randy Roman did something useful though in the aftermath of the prom, he and I nearly went to jail (story in next week's edition).

Hiring a band was a major consideration and we all wanted something special. The budget for the band was $400. I think that Randy thought it would be cool to get Boots Randolph and his Yakety Sax group. Randy was a bit biased toward anything involving a saxophone. I had friends in Nashville and they told me that Boots lived there. From the school office I called directory assistance in Nashville and asked for Boots' phone number. The operator found it promptly and I made the call. Boots answered the phone at home and we chatted about ten minutes. I told him that the theme of the prom was "Tender Is the Night," which Boots thought was cool. Finally we got around to price and Boots told me he would give us a special rate of $1200. He would bring three guys with him and they would play a total of three hours. I cringed and apologized for our budget. Fulton Hamilton was not going to kick in another $800. Someone else on the committee was more in touch with reality and found us a great band for $400. Please chime in on this story and tell us who saved the day and the name of the band.

The next thing I worked on was tuxedos for the guys. Some fellow from New York came to Lee, unannounced, one day and Mr. Hamilton called me down to the office and left me to hear his pitch. His deal was this. He would sell us used tuxedos for $11 dollars each. These had black pants with a little satin stripe down the legs, a white dinner jacket, and a white tie, just the thing for a warm spring night. Our usual white socks and black church shoes finished off the outfit nicely. I had to guarantee the sale of some number of these, about 60 I think. So I did and we signed a deal. I recall that we added a few bucks to the cost to give us a little cushion on prom expenses. Don't remember how many guys got the outfits but I have a photo album featuring prom pictures of about a dozen couples and all the guys are wearing the white dinner jackets. Since we got to keep the "tux", I carried mine around with me for about 15 years without ever wearing it again. When I tried it on in my 30's, it was quite snug. Shrinkage, I guess.

For next week, I will tell the tale of the madhouse scramble to complete the decorations, the prom itself, and the traumatic aftermath when Randy and I narrowly escaped doing some hard time and possible expulsion.

Please pile on to this story with your own recollections. Who did you go with and when did you get home the next morning? And how many of you married your date? Or, how many never went out with your date again after the prom? We need details, people.

___________________________

Subject:The Road Wisely Not Taken

Bob MacIlveen

Class of '65

Hey Tommy,

You and I have a similar path and a common experience with dangerous characters in our youth. One such neighborhood boy appear as early as the sixth grade for me. His name was Jim and he was four or five years older than I. He had an appendectomy and consequently underwent a personality change. I rarely saw him but somewhat later he was sent to Kilby prison. God knows what happened after that.

_________________

Subject:Stories

Escoe German Beatty

Class of '65

Just read your excerpt from "The Book" and I just have to say you were so cool then and you are even cooler now!! How could we ever tire of your stories when most of them are our stories too!!

_________________________

Subject:

Stories

Billy Berry

Huntsville High

Class of '60

Please don't stop your stories, I am a "silent reader" of your website and I enjoy it so much. I enjoy living in the past also and sounds like we grew up and experienced simular experiences, although I was never a dancer, I roamed the streets of Northeast Huntsville many a night and went to almost every ball game at Goldsmith Shiffman that was played there.

You see, I was born and raised on O'Shaughnessy Ave, went to Rison through the ninth grade and always was a Lee High wannabe, but had to go all the way to HHS, where I graduated in 1960, so as you see I am a little bit older than you. I do remember your brother, Don, but I am sure he would have no recollection of me, but if I am correct, he was a pretty good ball player.

I married one of the Nelson twins, that lived one block over from your street, East Clinton, on School Street, and they went to East Clinton also. My wife Brenda, graduated from HHS in 1965, so you were only a year behind her, but lucky enough to be at Lee.

Didn't mean to bore you, but just wanted to let you know that your writings mean a lot to an old HHS grad, aka LHS wannabe.

P.S. I really cherrish my years at Rison.

_______________________

2010 Reunion Committee Meets

by Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid

Class of '66

The 2010 Reunion Committee had its first meeting this past Monday evening. Hopefully we will have a date and location by next weekend

Once the date and location is confirmed, if you are coming from out of town please make your hotel/motel reservations as soon as possible. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center is hosting a Star Wars exhibit that is expected to bring 300,000 people into Huntsville between June 24th and September 6th. Rooms will be at a premium with prices to match. At this time the Huntsville Marriott is holding 20 poolside rooms under Lee High School Reunion‘64-’65-’66. The price quoted was $109 per night.

The committee members are all working to get current information on all LHS ‘64/’65/’66 classmates so that they can be contacted about the upcoming reunion. Each class has designated a committee member to maintain a database on their graduating class.

The reunion class contacts are:

Class of ’64 – Linda Taylor

lktaylor731@aol.com

Class of ’65 – Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter

1965lhs2010@gmail.com

Class of ’66 – Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid

jfk19662010@hotmail.com

Please include: Class year, first name; last name at time of graduation; married name (if applicable); spouse’s name (if applicable); street address; city; state; zip code; home ( H ) or cell ( C ) phone number (which ever you prefer); e-mail address; and occupation.

Even if you do not plan to attend or are not sure if you’ll be able to attend the upcoming reunion, please send in your information. And please encourage other classmates that you may be in contact with to do the same.

And check the Traveller each week for planning updates.

_________________________