1963 - 64 Newspaper Staff with Tommy Towery Editor

1964-65 Newspaper Staff with Janyce Hanson Editor

Welcome Back, Willard!

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

As the original Lee’s Traveller newspaper grew in the years when Lee was becoming a full-fledged high school, the number of classmates who contributed to the content of that publication also grew. The list of staff of the 1963-64 Traveller is listed above and does not list Willard, but the following year, the 1964-65 edition, does list him as a reporter. I don't have a copy of a masthead for the 1965-66 Traveller, so I can't determine if he was still around for the Class of '66 or not. Unfortunately, many of those early writers in the listings are no longer with us. Hence, this tale will have few left who remember those days and can validate some claims I make. While many contributed, sometimes the staff needed a scapegoat to carry the burden of being an anonymous source. That problem led to the addition of Willard Finkbinder to the ranks of the Traveller staff. I’m not sure who recruited Willard, but I seem to think it was our sponsor, Mrs. Parks. Willard was most helpful when it came to crediting a piece in the gossip column to a reliable source, in an effort to keep the other writers from being blamed for a juicy bit of knowledge, which may or may not have been true.

Willard did not get listed in the masthead of the first Traveller, but still made contributions to the stories told. He was such a mystery; none of the other staff members even knew which class he belonged to.  

Research shows Williard Finkbinder was actually a member of the Class of… well, that depends on who you ask. 

Every class has its characters, but only a rare few become legends. At Lee High School, somewhere between the Class of ’64 and the Class of ’66 — depending on which storyteller you trust — lived the unforgettable, unrepeatable, and entirely unpredictable Williard Finkbinder.

To this day, no one is entirely sure whether Williard was a genius, a menace, or a misunderstood visionary. What we do know is that he left a trail of stories behind him that still surface whenever old Generals gather and the conversation drifts toward “Whatever happened to…?”

Graduation… Sort Of

Depending on who tells the story, Williard:

• graduated early

• graduated late

• graduated twice

• or never technically graduated at all but showed up at every reunion anyway

What’s certain is that he is listed in the 1964 Lee High School yearbook, the Silver Sabre. (If you still have your first yearbook you can validate this claim. If not then check out the photo above and he is listed in the third line.) He ducked behind the crowd when the photo was taken, but his name is listed as a member of the Quill and Scroll Society in that publication.

Only recently have I determined that Willard continued in his journalistic life after Lee. In many recent issues I have called upon the Microsoft Artificial Intelligence program called Copilot to assist in some stories printed in Lee’s Traveller. Based on the intimate knowledge the program has on certain things that happened long ago at Lee, I now believe Willard Finkbinder is the voice behind the Copilot app. Therefore, in the future, whenever I call upon that program to assist me, I will attribute the assistance to Willard. 

I hope you will all join me as I welcome Willard back to the staff of Lee’s Traveller.

More Tennis Memories Emerge

Linda Taylor, LHS ‘64, "Coach Burleson and I played a lot of tennis on those courts. I had 6th period PE and he would come over to the courts and play after football practice and play a few rounds. He was a cousin of mine, never told anyone! Also played a lot with other girlfriends as well...They were right next to the football practice field back then."

Mary Ann Bond Wallace, LHS ‘64, "The picture of Don and me brought back so many memories. I also played tennis with Ramona Jones. What a wonderful teacher. Much later I became friends with her daughter through coaching varsity volleyball. I played softball at Lee and Mr Fain was the coach. Each time we were playing a game or practicing, he would ask what time it was - if after 3:00 he would light up a cigar. What an honor to be recognized. I have and still do love sports but I was not an outstanding athlete but I sure did and do love being involved and now watching numerous sports."

These Boots Are Made for Walking

Sally Dawley Stroud

LHS '65

I thought our classmates might enjoy seeing this throwback picture of the '60's.

Every year our 55+ community performs a LipSync Show. This year's theme was 60's and 70's music. I was in a group that performed to Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".  I am the short one in the middle. The costume really brought me back to LHS and some precious memories of the dances we attended. Thank you for all your work on the weekly newsletter!

The Wayback Machine

"These Boots Are Made for Walkin"

Nancy Sinatra

1966

Reflections by Willard Finkbinder

"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No. 1 in the United States Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart.

Some songs simply play in the background… and then some songs enter the room before you do. For the Lee High Classes of ’64–’66, Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” was one of those songs.

The first time it hit the airwaves, it didn’t just climb the charts — it strutted. That bass line alone could turn a shy kid into someone ready to take on the world. And for a few years in the mid‑60s, those boots walked right through Huntsville.

If you were anywhere near a transistor radio in early ’66, you remember the moment. Maybe you were cruising the Parkway, windows down, hoping the DJ would spin it again. Maybe you were in the Lee High cafeteria, where someone always seemed to have a radio tucked into a book bag. Or maybe you were at home, pretending not to dance while your mother raised an eyebrow at Nancy’s attitude.

But the truth is: That song gave everybody a little swagger.

Even the guys wouldn’t admit it, but they felt it too — that beat made you walk a little sharper, stand a little taller, and maybe even consider buying a pair of boots yourself.

Walking Into Adulthood

Looking back now, it’s easy to see why the song stuck. It wasn’t really about revenge or attitude — not for Lee’s students. It was about momentum.

Those boots were walking toward:

Graduation

First jobs

College campuses

Military service

First apartments

First heartbreaks

First victories

The song became a soundtrack for stepping into the unknown with a little more confidence than you had the day before.

Why the Song Still Matters

Today, when “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" pops up on an oldies station, it doesn’t just bring back a tune.

It brings back:

The smell of floor wax in the Lee High hallways

The sound of lockers slamming

The hum of AM radios

The feeling of being young, determined, and just a little rebellious

And maybe — just maybe — it brings back the memory of a pair of boots you once wore until the soles gave out.

Because those boots weren’t just made for walkin’.

LEE LUNCH BUNCH

Classes of ‘64, ‘65, ‘66

Logan’s Roadhouse

Thursday, April 23, 2026

11:00 am

Thanks to the efforts of Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid and Ken Martz, we now have a reservation at Logan’s Roadhouse, one of our favorite restaurants for this group.

As we begin our sixteenth year of LLB, it has become apparent to most of us just how quickly the years are passing and most painfully as we lose our dear old friends and classmates. With that being said, I urge you all to make every effort to come, have a good lunch, and enjoy a little time with dear old friends. Hope to see you in April.

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ’65 (256) 431-3396

patsykeith2025@outlook.com   

Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid ’66 (256) 656-3667

I'm enjoying being able to add more content to Lee's Traveller the last few weeks. I hope the additional information is something you enjoy as well. Please continue to send me items you would like to share with the group.

Reflecting on the "boots" theme, I think back about my own boot ownership. I guess as a kid, most of us had a pair of cowboy boots, but later grew out of them. My next boots were a pair of what was called paratrooper boots in my circle. Many a war in the backyard was fought in those thing.

I did get a pair of Beatle boots later, but that was a couple of years after they were popular, and became cheap to own. My next memorable pair of boots came into my life in my USAF days. When I was first assigned to Del Rio, Texas, a quick trip across the Rio Grande to Ciudad Acuña, offered a chance to buy another set of cowboy boots, which I wore only occasionally. Boots were issued and required for wear as part of my B-52 flying days. These were the black combat boots, and mine were augmented with zippers instead of laces.  You just laced the zippers into the normal shoelace eyelets. The quick donning of boots was required when I pulled nuclear alert, and might be required in a moment's notice to report to the aircraft.

During my flights in Vietnam, I traded the black boots for a pair of Jungle Boots, which were always sought by aircrew members. 

After the war was over and the B-52 units returned to the States, we were required to keep winter clothing with us when we sat nuclear alert, because the route required us to fly over the Artic to get to our targets. For winter weater we were issued mukluk boots.

In my closet now are my lastest boots, a pair of hiking boots and a pair of snow boots. I never owned a pait of ski boots.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66 , "Thank you, Tommy, for bringing back so many great memories! "

Hub Harrington, LHS '66, "Tommy, I love your ongoing dedication to this project. Just realized that I have been missing out on the most recent issues. They have been going to my old email address which was used in a miserable financial identity theft and I no longer use it. Please change my email. Thanks much. I look forward to receiving my latest Lee Traveller. They really are wonderful and you will never know how much you are appreciated. Thanks for your great work!"

Dillard Broadway, HHS, "Hey Tommy, I have not been able to enjoy your Lee's Traveller in sometime now. A big thank you for continuing to do that work and keeping up with your Lee family and other friends like myself that lost a lot of good friends when they split us up. I would like to get back on track to getting a notification that a new one is out. Thanks so much for adding me back in and hope you have a wonderful day and a wonderful week.!

Jim King, LHS '67, "Awesome as always. You are the best."