Frances Lee Dilday Wiles

LHS '64

August 30, 1946 - March 30, 2020

(Editor's Note: As we continue to work on items for the upcoming reunion we continue to find out about some of our classmates who have passed away. We will continue to report these as they are discovered.)

Frances Lee Dilday Wiles, 73, passed away on the morning of March 30, 2020 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Lee was the daughter of Ernest Dilday, Jr. and Ellen Frances Brown Dilday and was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on August 30, 1946. She married Frederick “Fred” Webb Wiles in 1968 in New Orleans. Lee was a devoted wife to Fred until his death in 1980. Fred and Lee had two children, Rachel Wiles Bradford and Brian Christopher Wiles.

After being a homemaker, she earned her Associates Degree from Dekalb Community College and worked as a mortgage loan officer for many years. In addition to working, she was a tireless volunteer for PTA and Girl Scouts. You could find her most weekends cheering and running on the sidelines of her son’s soccer games. Along with her quick wit, she enjoyed crossword puzzles, reading mysteries, and spending time with her family and friends. Her granddaughters were the light of her life. Lee was known for her generosity, loyalty, and undying devotion to her loved ones. She always placed others’ needs ahead of her own.

Lee is survived by her children, Brian Wiles of Augusta, Ga and Rachel Wiles Bradford, son-in-law, Wes Bradford, granddaughters, Cara Leeyanni Bradford and Sophia Marie Bradford of Charleston, SC. She is also survived by her brother, Ernest Dilday, III, and her sisters, Ellen Washington and Kay Dilday Johnson, as well as her nieces and nephews.

Lee will be missed dearly by her family and friends.

Tommy Towery, Lee Junior High School, 9th Grade Photo

New Kid in School

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Unlike many of you, I did not start at Lee Junior High until the beginning of the ninth grade, in the fall of 1960. Even so, I did not feel like the new kid at school like many who transferred there from a far-distant school. That is because I already knew many of my new classmates from some of the earlier groups in which I participated.

First of all, I had been a former classmate of many of you from my earlier days at East Clinton Street Elementary School. I had attended Rison for the last semester of my first grade, but honestly cannot remember many of the friends I made there then (I was only six). Before the start of the second grade, my family moved to the house on East Clinton Street and I completed the second through sixth grades at East Clinton Elementary. When I look back at some of the school photos from those years I recognize many of you. Also, there was a summer activity at the East Clinton playground and I played softball and other games with others I would later join at Lee. I completed the seventh and eighth grades at Huntsville Junior High.

Many of my new classmates were boys who were in my Boy Scout Troop 66. Those folks included (but were not limited to) Bob and Jim Ramsey, Don Cornelius, Bobby Joyce, Bryan Towry, Ronnie Hornbuckle, and others. We had all become friends during our troop meetings, hikes, and camping trips.

A third group includes the people which I knew from those memorable Friday and Saturday nights spent rolling around the wooden floor of Carter’s Skateland. That is an impressive list of folks like Dianne Hughey, Ginger Cagle, Carolyn McCutcheon, Carol Jean Williams, Linda Pell, Sarajane Steigerwald, Sherry Adcock, Kenneth Burkett, Johnny Carter, Barbara Seeley, and Pam Grooms in part. 

I cannot overlook the many friends I spent some great times with at the local dances at the National Guard Armory, the Coliseum, and of course Bradley’s Cafeteria. Most of the dances were only a $1.00 entrance fee and I have great memories of times with David France, Linda and Cathy Shafer, Lewis Brewer and most of my Carter’s Skateland girl friend crowd. This was mainly after I had already started at Lee, but still in the same timeframe. 

My most memorable group at Lee was the members of the Lee’s Traveller newspaper staff. That group brought new friends like Gene Bryson, Judy Scarborough, Escoe German, Mickey Campbell, Patsy Hughes, Woody Beck, Bob Walker, Linda Collingsworth, Carol Stevens, and Dag Rowe. There were others as well.

Besides the friends I made in the various classes I took, I was also in the Hi-Y at Lee, in which I was a part of a totally different group including some I though were rougher boys. I became good friends with Tommy Thompson but also spent time with Terry Preston, Harold Tuck, Jim Dickens, Jerry Brewer, Tony Thompson, Gary Metzger, Ronnie Hornbuckle, and a lot more.

What I am trying to show, is that many of us were part of groups various groups and made a lot of friends in those groups. Not all of us were in each other’s groups, but many of the members of the groups intersected with others

Though I belonged to many groups, I did not know personally or hang out with everyone in the three grades of ’64-’65-‘66. There were some groups in which I did not belong, like most of the athletics teams and the band. I did not, but you may have. What I need now is for some of you to think about the groups in which you participated and see if you became friends and kept up with any of the following people over the years. I am feeling guilty while working on the update to our Class of ’64 Reunion Directory and cannot contact the following people no matter how hard I search. For the ones I had good email addresses I sent out the reunion information. If I did not have email addresses, but had a phone number I sent out text messages. For those who did not text, I tried to call personally and left a voice message, but several phone numbers were no longer in service. I have tried looking on Facebook, Google search, and even Findagrave (yes, we have lost too many already.) Still, there were some I could not find. Perhaps some of you can help me find them. Some I know received my notices but just chose not to respond. I still find some who have no interest in attending a class reunion. 

Many have changed their email addresses over the years. It most often occurs when people used email accounts tied to a particular internet service provider such as AOL, ATT, or Xfinty and such. When they drop or change the service they lose their email accounts as well. I was promised a lifetime email account at the University of Memphis, only to have it deleted by a new director two years later. Since then I personally use gmail which I think is the best service. It is a free email service and not tied to any one particular internet service. If I change providers, my gmail account always stays the same and I take it with me. And, like I said it is free and widely accepted everywhere.

Here is the first part of my list of the Class of 1964 alumni which I cannot contact. I will post the rest next week, but I know time is getting short.

ANDERSON, Scott Lewis

ASBILL (Lundgren), Delores June

BENTON, Shirlene

BLAND, Sharon Elise

BRADLEY (Hennings), Beverly “Bunny” Ann

CANTRELL (Fleming), Dorothy L.

CARROLL (Williams), Wanda Kay

CLARK, Dwight B.

COBB (Shannon), Janice

CORNELIUS, Don R.

CRABBE (Roland), Brenda Gaye

DAVIS, Terry Michael

DAY, Cynthia Jane

DONNELLY (Young), Sharon Ann

GOUCHENOUR (Silvers) Jana

GREEN, Betty Jean

HAMMICK, Alan Michael

HILL (Hollenbeck), Patricia Lynn

HOWARD, Rex Edward

KEEL (Clark), Judith Ellen

KIRK, Connie Rebecca

KIRK-DICKSON, Mildred “Millie” Elizabeth

KITSON, Robin Gail

LANKFORD, Phillip Wayne

LEE, Keith Daryl

MASON (Brown), Margaret Dianne

MATTHEWS, Lynda

McCARTT, Alvin Loyd

McCURDY (Putman) Helen Rebecca

MEEKINS (Nelson), Ellyn “Elly”

MILLER, Clifford “Buddy”

MILLER (Johnson), Dorothy

MOORE (Boster), Marilyn Marie

To be finished next week.

If you reacted fast last week, you may have sent in your reunion application to the wrong address. The one in the flyer above is the corrected one. Please note also, that a hotel has been selected to host those of you coming in from out of town.

Please help me if you have a good email address or telephone number (or personal contact) with any of the folks listed above. It is terrible to have lost contact information for so many since the last reunion. The Classes of '65 and '66 will be adding their list soon

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A Song to Set the Stage for Our Upcoming Reunion