Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

My mother remarried and moved to Memphis the summer before my senior year at Lee, leaving me living with my grandmother so I could finish high school with my friends. You read last week about me moving to Memphis the day after graduation and my packing problems.

I was extremely homesick when I got to my new home. Even though I was a month away from turning 18, I had never really matured the way I should have. I really did not work during high school. I tried two jobs, but neither worked out with my school schedule. One was a short stint at Dairy Queen that only lasted one day. It was a combination of lack of business at the establishment and the inability to justify paying me to work there. The other job was at the concession stand at the 72 Drive-In. That job required me to work until 10:00 pm cooking burgers on the grill and popping corn and then taking about another hour to clean up, getting me home usually after 11:30pm on school nights. 

So, when I got to Memphis, I had to find something to do the summer before school started at Memphis State in September. That meant I needed to find a place to work rather than bum around all summer. My new stepfather was unsympathetic to my homesickness and demanding I find work. Since I had no experience to draw on, I relied on my memory of my school mates’ jobs and started applying at grocery stores which still had bag boys. No luck. I then went to Sears and some other department stores, and my lack of previous work experiences kept me from being hired at any of them.

One thing that made it a little difficult was that I was looking for a summer "job", not a profession. I had no plans to get a job that offered advancements. My goal was to graduate from college with a officer's commission in the Air Force through the R.O.T.C. program and make a career out of the military, so I just needed a place to work to make some money for the fall. 

After a week of no luck in my job search, I sat down one night and had a talk with myself. “What kind of experience do I really have?” The answer came to me as “camping.” The previous summer I had tried to get hired as a counselor at the Boy Scout Camp Westmoreland but failed. So, the next day I went to the YMCA to see if there was a chance of working at the Y’s day camp. It turned out they did not need anyone there, but they were in need of counselors at the summer camp at Pickwick Lake. It was a six-week camp, divided up into three two-week sessions, and the second sessions was about to begin. I did not have any friends in Memphis, and was not dating anyone, so I took the offer.

The pay for being a counselor was not very good, but it included room and board for the sessions. It was a dream job for me. Relying on my Boy Scout skills, I spent the summer teaching canoeing and water skiing, along with being a lifeguard at the lake’s swimming area. I had a cabin of eight kids and met some other counselors who would become my classmates at Memphis State when the school started. Since I lived at camp, I had no expenses for gas or fixing a car, no fast meals, no movies, no dates, etc. All the money I made I could take home.

When the summer sessions at Camp Pickwick was over, I was hired for a two-week counselor job at the other YMCA camp at Mammoth Sprints, Arkansas. It was located on a favorite canoeing river and again offered room and board, with no place to spend what little money I was earning.

When that camp was over, I returned to Memphis and was invited to take a job working with the Y at the afternoon gymnastic sessions for the underprivileged high school students. That job worked out fine with my college level when school began. It paid 75 cents an hour. I took classes in the morning and worked at the Y in the afternoons and Saturday mornings.

In following summers I worked the full six-week boys’ Pickwick camp and stayed for the following two-week girls’ as a lifeguard and boating instructor, and then the two-week Mammoth Springs camp for underprivileged boys. 

I left the Y for a short time but one day received a call asking me to become the physical director at one of the local Ys. It paid a real salary that was more than I was making and had better hours, so I took it. I worked there until the summer between my junior and senior year when I went to R.O.T.C. summer camp. The job was gone when I got back.

The YMCA jobs lasted throughout my college days, and even the summer after I graduated while awaiting my first Air Force assignment. I worked at Camp Pickwick that summer with my new wife while waiting. Many events in my later life resulted from that night when I asked myself what I had experience doing.

So, that was the transition from my days at Lee to my first job after graduating. I would be interested in hearing some of your first job after high school experiences. Use the comment section below to tell your tale.

Or; if you would rather, you can segway from this and tell us about your summer camp experiences.

The Wayback Machine

"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)"

1963

"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)" is a novelty song recorded by Allan Sherman released in 1963. The melody is taken from the ballet Dance of the Hours from the opera La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli, while the lyrics were written by Sherman and Lou Busch.

The lyrics are in the form of a letter written by a boy to his parents expressing dissatisfaction with summer camp. Sherman wrote the song after letters of complaint which he received from his son Robert Sherman who was attending Camp Champlain, in Westport, New York.

The song was a major success and earned a Grammy Award. In 2019, "Hello Muddah" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The song's mention of "Leonard Skinner", a boy at the camp who "got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner", was an inspiration for the name of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, although the band's name was also inspired by a physical education instructor of the same name.

The song scored No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 list for three weeks beginning on August 24, 1963. It was kept from No. 1 by both "Fingertips" by "Little" Stevie Wonder and "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels. The song also reached #9 on the Pop-Standard Singles chart. It hit number 1 in Hong Kong, where there were no summer camps in existence, according to Allan Sherman in his book A Gift of Laughter (1965).

Bringing Back Memories

Mary Ann Bond Wallace

LHS ‘64

Tommy, I always look forward to your weekly post and marvel at your diary and your memories.  And like some many others, you bring back such wonderful memories.  Memories that have been replaced with college, marriage, work, having children, and life in the 60s.

My senior year is very cloudy.  My brother was driven by my parents to John Hopkins Hospital for kidney failure during September, 1963.  We were told he would be there about three months.  Complications caused an earlier death; appendectomy surgery caused convulsions.  My parents were driving up to visit and see Al the weekend of our last Homecoming game and dance and I was allowed to stay with Toni Ivey (a friend down the street) since we were going back up for Thanksgiving and I could see him then.  The doctor and the hospital decided not to call my parents about the unexpected surgery because they knew they were coming a few days later.  Homecoming was wonderful but on Saturday morning my parents called me and said for me the get Toni to drive me to the airport, there was a ticket waiting for me.  I had never flown so it was a new adventure.  I was always ready for a new adventure; and yes there were concerns about how to do everything without anyone being with you.  They did not expect Al to live until I got to Baltimore but they did not tell me anything about what was happening.  It was the last time I saw Al.  He was very sick and we only had a few minutes together.  When you have never experienced a family member in the hospital and so sick you are at a loss of how to act and what to do.  My Mom rented a small apartment (one room, never saw) and stayed for the last month of Al's life.  My father drove Jimmy and me back to Huntsville because he needed to get back to work and we needed to be in school.  The first night she left the hospital to walk to where she was staying a hospital guard asked her where she was going.  She explained where her room was and he told her it was not safe for her to walk home in the area around the hospital and walked her to her apartment to make sure she made it safely.  He asked her when she would go back to the hospital the next morning.  Every morning and night that guard walked her to where she was staying.  God provided her a Guardian Angel to protect and help her.  I wish I had thought to ask his name or even later.  But during those days I tried to not ask too many questions and to do everything I could to help my parents and brother through this heartbreaking time.  During the time my Mom was in Baltimore I was responsible of taking care of Jimmy, my younger brother and help with washing and cooking.  Al passed away in November 1963.

So a lot of my memories are erased by what was happening to my family.  When you post your memories my memories are revived and restored.  Tommy I cannot explain how much your weekly post mean to so many of us.  It brings back memories that I could not recall or had blocked.

I remember graduation but your memories brought back so many of mine and I thank you for that.  I remember that I had bleached my hair and I wore a scarf to cover it up at the practice.  I think one of my mother's friends helped calm it down.  Horrible idea!!!  I too packed up a lot of things but my bedroom walls were full of momentums like corsages, pictures, football programs, etc.  The first time I came back home my parents had taken down everything and put everything into a box and put those memories in the garage for me to go through.  I was very upset when I realized they had taken everything down.  I did go through some of the stuff and decided I did not need those dried corsages, etc since I was in college and that life was gone.  Maybe it was a release of the sad times and a new adventure

I remember thinking during those days about what was happening in my life at that time.  I was not a good student, unknown to me or anyone else I was severely ADHD.  I am sure many of you, if you think about it, probably knew that.  Highs and lows and lots of energy.  If I liked a teacher who kept my attention I made good grades but if it was a teacher who was not interesting I made very low grades.  I was the same way in college but as I matured (a little) I found I was not that dumb, it just took some work.  My first two years of college I was on probation with a low grades average and would bring it up in the second semester.  But by my junior year my grades got better.  I did graduate from University of North Alabama (then Florence State College) with a BS and ended up going back to earn a Master's Degree.  I taught at Applebee Jr. High, and J.O. Johnson High School in Huntsville the first year it opened. Then it was back to Coffee High School in Florence for the remaining years.  I coached gymnastics, volleyball, swim team, & cheerleaders until my retirement.

I taught for 30 years and retired in 2000.  I was very involved in judging gymnastics by that time.  In June, I was asked to run for Alabama State Judging Director position and served as the SJD for 16 years.  Gymnastics carried me to many states to judge.  It would be easier to list the states I have not judged in rather than list the states I did judge in.  I retired from judging in 2021.  I really don't miss not judging but do miss the friends I made, shared a hotel room with, judged with, etc.

I know this is a long post and I apologize for its length.  I love all your stories and reconnections.  This month I will be in Huntsville for a doctor's appointment and will have lunch with a dear friend I have not seen in over 40 years (my college roommate for two years and a graduate of Huntsville High School.  We reunited through Facebook, isn't FB a wonderful thing to have.  We can now see what our fellow students' lives are like and communicate with them.

Thank you, Tommy, for your dedication and talent at writing.  You have activated so many old memories for me and so many other students from Lee High School.

Lots of activity this week. Thanks to all who participate. I send out the notice of when the new Traveller is available each week. I know how many classmates are on the list, but of course I have no way of knowing who actually reads it or who sends the notice straight to trash. It doesn't matter if you are a lurker, but please feel free to comment when you have something to say.

I find it strange that in two of the comments submitted this week, Okinawa was part of their memories. I used to go on temporary duty to Okinawa myself, three weeks at a time and found it a very pleasant place to visit. Of course I never had to live there. In case you are wondering, here is some information about the island.

 Okinawa Main Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately 66 miles long, an average 7 miles wide, and has an area of 466.02 squae miles. It is roughly 350 nautical miles south of the main island of Kyushu and the rest of Japan. 

Okinawa Island had the bloodiest ground battle of the Pacific War from 1 April to 22 June 1945. During this 82-day-long battle, about 95,000 Imperial Japanese Army troops and 20,195 Americans were killed.

During the American military occupation of Japan (1945–1952) the United States controlled Okinawa Island and the rest of the Ryukyu Islands. The Amami Islands were returned to Japanese control in 1953. The remaining Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan on 17 June 1971. America kept numerous U.S. military bases on the islands. There are 32 United States military bases on Okinawa Island.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Tom Provost, LHS ‘66, "Tommy, I remember sooooo well giving up stuff as we moved. Having attended five different elementary schools, two junior high schools and two high schools all in three different states and Okinawa, I left A LOT of stuff behind.... I really enjoy how your email takes me back to my favorite parts of life."

Beverly Parker Hillis, LHS ‘66, "A few years after graduation I was married and my husband got orders to move to Okinawa, Japan. I had never been so scared in my life. Moving to somewhere in the US was one thing, but overseas was another. Knowing that I wouldn’t see my family every week, I didn’t think I could do. It was the first time on an airplane which was an experience in itself. I found out quickly other states' people were not friendly like in Alabama and Tennessee. When I arrived there I couldn’t believe the smell; I finally got used to it. We were there for three years. I found friends with the company my husband worked for from England and Germany. I learned a lot in those years. All the other moves did not have the effect as that first move. It made you realize how good we have it in the great USA."

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66, “Thank you.”

William Meyer, LHS '66, "Thank you." 

Rose Towery Linsky, LHS '64, "Thanks!  Have a Blessed Day!"