Clarence Edward Burton

LHS '66

? - November 9, 2024

Clarence Edward Burton, "Eddie/Poppy," age 77 of Lakeland, Florida, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 9, 2024. Poppy will be remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend with a big heart, wicked sense of humor, and strong dedication to his family and faith. Eddie was a successful Nashville songwriter, performer, session musician, and simply one of the greatest guitar pickers you'll ever hear. Nashville fellow musicians often referred to him as "Soulful Clarence." He wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs recorded by some of country music's most notable artists, from Conway Twitty to George Jones. His song "Dancing Your Memory Away," recorded by Charley McClain went to #6 on the country charts in 1982, it was first recorded by Tammy Wynette. Eddie was also a passionate Alabama Crimson Tide football fan and could be found most Saturday afternoons screaming at his TV, "Roll Tide!"

Eddie is preceded in death by his loving wife Pat McKinney Burton and his precious granddaughter Tricia Durham. He is survived by his sister Shirley Beckmann, daughters Annette (Tim) Stang and Renes Durham, son Richard Flood, grandchildren Brittney Hyche, William Durham, Colin (Brianna) Stang, Shelby (Isaac) Sarnecki, Olivia Stang, and many great-grandchildren Stang, and many great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. 

A celebration of life for Eddie/Poppy will take place at a later date.

The 1946 Huntsville Telephone Directory

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Continuing our coverage of phone books, this week we can look back at the one printed in 1946. For the class of 1964, that was the year when most of us were born. Looking at my own family's information, this is what I found. My family lived in Butler territory when I entered this world. Our phone number was three numbers, "892". I finally found some more information about the phone numbers with letters at the end:

The letters represent an additional digit dialed after the others in cases where automatic operations was implemented. A scheme widely used in the Bell Telephone System for four-party full selective lines (under both manual and automatic operation) used a suffix letter, generally from the set J, M, R, and W, to designate which of the four ringing signals applies to the station. These letters were chosen to not be easily mis-heard when spoken (with regard to manual operation).

Once again the phone book contained some very detailed instructions on how to use the technology of the times. Here are the instructions on how to dial a phone number. Now that we are seniors, some of us could use some simple instructions such as these on how to use a smartphone.

To view the 1946 telephone book, go to this website: https://www.loc.gov/resource/usteledirec.usteledirec00439/?sp=12

or click on the link below to do the same thing.

The Wayback Machine

"Dancing Your Memory Away" is a song recorded by American country music artist Charly McClain. It was released in June 1982 as the first single from the album Too Good to Hurry. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

The song was written by Eddie Burton and Thomas Alan Grant for Barnwood Music which is now owned by HoriPro Entertainment. "Dancing Your Memory Away" also won two BMI awards, one at the Country Awards in Nashville and the other at the pop awards in Beverly Hills, CA. The song was first recorded by Tammy Wynette for her Soft Touch album. The Charly McClain version was produced by Norro Wilson. It has since been recorded by over 30 different artists around the world.

Once again we morn the loss of another classmate. It is a shame we never really get to know a lot about people until we read their obituary.

Thanks to D

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Charlie Freema, LHS '66, "I'm sorry to say that my good friend and LHS 1966 graduate Eddie Burton has passed away. Eddie and I started his first band (garage band) in the early 60's. He always wanted to be a songwriter and move to Nashville. I'm so glad he achieved his wish. He was a guitar buddy and great guy. "

Mary Ann Bond Wallace, LHS ‘64, "Tommy I love where you found Telephone Books for the Huntsville area.  Who would have thought the Library of Congress would have this type of information and phone numbers AND instructions.  I was still living in Louisiana in 1952 and I was always a talker.  I was an ADHD talker that did not know when to keep quiet.  Of course, we had an operator when we picked up the phone and also had a party line (more than one home on the same line).  I would pick up the phone and talk to the operator and she would tell me to hang up.  Then she would call back and tell my Mother to keep me off the phone.  I was always into something I should not have been into.

The other memory was from my college days:  money was tight for my family. My brother had passed away but with his illness my Mom spent a month in a tiny apartment close to John Hopkins Hospital during his time there. We did not have a lot of money, especially extra money.  So when I arrived in Florence I was instructed to use a pay phone and make a collect call from Mary Ann.  My parents would decline the call but knew I was safe in Florence.

Isn't it amazing how far we have advanced as a society - no home phone lines, only cell phones and no need to make a fake call.

Thank you for featuring the phone books and procedures during the 50s.  You always find the best items to write and keep us involved and even discover things we did not know.  Your dedication is so special to all of us.  And you bring back so many memories I have not thought about in years".

Mike Acree, LHS ‘64, "Back in the days when long-distance calls had to be placed through the operator:  Thomas Fox, our chemistry teacher, told us he once needed to call his friend Baer, who was staying at the home of a friend named Lyons.  When he told the operator, "This is Mr. Fox calling Mr. Baer at Mr. Lyons' house, the operator refused to place the call."

Tom Gilbert, LHS ‘67, "Your phone was a party line as most were then R2 means ring 2, pick up then. I remember them being short rings."

Ginger Burrus, LHS '64, "Tommy - I haven’t read all of this in detail, but it’s a very interesting history, and illustrates how much technology has changed the way we use a telephone, among other things (I hadn’t remembered it as being so complicated!).

The other item that caught my attention was that you had lived in Redstone Park.  I also lived there, and I wonder if we crossed paths or were in classes together.  You arrived a couple of years earlier.  We moved there in the months before I started 4th grade.  I think I attended just the 4th and 5th grades, and then civilians had to move out of the Park, so we moved into town and I went to East Clinton for 6th grade. Wow, that is going WAY back in history!

Thanks for your ongoing work on this.

Delores Kilgore, LHS '66, "Thank you Tommy, The phone system back then was antiquated! Enjoyed the read!"