160411 April 11, 2016
The Day After Graduation
Dianne Hughey McClure
LHS '64
I very well remember the day (after graduation that) Tommy left. Things happened so fast that what was happening did not really hit me until later. I guess I thought if I did not think about it then it would not happen. I too felt sad and lonely. Too many changes too fast.
Tommy left and two weeks later my best friend Carolyn married and left also. I continued to work for Dr. Grady Baker and eventually married and left also. I never again felt as close to any friends as I did Tommy and Carolyn.
Life totally changed for me after graduation as it did for many others but thanks to Tommy and the Traveller memories of high school days have remained a part of my life.
Memphis, TN - We welcome back the contributions of John Drummond this week. John has been busy the last few weeks and we have missed his insight into our younger days.
Please enjoy Dianne Hughey McClures' recollection of the day after graduation in her life. I hope some of these reflections key some memories in your own life you might be willing to share with the rest of us.
Also be sure to put the date of the Lee Lunch Bunch get-together on your schedule. These have traditionally been fun times.
The Virtual Jukebox
John Drummond
LHS '65
One of the first humorous novelty songs to become a hit (in our era) was "Mr. Custer", sung by a soldier in General George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry who found himself at The Battle of Little Bighorn in South Dakota, surrounded by Sioux Indians, and suddenly realized (given the choice) he did not want to be there. It was performed by Larry Verne, and topped the charts at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 list during October 1960.
Ray Stevens, born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarksdale, Georgia January 24, 1939, won a Grammy award for "Everything is Beautiful", but is best known for his humorous hits, such as "Gitarzan" and "The Streak." Perhaps his most popular song was "Ahab The Arab", featuring Ahab's camel Clyde and his girlfriend Fatima, which made it to #5 on The Hot 100 list in 1962. This was also the first recording to pronounce "Arab" properly as "AY-rab" which those of us educated at LHS in Huntsville were already correctly enunciating.
We have written about Roger Miller in previous issues; he had a great talent for novelty songs, such as "Dang Me," "England Swings," "One Dyin' and A-Buryin," and his 1964 breakout hit, "King of the Road." Perhaps the funniest, in part because so many of us young guys could (if not in 1964, then a few years later in life) identify with, was "Chug-a-Lug," recalling in vivid detail the sensations experienced by a young lad during his initial encounter with alcohol ingestion. As a personal note, though it has been almost 50 years since the first over-indulgence, I still cannot hear the words "Bourbon and Coke" spoken in the same breath without a sudden reflex of nausea.
Lee Lunch Bunch Scheduled
28 April, 2016
Patsy Hughes Oldroyd
LHS ’65
It is still over a month away, but it is not too early for everyone to save the date for our next Lee Lunch Bunch. Please mark your calendars for the last Thursday of April, and do plan to join us. We have not met since right before our big 50th reunion, so we have a lot of catching up to do. Also, it will be a good time for many of the '66 bunch to touch base about their upcoming 50th celebration. As always, please let me know if you plan to come so we can give Logan’s an accurate number. They do require this in order to let us keep reserving the nice fireplace room at their restaurant.
Thanks a bunch and hope to see you there,
Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ’65
Keithandpatsy@att.net email
256 431-3396 text or call
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