My "Hurt So Bad" Moment at Lee High School

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Strange things come to my mind when I am in the process of trying to come up with a subject to share with you readers each week. This week is no different. 

I got to thinking about a time and an incident that happened to me in the ninth grade, when we were still in Junior High. It took place in Mr. Blackburn's General Science class. One day, for some odd reason, I was told or volunteered to wash the aquarium which was in the classroom. 

In the process of washing the glass, the cleaning rag slipped away from my hand as I was making a giant swipe toward the top of the glass. The soapy glass was slippery and my finger slide into the metal rim of the aquarium. That action cut a half-moon slab from my finger tip, resulting in enough blood squirting from the open cut worthy of a B-grade horror movie. It was not just a cut but was actually a slab of skin missing. 

Mr. Blackburn put some pressure on it to try to keep it from bleeding, but of course that did not work. As a chemistry teacher, he came upon a very strange solution to the problem. He grabed a bottle of some kind of clear liquid (similiar to today's superglue) and poured it on the finger. It almost immediately hardened and sealed the wound. I think it took almost a week to finally come off, and I was left with the half-moon shaped scar which I still carry today.

So, it made me wonder what stories others might have about injuries suffered in school. Please use the comments section below to share with us your own personal school injury from any grade from first to twelth. Did any of you break a bone or suffer a major cut or something similar? 

I take advantage of The Wayback Machine to share with you a "Hurt So Bad" song we enjoyed in 1965. I hope you enjoy it.

The Wayback Machine

"Hurt So Bad"

1965

 Little Anthony & The Imperials

"Hurt So Bad" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, and Bobby Hart. It is a 1965 Top 10 hit ballad originally recorded by Little Anthony & The Imperials. Linda Ronstadt also had a Top 10 hit with her cover version in 1980. The song has been re-recorded by numerous artists including The Lettermen, who took the song to number twelve in September 1969.

This version reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one in Canada.  It was also performed by the group on their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. 

I actually though many more of you would share your memories of the day Kennedy was killed, but I only had one response, and that was from a 1971 classmate. 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66 , "Thank you, Tommy for keeping all your Lee High friends informed about our classmates after all these years! We love you for this and all the time you put in every week!"

J. R. Brooks, LHS ‘64, "Eddie Paulette was an incredibly intelligent and likable classmate."