"A Million Tomorrow...Memories of the Class of '64"

The Beginning

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

December 12, 1963

Dec 12 - It was a cold day today. I started to work on my third play at school today. This will be about a boy in high school and what he goes through in his senior year. I hope I don't quit on it.

I feel it is ironic when I look back and read what I wrote in my journal on December 12, 1963. In the journal I stated I started to work on the third play I was writing. I had already written one play for a Boy Scout event and another play for my Westminster Fellowship group at Central Presbyterian Church. The play I intended (and started on) was to be called “Senioritis” and was about a boy’s senior high school experiences. Little did I know at the time that the journal in which I wrote those words would actually be the basis from which I would later write a book and not a play. I wanted to note the things happening in high school, while all the time I was actually doing so in the journal I was keeping.

Twenty-five years after I used the journal’s collection of events and used them to create “A Million Tomorrows…Memories of the Class of ’64.” The title of the book came from the words of one of my favorite New Christy Minstrels songs, “Today.” The song really expressed the feelings I had about the people and events in my life at the time. I knew then I would never forget them, and that has proven to be so true Before the days of Amazon, I spent over $2,000 and self-published the book after I had exhausted every effort to get a publishing company interested in it. The method of doing so back in 1989 was done in a process which was in its dying stages, soon to be replaced with advances in computer systems and formats much easier to be replicated. It took a long time to sell or give away the 500 books but now it is available on a print-on-demand format on Amazon. The new method is a process where books can be printed one at a time when they are ordered and there is no requirement to keep hundreds of copies of a book in a garage or pantry.

I also never knew that once I mastered the process of writing and publishing a book it would be only the beginning of that process for me. I now have 17 of my own books on Amazon and have helped eight or nine others publish their books as well. Most of mine today are military-related memoirs of crewmembers who flew B-52 bombers in the Air Force.

I sometimes wonder if any of my writing would have ever been done had it not been for the idea I had back in 1963 to write about being a senior in high school. Who cares if it took me 25 years to complete the process?

I am back to normal again, having put the Covid and respiratory problems behind me. Thank goodness it was a mild Covid case, especially after looking back at all the very serious problems and deaths occurring from earlier cases.

This week's feature is about the polio epidemic we faced as teenagers and how uninformed I was about the serious threat it posed.

We had some great feedback on last week's feature on the University of North Alabama. Thanks to all who responded.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Linda Taylor, LHS ‘64, "Which vaccine were you taking in 1963? I remember taking the sugar cube, Sabine vac, in grade 1,2, or 3 ... 1952+."

(Editor's Comment, "I was taking the Sabine oral vaccine as well, in 1963."

Joel Weinbaum, LHS ‘64, "I didn't attend FSU but living in Sheffield as a kid before moving to Lee, we passed the campus hundreds of times, literally, going to the Temple B'nai Israel a few blocks over for services, Sunday school, Bar Mitzvah training, etc. Riding the bus from Sheffield cost a quarter each way. A number of my early friends attended there. As we drove by my favorite building is at the north end with the fort-like parapet, maybe the ROTC building. Still a beautiful campus. During my kid-time an older brother of a friend attending FSU came home while I was there making such a fuss about the difficulty of the school, I still cringe at the thought of never making it thru FSU. Impressionable time in childhood.

Something not mentioned in the article on polio was the collection of dimes on a "March of Dimes" card to purchase "iron lungs" for the victims of polio. Polio is a shedding virus, meaning clean toilet habits are essential. The last vestige of polio has been Afghanistan and Pakistan until an announcement recently of polio detection in the NY sanitary system."

Cecilia LeVan Watson, LHS ‘68, "I remember a young boy from our church that we visited. He was in an iron lung with a mirror in front of his face. It was heartbreaking to know he couldn’t run or play. Polio was spreading quickly! We all flocked to Rison school to get our sugar cube vaccine."