I know this song is a year or so more modern than our Lee days for the early classes, but we have some youngsters to entertain as well. "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" is a song that was a hit for the Louisiana-based John Fred & His Playboy Band in late 1967. Its title is a play on, and a mondegreen of, the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". (Fred thought the lyrics were "Lucy in disguise with diamonds" when he first heard that song.) In January 1968, the song reached #1 in the US and became a gold record. 

Contacts and Glasses

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

I'm home for good from my hospital stay brought about by the ruptured appendix which required an emergency appendectomy. I am still on an IV regimen at home so I will probably keep this week’s issue a little shorter than others have been.

This week’s insight is a little odd for me, because I have never experienced it myself. Throughout most of my Air Force career I had 20/20 eyesight. In the later years, I started to have to rely on some reader glasses for seeing things up close. The Air Force tried to put me in some "Buddy Holley" glasses but I countered I was an aircrew and they would not work with my flight helmet. I continued using those until the year 2022 when I went to the VA clinic and was fitted with a pair of bifocals. On an hour-to-hour daily routine I still do not wear them, but now have to make use of them for watching television and reading articles. I don’t have to wear glasses to work on the computer. Funny? I was never teases or mocked about wearing glasses.

In the back of my mind I seem to recall the early Alabama driver’s license had a check box on them which stated glasses required or not. Can anyone confirm that? And if so, did anyone ever get caught without them?

What I really wanted to hear about is the early use of contact lenses. Early corneal lenses of the 1950s and 1960s were relatively expensive and fragile, resulting in the development of a market for contact lens insurance. I remember in the early 60’s ball games and classroom work was often brought to a halt when someone lost a contact lens. Everyone got down on their knees and elbows and started looking around for them. This was before they were disposable ones so they were very expensive.

As an aside, my grand-daughter was born with cataracts and was fitted with contact lens at three months old. 

So, to keep this short and to get back to my recovery, I am asking some of your to share some of your high school stories concerning wearing contacts, or even glasses, which you think would be of interest to the rest of us. If not contact stories, how about just plain glasses memories.

I was sent home after spending three days in the hospital with orders to "take it easy." The NCAA basketball conference championships were in full motion so I had it made. Turned on the TV - nothing. Hoped on the Internet - nothing. My AT&T U-Verse system was dead. A call confirmened they could get a technical out on Monday morning (today) and they did, but it has put me behind in a lot of things I needed to get done. I was also sent home with an inline pick in my arm and a supply of "water balloon" shaped IV bottles Sue has to administer to me once a day for three weeks. The doctors said I was lucky to have come in as fast as I had because things would have been a lot worse if I had delayed. 

LEE LUNCH BUNCH

FOR THE CLASSES OF ‘64, ‘65, ‘66

CARRABBA’S ITALIAN GRILL

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023

11:00 AM

Please save the date for our spring lunch and chat time for the beginning of the thirteenth year for Lee Lunch Bunch for the classes of ‘64, ‘65, and ‘66.

Carrabba’s is located on the upper parking level of Parkway Place Mall in Huntsville. We have reserved a limited space area for our group, so please do let me know asap if you will be coming. Most of the time in the past we have met on the last Thursday of April. That was not available this time, so it will be on the third Thursday of April instead. As always, place and space are issues, but we should have enough space at this restaurant for our group.

Please do let me know if you plan to be there.

Thanks! Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ‘65

H (256) 232-7583

C (256) 431-3396

keithandpatsy@att.net

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Instant Memories

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

This week Alexa offered up the following song when asked for a random Sixties song.

"I Will Follow Him" is a popular song that was first recorded in 1961 by Franck Pourcel, as an instrumental titled "Chariot". The song achieved its widest success when it was recorded by American singer Little Peggy March with English lyrics in 1963. March's version spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 1 on April 27, 1963, and spending three weeks in this position, making 15-year-old March the youngest female artist to have a U.S. chart-topping single.  It was one of the nominees for the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording

What memories does this song bring back for you?

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Tom Gilbert, LHS '67, "Sorry to hear about Becky Fricke's daughter, my condolences. Wishing you the best and a full and quick recovery. I  love listening to the oldies, I have rated over 2100 songs on accuradio."

Nancy Davidson Hummel, LHS '65, "Praying for your complete and speedy recovery, Tommy."

Phyllis (Miller) Rodgers, aka Anna, LHS '65, "Just want to wish you a speedy and full recovery from your surgery. Don’t blame you for skipping the first song! I’d have done the same."

Sherman Banks, LHS '65, "Tommy, having had PIC lines and IV antibiotics in two separate 6-week regimens in my life, I know it ain't no fun. We wish you a speedy and complete recovery."

Judith L Hubbard, LHS '65, "Best wishes for a rapid, full and complete recovery to T. Tommy who keeps us together over the years even through this miserable week of surgery and antibiotics! Do exactly what the doctors and Sue tell you and BE WELL! You are loved!❤️

Barbara Diamond, LHS '66, "I am so sorry to hear about your emergency surgery and complications. You are certainly intrepid to be submitting a column under the circumstances. Like all your devoted readers, I wish you a speedy recovery. Many thanks for all you have done over the years to keep the memories flowing and connecting us through those consequential high school years.  All the best."

Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, LHS '65, "I’ve been privileged to see the Temptations live three times (four, if you count the terrific play “Ain’t Too Proud”),  but the most memorable for a surprising reason was the first time.  It was at a concert in a big auditorium at the University of Virginia in 1967 or ‘68.  Given the time, it must have featured all the originals—David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, the Williams brothers, etc.  Early on in the concert, the sound system failed.  Ordinarily, that would have been a real downer, but we all know that the “moves” are as much a part of a Temptations performance as the songs.  So, we all simply moved forward and immediately “upgraded”our seats by sitting in the aisles, making everybody so close that we had the full impact of the moves as well as the songs, a “happening “ to use a term of the time.  Ever after, “My Girl” has been my favorite song.  The band played it (at my request, I’m sure) for the dad-and-daughter dance at our daughter’s wedding, and whenever I hear those first telltale notes, you’ll find me on the dance floor."

Jim King, LHS '67, "My message from a few weeks ago on car comments got "stuck." Released it tonight. Work and school always kept me in an old car but I'll never forget the night that was even better than pushing it off... my buddy and I were 19 and driving around drinking beer in my 56 Buick and listening to 8 tracks of Dean Martin, etc... my linkage broke and we had to drive 15 miles with my friend under the hood of the car with the hood up while holding the linkage to open and close the carburetor. 6 different police cars stopped to ask what we were doing but nobody arrested us. just drove off shaking their heads."