Easter - 60 Years Ago

The photo above is of Buddy Crabtree and me standing in front of his house on East Clinton one Easter morning. The white house on the right is the one where I lived. I do not know what year it was taken. Most of you do not know Buddy because he ended up going to Columbia Military Academy instead of a school in Huntsville. Do you know what you were doing for Easter last year? Well, then how about 60 years ago? Thanks to the recordings in my journal, I can look back and see what was happening in my life back then. Although Easter was not on the same day of the month, it was still Easter, and here is what I wrote in "A Million Tomorrows...Memories of the Class of '64." The italic paragraphs is what I wrote then, and the rest is the reflections I made when I wrote the book back in 1989.

Sunday, March 29, 1964

89th Day - 277 days to follow

Clear

Today's Easter.  Got up at 5:15 A.M. and got dressed.  Bill and Max G. picked me up and took me to the Sunrise Service at Dunnavant's Mall.  This was the first time they held it there.  After that all the fellowship went over to Michele's Restaurant for breakfast.  Came home at 8:30 A.M. and went back to bed.  William picked me up at 10:30 A.M. and we went to church.  Went home with him for dinner then we went bowling with the post.  I got 114, 101, and 131.  Mr. Tom brought me home then.

Watched part of The Left Handed Gun but I fell asleep around 5:30 P.M. and woke up at 6:30 P.M.  Paul came by at 7:15 P.M. and we went and got Brenda, Betty, and Pat.  Went to J's then went riding up on the mountain.  Took them home and I got home at 9:30 P.M.  Called Janice and talked a while.

The wind's really blowing outside.  It's 10:30 P.M. now and I'm going to bed.  I'm sleepy; very much so.

Easter was another one of those days that seem to wander aimlessly across the calendars of the years.  It never seemed to come on the same date two years in a row.  Who knows how long back the tradition of the sunrise service on Easter morning goes?  It had always been around during my childhood.  It was the one time of the year that I got up early in the morning, got dressed up, and went out into nature to stand around with a group of other people, all shivering and thinking of the warm beds they left behind.

Traditionally, the sunrise services were held outside, in all of nature's wonder.  I remember one year going to a large, green, dew-filled meadow on Redstone Arsenal for the service. The favorite spot for sunrise services for most Huntsvillians was atop Monte Sano Mountain.  It filled the heart with wonderment to stand in a clearing in the early morning mist and watch the first rays of sun break over the distant horizon.  There, in reverent silence, the Easter morning worship brought new life to the faith of many.

It sometimes took a test of faith to participate in the activities.  Getting up early in the morning was a big test of devotion.  Follow that by standing out in the early morning darkness, your feet wet and cold from the early morning dew, and your body shaking from the ever present cool morning breeze, and you have the true test of a modern Christian.  Somehow, the sight of the sun coming up, and the warm rays striking your cold body, gave an uplift to your heart, just as the songs and worship affected your soul.

Huntsville, in an attempt to live up to its Rocket City pace, had something new for the Christians on that wonderful morning.  For the first time, in the year of our Lord 1964, the sunrise service would not be held out among nature's beauty, but instead it would be in a shopping mall.  The soft damp feel of the dew-covered green grass would be replaced by the tap-tap-tap of the ladies' new high heeled Easter shoes as they walked across the concrete and tile floors of the mall.  The sound of the birds, arousing from their night's sleep, would be replaced by the noise of cars and trucks as they rolled down the busy Parkway just a hundred yards away.  The sight of the morning sun's rays would be blocked by the stone and brick walls of the modern mall.

Those who arrived early could rejoice in window-shopping, as they waited for the public address system to be installed.  For the first year, the service could be held inside, only because there was a mall.  It was the same reason why men climb mountains, because they are there.  Only on that reverent Easter Sunday, the mountain was not made to be climbed.  The mall had replaced it in its glory.  The warmth of the inside service drew many.  Christians abounded.  Why stand out in a meadow or on top of a cold mountain, surrounded by nothing but singing birds and wind-swept trees, when you could be inside?  Why should Christians continue to suffer for their religion when they didn't have to?   That was what Christians had died for all those years, so that they could worship inside a mall, instead of on top of a mountain.  It was a modern world, and Huntsville was leading the South in new technologies and new thought.  Maybe if they make it easy on them, the Christians would come out to worship early in the morning.

The less than traditional sunrise service, was followed by the more traditional nap, before returning to the real church service at Central Presbyterian Church.  The services inside of the grand old building were the same type services that had been held on Easter for as long as I could remember.  The kids in their new Easter outfits, and the ladies in their new Easter bonnets, competed with the usual Easter-Christmas rush for seats in the sanctuary caused by the crowd who could only make it to church on those two days of the year.  The message delivered was the same that has been delivered on Easter for almost two thousand years.  It was the message of a new faith, a new beginning, not the celebration of death, but of life.  The songs echoed off the stained glass windows of Jesus knocking at the door, instead of the windows of shoe shops, and bookstores, and dress boutiques of the mall.

Yet, the mountain was not to lose its place in my memory entirely on that Easter.  The services were held in the mall, but my friends and I still ventured up the mountain and watched, not the sunrise, but the moonrise.  The mystic call of the beauty of the shadowy, moon-lit mountain roads reached out to the teenagers.  They answered, to park along the lane and look at the wonderment of the lights of Huntsville as they stretched out into the evening's horizon.  Each year the lights seemed to stretch a little farther as the town grew a little bigger.

As we looked west, the lights of Oakwood Avenue formed a long line of fireflies into the distance and the horizon called.  There would not be many more nights that I could spend the evening on Monte Sano with three teenage girls and one other boy.  Before long, I would have to follow the lights west and leave my childhood and the mountain with its magic.  The sunrise that broke over the mountain on that, my last Easter in high school, was not seen.  The rays were blocked by the stores of the mall, but the evening stars seemed just as glorious and seemed to tell the same stories on Easter as they had told on Christmas.  Peace on Earth.

The Wayback Machine

"Easter Parade" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin and published in 1933. Berlin originally wrote the melody in 1917, under the title "Smile and Show Your Dimple", as a "cheer up" song for a girl whose man has gone off to fight in World War I. A recording of "Smile and Show Your Dimple" by Sam Ash enjoyed modest success in 1918.

Berlin resurrected the tune, with modifications, and gave it the now-familiar Easter lyrics for the 1933 Broadway musical revue As Thousands Cheer, in which musical numbers were strung together on the thematic thread of newspaper headlines. In 1942, it was featured in the musical film Holiday Inn, in which it was performed by Bing Crosby. In 1948, it was performed by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the musical film Easter Parade, which was constructed around the song. 

It was a toss-up this week whether to feature April Fool's Day or Easter...Easter won. I think many of you can relate to attending the Sunrise Services up on Monto Sano Mountain. If you have any special memories, please share them.

 SAVE THE DATE!

 LEE LUNCH BUNCH

CLASSES OF ’64, ’65, ‘66

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024

11:00 A.M.

LOGAN’S ROADHOUSE

4249 BALMORAL DR. SW

HUNTSVILLE, AL 35801

(256) 881-0584

Please save the date for our next lunch gathering in April. We will be meeting back at our old place, Logan’s Roadhouse. We all enjoyed the change of location last year to Carrabba’s, but they were getting a bit difficult to work with. There are just precious few restaurants that are willing to let a sizable group reserve a private space, if they have one, without paying a large fee. As long as we have an acceptable number of lunch guests, Logan’s will not charge us that fee. So, it is necessary for you to let me know if you plan to come so I can keep up with the number. As always, I will need to call the restaurant by noon the day before to let them know an accurate number of guests. We cannot go over that allowed number. We have always been well received at Logan’s, and they have a menu that appeals to most everyone.

Hope to see all of our regulars plus any of our group that has not been able to come before. Thanks and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ‘65

keithandpatsy@att.net

H (256) 232-7583

C (256) 431-3396   or on Facebook

Last Week's Questions, Answers, 

And Comments

Joel Weinbaum, LHS ‘64, "As to the siding of Mullin's restaurant, that was called clapboard or shiplap, somewhat like the Viking ships of old. As to greasy hamburgers, you hear the catchy name of "sliders," applied to hamburgers today. That's a nautical reference from Navy sailors aboard ship referring to greasy hamburgers being cooked on the flat top grill sliding around as the ship rolled in heavy seas. A little nautical lore for our Lee bunch."

Mary Ann Bond Wallace, LHS ‘64, "Wow so good to read about our high school social life.  The dances, driving through Jerry's and then through Shoney's to see who was parked and who was driving around and around.  Sometimes jumping out of one car and into another one, just for fun.  In junior high we always met after the football game at Mullins I guess until the new stadium was built our football games were played at an old field within walking distance from Mullins.  We would meet there and tell our parents to pick us up there.  I remember long after I left Huntsville finding that Mullins had built a new building and the old building was gone.  Never ate at the new one.  It was full and just didn't seem the same.  I remember when I went to college in Florence everyone drove around Hardee's and I thought that was weird because in Huntsville you did not find many friends at Hardee's.  Guess each town has its spots to hang out  Those were the days!"