John Randall Goodpasture

LHS '66

1948 -  November 9, 2021

John Randall Goodpasture, age 73, of Smyrna, GA passed away unexpectedly Tuesday, November 9, 2021. He is survived by his sister, Martha Cheryl Locke (Richard); nephew, Andy Campbell (Nanci); and his grand niece, Erin Martin (Sean, sons, Campbell and Cooper). Preceding him in death was his father, Johnnie Sherrill Goodpasture; and his mother, Ida Ruth Goodpasture.

Randy grew up in Huntsville, Alabama where he attended Lee High School. He attended Auburn University graduating in 1970 with a degree in aviation management. He was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. He had a long career with Delta Airlines, briefly working in Miami, Fl and then moving to the Atlanta area for the rest of his life. He became an expert in one of the most technical areas of information technology. Leading and teaching others for many years at Delta and then Worldspan, now Travelport, travel services.

Randy was beloved by many with his caring and loving nature. Anyone who knew him admired him for his huge heart. He dedicated his life to his work and helping all the people around him, he was admired by all. Randy had a passion for helping those less fortunate supporting Must Ministries for many years. His family will always remember Randy as a fun loving guy with a great sense of humor. His taste in unusual gifts and humor was always a source of joy for all. 

A memorial service will be held at 2pm, December 1, 2021, at Southcare Cremation and Funeral Society, located at 595 Franklin Gateway SE, Marietta, GA 30067. We will also have a live stream of the service for those who cannot attend in person. For information regarding the streaming service please visit the Southcare US website.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that all donations be made to Must Ministries in Randy’s honor. You may donate online at mustministries.org or mail a donation to Must Ministries, P.O. Box 1717 Marietta, GA 30061.

Last week was a week of unusual activities. An earthquake occurred which I felt, we had a lunar eclipse, I witnessed the International Space Station fly almost directly over my house, my team lost a football game but won a basketball one, and I appear to have lost last week's issue of Lee's Traveller with an unexpected computer glitch. 

This is Thanksgiving Week and I hope you have as much in your life to be thankful for as I do. We plan to have one of Sue's daughters and her family visit us this year - which we could not visit with last year because of the Pandemic crisis.

Last week Knology's Mail Server kicked back notices of 17 classmates and did not deliver them. I hope this is just a glitch which has been addressed, but make a note that should you fail to receive a notice by Monday of any week, you should go to www.leestraveller.com and look for the issue for the Monday date of the new week. If you end up seeing the old site, you may need to clear your cache and try again.

I have had no feedback good or bad about the photos I have been including from the Lee Junior High's 1960 yearbook "The General." Farther down on this page I have included a short Yes-or-No poll to see if you would like for me to continue posting the photos, or if it is something you don't care for. Please take a moment to click yes or no so I will know which way to go.

For those of you who are not members of the classes of 1964, 1965, and 1966, I would like to explain that I will be happy to include your submissions on your classmates who have passed, but they will not be featured in the lead stories like those of these three years' classmates are. When I first started Lee's Traveller other classes were forming their own groups and did not want to be included with these three classes, so I honored their intentions. That said, your comments and participation is greatly appreciated.

I continue to include the form below for you to make any comments you wish about Lee's Traveller so please use it.

Comments on Last Week's Issue

Sarajane Tarter, LHS ‘65, "Thank you for posting Barbara's article again. She was so clever, funny and creative. I'll miss her dearly and I'm sure there are many others of us who will miss her, too. She was gifted a beautiful, kind and smart daughter who gave her 3 precious grandchildren. Please keep them and her husband, Ed, in your prayers."

Jerry Robinson, LHS ‘68, "It seems as though more and more Lee High School graduates are passing away. This is LHS '68, Charlie Scotts' obituary: Charles Keith Scott, 70, of Huntsville, passed away Tuesday, November 9th. He was preceded in death by his parents, Trevor and Mary Frances Scott. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Anita Mobley Scott, two brothers Steve Scott (Kathie), Larry Scott (Nancy) and numerous nieces and nephews. A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 18th at Maple Hill Cemetery with The Rev. Jeannie Randall officiating. A Celebration of Life will be at The Haven, 627 Meridian Street, on Sunday, December 5th at 2 p.m."

Beverly K Hillis, LHS ‘66, "Thank you very much for your time you spend keeping us informed. I look forward to reading each week. I hope you have a great Holiday Season."

Photographic Memories - Who Are They?

Each week I plan to share a group of photos from the 1960 "The General" yearbook without disclosing the names of the individuals. You may stop and try to identify them here, and when you are through you may scroll to the bottom of this page to see the identities of your classmates in the photos.

Slow Song Selections

You Picked in the Past

Stand by Me - Ben E. King

"Stand by Me" is a song originally performed in 1961 by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by him, along with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who together used the pseudonym Elmo Glick. According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called "Stand by Me Father," recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead. The third line of the second verse of the former work derives from Psalm 46:2c/3c. 

 In 2012, its royalties were estimated to have topped $22.8 million, making it the sixth highest-earning song as of its era. The song was ranked 122nd on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, BMI named it as the fourth most-performed song of the 20th century, with about seven million performances. In 2015, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", just under five weeks before his death. 

According to the documentary History of Rock 'n' Roll, King had no intention of recording the song himself. King had written it for the Drifters, who passed on recording. King's record went to number 1 on the R&B charts and was a Top Ten hit on the US charts twice—in its original release, entering the Billboard chart on May 13, 1961 and peaking at number 4 on June 16, 1961, and a 1986 re-release coinciding with its use as the theme song for the film of the same name following its appearance in the film, when it peaked at number 9 on December 20, 1986 – January 3, 1987. There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists.

I decided to find a copy of Sam Cooke's song, "Stand by Me Father" and see how it inspired Ben E. King. Here is what I found:

The Identites of the Classmates in the Pictures Above