Ronald 'Ronnie' D. Hornbuckle

June 29, 1948  -  June 5, 2023

LHS '66

Ronald D. "Ronnie” Hornbuckle, 74, passed away Monday, June 5, 2023 at his home in Huntsville, AL. He was born in Huntsville on June 29, 1948. Ronnie was preceded in death by his parents, Arnold Hornbuckle and Jimmie Walls Hornbuckle. He is survived by a brother, Guy Hornbuckle.

A private graveside service for family members will be held at Maple Hill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Greater Huntsville Humane Society, 2812 Johnson Road SW, Huntsville, AL 35805.

Click-Click-Click!

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

When I do my weekly walks around my church's gymnasium, it takes 16 laps to walk a mile. Since I listen to music (and often silently sing along with the songs) I found I was having trouble keeping up with the number of laps I had walked. My solution to this problem was to arm myself with a fistful of quarters and pass a coin from one hand to the other on each lap. As I was doing that earlier this week something reminded me of the old coin dispensers people used when I was growing up.

Its funny but I spent two days trying to remember who I remember wearing and using one of these devices back then. Finally the one I came up with was the bus driver. Back then it cost ten cents to ride the bus and we had to put the money in a meter box. If you only had a quarter you would give it to the bus driver and he would slide it into the quarter in a slot and "click-click-click" give you back two dimes and a nickel.

As hard as I have tried I cannot remember for sure who else wore and used on used one of these devices, so I am asking you to help me out here and see if you can remember who did.

The Wayback Machine

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

I continue to ask Mr. Peabody (a.k.a. Amazon Alexa) to play me a song from 1964 this week and collect your thoughts about the song. So...Mr. Peabody, take us way back. "What is the first 1964 song you will play?"

"Fun, Fun, Fun" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was released as a single in February, backed with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". "Fun, Fun, Fun" is one of the Beach Boys' many songs that defined the California myth.

The lyrics are about a teenage girl who deceives her father so she can go hot-rodding with his Ford Thunderbird. At the end, her father discovers her deception and takes the keys from her. Near the end of the song, the song's narrator suggests that the girl accompany him, so that they may "have Fun, Fun, Fun, now that Daddy took the T-Bird away."

The song was recorded on January 1, 1964. The single peaked at the number 5 spot on the Billboard chart. In the United Kingdom, the single was released in March 1964 through Capitol Records but failed to chart.

Editor's Comments: I did a re-write of the words of "Fun, Fun, Fun" back in 1990 for a radio contest trying to win free tickets to a pro football game. My line "We'll have fun, fun, fun, with Oldies 98 at the game." won me the tickets, along with a limo ride to a free dinner and to the Liberty Bowl stadium. Of course the song will always remind me of cruising the Parkway between Shoney's and Big Boys with Bob Walker, Lewis Brewer, and David France and whatever group of female companions we could get to go with us.

Thanks to Kathy Harris Jones for informing me of Ronnie Hornbuckle's passing

I hated to find out that Ronnie had passed away. He was not only a Lee classmate but also a member of my Boy Scout troop. I was honored to meet his father at one of the Scout meetings since I had always loved going to his store - Hornbuckle's Records.

Unless a ton of you object I will continue to use the Wayback Machine to recall some of the music of our days. I have always hoped some of you would respond with your own memories about the songs, and still do. 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Max Kull, LHS '67,  "I didn't take any of the pageant pictures I sent.  They were all taken by Hans Hoelzer and perhaps James Dulin.  I happened to have them because I scanned the negatives prior to our (class of '67) 2017 reunion. Thanks, Max."

Stanley Chunn, LHS ‘73, "Johnny Roberts, LHS '66, had a question about The Key Club longevity. As best I can tell, per annuals posted on classmates.com, it looks like the last Key Club was in 2002 and no pageant was associated with it at that time."

Rainer Klauss, LHS '64, "Perhaps the person who sent you all that material about the Sweetheart Pageant will step forward and take credit after your article this weekend, but  I’m sure it wasn’t me. None of those pictures or the heart are among the combined keepsakes that Gudrun and I have from our high school years. What she remembers about the affair: she was sponsored by Ray Pearman Lincoln-Mercury Motors, she wore the dress that she wore to the Senior Prom later that year, and she was eliminated in the first round of the beauty competition. She has no pictures of the affair, taken at home or at the event itself, or at the program. We’ve looked through the newspaper pictures thoroughly; she’s hidden somewhere among the crowd of other beauties, not to be seen."