141103 November 3, 2014
By Tommy Towery
LHS '64
Okay, Who Did This?
Memphis, TN - My thanks go out to all of you who attended the reunion and took the time to allow me to photograph you with the intent of doing a picture yearbook of the reunion. I am sad to say the project will not be completed due to a technical difficulty encountered because of a corrupted SD card used for the pictures. When I went to download the photos to my computer I found over half of them were corrupted and could not be retrieved despite my efforts in using some tried and tested software I have used in the past. I was able to save some of the photos, but not enough to complete the project I planned, so for those of you who I told about it, please accept it will not be forthcoming through no fault of my own.
Winter came in on a witch's broom on Halloween night and I hope all of you are ready for cold weather and remembered to set your clock back.
Reciprocity
by Tommy Towery
LHS '64
When I look in the dictionary I find the definition of "Reciprocity" as "reciprocation or mutual exchange." In laymen's terms you might say "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your's." Well, I've done my share of scratching but am still waiting for someone to repay me.
I am going on a rant here, followed by a threat I may or may not keep, depending upon my mood at the time.
You have never heard me complain about the time, money, and effort I put into doing Lee's Traveller each week - except for that one April Fool joke I did one year when I said I was going to stop. I have never charged a penny for anyone to access the site, thought once a collection was taken up and presented to my by a group of classmates.
For all of these years I have been sharing this newsletter with you, I have only asked for your support and a few times wanted to know if you were still interested in me continuing my efforts. I have received many emails thanking me for my efforts and expressing how much the publication means to some readers. Often a few of you have been generous enough to assist me with content. John Drummond has been great in supplying us all with a series on the Western movies we watched when we were growing up, and is only holding off for a few weeks now while the buzz of the reunion settles down and then his articles will return. Barbara Wilkerson and Rainer Klauss have been the two best steady contributors to other content (without me asking them) and Patsy Hughes Olroyd has sometimes been pressured into supplying me with some stories when asked. A few others have sent in one-time submissions.
In the past month I received no less than six emails asking me to please publish information about the Lee Lunch Bunch get together which was held this last week. Each time I was supplied with the names, locations, dates and times you readers need to know so you might attend. I have responded to those requests the same this time as I have in the past and insured the information was passed along as requested. There was no charge for this service. All I asked was for someone to please supply me with a picture or two and a short blurb about the attendees and such. Each week after the date of the event I save a place for the information and often (as I have this week) held off formatting the weekly issue while saving a place for the information which never comes.
This week is no different. I have received no report or pictures, despite my continuing efforts to publish the pre-event information as requested by several of the organizers. None of the requesters bothered to send me even a head count for publication.
Yet, the sun had not set on the day of the Lee Lunch Bunch gathering before those same people and other attendees began bragging on Facebook how good a turnout was made and how much everyone enjoyed themselves.
Perhaps I need to leave it to Facebook to make the Lee Lunch Bunch announcements as well, and use my time and effort for keeping the Traveller filled with other things that you all enjoy.
For the last couple of months our news has been filled with stories about kids taking guns to school. I was thinking about it and though I do not remember anyone having a gun inside Lee High School, my memories tell me that more than once there were trucks parked in our parking lots with guns in the gun rack of the vehicle. I was not much of a hunter - never went hunting until my mid-20s - but I did always like to shoot guns. As a matter of fact, I did not even own a BB gun of my own until I was grown, I don't think. I now have a Red Ryder one which once belonged to Bob Walker and ended up in my possession, a gift from him I hope. I don't think it was borrowed and never returned, but somehow it ended up with me. It still has "RKW" scratched on the butt of the gun for "Robert Kennedy Walker."
In the Boy Scouts I attended Camp Westmoreland and one summer I learned to shoot a 22 caliber rifle and earned my Marksmanship merit badge. Several of us used to go out to the old rock quarry on Pulaski Pike when I went to Lee and shoot at cans and bottles. We never worried about ricocheting bullets, which we really should have considered, but didn't. It was always fun to go shooting with the gang.
By the time I got into the Air Force I was still interested in guns, and earned my Marksmanship ribbon on my first attempt and never in my 20 years of service did I ever fire a group that did not re-qualify me for the award.
But back to Lee High School. I am looking for an email from one or more of you substantiating my believe some of you took a gun to school in a gun rack and parked in the parking lot. Can anyone attest to this?
