Lynn Seeley Crowl Dickens

LHS '66

January 1, 1948 - July 19, 1923

Lynn passed away at her home in Austin, Texas, leaving her son Michael and daughter Tammie, who she loved and adored. She had been a majorette at Lee. She is also survived by her husband Norval Dickens and sister Shirley Seeley Hammond. Her wishes were to be cremated with no formal burial service. (Notice submitted by Mike Crowl, LHS '65.)

The Sweetheart Pageant Revisited

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

When  I was looking up Lynn's photo in the 1966 Silver Sabre yearbook, I lucked upon a page I had overlooked in the past. A couple of issues ago we were remembering the Lee Sweetheart Pageant and I had commented it was not included in the yearbook. Well, I was wrong. The page above (Page 150) of the 1966 yearbook did include two photos of the event sponsored by the Key Club.

The Wayback Machine

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

I asked The Wayback Machine to play a song from September of 1959 and this was the result. It was released in 1959 on the album, but did not appear as a single until 1960.

"Big Iron" is a country ballad written and performed by Marty Robbins, originally released as an album track on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959, then as a single in February 1960 with the song "Saddle Tramp" as the B-side single. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

Robbins's version of the song reached number 5 on the Billboard Country chart and number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1960.

The eponymous "Big Iron" was built by Andy Anderson in his Fast Draw Holster shop from parts. It was on a Great Western frame with a 12" barrel made from an 1892 Winchester rifle or carbine barrel in .44 WCF. Andy was 6'4" with large hands. He put Colt 1860 Army grips on his personal SA revolvers, and this gun has an original grip frame from an 1860 Army. The cylinder is a Great Western cylinder chambered for .44 Magnum.

Robbins happened to be in the shop the day a customer bought the gun. The customer was also a very large man, and Robbins was fascinated by his fast drawing the Buntline. One week later, Andy Anderson received in the mail a record of Big Iron; Robbins wrote the song after seeing this gun.

 The ranger referenced is based on a ranger named Joseph Pearce, who was an Arizona Ranger born in 1873. On November 23, 1903, Joe enrolled in the Arizona Rangers in Douglas, Arizona. He worked with the Rangers for a brief but illustrious career before quitting in 1905.

(Editor's Comments: I remember buying this album because it included El Paso. I also remember going to Nashville around this time and seeing Marty Robbins live on stage at the Grand Ole Opry singing El Paso. One thing that stands out in that memory is that the show was broadcast on radio and not television, and during the instrumental parts of the song Marty Robbins would step away from the microphone and pump his arms up and down to get the audience to cheer for him. Of course, he was wearing the black cowboy outfit from the album cover.)

I was expecting a few comments on the yearbook video I featured last week, but they did not show up.

This week we are saddened by the loss of another classmate, which prompts us to pray for the others of our group who are fighting medical issues. 

On a lighter note, Sue and I just returned from a trip to Iowa. The Memphis area is going through its third major power outage in the same number of weeks. We are lucky  to have installed a whole house Generac two years ago and are now being powered by it.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Scott Haas, LHS '68, "I always enjoy your articles and the back-and-forth discussion you instigate."

Delores Kilgore, LHS '66, "Thank You."

Darla Steinberg, "Were we ever really that young?"

Nell Rose Brackett, "Thank you."