Susan Miller Lovell

LHS '64

April 30, 1946 – December 26, 2021

Mrs. Susan Miller Lovell, of Bloomington, Indiana, died on December 26, 2021 at IU Health Bloomington Hospital after a brief illness. She was born on April 30, 1946 in Madison, Indiana, to the late Earl Miller, Jr. and Mary Catherine (Scheser) Miller. She was 75 years old.

Susan was a 1964 graduate of Lee High School in Huntsville, Alabama. She attended Indiana University with a focus on Sociology. Susan married Roy Lee Lovell of Madison, Indiana on September 9, 1966 at St Michael’s Church in Madison. Susan was a proud mother of two sons – Marshall Brian and Matthew David. 

After a brief stint in Madison, Susan and Roy settled in Bloomington to raise their family. Susan worked for 30 years at the Indiana University Student Health Center. An area of her work she was most proud of was her involvement in assisting sexual assault victims, where she took great pride providing guidance through the process of health education and available next steps. She kept in touch with many of her patients over the years, which shows the impact she had on those she helped. 

Susan was an avid fan and season ticket holder of Indiana University Men’s Basketball for almost 50 years, but loved supporting all IU Sports. During her retirement years, Susan became a Master Gardener and enjoyed tending to her garden. Most of all, she loved watching her grandsons play soccer, basketball and baseball.

Susan will be greatly missed by her loving son, Matthew David, and his wife Kristen, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Susan’s 3 grandsons: Ryan, Tyler and CJ; and her sister Julia Miller, of West Hollywood, CA. 

Susan was preceded in death by her husband Roy; and her son Brian; her parents, Earl Miller, Jr. and Mary Catherine (Scheser) Miller; and her brother Michael Miller.

A private Burial at Rose Hill Cemetery will take place after the celebration of life.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or to the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington. Cards are available at the funeral home.

Saving "Saving Stamps"

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

When I was growing up the house I lived in on East Clinton was one long block away from the Kroger’s Grocery Store at the corner of East Clinton and Lincoln Street; therefore, it was the store at which we did most of our grocery shopping. In the back of my mind I remember when they first started giving Top Value Stamps with purchases and my family began saving them in the small books where they were religiously pasted. Heaven help the kids who were sent to the grocery store and forgot to get the stamps earned with the purchases they made.

Having just concluded another year of Christmas shopping and presents, Sue and I shared our thoughts on the days when redeaming the stamps was a ritual for Christmas presents. The bright yellow and red Top Value stamps were issued in sizes and values of one stamp, 10 stamps, and 50 stamps. Wikipedia states “An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the typical rate issued by a merchant was one stamp for each 10¢ of merchandise purchased. A typical book took approximately 1200 stamps to fill, the equivalent of $120.00 in purchases.” Once a book was filled it could be redeemed at the local redemption store for merchandise valued at the number of books redeemed.

Other stores offered different versions of trading stamps, with S&H Green Stamps and Plaid Stamps being the ones I remember the most. I think it was the A&P store that gave Green Stamps. I remember a funny even after all these years. On the way, over the mountain going to Guntersville, there was a big rock on the side of the road which someone had painted “Jesus Saves.” It was a common site for many years. One time when I was going by it I looked up and someone else had painted some extra words below it, so it then said “Jesus Saves - Green Stamps.” Very sacrilegious, but funny to me at the time.

 The stamp redemption catalog was almost as much of a “wish” book as the Sears Catalog, forcing many to continue collecting for larger merchandise instead of cashing in what they had collected for a smaller item. I am sure this is why many books lay dormant and unredeemed. The thing I most remember getting with the stamps was a Coleman gas stove which I took on my Boy Scout Camping trips. I was shocked the family allowed me to have that as opposed to something for the kitchen or house in general.

As example of the merchandise and the cost is shown below. The electric football game could be had for four and one-half books of Top Value Stamps.

Beginning in the early 1970s the use of trading stamps began to decline. Gasoline service stations stopped offering them due to the energy crisis that occurred and many supermarkets started spending more money to advertise lower prices rather than issue stamps. During the 1980s there was a brief resurgence in the popularity of trading stamps, but overall their use continued to decline. Their role has been replaced by coupons, rewards programs offered by credit card companies and other loyalty programs such as grocery "Preferred Customer" cards. Through the 1990s and early 2000s the majority of the remaining trading stamp companies either ceased operations or converted to an online format. In 2008 the last operating trading stamp company in the United States, Eagle Stamps, closed.

As I was working on this story I remembered something I had in my closet. I don’t know how I ended up with them, but when my paternal grandmother passed away I got a lot of her pictures and postcards she had saved over the years. Included with the group was a greeting card box full of trading stamps, including four completed books of Green Stamps. It is a shame she worked so hard collecting them and never reaped the benefits of her efforts. This is a photo of the box and its contents. I still wonder what she was saving for and hate that she never got it.

Well, it looked like my memory of the Huntsville snow was right on time, based upon the weather we have been enjoying this last week. Our planned route to Hilton Head for our winter vacation had to be altered to go through Montgomery instead of Nashville which is our normal route. You never know about how bad the roads really are, so we elected to take the Southern route instead of the Northern one.

We need some more participation so the rest of you can put in your two cents on issues, rather than relying on me to supply all the memories. I know my life was different than most of yours, so it would be nice to see a different perspective than mine alone. Use the form below to comment on anything you wish to share or ask. By the way, we never did get an answer to what happened to Traveller on the Orange Bowl trip.

Comments on Last Week's Issue

Joel Weinbaum,  LHS ‘64, "Blue Hawaii ‘61 was certainly good timing considering the official outbreak of the Vietnam War was August ‘64, though there were a growing number of advisers already in-country. My ship departed Pearl Harbor Dec. 27, 1965, en route to the South China Sea."

Curt,  LHS ‘66, "Randy Goodpasture was a LHS bandmate and friend the entire time I was at Lee (1960-66).  We were not in steady touch after graduation, but I do remember visiting him when he was an Auburn student.  Anyone who knew him will attest that he was quite a unique individual; I've never known anyone quite like him."

Photographic Memories - Who Are They?

Each week I plan to share a group of photos from the 1960 "The General" yearbook without disclosing the names of the individuals. You may stop and try to identify them here, and when you are through you may scroll to the bottom of this page to see the identities of your classmates in the photos.

Slow Song Selections

You Picked in the Past

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical Roberta. It was recorded in 1958 by The Platters for their album Remember When?. The group's version became a number one hit in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. In 1959 it peaked at No. 3 on the Rhythm and Blues chart. The song spent 20 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at Number 1 for one week on March 20 of that same year.

The Identites of the Classmates in the Pictures Above