Davy Crockett

The Legend Touched Us

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Lynn Vanpelt sent in the photo above. She did not identify the individual. Several other classmates responded to the Davy Crockett topic.

Janet Holland, LHS ‘67, "While not being male, I very much remember Davy Crockett. My Mom's family were all from Tennessee. And I remember Lee's coon hat he made from skinning the groundhog which tried to burrow under our bluff house. But what I enjoyed from that time period was singing the songs on every car trip, driving Lee crazy,  including Davy Crockett, Maverick, Sunset Strip, Daniel Boone, the Mickey Mouse Club, Rawhide, the Roy Rogers Show."

Mary Ann Bond Wallace, LHS ‘64, "For the Davy Crocket era - my brother got a holster with two guns and I got a doll from Santa during that era.  Since I was such a tomboy I wanted his guns but did not get some for a long time."

Johnny Roberts, LHS ‘66, "Tommy, once again you have touched another personal memory. …Davy Crocket. My Dad, Buster, was born and raised in Henderson, TN. We visited family in Henderson often. A few miles east of Henderson is David Crocket State Park, near Laurenceburg. We visited the park many times. I remember having my own coonskin hat and other Crocket souvenirs."

Joel Weinbaum, LHS ‘64, "My comments are about Davy Crockett; born at Limestone, TN between Jonesborough, the oldest town in Tennessee, and Greenville, the home of President Andrew Johnson. Remember the polled boats floating down the river in the Crockett movies, history says they went all the way to NOLA, sold or traded their goods including dismantling their boats to sell the lumber, returning home by the Natchez Trace. Interestingly it starts at Natchez, MS, going all the way back to Nashville. How they returned to east Tennessee I don't know except on the old Indian roads. Many of those boats were made on the Holston River at Kingsport at the boat works on Netherlands Rd. Attending a meeting at the Jonesborough Visitors Center on beekeeping one evening, the lady there said the more she read about Crockett the dumber he got. Gave his kids over to his sister, gathered up his 100 Tennessee Volunteers, traveled across Tennessee, and Arkansas, into North Texas stopping at a grove of trees Crockett named  Honey Grove because a bee tree was discovered, which is the name of the town there today. Still 360 miles to the Alamo! I think he carried a lot of guilt from his earlier days with Andrew Jackson. That's another story. His movies were entertaining but those were really rough times."

Lynn Vanpelt, LHS ‘66, "I was a huge fan of Davy Crockett and had a coon skin hat.  Visiting the Alamo in 1966 filled me with awe that Davy had lived and died there."

Craig Bannecke, LHS ‘65,  Here is my matching belt buckle from last week except mine is original.  There is an age defect in that the simulated pearl insert in the pistol handle is missing.  Also, the paint facing for the letters is chipped and faded.  All in all not bad for being dragged through the dirt of North Alabama for several years and then rusting away in the bottom of a shoe box for 70 years.  I wore a coonskin (simulated I am sure) cap for several years but it has long since faded away.. 

"Oh how well I remember Davy Crocket and the series on Disneyland. During the 1954-55 time frame, my family lived in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. We had a black and white TV like everyone else but we only got one channel and it was not ABC. So, every Sunday evening rain or shine I would walk down to a friend's house to watch the adventures of Davy Crockett. Then in the dark of the evening walk back home. I was 7 years old and can you imagine a parent today allowing a 7-year-old out late at night, alone walking down a busy street?  I was a big fan and had a coonskin cap which I wore quite a bit and a Davey Crockett metal lunch box. It was quite common back in those days for your mother to make your school lunch. I also at ages 7, 8, and 9 walked to school every morning and home every afternoon. It was a walk of about a mile and a half. Back in those days our parents didn't have a lot of money and most mothers did not work so they managed their money closely. It was too costly to pay for school lunches and too costly to pay for the school bus except in the dead of winter when she would let me ride the bus. Pretty sure I wore that coonskin cap on many of those chilly Pennsylvania fall mornings walks to school, rain or shine. It wasn't until 1957 that we moved to Alabama as my Dad transferred for promotion to Redstone Arsenal. Still had my coonskin hat and lunch box when we moved and was still a big Davy Crockett fan!"

Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, LHS '65, "Yes, Tommy, the girls did get caught up in the Davy Crockett craze.  Pictured is my Davy Crockett “purse” unearthed in an attic clean-out some time back.  I also had a shirt which I doubt I was permitted to wear to school.  Our best Davy Crockett artifact, however, was my brother-in-law’s official coonskin cap which our daughter, now 44, integrated into her Halloween costume in second grade.  It hadn’t aged well, however, as the tail had to be held on by a safety pin!"

Classmates' Davy Crockett Merchandise 

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

I looked up Carolyn's "purse" on eBay, which actually turned out to be a pencil case. I bet she wished she still had the pencils that came with it. 

The Wayback Machine

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

I am looking for your input on whether or not to continue to feature some of the songs from our Lee days in the Wayback Machine. Whether or not I continue will depend upon the responses from you readers. If I am wasting my time I will try to find something more interesting.

On a different note, I was informed this week that the scoutmaster of my old Boy Scout Troop 66, Lucky Sandlin, passed away at 88 years old. Many of the members of the troop were Lee students. I know I cannot name them all, but included were Ronnie Hornbuckle, Bobby Joyce, Bob and Jim Ramsey, and Don Cornelius. Lucky had a great influence on me becoming the man I am today and I am sorry for his passing.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Mary Ann Bond Wallace, LHS ‘64, "Tommy I did like the memory of the coin dispenser.  Always wanted one of those and yes my memories were of the Ice Cream man!  Great memories to remind us of a simpler life.  I wish I had been less energetic and more of a thinker and kept a journal because I am really enjoying your journal and memories.  I guess I have given our oldest grandson (22) about 20 leather ledgers.  He was at Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) for high school in creative writing.  So he has many ledgers. Colton is into writing songs, poems, etc. and insisted that he needed all his journals when he moved into the dorm. Just bought our 11-year-old grandson a ledge for graduation from Elementary School.  I hope he is the type of person that will use it to write memories, sayings, vacations, activities, family gatherings, and all the things he will wish he had written down when he is older.  We will see.  Thank you for your dedication and time to send all of us memories from your journals to think about and recall.  I realize now that I missed out on a lot of things in school so I am really enjoying your writings and the writings of other members of Lee High School."

Joel Weinbaum, LHS ‘64, "(Included with his Davy Crockett remarks.) I lived in East Tennessee for 35 years raising my first family in an area on the west end of Knox Co., incorporated as Farragut, TN, birthplace of the famous Admiral Farragut."