Beverly Hillis Still

LHS '66

July 6, 1948 - October 4, 2024

Beverly H. Still, 76, of Huntsville, was born on July 6, 1948 in Huntsville, Alabama and passed away on October 4, 2024.                     

After a life long battle with Crohn’s disease-causing blindness and neuropathy of the legs causing her to lose her ability to walk, Beverly will spend eternity with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Beverly was preceded in death by her father, Lawrence Hillis Sr, her mother Edith Hillis, and her husband H Carl Still. Survivors include one son Michael Lyn May, one granddaughter Bethani May, one grandson Jamie May, 3 great grandsons Ezekiel, Soren, and Xavier, one great granddaughter Lotus May, one brother Lawrence Hillis (Karen), 5 nieces, 1 great niece and 3 great nephews.

Beverly accepted the Lord as her Savior and was baptized at the Second Baptist Church, now Jackson Way Baptist Church, at the age of 12. Beverly enjoyed sports in her youth and played softball for Coach Myhand while at Lee High School. After high school, she enjoyed playing tennis, water skiing, reading and cross stitching. Beverly collected albums, tapes and CDs of gospel music, classical music and show tunes. While in school, Beverly played the piano and organ at Jackson Way Baptist church from the age of 12 to 20. 

During her student years at UAH, she accompanied the Choir, the Village Singers, and the Premier Singers from 1966-1970. 

Beverly received a scholarship to attain her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration at UAH and then received a scholarship from the American Business Women’s Association towards a Masters Degree in Administrative Science.  

Service was held at Berryhill Funeral Home, with Pastor Wren Clanton officiating.  Burial was in Maple Hill Cemetery. 

In Lieu of Flowers; The Still Family has requested that donations be made to 'The Valley United Methodist Church Choir'

My Honor Flight Trip

Richard "Ricky" Simmons

LHS ‘64

I was fortunate two weeks ago to make the Honor Flight from DFW. I traveled with three other "Yardbirds" from First United Methodist Church of Plano. We had a sailor, an airman, a soldier, and a Marine (me).  We have shared our experiences over the years at our morning breaks on Friday when we mowed lawns, trimmed bushes and did other miscellaneous projects around our campus.  The opportunity to make this trip was offered, from whom I do not know, and we took advantage of it.  It was a wonderful, filled, 36-hour (or so) event as was shared in Tommy's description. We had about 40 veterans on our flight with as many caregivers and sponsors to care for us.

The Wayback Machine

The shape of the disc is an airfoil in cross-section which allows it to fly by reducing the drag and increasing lift as it moves through the air, compared to a flat plate. Spinning the disc imparts a stabilizing gyroscopic force, allowing it to be both aimed with accuracy and thrown for distance.

Frisbees were invented in the late 1930s by the American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison. Morrison and his future wife Lucile had fun tossing a popcorn can lid after a Thanksgiving Day dinner in 1937.  Walter had served in the Army Air Force flying P-47s, and then was a prisoner of war. After the war, Morrison sketched a design for an aerodynamically improved flying disc that he called the Whirlo-Way, after the famous racehorse. He and business partner Warren Franscioni began producing the first plastic discs by 1948, after design modifications and experimentation with several prototypes. They renamed them the Flyin-Saucer in the wake of reported unidentified flying object sightings.

Morrison formed his own company in 1954 called American Trends to buy and sell Flyin Saucers (no hyphen after 1953), which were being made of a flexible polypropylene plastic by Southern California Plastics, the original molder. He discovered that he could produce his own disc more cheaply, and he designed a new model in 1955 called the Pluto Platter, the archetype of all modern flying discs. He sold the rights to Wham-O on January 23, 1957.

In June 1957, Wham-O co-founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin gave the disc the brand name "Frisbee" after learning that college students were calling the Pluto Platter by that term, which was derived from the Connecticut-based pie manufacturer Frisbie Pie Company, a supplier of pies to Yale University, where students had started a campus craze tossing empty pie tins stamped with the company's logo—the way that Morrison and his wife had in 1937.

Wham-O changed its marketing strategy to promote the Frisbee use as a new sport, and sales increased. In 1964, the first professional model went on sale.

Well, the Covid came and went thanks to the Paxlovid routine. I really did not have much of a problem with it, only seems like one day of the sore throat and fever. I'm still fighting a few health problems, but they won't keep me from working on Lee's Traveller. It is hard to believe that September marked the 23rd year of my weekly publications without a break in doing so. That is 1,196 weeks of uninterrupted coverage. We've covered a lot of subjects during that period.

SAVE THE DATE

Lee Lunch Bunch

Classes of ’64, ’65, ‘66

Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024

Time: 11:00 AM

Place: Logan’s Roadhouse

Balmoral Dr.

Huntsville, AL

Reservations Required through the following:

Patsy Oldroyd ‘65

C (256) 431-3396

H (256) 232-7583

keithandpatsy@att.net

Getting this together this time was more difficult than ever before. Logan’s now requires groups to go through a reservation agency. Also, I had to do some tall talking to avoid the expensive reservation fee they now require along with a contract. Our history of the past fourteen years there for our LLB is the only thing that saved me this time from all of that. I was lucky to only have to do the reservation agency. So… PLEASE do let me know if you plan to come, and do show up! Sorry no last-minute show-ups without a reservation. Thanks! 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Janet James Holland, LHS ‘67, "Fantastic trip and opportunity you shared on your DC trip! I am trying to get in touch with Leslie Vaughn Walker of my class, Mike Vaughn's sister. I have written Mike's active Facebook and Leslie's not active Facebook, in case anyone is in touch with either. I came across her wedding photo (I was a bridesmaid)."

Dianne Hughey McClure, LHS ‘64, "Enjoyed reading about your trip to Washington and very glad you were chosen to go with the group."

Dave Weeks, LHS '68, " My siblings, Paul (class of 1970), Nancy (class of '73), and I really appreciate your weekly production of Lee’s Traveller. I was also part of Linebacker ll (and Linebacker l) working in the Weapons Control Center in Task Force Alpha at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB. When the Peace Treaty was signed in January 1973, we continued the fight in Laos, Cambodia and against the Communist terrorists in Thailand until 1975. Pleased to know that you were able to participate in the Memphis version of an Honor Flight! Thanks for your military service and especially your Linebacker ll missions as well as serving the Lee High School alumni."

Thomas Provost, LHS '66, "Tommy, your fellow alumni could NOT be more proud of you!!! Thanks for your service and I’m soooo glad you got your make THAT SPECIAL  trip. Take care."

Mary Ann Wallace, LHS '64, "So good to hear you are doing fairly well with your symptoms.  Rest and within seven days you are going to be so much better. I am so thankful for you and the time you spend on keeping us all together. Your dedication to all of us LHS Class of '64 people are able to recall so many memories that are far back in our minds."