170717 July 17, 2017

Long Lost Document Recovered

by Tommy Towery

LHS '64

    I had a rather strange thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago. I was visiting with a group at church and someone walked up and handed me a piece of paper with my name on it. I do not know where it came from, or who saved it for me, but my best guess is it somehow got mixed up in a bunch of books I gave to the church for a rummage sale.

    The document was an autobiography I must have done for school, and based upon my stated age at the time, I would have to guess it was for an eight grade assignment when I was still going to Huntsville Junior High. I base that conclusion partially because in the summer of 1960 I attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I did not mention that fact in my travel section of the autobiography. The fall after the Boy Scout trip I transferred to Lee Junior High to begin the ninth grade there.

    At first it was a little confusing, since it was type written and I did not learn to type until Mrs. Parks taught me in the ninth grade. My only thought on the subject is that my mother had a portable typewriter and I must have two-fingered hunted and pecked out the text.

    I found several points of wisdom in the short account of my life, including the statement that I was sure someone would beat me to the moon - which they did. I also found it prophesying when I acknowledged my love of travel, and pleasing to have recorded my love of roller skating.

    As a late-bloomer, my failure to mention any female attraction reminds me I did not really get interested in girls until after this was written. As stated repeatedly, that interest came with my roller skating adventures.

    Below is the full text of my "Autobiography."

Autobiography of  Tommy Towery

    At 8:40 a.m. on June 21, 1946 I joined this race known as man. It was in Huntsville, Alabama, at the Huntsville Hospital that all this took place. My parents were Mr. and Mrs.Carl F. Towery. My given name is Carl Thomas Towery, but I have been called Tommy all my life.

    At the age of three I moved from Huntsville, to Miland, Tennessee, but one year later I moved back to Huntsville. I started my education at Farley Grammar School, and since then I have attended 4 other schools.

    As a child my greatest ambition was to be the first man to go to the moon, but in the last couple of years I have given this ambition up, for I am sure someone will beat me to it.

    All my life I have liked to travel, and when I was three my family and I crossed the Mississippi River to visit my aunt living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and when she moved up North I visited her nearly ever summer.

    Now I am nearly fifteen, and I am enjoying life very much. I am an active member of the Boy Scouts, and my favorite recreation is roller skating.