Elbert Roy Balch

September 10, 1947 - June 11,2022 

LHS '65

Niles Prestage sent this notice: "On a sad note, Elbert Balch, our friend and classmate from the Class of ‘65 passed away this morning (Saturday, June 11), I think from a reoccurrence of Leukemia. Arrangements are still pending, but please remember "Opie" and family in your prayers during this most difficult time. Elbert was a great guy…." Gudrun Klauss found and sent in the obituary.

Elbert Roy Balch, age 74, of Madison, Alabama passed away on June 11, 2022, surrounded by family and friends. He was born to Clarence Beverly and Era Victoria Balch on September 10, 1947, in Huntsville, Alabama. Elbert graduated from Lee High School and was drafted into the United States Army. After being honorably discharged from the service, he graduated from the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) and worked for BellSouth/AT&T for 30 years. Upon retirement from the communications industry, he joined his beloved wife Opie Balch in their real estate brokerage located in historic downtown Madison. He spent considerable time working to revitalize the Downtown Madison Historic District and maintained a love for the community throughout his life.

He married the love of his life, Margarett Opaline “Opie” Balch in 1971, who survives him. Elbert is further survived by his daughters Tiffany Morris (Steve), Amy Balch, Ashley Blackwell(Josh), and his son Matthew Balch (Natalie).  Elbert is survived by his grandchildren Chase, Reagan, and Savannah Blackwell, and Emma, Annie, and Axel Balch. Elbert is survived by his older brothers Morris and Joseph Balch. Elbert was predeceased by his parents Clarence and Era, and his brother Wayne.

Elbert was known for his love for his family and the people in his life. He was an Alabama football fan, avid fisherman, and a cornerstone of the Madison community. He wished everyone to know that he lived a long, full life surrounded by his loving family and friends.

Visitation will be held at Legacy Chapel Funeral Home on Tuesday, June 14 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. The viewing will be held at Legacy Chapel Funeral Home on Wednesday, June 15 from 11:00 – 12:30, the funeral will be at 1:00 pm., and burial will follow at Mt. Zion Baptist Church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, Elbert requested that individuals donate blood and platelets to LifeSouth which assists those in need in the North Alabama community. Additionally, monetary donations can be made to Russel Hill Cancer Foundation (russelhill.org) to support Clearview Cancer Institute (CCI) patients in need of assistance.

Elbert wished to specifically express his great appreciation to Dr. Marshall Schreeder and all of his team at Clearview Cancer Institute (CCI) for seven years of incredible care.

Elbert’s final wishes were for all to know that he loves you and to remind everyone that it doesn’t cost a thing to be kind.

Published by Legacy Chapel Funeral Home And Crematory - Madison on Jun. 12, 2022.

Navigating the Lee's Traveller Issues

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

With the problems we have been having with Knology and other email servers identifying my announcements as SPAM, I will try to explain what you can do if this happens again. First of all, I will have the new issues out by the close of the day on Mondays, and usually sooner. I normally send out an announcement with its address, so you can just click on it and you will open the current issue. (These announcements are the ones that get returned to me and you will not see them because they are marked as SPAM by Konology and other servers.) If you do not get an announcement email, you can get to the site manually by typing "leestraveller.com" (without the quotes) into your browser address block.

I highly recommend you then bookmark it so it will always be available. This is a static web address so it does not change each week.

If the page looks similar to this when it opens, notice the three little bars in the top left corner of the screen. This is the menu bar for the pages in the site. If you click on the three bars, you should see the following screen.

If there is a "V" to the left of a month pointing downward, it means there are more hidden pages in the month. To see what is hiding, click on the "V" pointing downward, and you will then be able to see what is hiding, like this: 

Now you can click on the date of the issue you wish to view. 

This same technique will work every week. I only send out the notices to let readers know when an issue has been uploaded and is ready to view. You do not have to have that email to view the latest issue if you follow the instructions above. Good Luck!

In last week's issue I posed this question: "If you are not a member of the Class of '64-'65-'66 or a former student of one of those classes, would you still be interested in attending their reunion?" Fifteen of our classmates responded, but obviously did not understand what I was asking when I stated "If you are not a member of the Class of '64-'65-'66". Of the 15 who responded, 11 of them were actually members of the Classes of '64-'65-'66."

On a different subject, plans are coming together for the reunion for the Classes of '64-'65-'66 and details should be available to publish soon. Be ready for a different venue from some of our past reunions. "Your old road is rapidly agin'. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand. For the times they are a-changin'."

This Week's Questions, Answers, Comments

David Mullins, LHS ‘64, "Thank you for the info on Randy Sherrill. When and where is the next Luncheon and at what time ?"

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd, LHS '65, "Thank you, Tommy. for your kind words about the Lee Lunch Bunch. I started this group 12 years ago right after our class reunion in 2012 for our classes of '64, '65, and '66. It seemed like such a long time in between reunions, and I thought our group might enjoy meeting for lunch twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. Our three classes were unique since we were the original Lee Junior High, and then we dropped off a grade and added on a grade until we became Lee High School. Many of us in our three classes went to school together for all six years. Likewise, many of us started out together and completed all twelve years together. In addition, some of us went on to college together and even on to grad school together. Our three classes have a very close bond and relationship with each other that enables us to truly enjoy our reunions and the LLB lunch gatherings. 

Throughout these last 12 years, it has become increasingly difficult for me to find restaurants that had meeting rooms or private areas large enough to accommodate our group without us having to pay for that space. I was even told in one restaurant, after we were already finished and leaving, that they simply could not have a group that size in their private area for another time. Our group usually includes anywhere from 30 to 50 of our classmates. People from later classes have asked from time to time about joining our group, but that is just basically not possible since we must have room for our original group. It cannot be a situation where others from later classes come, and we could possibly be over the allowed amount thereby preventing our members from '64, '65, and '66 to have a spot. 

This is not a situation of "keep away," but rather providing space for our group first. The LLB has been such a fun time for old friends to meet, eat, and just get to see each other more often than our reunions. I truly hope that we can keep our group going for a long time as we all keep getting older. A group of older friends who went to school together in the county where I live is now down to about eight of them who graduated together. I love to see their picture in the paper and hear about their little lunch reunions as their precious group gets smaller and smaller. I hope that our group can just do the same thing and play it out together as we get older and lose more of us in our FamiLee.

Ingrid Ireland, LHS ‘65, "I was sorry to read about another former classmate, Randy Sherrill, passing. I send my sincerest sympathy to his family. Thank you, Tommy, for your dedication to keeping us informed of the current and past. We are blessed as a result of your endeavor."

Jim Marbourg, LHS '65, "I want to thank you for the time, effort, and love that you have spent on the LHS Newsletter.  Your efforts have produced a wonderful collection of LHS memories and methods for the '64 - '66 grads to stay in touch.  For the first time in many months, and probably more like several years, I have spent about 3-4 hours going back through many of the issues.  It took the loss of my dear friend, Randy Sherrill, to make me stop and realize that I had not kept myself informed of or involved with the LHS family.  Randy, Joe Schultz and I were very close friends as LHS classmates during our latter LHS years, and it has continued through the years.  I will now be a regular 'reader' of the newsletter, and if I can find them, I might even send in some pictures of those  'good old days.' Again, thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for the LHS family."

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.

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' 

We may be senior citizens now, but when we sat in the classrooms at Lee High School our music was warning the world of things to come. Today this song may be more poignant today than when it aired in 1964. 

"The Times They Are a-Changin'" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released as the title track of his 1964 album of the same name. Dylan wrote the song as a deliberate attempt to create an anthem of change for the time, influenced by Irish and Scottish ballads. Dylan appears to have written the song in September and October 1963.

In 1985, he told Cameron Crowe, "This was definitely a song with a purpose. It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads ...'Come All Ye Bold Highway Men', 'Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens'. I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time."

Less than a month after Dylan recorded the song, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The next night, Dylan opened a concert with "The Times They Are a-Changin'"; he told biographer Anthony Scaduto, "I thought, 'Wow, how can I open with that song? I'll get rocks thrown at me.' But I had to sing it, my whole concert takes off from there. I know I had no understanding of anything. Something had just gone haywire in the country and they were applauding the song. And I couldn't understand why they were clapping, or why I wrote the song. I couldn't understand anything. For me, it was just insane."