The Madison County Health Department

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Monday, February 3, 1964

34th Day - 332 days to follow

Clear

An entry in my journal on February 3, 1964, recorded that the second period English class rode a bus down to the Madison County Health Department for a chest X-ray.

The AI search engine Gemini reports "In the 1960s, it was common for high school students to visit their local health department for routine chest X-rays. For example, students from Lee High School in Huntsville, Alabama, recorded taking a bus to the Madison County Health Department for this purpose in February 1964. In the 1960s, routine chest X-rays were a standard health requirement for high school students, often mandated for the detection of tuberculosis (TB). " I very much believe my book is the source for this information.

 I remember going to the Madison County Health Department for many things when I was growing up.  I think we used them as our doctor.  I guess that was one of the benefits of being poor.  For some reason the whole school was involved in some type of health program. 

I vividly remember that on an earlier occasion of getting a x-ray on a school trip, I put the quarter I was carrying for lunch money in my shirt pocket so it would show up on the x-ray. I don't know why I did that, but it seemed like a fun thing to do at the time.

 In 1952, the modern, well-equipped Health Center Building on Eustis Street was opened on a lot donated in memory of Dr. W. H. Burritt.

I remember because of our status of not being a full high school because we had never graduated a class and partially because of the problem with school integration, the 1964 graduating class of Lee was not given the opportunity of a Senior Class Trip. Historically such trips had been to Washington D.C. but such a trip was not to be for our class. It became a joke for our class that the bus-trip visit to the Health Department served as our senior trip. 

Do any of you have any intersting stories about the Health Department?

The Wayback Machine

"Good Lovin" 

The Young Rascals

1966

"Good Lovin'" was a No. 1 hit single for the American rock band the Young Rascals in 1966. The song was first recorded by Lemme B. Good in March 1965. The following month it was recorded with different lyrics by R&B artists the Olympics, produced by Jerry Ragovoy; this version reached No. 81 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. Felix Cavaliere heard the Olympics' recording on a New York City radio station and the group added it to their concert repertoire, using the same lyrics and virtually the same arrangement as the Olympics' version. Co-producer Tom Dowd captured this live feel on their 1966 recording, even though the group did not think the performance held together well. "Good Lovin'" rose to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the spring of 1966 and represented the Young Rascals' first real hit.

"Good Lovin'" is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and was ranked No. 333 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

A preplanned vacation trip to Pensacola, Florida, saw us leaving Memphis the morning before the 6+inch snow storm started in the evening. On our trip home we stopped in Birmingham to visit relatives, and ended up staying two extra days there because I-22 between Birmingham and Memphis was closed. We got home to an ice-packed drive way we could not climb and ended up having to park our car in the street. It is still there, but perhaps the sun will clear our path before too long.

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