My Senior Year Writing Project Memories

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

On Thursday, May 14, 1964, my journal entry was dedicated to a writing project I had in my English Class. My memories of this project were recorded 25 years later, in my book "A Million Tomorrows...Memories of the Class of '64". Below is the section of the book covering this period.

The big thing still going on in my life was the writing project.  It was being done by the senior English class and we each had to write five original works showing expertise in five different areas.  It wasn't a hard assignment for a future journalist and writer.  It was not hard for the editor of the school paper.  It was hard for a lot of the others.  

The writing project was the English equivalent of an obstacle course.  Some parts of it were easy.  Others parts were hard.  Even today I remember the project.  The subject matter chosen for each part tells a little of the times in which I grew up and lived.  The short story was the toughest part to write.  I wanted it to be the best.

I wrote "The Last Report" in first person and it was about a reporter filing his last new story.  The setting was a fallout shelter and the report told how the world had entered into a global war.  The outcome of the war was total destruction of the human race.   Kids of the Sixties were keenly aware of the possibility of a nuclear war.  We grew up with the need for fallout shelters and civil defense.  The "Duck and Cover" drills at school were created for our generation.  You could buy pamphlets on how to build your own fallout shelter in your own home.  It told you how to buy the right type of food and how to store water.  It didn't tell you what you would do when you came out two weeks after the war and there were no Kroger's or A&P's where you could buy more food.  People didn't want to think about what the survivors would have to do.

There were also companies that sold fallout shelters.  For a fee they would come and dig up your back yard and bury a prefab shelter.  One person in Huntsville had done exactly that.  The company dug the hole, put the fiberglass six-by-ten room in the ground and covered it up.  Three days later a big rain came.  It rained and rained.  The owner of the new fallout shelter looked out his window just in time to see an awesome sight.  The expensive nuclear-proof room was airtight.  The water soaked the soft dirt around it and turned the hole into a mud puddle.  When the ground got soft, the fallout shelter popped to the top of the hole just like a bobber on a fishing line.  It sat there floating in the mud puddle.  Let's hope it doesn't rain after the nuclear blast.  

The poem, "Memory Street" was added to my poetry collection.  Its ideas and feelings were more important than the manner in which they were written.  It was a look back at my childhood and the way my memories had changed over the years.  Out of context, some of the lines tell their story.  

Memory Street

Today I walked down a familiar street

The one where I lived as a child

But not a recallable face did I meet

For I'd been away for a long while.

There stood my old house, so tall

The place where I used to play

It's porch, doors, windows, and all

They don't look the same today.

The big oak tree that I used to climb

Now but a stump in the ground

And the lady next door who was so kind

Is now no longer around

I remember how my friends would leave

And how they went, one by one

And the crying good-byes we would wave

And how it was no longer fun.

I recall that I was the last to part

And how sad I felt when I left

And the deep hurting inside my heart

When I turned and walked away by myself.

Yes today I walked down that old street of mine

And looked and remembered it well

The friends, buildings, and all the good times

And the memories I love to tell.

The poem told its story.  It told of a boy who looked back into his past.  It was used for a grade, but written for another purpose.  It was more of a prophecy than a poem.

The Wayback Machine

Merry Minuet

The Kingston Trio

I well remember this song as one I loved to sing back during the Folk Song Era.

More than 50 years ago, three folk musicians working as the Kingston Trio recorded a ballad ironically called the "Merry Minuet," which was written by Sheldon Harnick in 1955. Several versions of the song can be found on YouTube, including one recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1981. You can look it up if you want to see the group or hear the song performed.

People of a certain age will remember the Kingston Trio, which is still touring, albeit without any of the group's original members.

Fans will remember the song. In some ways it is dated, but in other ways it is as current as the headlines coming from North Africa, the Middle East and Japan. 

The Kingston Trio would not have known about global climate change in 1959 when they recorded the "Merry Minuet," but their references to severe storms and weird weather are right out of today's headlines. 

Thanks to all who have responded and added to our memories. Others are always welcome.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

John Scales, LHS ‘66, "A tonsilectomy! I remember it well. It must have been when I was about 8 years old, in the old Huntsville Hospital. Before the operation, the nurse sought to calm me by promising that when I woke up I could have all the ice cream I could eat. Sounds like a good deal, right?

So, they wheeled me into the operating room and lowered the mask over m face. The anesthesiologist told me to start counting backwards from 100....    99....98....97 (the boat is rocking!)....96 and the boat flipped over and I flipped out of consciousness!

When I awoke some time later, my throat was so sore I could barely drink water. Ice cream? Reply in a rasp, "No, thank you." I strongly suspect the hospital rarely had to pay up on that promise."

Don Blaise,  LHS ‘64, "I remember my tonsillectomy at age 7 even now. The ether, waking up to a lot of pain in my throat, and our parents telling us we could have all the ice cream we wanted (my twin Ron had the same operation). We did have a lot of ice cream."

Barb Biggs Knott, LHS ‘66, "The article about what I always referred to as the 'gas mask' brought back memories of when I broke my elbow falling off my bike when I was 8 years old. I remember the awful smell and counting backwards and I remember a spiral effect as I was doing it. I still remember that experience very clearly after all these years!"

Lynne Berry, "Alex Cathey, Class of 68, passed away today, May 3, 2025. Tommy - thank you so much for doing this newsletter."