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Memphis, TN - I hope to get things back to normal again, now that things are finally calming down after all the months of planning and the hours of fun at the reunion. We will be going back to fun topics about growing up (or the lack thereof) in Huntsville and the things we do these days to make us feel alive.I want to welcome a new batch of readers who seemed to have just found us after the reunion. A reminder to all of you. Even if you do not get a reminder about the new issue being ready, you can always find it waiting for you by at least Monday of each week - even though I try to have it ready by Sunday so that Don Stroud can print out a copy to take to his mother at church each week.Please include your class year and school (if it is not Lee) when you email me.The Baby Boomer's Guide to Growing Up in "The Rocket City" is now available for mail order purchase. The 402-page book costs $15 plus $5 for priority mail postage. Click on the link below for ordering information:For those that have already have a copy, I invite you to go to the website and click on the Guest Book and leave a book report if you wish.
I want to add my thanks and appreciation to all the others sent in last week in regard to our wonderful reunion.Every time I leave one of our reunions I think ,"They can't top that one!" and yet the reunion staff always does. Obviously the decorations that were "scholarshipped" by Carolyn and her husband Bill, had a tremendous effect and were appreciated by us all. But, more than anything, it is the enthusiasm and eagerness to see old friends, that everyone brings, that makes this such a successful event each time.I left this last reunion with a different question this time. It was "When will we start acting our age ?" The pictures I have attached are of the band and the packed dance floor. You can just see the amazed look on the band members faces as they perform for a very enthusiastic crowd of 60+ year olds. And therein lies the reason for my question - "At our age, aren't we supposed to be sitting at our tables complaining and comparing our aches, pains, surgeries and the med's we take?"Over the last few years as I have returned home from one of our reunions I have tried to describe to friends the fun, excitement and dancing that takes place. Folks look at me like "Are you out of your mind ? Nobody our age dances or parties like that anymore." I've spoken with various bands that have played numerous reunions for classes in our age group and they tell me most the time only a few get up to dance and it is usually a slow dance. Most of the time they are playing to an empty dance floor. That Saturday night in August at the Marriott we had the place rocking. Even the attendees for the Rooks Family Reunion that was taking place at the same time, were amazed at the great music that was played and the number of folks that kept the dance floor packed. Tommy, your book was aptly named "Growing Up in the Rocket City" as many of us 46 years later still have a young heart and youthful enthusiasm for life and apparently still have some growing up to do. It is quiet obvious that time has dulled some of our athletic abilities and capabilities. At the 2005 reunion we had a number of guys that dropped down and did the "Gator" while some of those great 60's songs were being played. This year at out 46/5/4th reunion I asked John Drummond if he was going to be doing the "Gator" again ? He replied "I can still get down" ....... but I just can't get back up !Well, time may have taken its toll on our bodies but we still have that youthful expectation to give it our all on the dance floor. Even as the band played its last few songs of the night we crowded around the dance floor cheering on Jerry Brewer while he performed a drum solo. Then as if that were not enough he was followed by none other than Lehman George who also performed on the drums. What a great time and what a great bunch of folks to have shared our youth with and now our old age. The lingering question still remains however "When will we start acting our age ?" That answer I hope never comes.
When I read Craig's observation about being too old to do the Gator, I regret that I didn't prove him wrong. Above is a copy of the certificate which I received at the 2005 reunion for performing that feat. And, unlike John, there were three valid reasons I did not do it this year, even though I am still capable of doing so.(1) The first reason is that I never found the dance floor empty enough to find room to do it, since it takes up so much floor space. I had no desire to get trampled by all the other dancers who dominated the dance floor the entire night.(2) No one ever actually yelled "GATOR!!!" which is the official call required to challenge dancers to drop to the floor and perform the dance. I offer "Animal House" as my reference source for that observation.(3) Based on reason number two above, if I had spontaneously dropped to the floor and performed the Gator without someone officially calling out for the dance to be performed, I was afraid some of my classmates would have thought I was having a heart attack and started performing mouth-to-mouth and CPR on me. Since John Drummond was the only doctor around, I was afraid he might do that, and based on all the good options I had for selecting a mouth-to-mouth partner, John is definitely not in my first field of available candidates.That being said, even though I did not do the Gator, I still showed off my dancing prowess by doing the splits, and that act was observed (and cheered) by several of my classmates with whom I was dancing at the time. In this reflection, I also find it odd, that I never did have a single dance partner all night that I actually asked to dance, save the slow dance with Sue. For all the fast dances, I just got on the floor and joined in with the crowd, dancing with whichever lovely lady that happened to be facing me at the time. I did start the Congo line as well! That being said, should the good Lord allow me to attend the next reunion and we still have music, I'll become the Rold Gold Pretzel guy once more and please my audience with my dancing skills.Several of you classmates approached me at the reunion asking me about the availability of copies of the yearbooks from 1964-66.I have scanned all three of the Silver Sabres from those years and have given them a permanent home on the internet at www.archives.orgFor those of you who are looking for them, I have easy links to the files below. Once you get to the web page, you can click on the PDF option on the left and save the yearbooks to your own computer as PDF flies, which you can open and read or even print out should you desire.Here are the links:If you have problems, send me an email and I will give you better instructions.I want to announce the launch of a Facebook group dedicated to the Military Veterans of Lee High School, and am asking all of you reading this to join the group if you can.For Facebook users, just type "Lee High School Huntsville Alabama Veterans" in the Facebook search block and join the group.My goal is to get a group of Lee Veterans together in some form or fashing and march together as a band of brothers in this year's Huntsville Veteran's Day Parade.I am not sure if this will be possible or not, but I think it would be an honor to participate with all of you in a show of support for our school and our country. Those that cannot make the march should be able to ride in vehicles with banners proclaiming our group attached.I will be promoting this in the future as Veteran's Day gets closer, and I also want all who have not sent me their veteran's information before to do so soon, so that I can start working on this year's Veteran's Day issue of Lee's Traveller.
Who are the people in the photo above? Well, the answer is "it is you" and the first person you kissed. Are any of you willing to share your "First Kiss" story with the rest of the readers? I think we can have some fun with this. Class year and school with emails please.