Top Ten Memories of Growing Up

Janet Holland 

LHS '67

My Growing Up Top 10 List  

1. Downtown First Presbyterian Church: I spent two days a week there, Wednesdays for adult choir and Sundays for church.

2. Off the square: I took piano lessons: twice a week often, Wednesday lessons after school (then walking to First Presbyterian until choir) and Saturday theory classes.

3. Monte Sano Pool: bike rides to the pool and checking all the guys out.

4. Lee High band: summer rehearsals starting at 7 a.m., marching in the parking lots and open areas and rehearsing in the band room.

5. Shoneys and Zesto: it was always a treat to eat out.

6. Ice skating rink: lessons and public skating on Saturdays.

7. Biking to friends on Monte Sano: a small enough community to get around anywhere.

8. Bob Davenport loft: I took oboe lessons, and his bachelor pad was neat; the oboe was fun, and making reeds was special.

9. von Braun complex: Redstone Arsenal buildings where my Dad worked.

10. First Presbyterian organ: The Moller had an antiphonal organ which included trumpets; the front encasement would sound across the chancel, turn sideways to the back of the church and end up under the balcony and antiphonal organ; a toccata would take three seconds to hear the note played, which means, you were playing notes you were not hearing for three seconds in fast pieces, rather a lot of fun!

The Wayback Machine

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

This week I once again took control of The Wayback Machine to get a song that matches the theme of the last couple of issues. The second record was released in 1962, while we were at Lee. 

"Summertime, Summertime" is a 1958 song by American singing group the Jamies. Written by Boston-based student Tom Jameson, the song became popular in the local music scene after the band promoted their demo to deejays in the area. The single was a commercial success in 1958 after being released by Epic Records, reaching number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It would again become a hit in 1962 upon re-release.

The song begins with a fugal introduction, which gets repeated in the coda. It begins with the line "It's Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime".

This song celebrates the ending of an academic year at high school and enjoying the summertime activities, including swimming, dancing, and romancing, telling the other students to join in the summertime fun, as a "free for all".

The song has since seen critical acclaim and has appeared in movies and advertisements. Several artists have covered the song.

Well, I am back on my desktop computer finally. It would have cost too much to get the old one repaired so I bought a used one of the same type I had and just swapped out the boot drives so the new one has all my old stuff on it. 

Continued thanks go out to folks like Craig Bannecke for continuing to support this newsletter with always-welcome contributions. Please do not hesitate to send me things you might think would interest the rest of your classmates. 

LEE LUNCH BUNCH

FOR THE CLASSES OF  ’64, ’65, ‘66

CARRABBA’S ITALIAN GRILL

 Thursday, October 26, 2023

11:00 AM

Please save the date for our group’s fall lunch gathering. We will once again meet at Carrabba’s Italian Grill located on the upper parking level of Parkway Place Mall in Huntsville. We have a reserved area that will accommodate our group. I received many compliments this past spring about us meeting there since there is no charge for the space, the food is good, and they are so very nice to us. Carolyn Burgess Featheringill ’65,  arranged for our class of ’65 to meet there at least the last couple of reunion weekends, and everyone seemed to enjoy those times as well. Perhaps I will be able to find us a new place to try for next spring.

October is a great time for fall road trips, so if you do get out on the road, make Huntsville one of your stops to join your group for lunch.

Please do let me know at least by the morning of the day before if you plan to come so I can tell the restaurant a fairly accurate count.

Thanks and hope to see you soon!

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ‘65

keithandpatsy@att.net  or Facebook

H (256) 232-7583

C (256) 431-3396