Embedded Files
Third Generation Graduates from Lee
Dianne Hughey McClure
LHS '64
(Editor's Note: I know this is probably not a first, but Dianne is the first to notify me of an event of this type. Last week I was thinking about my own graduation from Lee and things connected to the event. I am not sure if I wrote about it or not, but about a month ago I found a high school ring in a box of junk at our local Goodwill store. It was a 1973 ring from a school in Nashville. I decided to try to track down the owner and after some searching found a Facebook group for the school and working through a couple of the group members was able to track down the owner of the ring who still lives in Nashville. He had lost it back in 1985, thinking he may have left it in the ashtray of a car he sold that year. He was very happy to get it back. My own class ring disappeared back around 1993 in a mysterious manner and is gone for good. I am sure many of you still have yours, and probably just as many don't.)
Dianne sent me a photo of her grand-daughter Cheyenne, who graduated from Lee this year. Dianne was a member of the first graduating class and her daughters also graduated. That makes Cheyenne the third generation of the family to graduate from the same school (except the school itself has changed buildings and had a minor name change.)
Dianne sent me the photo above, and the one below - a picture of her's and Cheyenne's hands and Dianne's class ring. She also included this note.
Cheyenne graduated Friday very proud of she finished in top 20 from Lee she wanted my class ring instead of getting her own. Meant a lot to me that she wanted to wear and have mine This will be the last of my Lee graduates.
Memphis, TN - Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Summer's here and it's hot as ----! It's weird to remember old sayings like that. They just seem to float around in my brain, ready to pop out at the weirdest times. Kinda like the words of some old songs - I never know when they will appear.
I went to a open-air concert by the lake at one of the local communities here in the Memphis Area and listened to an evening of nostalgic songs by a group called Jeffery and the Pacemakers. The whole set was early British Invasion songs, some of which I have never heard another band play.
I got to thinking about all the concerts I attended, especially after I move to Memphis following graduation. At the time we had very few groups showing up in Huntsville. I did see Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis and remember having to pay $2.00 at the door to see Jerry Lee since I did not get my ticket early from Hornbuckle's Record Shop. As I listened to the songs I thought back about how many of the groups I actually saw back then. My first real British Invasion group was The Dave Clark Five, which I saw the fall of 1964. There were many others, including the Beatles and Herman's Hermits to name a couple.
Another funny thing I remember is that I will pay more now to see a "Tribute" group of singers than I paid to see the actual artist back then - even adjusted for inflation. But It is good that the tribute groups are touring and keeping alive the music we loved to dance to back then.
Good Music Memories
I think this is a very important part of the legacy of Lee High School. Go Generals!
Living in Memphis I was very lucky to have been able to see Rufus Thomas perform many times, along with his daughter Carla - who sang one of my most favorite slow-dancing songs of all times - Gee Whiz. Before I talk about the concert on the lake I went to last Saturday, I thought I would share a video of Carla Thomas doing the song I love so much.
Here are two clips from the concert I went to last Saturday. The first one is by a group called the Nick Black Band, doing one of the legend's of Memphis Rufus Thomas's classic.Hearing this song brought a smile to my face and a tapping to my feet. It took me back to those good nights at Bradley's and the memories of some of my favorite teenage dance partners. At the time this dance was one of the most controversial dances of the day and was being broken up by chaperons everywhere. We loved it and form me it will always be our local version of "Dirty Dancing."
The second song was the opening of the British Invasion set done by Jeffery and and Pacemakers (Not Gerry and the Pacemakers).
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