Lee High Shop

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon and Chip Abernathy

* * * *

Back in the day, the Lee High Shop was a place where we met before and after school.

The Lee High Shop was “the” gathering place. It was filled with madras shirts and Weejuns and circle pins. It was the place where we met up with our classmates, exchanged news, talked about our teachers, copied each other’s homework, and made plans for the prom. It helped us through new romances and breakups. It was a place to listen, to share ideas, to laugh, to lend comfort where it was needed.

The Lee High Shop is long gone now, another warm memory from our days at Lee High School. We figured we needed a virtual place for the Class of ‘62 to gather and to reconnect. So, we’ve reinvented a portal by the same name.

Here, at our online Lee High Shop, we invite you to catch up on just about anything you’d like. Whether it’s anecdotes, suggestions, humor, or inspirational poetry, hymns, or philosophical insights.

The Lee High Shop is open again, the only thing missing will be those giant, sugar-loaded drinks we loved. So come on in. WELCOME TO LEE HIGH SHOP 2024!

* * * *

Joanne Griffin Caraway

August 16, 2024

My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.

I asked her, "Do you know him?"
"Yes", she sighed,
"He's my old boyfriend. I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since."

"My God!" I said, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"

And then the fight started...

(Will miss seeing you Guys in October!)

~ ~ ~ ~

Unbelievable Sounds of Nature (with thanks to Richard "Rick" Cason)

Lee Girls Lunch Bunch

Pictured L-R: Dee Ramsay Burnett, Julianne Battaglia, Ricki Buzhardt Marshall, Joan Harvey Woods, Angel Thompson LeMaistre,

Susie Peters Marshall, Una Howell Pardue, Libby Girlinghouse Bernard, Claudia Hart Mally, Margaret DeHoff Stanley

Libby Girlinghouse Bernard

August 6, 2024

Our biggest group yet. No hurricane is going to keep the Class of '62 at home!

~ ~ ~ ~

Libby Girlinghouse Bernard

July 24, 2024

Closets

We, the Class of ’62, are of a certain age. Someday soon, we will face the fact that the end of life, as we know it, is nearer than we like to think. So what will you do/ponder when you come to this realization? I’m not quite “there” yet, but I know what will be hanging heavily on my mind: MY CLOSETS!

Oh the dread, when those assigned, will come into my space and clean.

I can just hear the comments now:

“Why in the World was she keeping this?”

“What was she thinking when she bought that?”

“Oh My, did she really think she would fit into those pants?”

“Gee, I always thought she was a clean freak…but, alas, I never saw her closets!”

When my time approaches, and good friends come to me and say, “What can I do to help?” My answer, spoken quickly, will be, “Clean my Closets.”

I will die in peace if I can leave this earthly life knowing my closets and drawers are tidy. My friends will also be requested to tell no tales. If something very personal or bazaar should be unearthed, giggle all you like, but remember “mum's the word.”

So, gather boxes. One for charity, one for each of yourselves, and one for what you least expected to find. Discretely dispose of the last box. Maybe raise a toast and say, “Gee, the ole girl was more fun that we thought!”

Now, after writing this, I feel obliged to acquire some exotic items to hide amongst my possessions, making my life look like it was a bit risqué.

AND…You will never know: were they for real…or just for show???

~ ~ ~ ~

Charles Ulery

July 16, 2024

Thank You very much for letting us know of our lost classmates.
It is very sad to me whether I was close to them or not .
Can't help but think of when it's my turn to be in your report. As I get older my values of life changed dramatically, mostly because of all the Wonderful Experiences of Reunions of the class of 1962.
Thank You for ALL

~ ~ ~ ~

Rose Ruediger Dreyfus

July 4, 2024

Loved rereading all these essays from Mike H. and Sandy. Thank you for forwarding and reminding us of our past, present and future. I look forward to seeing you in October!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John ("Hank") Spencer

July 4, 2024

Something sparked a past memory as I read your recent post. It was almost 2 years ago, my wife and I, looking for something different to do, went to the dirt track go kart races in Maxville to see what it was about. We were there early and with nothing going on, we waited. All of a sudden, a car pulled in and proceeded to drive like crazy all over the place including on the go kart track. Then he drove out of site to the rear of the property trying to find another way out. There is none and the front is blocked by incoming cars. By this time, we had pulled up trying to get out ourselves. We had stopped and turned off the car when the crazy guy backed into us. We were not in his way he just swung around as he backed up. BAM! By that time the police had shown up and caught him trying once again to get out. Now, do you remember a band at Lee named Fred Bible and the Continentals? I hope so. Well, the police officer came to give us paperwork so we could get our car repaired. I looked at his name tag, Fred Bible. I asked if his dad had a band in high school. Yep. It was his son. That was a long shot.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Seale

July 4, 2024

Dear Classmates,

We like to think of our Class of ’62 website page for the Lee High Shop as a place to listen, to share ideas, to laugh, to lend comfort where it is needed in similar fashion to the way it was those many years ago. Discussions at the end of our 55th Reunion in 2017, resulted in a clear consensus that we needed to have the means to gather and reconnect, and Mike Hoyt came up with the idea for a virtual place, this website portal, appropriately named the Lee High Shop. In the seven years since then, our Class of ’62 has been singularly fortunate, not only to have this forum available, but also to have had—and continue to have—widespread participation, to the tune of hundreds of postings every year.

Two of our classmates are communications professionals. Both are published authors, and both have generously shared their writings with us from time to time. I’m referring, of course, to Mike Hoyt and Sandy Covington, both of whom have contributed essays that I have grouped together because they share a common theme that resonates significantly as we celebrate our nation’s birth and our shared ideal that "all men (and women) are created equal."

As you gain the benefit of their insights, perhaps you’ll come away with the same realization that I did: that we have come such a long way from the old days and the old ways—and we still have a long way to go.

Happy 4th of July!

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, is shown placing the document before John Hancock, president of the Congress. With him stand the other members of the committee that created the draft: John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston

It’ll be Alright

by Mike Hoyt

July 4, 2024

Two hundred and forty eight years ago today, members of the Continental Congress, all 56 of them, ratified our country’s Declaration of Independence. It was a document written largely by Thomas Jefferson and they all eventually added their names to it.

From that moment on America was free from Britain. Even though the Declaration wasn’t signed by all the members of the group for a month, on August 2, 1776, it still did what it needed to do.

It’s not surprising that many of us have lost sight of this sterling moment in our country’s history. We’re too busy cooking hotdogs, driving to the beach and flocking to open fields near the fairgrounds to watch the celebratory fireworks with the grandkids. And, that is likely as it should be. As John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, jumping the gun a little:

The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

I’m proud to say that the nation’s first Independence Day celebration was held in Salem, North Carolina, seven years later on July 4, 1783. It was organized by a Moravian Pastor Johann Friedrich Peter and a piece of music played on that occasion, The Psalm of Joy, held a hint for us today:

You give me counsel

My heart instructs me in the night

You are before me

Because You're for me

I'm alright

It'll be alright

“I’m alright, it’ll be alright,” the hymn says. Gosh, what a message for an America much like the one when we were breaking up with Britain. A time of uncertainty. A time of instability. A time of great and unsettling change. But, also a time of great hope and anticipation.

This time, though, we’re not breaking up with another country, we’re trying to break up with each other. It is like the moment when the girl you’d gone steady with for months tearfully handed back your letter sweater and said, “it’s over.” In the words of the Neil Sedaka song of our time: “Don't say that this is the end. Instead of breaking up I wish that we were making up again.”

We find ourselves engaged in an ideological war, a war of anger and insults and accusations that threaten to tear apart the fabric of the republic our forefathers sought to weave a century and a half ago. It’s not the first time we Americans have felt this way, nor will it be the last.

We all know people who now fear that the great American democratic “experiment” itself is threatened. That things have grown so harsh and so bad that even our country is at risk. As Abraham Lincoln told us in his Gettysburg address, then, and perhaps now, we’re facing a test “whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

Look, we’ve made it this far and despite the petty political wrangling that’s overshadowing the important principles that hold us together, we’ll get through all this. The country is facing a tough family fight, but it will not fail.

I will never, ever forget that after every bitter Lee-Jackson football game between two teams from different parts of town who hated each other and beat each other to a pulp for a couple hours, all of us players would come together on the field and make amends. It was a time of back slaps and even a few hugs, recognition and respect, regardless of who won.

We can do that in our country. After all, “It’ll be alright.”

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them."

― Henri Matisse

Mike Hoyt

June 16, 2024

Home Alone

There is a hidden danger in downsizing. When you begin sorting through old photos and school art projects and crumpled newspaper clippings, you come across a bundle of rich memories.

Last week I discovered a yellowed copy of a Times-Union article from November 25, 1961, by Wayne Minshew proclaiming “South Beats North” in the Meninak Bowl football game. Lee topped the Red Raiders from Lowell, Mass., 14-0, on a frigid night in the Gator Bowl as 16,000 fans cheered on, a welcome and needed home field advantage.

Lowell is a mill town about 30 miles northwest of Boston, a place none of us Lee boys had ever heard of. But when we watched the scouting films, we knew they were a doggone good football team. They were big and they were tough, what you might expect from a blue collar northeastern city like Lowell. Having faced off with the likes of Miami Senior High and Coral Gables and Edison, we were used to big and tough and we knew we had our work cut out for us that evening. And even though the game hardly rose to Civil War violence, the Raiders didn’t disappoint.

There was a sad and unwritten story to that Lowell-Lee game, though.

Looking at the films on a hot afternoon the week before in the Lee field house, one Lowell player stood out: A running back sporting the number 22. He was a smallish kid. Quick. Great speed. Out of the dark, Coach Dingman called out from the back of the room “Coach Kautz, roll back that film.” We rewatched carefully as Number 22, darted through openings and charged down the field breaking tackles. We watched again. And again. Our linebackers and cornerbacks squirmed in their seats.

It became apparent that Number 22 (we never knew his name) was black. We had never seen, much less played against, an African-American player. There were no black students at Lee, or Jackson, or Landon, or Englewood. We were living through a time when black kids in Jacksonville had their own high school. Black kids went to Stanton.

Fast forward to game time and we anxiously scoured the Lowell sidelines for Number 22. Not there. The Lowell game was, as advertised, a tough, smash-mouth affair, but we were able to win it somehow. Today, half a century later, some of us still wonder what might have happened had Number 22 been on the field that night.

Afterwards, a few of us went out with some of the Lowell players to show them our town. They talked funny, but they were great kids and we got along beautifully as fellow teenaged combatants do. We became and parted friends, but the inevitable question arose: Where was Number 22?

We were shocked and saddened to learn that he’d been left behind in Massachusetts. “Our coaches felt he wouldn’t be safe here in the South,” they told us. It was a startling revelation and one that has stayed with many of us all these many years.

It was also, on that cold winter night, that Coach Dingman at halftime reminded our football players of the hard fact that, as he put it, “This is the last time most of you will ever wear a Lee uniform. In fact, this will be your last football game. Ever.” Now, Dingham was no Knute Rockne, but these simple words resonated then and echo now. And they’re made even more poignant by the fact that Number 22 had gone missing that night for reasons, right or wrong, that should never have been.

Now, oddly, thinking back on that night, on that game, on those fleeting moments of triumph, I wonder about a poor black kid in Lowell, Mass., left out and left behind when his team played in a bowl game 1,100 miles away. I worry that he felt threatened at the prospect and so missed out on an experience his teammates were part of.

Knowing my Lee teammates as I do, I now believe, race would not have entered the Gator Bowl on that cold night, that we would have welcomed that kid like any other talented football player. Would he have made a difference in the outcome? We’ll never know.

But somehow, my heart goes out to Number 22, now an old man like me and along with it, a large measure of regret.

1961 Meninak Bowl: Lee v Lowell 14-0

—SOUTH BEATS NORTH—

General Would Have Been Proud

By WAYNE MINSHEW

Journal Staff Writer

Robert E. Lee High showed an infantry attack so potent last night that it would have made its namesake General proud.

The Generals might have even gotten a smile from the old gentleman when they resorted to aerial warfare, a method of combat unheard of in his day, to score their first touchdown.

At any rate, Lee kept a band of "Yankee" infiltrators from Lowell, Mass., helpless between the trenches and won itself another Meninak Bowl before 11, 875 chilled fans.

When it was all over, Lee had 14 battle points, Lowell had none.

The Generals had some outstanding troops in Carl Crowder and Sammy Williams, halfbacks Mike Scott, Dave Mann and Kim Ross, and quarterbacks Butch Noble and Gary Purcell. An almost impregnable front line was headed by Mike Keesee, Joe Vaine, Mike Hoyt, et al.

Lee turned in one of its finest games of the season. And had it not been guilty of numerous penalties, the margin of victory might have been considerably greater.

Not that Lowell didn’t battle. The Red Raiders were never out of the game but couldn’t find the scoring punch. They got close enough—once to the General 11, once to the nine. The Generals simply dug in and had things their way.

"These Lee backs can really run, and they like to run," said Raiders Coach Ray Riddick following the game. He wasn’t too talkative because he was finding that first loss of the year a tough pill to swallow. The Red Raiders won eight and tied one in the regular season.

Riddick did comment that "Lee has a good ball club."

General Coach Virgil Dingman summed it up thusly: "Our team has finally grown up. If we had played like this in the Miami Senior game, things might have been different. We had a lot of respect for Lowell and we played a good game.

"I thought Ross did a good job.He hasn’t done too much this season, but he wanted in there tonight."

Ross carried the ball only in the second half but in splendid style. He picked up 41 yards in seven attempts.

"Mann did a tremendous job on defense and I thought Butch Noble turned in a terrific job at quarterback before he hurt his arm in the second quarter," Dingman said.

Mann, who runs the 100 in the fleet time of 9.7, saved a touchdown when he caught Lowell end Ray Perreault from behind on the General 15 in the fourth period. Perreault had picked up a Lee fumble and had all but cashed in his chips when Mann came out of nowhere and made the stop. The fleeted General also stood out on pass defense.

Noble completed a 41 yard Lee drive the first time the Generals had the ball when he tossed a scoring pass to Mann from four yards away.

Crowder scored the other Lee touchdown when he bolted over from the two with 47 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Generals drove 49 yards for that one. Johnny Tillis kicked both extra points.

Lowell had trouble moving the ball on Lee but quarterback Bob Bobusia threw the ball effectively on a jump pass over the line of scrimmage. In all he completed 13 of 23. But when the Raiders got close enough to score, Lee just couldn’t let them.

"A great effort," said Dingman of his Generals. "Just say it was an All-Lee night. Everyone did well."

LEE’S JOE VAINE got off two booming kicks, both 19 yarders. One rolled dead on the Lowell 5, the other on the Raider 7.

Howard E. “Sandy” Covington, Jr.

September 27, 2017

“My Fellow Americans”

It was the middle of June 1966 and the U.S. Army had parked me in a nearly empty barracks at Fort Jackson, S.C., to await orders. I had just finished basic training, had one stripe on my sleeve, and my superiors were talking about sending me to Texas to learn how to string telephone wire. That sounded pretty safe until I got there and heard from one of the trainers just back from Viet Nam that a man hanging atop a telephone pole or up a tree makes a pretty good target when silhouetted against the sky. In the meantime, a first sergeant in South Carolina was having great fun with me as he found chores to occupy my time. (Yes, Virginia, there is grease in a grease trap.)

While I waited my orders, I got to know a couple of other enlisted men who were “in transit,” as they said. Both were from Puerto Rico and as I heard their stories I was astonished at what I learned.

We had one thing in common. None of us wanted to be sitting at Fort Jackson that June. That was about the extent of it, however. Many Americans like me were using their academic standing or a doctor willing to assign bone spurs as a disability to avoid the draft. In the summer of 1965 there had been a rush to marriage chapels as men got hitched hoping that would delay, if not totally defer, induction.

My surprise as I talked with my new friends was that while Puerto Ricans might be Americans just like me, the scales were seriously tilted against them. Both of them were married. They got drafted. Both were fathers. They got drafted. Both were schoolteachers. And they got drafted. They were also pushing thirty and yet there they were wearing army green just like me.

Some months later I thought about these two and their fate. I was fortunate enough to find a stateside berth where I wasn’t going to risk being in harm’s way. With the cards stacked as they were, I am sure they ended up on the other side of the world.

I was revisited by that memory this week as I watched the disaster unfold in the islands. Those people are not strangers. They are Americans. They are our neighbors. They have made sacrifices for this country for years and years. As for me, there is no price too high for the restoration of the homes and jobs and lives now at risk in the islands. Let’s get to it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joanne Griffin Caraway

June 13, 2024

So proud of Cooper’s Mayport Stingrays Team!!!

He’s on far right in group photo.

From his mighty proud Gram & Papa Caraway

(To see enlarged images, use "Open Images In New Tab")

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Hargnet

May 16, 2024

Mike,
My loving wife Helen passed away on April, 18, 2024.
She has been the light of my life for the best 53 years of my life. Thank you for posting this to our website.

Frank Ingle

May 16, 2024

Mike and Ann,

I regret that my medical trend is generally downward, and I do not think it likely that I will be able to attend the 80th birthday reunion

FYI - I did just become one of the earliest classmates to reach 80 on Groundhog Day.

However, if you were able to arrange a left coast Lee 80th birthday reunion, I would do my best to attend, in whatever state of body or mind.
This picture was taken a few years ago. No improvement likely with age.

My best wishes to all,

Frank Ingle

Ann Wilson Cramer

May 16, 2024

Oh, dearest Frank - your note and your photo make my heart smile!!!! Although I am so disappointed that you cannot join us for our 80th Birthday Reunion, we will feel your presence and best wishes!!! In fact, you will be able to feel our sending you hugs and prayers all the way to the west coast!!! So much love to you, Frank!!! Please take care of yourself!!! MANY, many thanks for your note!!!

Solar Eclipse

Frank Ingle

April 2, 2024

NASA's astronomy picture of the day posted this excellent image of a solar eclipse.

Ron Wilkinson

April 2, 2024

Hope he can get the one on the 8th to compare.

Mel Fannin

April 2, 2024

Amazing, God creates another beautiful image!

Carolita Oliveros

April 2, 2024

Wow! Get ready we've got another total eclipse of the sun next week on April 8!

Judy Wood

April 2, 2024

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is smack dab on the path! Am hoping they take rain out of the Monday forecast. Thanks for sharing this gorgeous shot!

Carol Sams Bryant

April 2, 2024

Thank you. Very nice!

Joanne Griffin Caraway

April 4, 2024

OUTSTANDING!!!!
Thanks. Frank & Mike! Wish we were more in the zone to see it well. We visited friends in Charleston last go around.

J.D. Humphries

February 7, 2024

The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have begun asking humans to prove they aren’t robots.
When a kid says “Daddy, I want mommy” that’s the kid version of “I’d like to speak to your supervisor.”
I don’t mean to interrupt people but I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
I thought growing old would take longer.
It’s weird being the same age as old people.
I’m at that delusional age where I think everyone my age looks way older than I do.
Just once I want a username and password prompt to say CLOSE ENOUGH.
If I am ever on life support unplug me and plug me back in and see if that works.
Do you ever wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and think … "That can’t be accurate!"
I see people out there zip lining and mountain climbing and here I am feeling good about myself because I got my leg through my underwear without losing my balance.
Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family. They seem like good people.
If Adam and Eve were Cajuns they would have eaten the snake instead of the Apple and saved us all a lot of trouble.
We celebrated last night with a couple of adult beverages … Metamucil and Ensure.
You know you are getting old when friends with benefits means having someone who can drive at night.
Weight loss goal: To be able to clip my toenails and breathe at the same time.
After watching how some people wear their masks I understand why contraception fails.
Some of my friends exercise every day, meanwhile I am watching a show I don’t like because the remote fell on the floor.
For those of you that don’t want Alexa listening in on your conversation they are making a male version … it doesn’t listen to anything.
I just got a present labeled, From Mom and Dad, and you know damn well Dad has no idea what’s inside.
Now that I have lived through a plague I totally understand why Italian renaissance paintings are full of fat people lying on couches.
Now that we have everyone washing their hands correctly … next week … Turn Signals.

Frank Ingle

February 5, 2024

Ground hog day was different this year. I woke up and discovered that I had just become an octogenarian, or maybe a candidate to become a cemetarian.

I rolled over at daylight and woke my wife by saying, "I bet you never thought you would wake up in bed with an 80 year old man."
She shrieked!

But later that morning, my loyal family members saved the day by proving that I am actually much younger. Perhaps a mistake was made by accident, or through bribery. Here is the proof. I was born in 1962.
Note that the birth certificate is signed by Dr. Emmett Brown and Nurse Ratchet.

Claudia Hart Mally’s Excellent Adventure!

Ben Jones (1944 - 2024)

Dear Classmates,

By the time we were crossing the stage to receive our diplomas and saying fond farewells to our classmates, Ben Jones had already enrolled at the University of Florida where he excelled academically and athletically. As a consequence, his senior picture was not in our ’62 yearbook. We’re indebted to Mike Keesee for this picture of Ben from our ’61 yearbook.

Again, thanks to Mike, we know from Ben’s wife, Karen, to whom we offer our sincere condolences, that he did not want an obituary, nor did he want a memorial service; so we honor his wishes. Even so, accolades, condolences, or anecdotes will be shared on our Lee High Shop page along with those that have already come in.

Ben was a "Fighting General" and a "Fightin’ Gator" in Gainesville, but his longest and most difficult fight was the one that ended in the early morning hours of January 18th. He never gave up. He just gave out. Rest in Peace, Ben!

- Mike Seale

Kay Marsh Allen

January 18, 2024

So very sad to see another classmates time on earth is done. Prayers for God to give his family and friends the strength to make it through and His peace that surpasses all understanding.

Chip Abernathy

January 18, 2024

Sorry to hear the sad news.

Mike Hoyt

January 18, 2024

I have warm but painful memories of Ben. Truly a gentle giant who, on the football field, could deliver punishment like nobody I ever encountered. He was legendary at Lee and, I feel certain, will be missed by so many from our time and from his later years.

Warren Dixon

January 23, 2024

I knew Ben well when we were young. Chip Abernathy, several others and I used to play rag-tag football in my yard in the 6th and 7th grades. Ben would join us, and the size of this gentle giant even then befitted the player he became later in life. Iespecailly because of that experience, I loved watching him play for the Generals.

Bruce Jones

January 23, 2024

Thanks Mike for the information. Because Ben and Bruce are close together in the alphabet, Ben and I were seated together all through high school and even at Florida. He was brilliant, nice person. A great tackle. We will miss him in spirit.

Kay Marsh Allen

January 23, 2024

"He never gave up. He just gave out." What words of truth. RIP Prayers for his wife, family and friends. After I saw his picture I remembered him. Sounds like he had a wonderful life.

Allison Easterday Rose

January 23, 2024

I remember Ben so well. So sorry to hear this.

*****

Joanne Griffin Caraway

January 13, 2024

Our Generation

We grew up in the 40s-50s-60s.

We studied in the 50s-60s-70s.

We dated in the 50s-60s-70s.

We got married and discovered the world in the 60s-70s-80s.

We ventured into the 70s-80s.

We stabilized in the 90s.

We got wiser in the 2000s.

And walked firmly through the 2010s.

Turns out we've lived through NINE different decades...

TWO different centuries...

TWO different millennia...

We have gone from the party-line telephone with an operator for
long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world. We have
gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from
handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.

From programs on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HDTV.

We went to Blockbuster and now we watch on Netflix.

We started with manual typewriters, learned electric, proportional
spacing and S electric typewriters, got to know the first computers,
punch cards, diskettes, and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in
hand on our cell phones or iPads.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu and now COVID-19.

We rode skates, tricycles, invented cars, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline
or diesel cars and now we ride hybrids or 100% electric.

Yes, we've been through a lot but what a great life we've had!

They could describe us as "exennials"…people who were born in that
world of the late 30s, 40s and 50s who had an analog childhood and a
digital adulthood

We're kind of—We've seen it all!

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any
other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has literally adapted to CHANGE.

A big round of applause to all the members of a very special
generation, who are UNIQUE. Here's a precious and very true message
that I received from a friend: TIME DOES NOT STOP!

Life is a task that we do ourselves every day.

When you look... it's already six in the afternoon; when you look...
it's already Friday; when you look... the month is over; when you
look... the year is over; when you look... 50, 60, 70 and 80 years
have passed!

When you look... we no longer know where our friends are.

When you look... we've lost the love of our life and now, it's too
late to go back.

Do not stop doing something you like due to lack of time. Do not stop
having someone by your side, because your children will soon not be
yours, and you will have to do something with that remaining time,
where the only thing that we are going to miss will be the space that
can only be enjoyed with the usual friends. The time that,
unfortunately, never returns.

The day is today!

WE ARE NO LONGER AT AN AGE TO POSTPONE ANYTHING.

Hopefully, you have time to read and then share this message... or
else leave it for later, and you will see that you will never share
it!

Always together.

Always united.

Always brothers/sisters.

Always friends.

Pass it on to your best friends. Don't leave it for later.

I remember getting the first polio vaccine when I was 5years old; it has been called the vaccine that saved the world. Of course smallpox was terrible in its day too.

But we’re STILL HERE, DEARS!!!! ❣️

*****

January 13, 2024

Dear Classmates,

A well-deserved honor for "Coach Barrett."

- TMS

(Screen grab from News4Jax.com Oct 9, 2023)

January 13, 2024

Carl Crowder

Congrats to Leon Barrett - he was one (1) year ahead of our class, I believe!

January 13, 2024

Ann Wilson Cramer

So wonderful, Mike!! Many many thanks for posting this!!

January 13, 2024

Dianne Edenfield

This is great news! Well deserved, Coach Barrett.

January 13, 2024

J.D. Humphries

Delighted Leon is still swinging his bat! Thanks for sharing.

Lee Girls Lunch Bunch Dec 5 2023

*****

Una Howell Pardue

December 6, 2023

Class of ‘62 Girls Lunch Bunch met at The Loop for our first monthly lunch. We’re going to try to meet on the first Tuesday of each month. Starting on the left and working round: Julianne, Libby, Una, Charlene, Angel, Claudia, Margaret, Carolyn, Joanne, and Joan. It was fun. Hoping for more next time. Merry Christmas!

Claudia Hart Mally

November 24, 2023

This was spectacular, a very special way to celebrate Veterans Day. I hope to soar again next year. I’ll be damned - I’m just not yet ready to get old!

Alison Easterday Rose

November 26, 2023

Oh, wonderful! Wish I had the courage!

Ann Wilson Cramer

November 26, 2023

Wow!! Claudia- you are amazing, impressive, and inspiring!! So proud of you!! Many many thanks to you for the courage to share and the boldness to jump!!

Marie Williamson Bolton

November 26, 2023

Dear Mike, thank you for sharing! I am glad that she is all smiles and enjoyed it! I am with you. I prefer ground activities! I hope you and yours are well!

Biddie Steed Black

November 26, 2023

AMAZING! Way to go Claudia!

Randy Martin

November 26, 2023

Thanks, Mike.

Chip Abernathy

November 26, 2023

Where angels fear to tread!! What a sport. I’d have a heart attack on the way down……..

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon

November 26, 2023

Good for Claudia!!

Joan Harvey Woods

November 26, 2023

Oh my goodness! How brave Claudia is! Such a great attitude trusting God to bring her through it safely. Love her laugh and courage. Thankful that life is great for me, but do not want to look for trouble. Mike, thanking you always were keeping us updated and laughing.
Appreciate you more than you will ever know.
Take care and enjoy the holidays.

Claudia Hudgens

November 26, 2023

These are amazing!

Dianne Edenfield

November 26, 2023

Cool.

Rex Wayne Mixon, Jr.

November 26, 2023

That was awesome. Thank you for sharing Claudia’s high adventures!

Polly Sapp Cleveland

November 27, 2023

Thanks for the great pictures of Claudia. I sent them to a good friend, Margaret Day Julian, as Claudia used to baby sit her.

Judieth Baker

December 1, 2023

Awesome, Claudia! I don't even use the word OLD, I say I am getting OLDER. We all are getting OLDER. Sometimes I will say "I am too OLDER for that! But I think I am going to stay on the ground. Congratulations," Wonder Woman."

Frank Ingle

December 3, 2023

I am personally afraid of heights.
I will be ready to skydive right after I am pronounced dead!

* * * *

Mike Hoyt

Thanksgiving Day 2023

Thanksgiving’s finally here and a day to be thankful for just about everything, regardless. Rejoice with these dogs that are thankful just to be alive…

Joanne Griffin Caraway

November 25, 2023

Am still smiling after watching that video twice! Worth the wait! Thank You, Mike Hoyt and Mike Seale!

Fred Shenkman

November 28, 2023

Thanks!

HAPPY to just be ALIVE!

What We’re Missing

by Mike Hoyt

Veterans Day 2023

Each year about this time, I have this irresistible urge to give our military veterans a firm slap on the back. They deserve it. But, it’s more than a perfunctory “thank you for your service,” or a free lunch, it’s a real and heartfelt expression of gratitude for what they’ve done and given up for this country.

Those who never “served” will never be able to sense what I’m talking about, but understand that many vets, of any age, know what I mean. I believe that this sense of duty, this sacrifice, may be even more profound now than, say, it was during many of the past, trying times in our nation’s history.

We’re asking a lot of today’s vets. Turn back the clock to World War II, for instance, when war meant a 3-4 year unbroken commitment to hell. Then came the Vietnam era that lasted a year, with a short R&R break halfway through. Now comes a series of “deployments,” in which men and women in uniform spend a few months in a dangerous desert someplace, come home to their families for a few months, and are then thrown back into awful circumstances. It happens time and time again.

This sort of abrupt and unpredictable change takes a toll. It’s mostly invisible. It’s mostly inside. Sometimes it’s labeled PTSD. Sometimes it has no name. But, it is real and it is awful.

To grasp a deeper understanding of what I think’s going on, I think back to our football days at Lee High School. During my playing years, there were four positions on the team where players never touched a football. Never, unless there was a fumble. Interior linemen played the game with one objective in mind and in their hearts: Butt heads with an opponent in the hope that we could move the ball a few yards down the field. There was no glory in this. Just pain and an occasional bloody nose. We did what we did for the team. For the greater good.

Our reward was welcome and simple. It came in the form of two raised arms signaling a score. Or Carl Crowder or David Mann or Butch Noble coming by with a slap on the side of your helmet saying, “nice block.” That’s all it took. They knew and appreciated what you’d done down there in the trenches and they knew that, without you, it couldn’t have happened. They knew that the blood, sweat and pain was somehow worth it and that even a simple thank you and a nod was enough.

I worry that today’s kids, our grandkids, may never know this sort of sacrifice, this brand of simple gratitude. To “take one for the team,” is not a concept most understand. Many seem in it for and by themselves. Many keep their own stats, a kind of scorecard of individual achievement, like a golf score. The idea of personal, but unrecognized, winning of small battles is no longer the goal.

“Team play,” seems to have been lost in a time when every kid gets a trophy, many for just showing up and being able to tie their shoes. No one is asking them to give or to give up anything for a greater good, for a bigger cause. Sadly, self sacrifice and sheer toughness falls away. Adversity is no longer a challenge, but an inconvenience to be avoided.

As Vince Lombardi once said, "Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love."

There are few, if any, spartans left. Men and women who willingly give it all with no expectation of reward other than a letter sweater that spells out “State Champions” on an embroidered patch.

America is one of the few developed countries where its young men and women are not called up for a time of mandatory service, a couple years of giving up and giving back not just to their country, but to all those who’ve gone before, those who’ve been killed or maimed or mentally scarred for life. The wards of VA hospitals are filled with them, these tough, unselfish warriors who sought nothing more than to serve their beliefs.

It’s not just military sacrifice that matters. Community service can count, too. Cleaning up our streams and forests and roadways, building playgrounds, volunteering in schools and homeless shelters and soup kitchens. All without the expectation or even the hope of recognition, when a simple “nice block” will do.

I believe we are shortchanging the generations that now follow us and that mandatory service to our country should, and must, be part of life in these United States. The rewards are clear, but sadly forgotten. And without them, we risk losing the character, the hope, that has made us great.

This is worth remembering this Veterans Day.

Russ Camp

November 10, 2023

Thanks, Mike for sending this out to the class. There were a lot of us that served in
some capacity during the Vietnam War and later. Nice to be remembered.

Mark Yonge

November 10, 2023

Mike – thank you for sending this! Too bad the activist of today don’t understand why they have the freedom they were born into.

Richard Cason

November 10, 2023

Thanks Mike, that was great to see, read and to remember the best of us.

Larry Perry

November 10, 2023

Mike, I could not have said it better or more succinctly. I am glad for the younger generation that they are not to serve mandatorily, but I fear that they don't get the steel in their spine that is required to be in service to their fellow citizens.

We weren't that fortunate but we know what it is like to look someone square in the eye and either shake their hand or spit in their eye.

Veterans day is somber but a time to reflect and pray for those not so lucky as we.

Dianne Davis Edenfield

November 10, 2023

Thank you.

Joan Harvey Woods

November 10, 2023

Thank you such much for all of the great emails with tributes to our fellow class

Mike Madigan

November 11, 2023

Mike Hoyt: NICE BLOCK and a pat on the back!

* * * *

The Lighthouse Keeper

Mike Hoyt

November 25, 2023

We are the captains of our own ships sailing the sea of life, but in times of a stormy weather, you will discover true friends when they don't hesitate to be a lighthouse.

-Dodinsky

Like you, dear classmates, I grew on the Great River, the mighty St. Johns. It was, and is, the life’s blood of our town Jacksonville.

Most of us navigated those brown waters regularly. We waterskied there. We fished in them. We spent evenings on her docks after dances at the Woman’s Club. Many of us even found our life’s partners on her banks. For sure, the Great River never left us, nor did we leave her behind.

In my later years, I took up sailing, first on the St. Johns and then, with a cadre of other guys, on the waters the Chesapeake, New England, and even the far west and the Great Lakes. It’s been a voyage of discovery lasting more than four decades and one with a singular lesson: You’re at the mercy of nature. The winds. The currents. The tides. An occasional storm.

There are so many similarities between sailing and life. Navigating the big waters, finding your way is so allegorical that somewhere in the wind I can hear Ms. Goethe’s voice telling me so.

They are connected by navigation. Staying the course. Adjusting. Trusting. Being joined to a kind of old invisible pathway as you move forward through life and beyond. On the water, we rely on buoys, markers, lights, and lighthouses. In life, the guideposts are often more subtle.

Lighthouses have been around for a long, long time. One guarded the harbor of Piraeus, the entryway to Athens, in the 5th century BC. And since, lighthouses have lit the way and warned voyagers for millennia. Similarly, when sailors return to port, there is the welcoming lighthouse that beckons them home, that reminds them they have indeed returned to a place that is special and safe.

As the Lee High School class of 1962, we are beyond fortunate to have our own lighthouse that helps light the way for us. It’s our website (https://leehighschool1962.myevent.com/) that’s carefully, lovingly watched over and nurtured by our classmate Mike Seale. Mike is, in every sense, the lighthouse keeper, the guy who quietly keeps the flame burning and the memories alive. He tells us of our classmates’ passings. About class gatherings. About milestones in the lives of our classmates. Mike does these things humbly, without fanfare, without bravado, and not for himself, but for us all.

As our Thanksgivings now fade into the Christmas season and, beyond, into another year, take a moment to be thankful for our own lighthouse and its caretaker, Mike Seale.

* * * *

Libby Girlinghouse
October 5, 2023

Hi All,

I’ve been here (in Jacksonville) about 18 months. In this period of time:

I’ve seen three alligators in the river below.

I’ve had two hurricanes ( rather have than earthquakes!!)

I’ve been to five funerals…with more upcoming.

Happily, we’ve had a new baby in family.

And a few weeks ago, a family wedding.

I’ve become a joiner…never my thing before, but, here, I know many of the participants…in fact I share DNA with some.

I’ve figured out how to drive to the airport and other hidden jewels.

AND I’ve adopted a ten year old cat!!!

Oh, and the latest…lightning struck our elevator panels, as well as all the equipment in the office. I’ve been going up and down five flights of stairs, sometimes with groceries…or more importantly,,,with wine! Those on upper floors are suffering and some have moved out temporarily. I’m able to do three trips a day. It’s almost like Covid days. Isolation. This building has a lot of older people, although it’s not designated 55 and older, but most are. A few of the younger ones are so precious and helping those not able to get groceries etc.

This condo is very close to where I grew up. It’s a time warp. Nothing has changed. So many my age are living in what was their grandparents' house. And many didn’t leave home. They became doctors, lawyers, or maybe took over a family business. I know that there are probably other areas like this, particularly in the South, but, it’s a little weird. You don’t dare say anything about anybody because you are probably with some of their relatives.

I feel so comfortable here, well, except when going up and down steps.

I’ve started water color classes again. And my tenth grade boyfriend, Billy, encouraged me to join the Jacksonville Artist Guild. (Message to Kate: former boyfriend , Billy Schmidt, is married to Mary Dudley.)

Im going to an All that Jazz party in a week. Billy and Mary Dudley are picking me up. Im getting my outfit together.

About Parker, my cat. A lady in building, 99 years old, became too elderly to take care of her cat. I adopted Parker a few months ago. Sadly, his mom died two weeks ago. I’m becoming a first-time cat lady!

Ok, not a flattering picture of me. But, I’m alive, somewhat healthy, I think, and happy.

So life goes on. Hoping all of you are doing well!!

Love,

Libby

♥️♥️♥️

* * * *

Phil Cushman, M.D.
October 8, 2023
I trust I remain in good standing as a member of the REL class of ‘62; I certainly look forward to the 80th Birthday reunion even though I will be 83 by then.

This weekend I am in Big Stone Gap, VA for a partial family reunion of my mother’s Smith side. My cousin Roy Cornelius Smith is an opera tenor living in Vienna but originally from BSG and he is home for a special homecoming concert. Family is here to share the evening with him.

“International Opera Star and Big Stone Gap native Roy Cornelius Smith is returning to his hometown to sing for one night only—this Sunday, October 8th at 4 p.m. at Union High School in Big Stone Gap, VA. He and Soprano Sofi Rohlman will join Symphony of the Mountains in a concert showcasing favorites from opera, musical theater, and country music.”

Yes, I am a proud cousin. Roy is great!

* * * *

The Music Lives On
by Mike Hoyt
September 30, 2023

They’re weren’t the originals, but they were close enough. Last evening in a packed auditorium in the small town of Taos, New Mexico, high in the southern Rockies, the newly-revamped Kingston Trio appeared to a packed audience of folks in their seventies and eighties. I was among them.

For two hours, I clapped and sang along with the now-aging folk group that was the inspiration so many decades ago to our little singing group we called “The Highlanders.” We stole every Kingston Trio song we could get our hands on, as long as the chords were simple and the harmony was doable. Most were. We even wore replica striped button-down shirts we could find at J.C. Penney’s. They were $8.99 then.

As I listened to the old songs again, I realized I could remember almost all the lyrics from those Lee High School days 60 years ago. I can’t remember my Google password, but those words came flooding back.

I could also hear the voices of Bill and Larry and Tommy once more. Voices that once filled the Florida Theater, a small bar at the Atlantic Beach, the Lee High auditorium, and more than a few parties in classmates' back yards. I thought again of a concert in the pavilion near the surf, of the flat bed trailer at a drive-in Hootenanny somewhere, and in the WJXT studio for the Jimmy Strickland Show.

They say that old melodies die hard, that music lives on through everything else. Some even venture that music is the river of life that binds us together, to each other.

I believe that now. And as I shared a memory and shed a tear for my fellow Highlanders, I know that once again we stood beside each other, united in song wherever we are.

* * * *

Una Howell Pardue, Billy Schmidt

Libby Girlinghouse Bernard
September 17, 2023
Love seeing my pals!

* * * *

Georgia Classmates Celebrate Early
at Wine & Cheese Party

September 10, 2023

Getting in the mood early for our 80th Birthday Party, Class of '62 Georgia residents gathered for a Wine & Cheese Party, hosted by J.D. and Pat Humphries in the gracious surroundings of their Atlanta home on September 10th. The idea for the occasion stemmed from suggestions by committee members for our 80th Birthday Party/Reunion. Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon volunteered to coordinate, and Chip Abernathy, J.D. Humphries, Mike Keesee, and Mike Seale pitched in. Chairperson, Ann Wilson Cramer, shared latest details of the Planning Committee's work.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER UPDATES!

L-R: Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon, Ann Wilson Cramer, Pat Humphries, John Black, Biddie Black, Randy Martin, Sandra Martin, Loyce Perry, Larry Perry, Mike Keesee, J.D. Humphries, Sabra Keesee, Betsy Gable Lamoureux, Susan Abernathy, Chip Abernathy

L-R: Betsy Gable Lamoureux, Susan Abernathy, Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon, Pat Humphries

L-R: Biddie Black, John Black, J.D. Humphries

L-R: Chip Abernathy, Ann Wilson Cramer

L-R: Mike Keesee, Sabra Keesee, Larry Perry

L-R: Loyce Perry, Sandra Martin, Randy Martin, J.D. Humphries

* * * *

Raining umbrellas under a blue sky at the Palo Alto Japanese Obon Dori festival

Frank Ingle
August 23, 2023
On a very hot day, a huge sunshade was constructed by stringing hundreds of umbrella from overhead wires. My wife, sons, and granddaughter joined the community in the annual ancient Japanese folk dances called the Obon to honor the ancestors.

* * * *

Is This a Great Place, or What?
Mike Hoyt
July 21, 2023

Looking back at this past couple years, it’s easy to realize that it’s always good from time to time to navel-gaze a little, provided you can still see it. Your navel that is. I mean, what have you got that’s better to do with all the badness swirling around us these days? Suck your thumb?

On a recent evening, after generous helpings of red wine, we and a young neighbor ruminated for close to three hours about things great and small. Mostly the latter. We agreed on one thing: We live in the greatest country on the planet, perhaps in the history, hands down.

Look, you don’t have to qualify as a flag waver to think this way. Frankly, people who do cling tightly to Old Glory scare me a little. Thankfully, there are a lot of us who qualify as frustrated walk-down-the-middle-of-the-highway people who get mad, excited, happy, and even devastated over daily events and the bizarre, tragic politicization of nearly everything, even your dental fillings.

There’s plenty of blame to go around. Blame the politicians. Social media. The “news” media. The left. The right. Covid. Climate change. Broken schools. Dismembered families. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. We live in a tidal pool of misinformation. News has morphed into entertainment. The internet is unchecked, out of control. Anybody with a keyboard can rant, their voices as close as our hip pockets.

So, in the midst of this disinformation whirlwind, life in America these days can be heart-wrenching. It makes us want to scream and break things. We are pulled and tugged and jerked around by “current events” and “breaking news” under the guise of truth.

In the end, though, it’s us. And we’re better than that.

Americans are mostly spirited and sometimes volatile people. We cling to strong beliefs and are willing to act on them. But we also know how to get along and to enjoy, and share, the rich bounty of this country.

In recent years, while we’re still upright and not drooling, my wife and I visited two places in Africa. While steeped in ancient history and tradition, these places are rife with shocking poverty. To say these countries are poor is a vast understatement. They’re destitute. They have nothing. People live in appliance boxes and cargo containers and drink dirty water. Their lives are impossible, but they don’t know any better.

When you see these things, it sharpens your perspective and shines a light on the scale of good fortune we Americans, for the most part, enjoy. Sometimes when we don’t see those whose lives are in shambles, we can never appreciate what we have been given. Sure we’ll see dark days and we’re seeing them now, but somehow we seem to plow through them toward better times. It never fails, if we never give up.

We’re basically spoiled. Sometimes rotten. As George Will said recently, “Americans get irritated by fairly small inconveniences” mostly because we are so well off. But, beneath it all, there is promise, there is hope, a sense that all will turn out right if we give it time. That’s the spirit America is built upon.

The answer for us, I believe, is subscribing to the sentiment in the song from the Broadway show Annie: “The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow:”

When I'm stuck a with day that's gray and lonely

I just stick out my chin and grin, and say, oh

The sun'll come out tomorrow

So you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow

Come what may.

I’m also reminded of the sign over Macy’s department store spotted during their now-returned Thanksgiving Day Parade. It read simply: “Believe.”

Surely, we can do that.

* * * *

David Baumgardner
July 13, 2023

We, the Elderly

READ ON .....THE BOTTOM LINE SAYS IT ALL .....

DON'T LEAVE IT TILL "LATER".

We grew up in the 40s-50s-60.We studied in the 50s-60s-70s.

We dated in the 50s-60s-70s.

We got married and discovered the world in the 60s-70s-80s.

We ventured into the 70s-80s.

We stabilized in the 90s.

We got wiser in the 2000s.

And went firmly through the 2010s.

Turns out we've lived through NINE different decades...

TWO different centuries...

TWO different millennia...

We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world, we have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp...

From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HDTV...

We went to Blockbuster and now we watch Netflix...

We got to know the first computers, punch cards, diskettes and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in hand on our cell phones or iPads...

We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long pants, oxfords, Bermuda shorts, etc.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu and now COVID-19...

We rode skates, tricycles, invented cars, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars and now we ride hybrids or 100% electric...

Yes, we've been through a lot but what a great life we've had!

They could describe us as "exennials" people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.

We're kind of Ya-seen-it-all.

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has literally adapted to "CHANGE".

A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which are UNIQUE. Here's a precious and very true message that I received from a friend:

TIME DOES NOT STOP

Life is a task that we do ourselves every day.

When you look... it's already six in the afternoon; when you look... it's already Friday; when one looks... the month is over; when one looks... the year is over; when one looks... 50, 60, 70 and 80 years have passed!

When you look... we no longer know where our friends are.

When you look... we lost the love of our life and now, it's too late to go back.

Do not stop doing something you like due to lack of time. Do not stop having someone by your side, because your children will soon not be yours, and you will have to do something with that remaining time, where the only thing that we are going to miss will be the space that can only be enjoyed with the usual friends. This time that, unfortunately, never returns...

The day is today!

WE ARE NO LONGER AT AN AGE TO POSTPONE ANYTHING.

Hopefully, you have time to read and then share this message... or else leave it for *Later* and you will see that you will never share it!

Always together

Always united

Always brothers/sisters

Always family/friends

Pass it on to your best friends. Don't leave it for later

😉😉😉

The Wisdom of the Children

by Mike Hoyt
July 8, 2023

Every now and then, my old hippie self comes out. I wasn’t a real hippie, of course, but a kind of hippie-wannabe because I admired the intellectual freedom our longer-haired, drugged out friends seemed to enjoy back in the 1960’s. Mostly, I loved their music.

In the middle of that topsy-turvy, confused decade, I found myself in Lyon, France, as a student on a junior-year-abroad. It was realty TV before there was reality TV, but it was then that I became acquainted with my hippie alter-ego that lived deep inside. I grew a beard. I wore jeans and cowboy boots. My hair was little longer and my mind more open. Wine took the place of drugs.

I’d carted my long-neck banjo to France with me and joined up with a kid from Chicago with a guitar who was also feeling his way around an alien culture. We took to singing folk songs in local cafes and at student gatherings in Lyon. We were kind of a minor league hit with French kids, at least an oddity. We could hear them muttering “les Americans fous” (those crazy Americans), but fame is where you find it.

Recently, on a sort of victory tour that’s been six decades coming, I was able to revisit Lyon. As I walked the cobblestone streets and made my way through the empty university’s corridors, for a moment time moved in reverse. Things like that happen when you’re old. Suddenly, for a time, I was that 20-something kid still finding my way. A lost child looking for meaning.

In France, at least, children are cherished. As I walked the streets and parks of Lyon, I couldn’t help but come across gaggles of youngsters in their last week of the school year visiting monuments and cathedrals and museums in the care of teachers and a handful of caring parents. They held hands. They giggled. They were clearly enjoying, relishing, their lives as children, their time of innocence, of sheer happiness.

Wisely, the French adorn these kids with colorful T-shirts, vests or ball caps to make herding easier. They looked not unlike a flock of tiny butterflies making their way through the streets crowded with jostling tourists, tour buses, bikes and cyclos that make walking in any French city perilous. They were gleeful and unfazed.

I don’t know about you, but as I pile on the years, my love and respect for little children grows. I envy their unbridled joy, their innocence and, yes, their wisdom. You see, children haven’t yet become jaded and cynical. They are still playful. They are open to life and happiness.

As I watched, and as my old hippieness crept back in, over the laughter I heard the words of John Denver’s song for the ages: Rhymes and Reasons (click to listen.) Denver sings:

For the children and the flowers

Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could Clear a cloudy day.

As we grow older and live in a messy world, we have more cloudy days than we deserve and perhaps, just maybe, we should listen to the children once more. It's worth a try.

Mike in France 1963

The Children of France

Dads in Disguise
by Mike Hoyt
June 18, 2023

Once again, Father’s Day is upon us. The day we honor our dads and the day when we, fathers and now grandfathers, are recognized by those who follow. It is a nice moment whether we are giving or receiving the love this occasion promises each June.

Back during our days at Lee High School in the early 60s, each of us had another set of fathers we didn’t know we had: Our teachers and coaches. Not only were they unrecognized, we often scoffed at these men, these dedicated men, who looked after us in ways we never gave them credit for.

Many were respected and revered. Others feared and despised. But they were always there, shaping our lives in ways small and large, visible and invisible to us then and even now. Warren Kirkham, our aloof and revered principal. John Prom, the coach and disciplinarian who asked his players, “do your arms swell up like that every fall?” Benny Arnold, the kindly master of the punitive after-school study hall. Virgil Dingman, the quintessential football mentor who turned us into champions. Nellie Vinal, the quirky coach who banged his head into lockers to teach us toughness. There was Mr. Beard, Luther Bowman in math, Coach Dean, Coach Kautz, Mr. Italia, Mr. Park, and Mr. Winton the indomitable Spanish teacher. There were so many more.

All these men have undoubtedly drifted away by now, gone into that special place where teachers, mentors, go when they leave the classroom behind. They’ve left a legacy of chalk-stained J.C. Penney’s suits, their uniforms back then, modest cars that only teachers drive on sparse salaries, and spectacles that always needed cleaning. Their voices still echo in the halls and classrooms and playing fields of our school. For us, they are forever there.

We barely think of them as we ourselves drift into old age, but perhaps, on this Father’s Day, we should remind ourselves what they did for us, how they helped turn a bunch of mischievous teenagers into young adults ready to take on the world. After all, that’s what dads do.

John Prom, Dean of Boys en route to becoming men

~ ~ ~ ~

Ann Wilson Cramer
June 17, 2023
So precious, dear Mike!! And sooooo thoughtful!!!

Claudia Hart Mally
June 17, 2023
The other Mike is so insightful with his musings. How well I remember Mr. Kirkham and John Prom.

The family will go to church tomorrow and honor fathers, but daughter, Melissa, will not stay for the service. She will join husband, Ethan, for teaching the young kids’ Sunday School. Sitting through a Father's Day sermon, probably about the significance of fathers, is still too emotional for Melissa. Although it has been more than 5 years since Earl’s graduation, Melissa will always be her daddy’s little girl.

I am doing very well. Always working in the yard and playing in the dirt, spending lots of time with Perkins, my year and a half Labradoodle, 54 pounds. He was not supposed to get that big! My biggest fear is that he will pull me down on our morning walks. Lots of time with Melissa and Ethan and grandkids, Baxter (6) and Lenora (3). Fortunately, we live only 6 minutes apart.

Garry Becker
June 18, 2023
Right back at ya, Mike!

Mike Madigan (via Emily)
June 19, 2023

My Mike wanted me to thank you for the work you do to keep us all updated on REL62 and to send his on to Mike Hoyt for the well written expressions of all our feelings about so many things. It frequently means I have to pull out the '62 annual but most of the names were still familiar to him.

So from Mike M to Mike H via Mike S, thanks for keeping us entertained, informed and other verbs you can think of.

Living in Jacksonville since 1979, and having worked in the community from then to retirement in 2012, my name caught many folks' attention who either knew Michael or apparently stories they had heard from older siblings. I learned a lot about my husband that way, frequently arriving home with questions and eliciting a sly smile. It also brings up my own memories so it's really nice.

* * * *

Larry Perry
June 6, 2023

I wanted you to see what I did up until last October. This is Willow Ponds Epiphany. Her call name was Lady Bird and on October 1, 2022, I had to put her down as she had cancer.

She was my sweetheart, from puppy to Grand Champion and I got to groom her, show her and play with her. I still miss her and wonder whether or not I will get another English Setter.

They are like a child and give you so much unconditional love and fun. Thanks for letting me get the thoughts out.

Larry, all of the pet lovers among us appreciate the depth of your feelings for Lady Bird and appreciate your sharing the poignant story of just how much she meant to you. This is a good example of why Lee High Shop exists.

Willow Ponds Epiphany (Call Name: Lady Bird)

* * * *

Dancing the Night Away
by Mike Hoyt
June 6, 2023

One of the distant, but brightly illuminated memories that linger from our time at Lee in the early 1960s are dances. Yes, dances. Not the Lee-Jackson game or pep rallies or the Senior Fellows Vaudeville or Y-Teens or the Mister Lee Hi contest or the day somebody named Frank dyed the fountain bright green or the array of other memorable events that shaped the lives of a bunch of kids from around the western side of the St. John’s River.

And what a group we were. Kids from Lakeshore and Gorrie, from Cedar Hills, from Venetia, from Riverside, from Ortega, from Normandy, we came together in that imposing yellow brick building on McDuff Avenue and forged a family of Generals made up of youngsters from backgrounds as diverse as you’d find almost anywhere at the time. We grew up in the vestiges of the Old South where we were separated from minorities based more on custom than adversity. We didn’t know any better and we went along with it. We know better now.

At no better time and place did we congeal as a family than at dances. Sock hops in the gym. Gatherings in darkened church basements to the dreamy slow-dance songs of Johnny Mathis. But most memorable of all were the occasional dances, real dances, at the Woman’s Club on Riverside to the music of the J-Notes.

Ah yes, the JNotes. Next to James Brown, “Mr. Please, Please” himself, the J-Notes were the closet thing to real entertainers as many of us had ever encountered. They were live, loud, wore flashy sequined costumes and gyrated under flashing colored lights. For us, it was a bona fide rock ’n’ roll stage show. It was a flashy, heaven-sent night of glitter and fun that was open to anyone, regardless of station or dancing ability.

In that latter category, I was internally grateful that there was no dancing audition to gain entry to a J-Notes dance. I would have been left sitting at home studying my football playbook or watching The Ed Sullivan Show on our tiny black-and-white TV.

The JNotes recorded one album with the evocative title “Versatility” and you can listen to the band’s “BlueMan” sung by Henry Hodge right here. In addition to lead singer Hodge, the band boasted five other members during its abbreviated heyday: Dick Curtis, Ed Coley, Evelina Smith, John Sanders and Ron Tooley. The JNotes featured a distinctive, brassy trumpet-and sax-led rock ’n'roll sound that shook the rafters of the aging Tudor-style building built only 35 years earlier.

Now, back to dancing. I’ve lived in North Carolina for the past 50 years, give or take, where the only acceptable dance move is the “shag” and the sound track is a restrained genre of R&B known as “beach music.” Movement is precise and minimal, not the flailing and gyrating common at J-Notes dances. The shag has a lot to do with a slight rhythmic shuffling of the feet in time to “Under the Boardwalk” or “60 Minute Man” and not the wild, almost out of control tribal boogie-like movements we tried on the Woman’s Club dance floor. There were few choreographic rules, it seemed. Almost everything went as long as it involved movement and perspiration and a lot of gesticulating. It was always a source of amazement that nobody was ever hurt, at least seriously.

As we went through our days and nights at Lee, new dances came along. I recall one JNotes event when my date introduced the Twist. I’d never heard of Chubby Checker until then and certainly had never seen, much less attempted, to stand in one place and try to dislocate my pelvis or injure my lower back somewhere around vertebrae L4 or L5. I have a theory that many back problems some of us experience today are traceable to this then bizarre craze.

Then came the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Monster Mash, the Hully Gully, the Swim, the Hitch Hike and the Locomotion. All were intended to intimidate boys, even the good athletes, and delight their dates. We wore out many pairs of Weejuns and white socks on that wooden dance floor near the river.

We may never know what became of the J-Notes, but the Woman’s Club was demolished in 2016, a victim to termites. I feel certain the building was weakened by overly-exuberant dancing back in the day and the termites merely finished the job. Some say the insects were attracted by the music.

Like so much in our lives, the sounds and the lights and the reverberating bass have faded off someplace where good memories reside. These things are now stored in a dark attic that we, from time to time, visit in our sweet, but quieter moments. In the words of the spiritual, “It's not far, just close by, through an open door,” and we can go there whenever we want.

The music has faded, but we’re still dancing. As best we can.

Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the dance, said he,

And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

-Sydney Carter

As a footnote, Mike Hoyt says the video at this link inspired him to write "Dancing the Night Away." Enjoy watching! - TMS

~ ~ ~

Chip Abernathy
June 6, 2023
I nominate Catherine Sears for best twister!

Carl Crowder
June 6, 2023

Thanks for including me in your recent Lee High Shop update. Best to all!

Graham Allen
June 6, 2023
I read your piece and it brought back some memories, particularly the J-Notes dance at the Riverside Womens Club that Tommy Tillis and I put on the last day of school in our senior year (publicized as “The Last Blast”).

As you may recall, there was an English teacher at Lee named Eura Lee Durrance, who was a good teacher but mean as a snake. She had a neurological condition that made it difficult for her to write anything by hand. As a consequence she had a signature stamp that she used, especially to sign report cards. The last day of school it went missing, and the several announcements by Mr. Prom over the intercom seeking its location and return were unsuccessful. This was because Georgine Reed had lifted it and given it to me. That night Tillis and I stamped “Eura Lee Durrance” on about 400 hands.

Fond memories, though Ms. Durrance may have felt differently.

Joanne Griffin Caraway
June 6, 2023
You Guys have done a superb job of not only keeping us connected like never before, but also giving us lots of laughs🤣. Thank you!!!

Jo, you’ve played no small part in keeping the Class of ’62 connected. Heck, you had to hunt down a bunch of us just so we could be connected in the first place! Your perseverance established the foundation for the benefits we take for granted today. As Ann Wilson Cramer would say, "Many Thanks!" -TMS

Carol Talbot
June 6, 2023
Hank Taylor and Carol Talbot did a bit if greening in the courtyard, too.

* * * *

Dear Classmates,
Inquiring minds want to know: Has Frank Ingle been up to his old tricks again???
TMS

Authorities try to determine why Venice canal turned green

Italian authorities are looking into the causes of the abnormal water pigmentation around the landmark Rialto Bridge.

For the rest of the story, read on . . .

This is why water in the Venice Canal turned bright green, officials say

Environmental authorities conducted chemical and biological tests on the water and discovered the bright green color was the result of the presence of fluorescein, a non-toxic substance used to test wastewater networks, according to a press release by the Regional Agency for Environmental Prevention and Protection of Veneto.

~ ~ ~

This is good news for our own Frank Ingle, who was allegedly on Interpol’s list of possible suspects owing to his previously confessed pranks putting green dye in the courtyard water fountain during his days at Lee High School.

Thanks to those of our classmates who offered tongue-in-cheek suggestions as to the identity of the likely prankster. See what they had to say—as well as Frank’s protestations of innocence—in the comments below. Alas, many of us were willing to show our support for you, Frank, by traveling to Venice to visit you in il penitenziario! We’re glad it wasn’t you, but a trip to Italy this time of year sure would have been nice! 😜

Chip Abernathy
May 29, 2023
Entirely possible!

Charles Ulery
May 29, 2023
Sure looks like the same stuff to me!

Su Chandler Ferguson
May 29, 2023
Perhaps there was an Irish convention of sorts in Venice!

Frank Ingle
May 29, 2023
Classmates,

Not on me! I can prove that I have not been out of the US recently.

However, now that you brought this to my attention, my two granddaughters are spending the quarter abroad taking a college course in Greece and Italy. It just so happens that they are in Italy right now. I thought they were in Rome at present, but I do not know where they might have traveled.

I have no idea who might be involved in this dastardly plot, but it does raise questions.

Could it be a ghost? But maybe not, since I don't think I am dead yet. Maybe the ghost of Big Dot, who knew or suspected me, but did not rat me out.

Could it be a fluorescent marker in the Ingle genes? I did not know that pranks like this are heritable. I could hope so.

I am stumped. Perhaps the girls will send me an incriminating photo. If so, I will try to share it, once they are safely home again.

For those of who who want to know more, the name of the fluorescent dye is fluorescein. Visible in water at parts per million dilution. Used by navy pilots to mark their location if they crash in the sea.

Again, I don't think I had anything to do with this. But who would suspect me of that?

Su Egner Pederson
May 30, 2023
Obviously there's a story behind this remark.

Mike Hoyt
June 1, 2023
I see Frank's hand in this. For sure.

Georgie Johnson (Jeff's wife)
June 1, 2023
Too funny, Mike!

Joanne Griffin Caraway
June 1, 2023
Frank will never live this down🤪. Our own Lee “Mister Science!”

* * * *

Frank Ingle
May 10, 2023

I have a serious drug problem. No, not that one. I now need an exceedingly expensive drug, even with Medicare part D insurance.

My doc just prescribed a drug which costs $750 for each 90 days, even for a tier 4 generic! And that is with my present Medicare insurance!

I looked into other sources, and even from a Canadian pharmacy, it is still $360 (and questionably legal from outside the US).

But then, I discovered Amazon Prime Pharmacy online.

They quoted $300 for my prescription, and send it to you by mail. You have to provide them with the doctor's prescription, and the usual credit card details, and they do the rest, and deliver the drug to your address within days.

$300 per 90 days still stings, but is less than half I as much as it would have been under my medical insurance plan.

And so, classmates, if you now suffer from a serious drug problem, give this a try. Maybe they will jack the prices up once you are hooked, but it might be worth a try for now.

Frank Ingle
January 11, 2023

As far as I can recall, I might be the youngest member of the class. But maybe I do not actually remember when I graduated, or if I did.

Here is something my granddaughter did for me:

She made a printed label to wear on my shirt saying “My name is Grandpa.” Of course it is clear to her that with this label, anyone on the planet would know exactly who I am.

But I finally came to understand that people are just not smart about things like people’s names.

And I might not remember to move the label to another shirt.

And so, I bought myself a custom made identity bracelet. Not the big gaudy ugly ones you see everywhere, but a tolerable one. A stretchy band, with no clasp, which is only removable with difficulty, so I don’t have to think about it.

It shows four lines of whatever someone might need to know about me, etched in stainless steel, in case anyone needs to know.

For mine, the engraving reads:

Frank W. Ingle

likely diseases

wife’s name

wife’s cell number

Here is the link to the company that makes customized ID accessories:

https://www.americanmedical-id.com/

Of the hundreds of varieties shown, here is the one I chose.

Now when someone asks who I am, I just look at my wrist.

Oops, the other wrist.

And I just show it to them.

And no, I have no relationship with the company, but I am unlikely to shop around for another.

I remain Frank W. Ingle (or so my wrist band says)

Note: stretchy black band shown, one of many available colors.

Frank Ingle
December 15, 2022
Good news! Second Covid test for both of us negative again! Dodged the bullet again.
My advice to my classmates: Do not be so sure that we are through with Covid or the other repiratory diseases.

May Santa grant you at least some of your wishes, the most essential of which, for me, is happiness. Best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Allison Easterday Rose
December 15, 2022
Beautiful!!!

Una Howell Pardue
December 15, 2022
Now that is a fire I'd love to curl up in front of.
Merry Christmas!

Sammy Steen
December 15, 2022
Merry Christmas!

Ann Wilson Cramer
December 15, 2022
Merriest most glorious Christmas to all!

Dianne Davis Edenfield
December 15, 2022
Merry Christmas to everyone in the Class of '62!

Patty Macheda Diullo
December 15, 2022
Have a wonderful blessed Christmas!

J.D. Humphries
December 15, 2022
Merry Christmas to all!

Charles Ulery
December 15, 2022
Merry Christmas to all my classmates
and Happy New Year Celebrations!
Love to All!

Marilyn Milner Whiddon
December 16, 2022
Spending this Christmas with all the family (ten of us in Asheville, NC. Andy and I are celebrating our 50th anniversary.

Blessings to all of you. Happy memories at Lee.

Larry Perry (Forrest '62)
December 16, 2022

To all my adopted classmates from the Class of 1962:

Half of you I knew in Lake Shore Junior High. The other half I have been learning about through your many epistles. I wish for each and every one of you a most joyous and fun-filled Christmas and a New Year full of fun and enjoyment.

As we grow older and our grandkids reach the ages we were when we terrorized the streets of Jacksonville, we should stop and enjoy those memories. May you find a smile and laugh as you go back in your memory.

Again, a fantastic Christmas full of family friends and memories!

Julianne Battaglia Tillman
December 17, 2022

Much love, light and season's greetings to all!

Mike Seale
November 30, 2022

Today's mail delivery from Mary Beth Davis Strickland included a pleasant surprise that I understand also went to Joanne Griffin Caraway and Ann Wilson Cramer. It's so unique it deserves to be shared with everyone. Her letter below is self-explanatory, and I hope you appreciate as much as I do, the front and back pictures of the Class of 1962 Christmas ornament.

On behalf of our entire class, thank you, Mary Beth! Mr. Krobalski would have been proud of your artwork!

* * * *

* * * *

Frank Ingle
November 30, 2022

An Update

I am happy for you to share my letter from July 14 with our class. I am also happy to report that most of the serious things wrong with my health have been resolved.

My brain, I am sorry to say, it continuing its slow slide. After extensive tests, my neuro guy told me that the problem is most likely to be my brain, either from just plain old aging or more likely signs of sliding into Alzheimers.

For now, I just wake up each morning to a whole new day, to enjoy fully, with no expectations of how the next day will go.

Humor is key. My dad was always very funny, and I learned to disarm disagreement or awkward moments with quick humor. And my mom used to say “laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.”

I am sure there are more things lurking in my memories of the past. Maybe I will remember more and send them your way. Memory loss seems to be more of short-term memories, while the long-term memories become stronger.

Frank Ingle
July 14, 2022

I am still me, although a little shop worn since my recent medical misadventures.

Details: lots of heart arrhythmias and several unverified TIA’s (transient ischemic attacks) since just before the reunion I missed. Sorry I missed it, but glad I did not try to come. But, giving up coffee and alcohol magically fixed my heart, to the great disappointment of my cardiologist, after an exhaustive series of tests of all kinds.

On the other hand, since I am otherwise fairly healthy, the only other likely explanation of the TIAs would be something about the brain. Bummer. More tests coming to determine exactly what it is. Still possible are epilepsy or Alzheimers. Big A seems the most likely.

But for you to see me and speak with me, I might seem no more abnormal than before. However, I now have begun to lose short term memory and call things by the wrong word.

And yet, I am generally cheerful and optimistic and take life one day at a time. I swim laps most days, perhaps a half mile, and walk a lot. I stopped driving several years ago, although I still have my license. I just don’t want to take out innocent bystanders.

I greatly enjoy reading each edition of Mike Hoyt’s stories of silliness of people, some of which sound somewhat autobiographical. Mike: If you only showed any talent with a rope, you could be the next Will Rogers.

And I enjoy, no that is not the right word, am horrified reading about current events. Don’t get me started. Makes me want to move to some little fishing village with no phones or even electricity.

And so, contemplating my own possible future and probably eventually that of most of us, I am reminded of a poem a few years ago by our former national poet laureate Billy Collins:

Forgetfulness

BY BILLY COLLINS

The name of the author is the first to go

followed obediently by the title, the plot,

the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel

which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor

decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,

to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye

and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,

and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,

the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,

it is not poised on the tip of your tongue

or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river

whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall

well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those

who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night

to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.

No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted

out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

* * * *

Since relocating to the North Georgia mountains to their mountain cabin in Elijay and their home in Canton, Mike & Sabra Keesee (LHC '64) have integrated into the social, cultural, and philanthropic scenes. Mike's first love is automobile mechanics and he styles himself as a "gearhead." Today's edition of the Times-Courier in Elijay is an account of Mike "paying it forward" to succeeding generations.

Susan Mims Newkirk
May 2, 2022

I am so sorry to write this, but Duncan and I will not be able to attend the Reunion.We had every intention of coming but have two doctor appointments that can not be changed and we could not make it work. All of you have done such a great job with every aspect of "the event." I know it will be a success. Thank you

Frank Ingle
April 25, 2022

I regret that I will not be able to attend the Lee 60th reunion because of my unstable health, I am sorry to report. And so, traveling to the East Coast right now would be unwise.

I look forward to viewing pictures and reports of the merry events from #60. Tell lots of stories. Don’t stick too tightly to the facts, whatever they were. My wish is that all of us will be able to to attend future reunions together.

My best wishes to all our classmates, especially the ones I have known since grade school. Let’s stay in touch until Lee #65 comes around!

* * * *

Margaret DeHoff Stanley
April 22, 2022

It is with great sadness that I need to let everyone know I will not be able to come to the Reunion. I am so disappointed! My brother-in-law passed away very suddenly Monday night, and the service will be in Chapel Hill, NC on May 14. I am so sorry to miss all the fun and see the fruit of all everyone's hard work! I know it will be a fabulous event.

* * * *

Rex Wayne Mixon, Jr.
April 14, 2022

Thanks to you, Ann Wilson Cramer, and the Reunion Committee for organizing and arranging the 60th Lee High School Reunion. Thank you also for developing and maintaining our class website and the periodic newsletters. While I have been living in New York City since 1971, I feel connected to our class via the newsletters and other messages you have sent about our classmates and Lee High School. I am looking forward to attending the dinner with my wife Susan.

* * * *

Kathy Burner Farrow
April 15, 2022

I’m so sad to say that I won’t be able to attend our 60th Reunion. I know a good many of you have put in a lot of thought and effort to make this event a smashing hit. I have so many wonderful memories of my time at Lee. I’ve been playing songs from those years and boy do they take me back. It’s a feeling I can’t describe.

I wish you all the best and know you will have an amazing time together.

Mike, I’m always happy to see an email with your name on it. Thanks for keeping me/us updated. Blessings.

* * * *

Terry Fortney
April 13, 2022

Thanks for your concern. We're all safe and reasonably sound (most days). We've had more than usual snow this year and more than usual avalanches in some areas. Haven't heard of any serious injuries so far. The most dangerous avalanches are caused by back-country skiers and snow machine hill climbing. Two activities we don't participate in anymore. You stay safe too, Mike!

Note: Terry's reply is in response to my note inquiring after his safety in the aftermath of the recent Anchorage avalanche. -TMS
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/weather/anchorage-evacuation-order/index.html

* * * *

Su Chandler Ferguson

April 3, 2022

I regret I am unable to be present for our 60th Class Reunion as I know it will be a funfilled time for those attending. I have been following the email notices and information as though I were attending and look forward to the after-party postings. So, my friends, "thanks" and again enjoy every minute of the reunion as this is the "stuff" memories are made of....

* * * *

Marilyn Milner Whiddon
March 31, 2022

What I was afraid of has come to pass: I will be unable to participate in our reunion! My oldest granddaughter is graduating from Auburn and her family is having a graduation Celebration the weekend of May 14th at St. Simon’s Island! We will be there the entire weekend.

I very much regret not being able to attend.

* * * *

Faye Jones Yager
March 30, 2022

Dear Classmates, I kept putting off this email because I was intent on attending our 60th Class Reunion but, health problems just keep on hitting me. I will not have healed enough from extensive dental surgery in late February to enable me to attend by the end of May.

I was looking forward to being in Jacksonville. I'm a genealogist and have been working on my Grant-Jones & Allied Families Family Tree since 1989. I feel strongly that some of my classmates whose parents moved from Madison County, Florida, may also be a cousins of mine. The escalating gas prices and economy are also making it difficult to travel now. I always drive south so I can do my family research in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida after leaving Minnesota. I refused to fly before COVID-19 and refuse to do so now that the airlines are so weird. I'm sorry I went on so much. I've got Minnesota Cabin Fever from 7 months of Winter. We had 2" of snow again last night! I miss Florida!

* * * *

Mike Hoyt
March 9, 2022

A Fragile Truth
(Reprinted with permission from March 9, 2022 issue of LastGaffe)

It’s in the faces of the little children clutching a soiled stuffed toy. The grief stricken father embracing the body of his infant son. The tears of a mother holding a child and dragging a battered rolling suitcase. An old woman helped through the rubble to a waiting bus to Poland.

These are the truths of the world tragedy in Ukraine, a small country we didn’t know much or care about a few months ago. Ukraine’s rapid descent into war was lost in the mists of more immediate problems-turned-breaking news. Covid. Mask mandates. Gas prices. Inflation. Build Back Better. January 6. Nightly shootings in our own streets.

For weeks, Russian troops by the tens of thousands surrounded Ukraine. Vladimir Putin made threats. President Biden and others made counter-threats. Pundits opined. The world shrugged. Until suddenly, Ukraine was being blown to pieces and its people rose to heights seen only rarely in human history.

They huddled in subway stations, made molotov cocktails in town squares, boarded overflowing trains to nearby countries. Men, young and old, many who had never held a weapon, took up guns and missile launchers and took to the streets. Ukrainian men from other countries are pouring back to their home country. To fight. To die, if needed.

Those in Ukraine watched, afraid, as Russian artillery and jets pounded their cities and destroyed their homes and their kindergartens. They saw tanks firing on the world’s largest nuclear plant, risking global disaster. They have seen families and friends slaughtered by the thousands, while a cruel Russian autocrat threatens nuclear war. He is aiming for them and at them.

Led by a short, unassuming 44-year-old former TV comic, Ukraine has become a profile in courage. He addresses the world using selfies. “When you are attacking us,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said to the Russians, “you will see out faces, not our backs.” What they’re seeing are brave, determined, faces. Tear-stained faces. The faces of children, faces of the old, faces filled with resolve. Faces with eyes that have seen too much. Faces staring into the hooded eyes of a godless tyrant.

Nations of the world have responded with a clenched fist. They’ve supplied weapons and supplies are pouring in from almost everywhere. Americans by the hundreds of thousands are reaching deep into their wallets and sending help.

Nations and companies and banks are putting the clamps on the Russian economy, closing its securities markets, smacking its banks and causing the ruble to tumble. The skittish Russian economy is on life support and protesting Russians are taking to the streets, risking arrest, adding a small voice to the world’s outrage.

It is unlikely that Ukraine will win this war, which is of course a war for the world. But, they are doing their best because they are courageous, resolved to prevail. They are in the right and they know it. As one commentator put it: “You won’t always win with courage, but you’ll have a helluva lot better chance”

Is there any good news in this? Perhaps.

Americans have been profoundly inspired by the bravery of the Ukrainian people and its diminutive leader who, by the way, deserves the very next Nobel Peace Prize, if even posthumously. And, so we have begun to forget how divided we’ve become.

We’ve watched the Western World begin to come together, reuniting against a common enemy but, more importantly, in support of a people who don’t deserve the horror being heaped on them. Ukraine has helped us coalesce. Maybe not forever, but at least for now.

Maybe there’s a lesson in this. Life is good America, maybe too good for our own good. Instead of grousing over rising gas prices and having to pay more for tomatoes, complaining about school children having to wear masks, about nagging dysfunction in Washington, about wealthy ballplayers going on strike, maybe, just maybe we could focus on helping the people in a small Slavic country who inspire us.

They have helped us realize, once more, that people in our world are more alike than we are different. We Americans learn lessons the hard way, but we can learn from Ukraine. By doing that, maybe we can begin to repair our own damaged, divided and angry nation.

We’re trying.

* * * *

Ron Wilkinson
March 8, 2022

Just checking in . . .

We sold our place just outside Phoenix and downsized to a two-bedroom manufactured home in Prescott Valley Az. Four bedrooms, very tough summer heat and the thought of losing 27 years' equity in that house made sense to us. We still had our "one-time capital gains" tax exemption . It was a stressful process. Getting the house ready to sell with all the people shortages in the craft skills and getting the new place furnished seemed like it was never going to end. We actually slept on an air mattress for six weeks while our new sleep number bed was being made. The worst of it was getting set up electronically and getting all the addresses, phone numbers and passwords changed while having lost many "contacts" when I had to change my cell phone. The new place does seem like home finally.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Richard "Dickie" Cason
March 9, 2022

For those of you who loved “The Godfather" movie, here are 7 short videos of some of the very best scenes . . . Enjoy!

———————————————————

‘The Godfather" Explained in Seven Quotes
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/movies/godfather-quotes.html?referringSource=articleShare

Mike Hoyt
February 26, s022

https://laughingsquid.com/paralympic-games-wheelchair-hand-ballet/

A Beautifully Expressive Hand Ballet Performed by 128 Performers in Wheelchairs for the Paralympic Games
October 19, 2021
As part of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games closing handoff ceremony, French choregrapher Sadeck Waff created an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully expressive hand ballet performed by both professional and amateur performers in wheelchairs. The performance opened with Oxandre Pecku, the first person in France to receive a “bionic” arm from Open Bionics, and then turned to the stage of the wheelchair performers who gracefully moved their arms in time with each other and with the music, which was composed by Woodkid and performed by Orchestre National de France.

(Translated) Original choreography created by Sadeck Waff. Sadeck Waff, Oxandre Peckeu and 126 professional and amateur performers. Thanks to the Neodance Academy and their teams for the casting and management of the dancers.

The hand ballet was truly reminiscent of a murmuration of starlings, by design.

There is magic everywhere, the key is knowing how to look, know how to see and listen in silence, like a cloud of birds forming waves in the sky, each individual has his own identity, but an irreplaceable place in the whole.

The final move was to create “2024” with their hands, signifying the upcoming Paralympic Games in 2024

via swissmiss

Kay Marsh Allen
February 26, 2022

Thank you so much for sharing. I definitely needed to see this tonight. So beautiful and so well preformed. It was actually magical. Perfection at its best.

Una Howell Pardue
February 26, 2022

Amazing! We didn’t watch the Olympics this year, so thank you, Mike, for enabling us to see this magnificent performance. Absolutely beautiful!

Ann Wilson Cramer
February 26, 2022

So absolutely lovely and hope- filled!! Many many thanks, dear Mike and Mike!!

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
February 26, 2022

Thank you Mike,was wonderful!

Ann Thompson Lemaistre
February 26, 2022

Beautiful and very moving.

* * * *

Frank Ingle
February 17, 2022

In this forest, and on this date January 11, 2022, the dreaded shape-shifting dragon Grendel was defeated by Warriors Maya Sullivan, in armor, and Jaia Sullivan, disguised as a young panther. The mighty battle raged on for days until finally Panther sprang upon Grendel's back, allowing Maya's lance to find a chink in the dragon's armor, and slay it. Here, Jaia shares a symbol of everlasting friendship between her clan and Maya's clan.

In recognition of this great victory, Her Majesty the Queen named both Warriors the exalted title of "Warrior Woman", and bestowed upon them the Queendom's highest honor, knighting them to be known forever as Dame Maya Sullivan, of the ancient Order of St. George Dame Jaia Sullivan, of the ancient Order of St. George.*

*The two warriors are my two granddaughters Maya Sullivan, and Jaia Sullivan, aged 15 and 12.

Background to this story . . .

My granddaughters started creating their own plays long ago, in their improvised "Rain Hall Theater" in our living room. I had planned to interest them in becoming published authors. I offered them my crude attempts as starting points, and asked them to create their own stories around them, and add more of their own original artwork to illustrate the story. I would have been happy if they accepted the challenge, whether it was ever published or not. Unfortunately, even the youngest among the six have now grown to ages 12 and 15, and their interests are more toward K-Pop music and dance. Perhaps some of our own classmates have younger grandchildren whose brilliant creativity still allows them to envision stories we old folks can no longer imagine.

I intended the purpose of this activity to be bringing grandparents closer to grandchildren, and not for our classmates to compete with each other.

I had in mind having the adult start a story, and asking the grandchildren to change it, finish the story, and to create their own artwork to illustrate it. The effort pays off best if the kid's contributions dominate the result, and inspire the kids to do another.

I would help the kid "publish" the "book" as the first author, and get a few copies printed and bound just for the family (or to support their application to college or grad school).

For example: https://www.lulu.com/create/print-books

And for adult peservation, our classmates might well choose to form a Zoom writers group to write, edit, and review each other's work.

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
February 17, 2022

If your morning coffee hasn’t put a pep in your step yet, this should do the trick!

Click on https://1funny.com/dancing-on-the-ceiling-an-old-school-mash-up/

Judy Robinson Blakey
Febryary 24, 2022

What a fun clip! Great job, Donna.

Georgie Johnson (Jeff's wife)
February 17, 2022

This was great. Thanks for sharing it. I like getting all the Lee High School emails. Hope everyone is well.

Clyde Anderson
February 17, 2022

That's absolutely awesome. Thanks for sharing. NOW, if it could only be re-edited with the faces of classmates from the 60th Robert E. Lee reunion. That would be a hoot.

Ann Thompson Lemaistre
February 17, 2022

Great video. I do feel like dancing the night away!

Larry Perry (Lake Shore)
February 17, 2022

If that doesn't set you on fire, then your wood is wet!

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
February 17, 2022

And if cake with your coffee sounds good, then slice into this . . .

https://youtu.be/h1awVbsEiGc

Bill Robinson
February 14, 2022

Thought you might want to email this video to promote the baby photo contest and the $100 prize. Just something fun…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgpvEr_Dfsg

* * * *

Mike Hoyt
February 1, 2022

As we grow older, and presumably wiser, we sometimes forget that our children (and now, our grandkids) can serve up a considerable amount of innocent wisdom. In his plaintive song “Rhymes and Reasons,” John Denver reminds us of this reality. So, after you’ve listened to Denver’s words, here's proof from our classmate Honey (Volkwein) Moore:

The Wisdom of the Children

https://youtu.be/rkTwZvDCg5o

Joanne GRIFFIN Caraway
January 29, 2022

A cold seat in a public restroom is unpleasant. A warm seat in a public restroom is worse.

Apparently, an RSVP to a wedding invitation “Maybe next time,” isn’t the correct response.

Don’t irritate old people. The older we get, the less “Life in prison” is a deterrent.

“You will hit every cone on the highway before I let you merge in front of me because you saw that sign 2 miles ago like I did.

I asked my wife if I was the only one she had ever been with. She said yes, all the others were nines and tens. Give it a minute..

I really don’t mind getting older, but my body is taking it badly.

It turns out that being an adult now is mostly just googling how to do stuff.

I miss the 90’s when bread was still good for you and no one knew what kale was.

Do you ever get up in the morning, look in the mirror and think “That can’t be accurate.”

I want to be 14 again and ruin my life differently. I have lots of new ideas.

As I watch this new generation try to rewrite our history, one thing I’m sure of....it will be misspelled and have no punctuation.

I told my wife I wanted to be cremated. She made me an appointment for Tuesday.

Confuse your doctor by putting on rubber gloves at the same time he does.

My wife asked me to take her to one of those restaurants where they make food right in front of you. I took her to Subway.

I picked up a hitchhiker. He asked if I wasn’t afraid, he might be a serial killer? I told him the odds of two serial killers being in the same car were extremely unlikely.

I went line dancing last night. OK, it was a roadside sobriety test... same thing.

* * * *

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
January 8, 2022

Today I was in a shoe store that sells only shoes, nothing else. A young girl with a tattoo and green hair walked over to me and asked, "What brings you in today, I looked at her and said, "I'm interested in buying a refrigerator." She didn't quite know how to respond, had that deer in the headlights look.

I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it.

When people see a cat's litter box they always say, "Oh, have you got a cat" I just say, "No, it's for company!"

Employment application blanks always ask who is to be called in case of an emergency. I think you should write, "An ambulance."

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Have you ever noticed: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he knows when he's really in trouble.

Did you ever notice that when you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells "Theirs"

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Some people try to turn back their "odometers." Not me!
I want people to know why I look this way. I've traveled a long way and a lot of the roads were not paved.

Ah! Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.

May you always have:
Love to share,
Cash to spare,
Tires with air, and
Friends who care.

* * * *

Mike Hoyt
January 3, 2022

I was so taken with the submissions of extraordinary TV commercials by Frank Ingle and Chip Abernathy, I’m compelled to throw two of my favorites into the Lee High Shop viewing mix.

The first comes from Amazon. The one we see on television is a lot shorter, but the longer YouTube version adds more pathos and context. It’s entitled “Kindness: The Greatest Gift” (https://youtu.be/LnjeHwUaEyQ) I admire it because of its sensitive portrayal of empathy and the captivating persona of the young lead actor.

The second is from New York Life and it’s entitled “Love Takes Action” (https://youtu.be/IpwXQ3FdBEo). We can all relate to this one.

Better have the Kleenex handy for both.

Mike Seale
January 3, 2022

Bob Sikes (DuPont ’57) shared this with our Carl Cochran (LHS ’58) with the comment, "A couple of days late, but, ENJOY!"

This is too beautiful and moving not to share, no matter how many days after New Year’s it may come. I echo Bob Sikes’ comment, ENJOY!

https://www.youtube-nocookie. com/embed/Rtajxo8d7js?rel=0& controls=0&showinfo=0

Chip Abernathy
December 26, 2021

A great seasonal Chevrolet commercial that will bring back memories...mine was for a Buick Century convertible... awesome!

https://my-daily-smile.com/best-ad-ever

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
by Mike Hoyt

The year many of us were born, 1944, a movie entitled “Meet Me In St. Louis” starring Judy Garland hit the silver screen.

You remember the silver screen, right? It’s that big white thing behind the curtain at the Florida Theater where they used to show movies. You did watch the movie, didn’t you?

Anyhow, in that film, Garland sang one of the most memorable Christmas songs ever. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has been described as a “warm hug on a winter night.” And when we hear it, it seems like a holiday wish that somebody really means.

But the song’s original lyrics, written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, evoked a very different feeling: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last. Next year we may all be living in the past.”

While these words might be appropriate these days, in the pandemic world, Garland objected saying they were too depressing. “Margaret will cry, and they’ll think I’m a monster,” she said. So, the song was rewritten.

So we are rewarded with a sweet, gentle melody full of promise. "From now on, our troubles will be out of sight,” it assures us.

What better, what more hopeful wish can there be for us this Christmas and on the threshold of our 60th anniversary year of our graduation from Robert E. Lee High School?

So have yourself a merry little Christmas and be assured by these words from the song: “Through the years we'll always be together.”

We will.

Mel Fannin
December 26, 2021

Loved Mike Hoyt’s essay on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, his pen and keyboard are a gift to us.

We have a Hot Cider and Song Night at our church and this song is always played but with new lyrics. Judy Garland will forgive us I hope.

https://youtu.be/MMOSsH87RAQ

Frank Ingle
December 17, 2021

I think everyone might enjoy the best car commercial ever, for a change.

https://youtu.be/LpSRkPFWpHk

John Kelbaugh (LHC '58)
Marine Corps Col. (Ret.)
December 16, 2021

Thought you would enjoy seeing these heartwarming images of Moms in Nature.

https://youtu.be/-OF793uq8iU

Donna Dreyer Shorrak
December 16, 2021

Thought you all would enjoy this!

Silver Bells by Foxes & Fossils (in the style of Hush Kids)

Saving Christmas

by Mike Hoyt
December 12, 2021

A few Sundays ago, Rev. Jim Adams, the rector of our church delivered yet another home run sermon. Jim rarely misses, but this time the bases were loaded.

For you Episcopalians and Roman Catholics especially, you know we’re celebrating the Advent season in our church. It’s a kind of run up to Christmas and the birth of Jesus and the start of Christianity. Aside from Easter, it’s a special time of wonder and anticipation about what’s just around the spiritual corner.

Jim started by telling a story, which he often does to begin a homily. He told us that a new and uninitiated church janitor had, by mistake, dismantled the Advent wreath in the sanctuary and thrown it into the dumpster in the parking lot. The reason, he opined, is still a mystery.

Just so you know, the Advent wreath is a natural arrangement holding candles that are lit as Christmas approaches. It is the heart of the church’s pre-Christmas decor, so when it went missing it was like the giant tree in Times Square had been stolen.

When the altar guild ladies in our church discovered that the hand-crafted wreath was missing they, in effect, freaked out. After lots of phone calls, they determined the location of the wreath and set about a rescue. Imagine, two nicely dressed late-40-something church ladies crawling through the trash. Jim referred to the act as “dumpster diving for Christ.”

What followed was a humorous account of classic efforts to steal and to save Christmas. The Dr. Seuss classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” headed the list. As you’ll recall from your parenting days, the evil Grinch was intent on swiping Christmas from the Whos, the residents of Whoville, by tearing down all the decorations and stuffing a Christmas tree up a chimney to block Santa’s visit. Then, the Grinch heard singing. And witnessing the Whos’ unbridled hope and joy, he had an epiphany of sorts and all was well again. Christmas was saved.

Searching Amazon, you’ll find a bundle of stories about saving Christmas. There’s “How the Spider Saved Christmas,” “The Elf Who Saved Christmas,” “The Kitten Who Saved Christmas,” “How the Murray Saved Christmas,” “How the Pugs Saved Christmas,” “How the Skonkle Saved Christmas,” “How the Easter Bunny Saved Christmas,” “The Bears Who Saved Christmas,” “The Dog Who Saved Christmas,” “The Sponge Who Saved Christmas,” "The Slug That Saved Christmas,” “Hookers and Blow Save Christmas,” (about a tow truck and a snowblower, in case you’re wondering), “How the Crayons Saved Christmas,” and even “How Farting Santa Saved Christmas.” I am not making these up.

You might add to this list Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” story in which the stingy, cantankerous Ebenezer Scrooge turns a blind eye toward Christmas but, in the end, is convinced by a trio of ghostly visitors that he’d better mend his ways. He did. This is not actually stealing Christmas, rather just ignoring it.

All of these suppose, of course, that Christmas even needs saving. Christmas is always going to come, regardless. The idea that this of all events might be in jeopardy seems far-fetched, even in the worst of times.

But during these past couple of years, it did seem, at least for awhile, that Christmas just might not come after all. There was no Grinch, or Scrooge, or the Skonkle, or Hookers and Blow, but a microscopic thief called the Corona virus. Covid. This tiny malevolent creature, invisible to the naked eye, did its best to steal Christmas just as it made off with more than 5.3 million lives around the world.

Not just that, but this smart and minuscule organism sucked most of the joy out of this, the happiest and perhaps most meaningful time of year. It robbed us of time together with our families. It took our elders, many of whom were left to depart alone. It swept away parties, concerts, church services, gatherings of any sort. Malls were empty. Movie theaters, dark. It left many of us alone and afraid, unsure of what lay ahead. In the end, it changed not just Christmas, but our lives, forever.

In the end, though, like the Whos in Whoville, we are emerging hopeful and undefeated after two years. Joy is returning. The promise of Christmas remains unbroken and even stronger this year, perhaps more joyful than ever before. We can sing again. We can hold hands. We can dance. We can come together as families and friends to smile and laugh and hug and cry tears of happiness.

That’s because we are human beings and deep down we have the will to overcome the worst of the worst, to dust ourselves off and push forward with hope and with purpose. Christmas is coming, just like it always did.

No, the Grinch nor the Covid cannot steal Christmas. That’s because it’s ours to keep.

Submitted by Mike Hoyt
December 10, 2021

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
December 4, 2021

This is a love story between a rescued gosling, now a full-grown Canadian Goose, and her rescuer. Enjoy a wonder of Nature. What a cute partnership!

https://youtu.be/ht-QtiMjkGQ

Chip Abernathy
December 6, 2021

He was a widower and she a widow. They had known each other for a good number of years, having been high school classmates and having attended class reunions in the past without fail.

This 60th anniversary of their class graduation, the couple made a foursome with two other senior-singles. They had a wonderful evening, spirits high, with the widower throwing admiring glances across the table . . . and the widow smiling coyly back at him.

Finally, during one dance, he picked up courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?”

After about 6 seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes... yes I will !"

Needless to say, the evening ended on a happy note for the widower. However, the next morning he was troubled. Did she say “Yes” or did she say ‘No‘? He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over-and-over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank. He remembered asking the question, but for the life of him could not recall her response.

With fear and trepidation, he picked up the phone and called her. First, he explained that he couldn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the past evening. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say “Yes” or did you say “No”?

"Why, you silly man” she replied, I said Yes. Yes, I will! And I meant it with all my heart!"

The widower was delighted. He felt his heart skip a beat. Then she continued. "And I'm so glad you called. I couldn't remembered who asked me.

Mary McCrory Plummer
December 3, 2021

I originally rec’d this in 12/18/2012. I meant to forward it - I wonder what I’ve done since then!

Who Me ?
Age Activated Attention-Deficit Disorder !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6oHBG3ABUJU&vq=medium

* * * *

And this brings us to Thanksgiving

Mike Hoyt

November 25, 2021

I emerged from the fog of anesthesia in, well, a fog. As before, there was a sense of being someplace else. A sort of out-of-body experience that seemed to last only a few minutes, but actually lasted a couple hours.

A smiling nurse in a colorful bandana welcomed me back to reality and I think I asked her out on a date and then fell back asleep.

I’ve never ceased to be astounded that they can put an entirely new hip joint in place in about an hour and you don’t feel a thing. And thanks to modern "druggery," you can legally get by with some serious substance abuse in the interest of being pain free while they saw your femur in two.

And this brings us to Thanksgiving.

When you get beyond the candied yams and the pumpkin pie, there’s a lot more at the groaning table to be grateful for. At the top of the list of course is the chance to surround ourselves with friends and family again, and we can thank medical science for that. Think: mRNA vaccines that actually teach our cells how to trigger an immune response. There’s a kind of cellular prep school going on inside our bodies.

The fact that we’re here at all is a blessing, especially following a raging worldwide epidemic. Many of our parents, just one generation before us, were gone by their late seventies. Again, a tip of the hat to science mostly and what it’s done for health, nutrition, wellness and, of course, hair coloring. It’s a fact that people our age with nice hair live longer. Look it up. It explains the sign I saw in a shop: “All you need is love. And great hair.”

And while we’re being thankful, let’s not forget that we live arguably in the best country on planet Earth. Oh, we’ve got a plateful of problems, but on the whole we’re better off, by far, than anybody else. I mean we’ve got Tesla, NetFlix, Oprah and Taco Bell. We can say what we want, travel to wherever we dare, drive with no hands, order from Amazon and enjoy a Happy Meal with the grandkids whenever the mood strikes us. Notice that I’m not including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest in my thank you list.

Let’s also take a moment and be thankful for each other, the Lee High School Class of 1962. With our 60th reunion right around the corner we’ve still got one last hoorah left in us; I just hope they have walker parking available and AEDs in the lobby.

(I’ve heard each attendee will be given a thoughtful bag of goodies containing such useful items as a Depends three-pack, a wireless “help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” caregiver pager, a combo toilet seat riser and seat cushion, nasal hair trimmer, a small bottle of stool softeners, a handy leg lifter strap, and a pair of extra large wrap-around sunglasses. We should be thankful to the committee for these indispensable items.)

We have so many things to be grateful for, we’ll never get to them all. You know what they are and they’re different for each of us. So maybe it’s not a bad idea to simply focus on the fact that we’re still around, that we have such rich memories of all those who’ve walked these paths at our side, and that we still have hopes for whatever lies ahead.

In the end, we should be thankful for each other, for life and for the gift of laughter. These are the best of all.

Phillip W. Cushman
November 23, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving, Mike.

That gift package is well worth the registration fee!

Marie Williamson
November 24, 2021

Happy Recovering, Mike H., and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

James Hicks
November 24, 2021

May God greatly bless you this day. Thanks so very much for keeping our class in your thoughts.

I had no idea when I chose Robert E Lee, that I would be so reminded of how important those years were to me.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family tomorrow…

Judy Wood
November 24, 2021

Mike Hoyt does it again! This is the freshest message I have read in a long while. Three cheers and Happy Thanksgiving all around!!!

Rose Ruediger Dreyfus
November 24, 2021

Beautifully written! Thank you, Mike H. And Mike S. for sharing.

Una Howell Pardue
November 24, 2021

After reading Mike Hoyt’s once again incredible comments, I was reminded of some Thanksgiving humor I have collected over the years and thought I’d share with everyone. Happy Thanksgiving! 🍇🌽🥦🥧🦃💕

Mark Yonge
November 24, 2021

Mike Hoyt, Thanks and thanks for sharing your well written thoughts!!! Wishing all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Dianne Davis Edenfield
November 24, 2021

Thank you, Mike Hoyt, for sharing this. And to my classmates, this commentary is awesome. I am thankful for our Class of '62! So thankful for all my blessinging, including you, Mike Seale!

Patty Macheda DiLulio
November 24, 2021

You are so right on Mike. Happy, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!

Ann Thompson Lemaistre
November 24, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for Mike's so true thoughts of old age. I’m so happy to be here and I hope for more years for all of us.

Joanne Griffin Caraway
November 24, 2021

And we thank Mike Hoyt - for his words that bring tears & smiles. Thankful for BOTH MIKE’s!!!

Mike Hoyt
November 14, 2021

Autumn musings

Joanne Griffin Caraway
November 13, 2021

Toby Keith tells how Clint Eastwood inspired his new song, "Don't Let the Old Man In.'

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gjcESAljVSM

Bill Robinson
November 13, 2021

For a rousing dose of nostalgia, turn up the volume and listen to this from the Statler Brothers!

https://youtu.be/2YaCjsUT1ys

Ann Wilson Cramer
November 13, 2021

Sooooo cool!!

Una Howell Pardue
November 13, 2021

Oh, so wonderful! I seem to be taking more and more trips down memory lane. It’s wonderful and certainly better than taking a dirt nap. Thanks for sharing!

Evelyn Steinmeyer Brubaker
November 13, 2021

These were one of my favorite groups back then. I still listen to them quite often, especially when I'm driving. Thanks for sharing.

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
November 14, 2021

We LOVED this! Thank you, Bill.

Su Chandler Ferguson
November 15, 2021

Interestingly enough The Statler Brothers are from Staunton, VA, which is five miles from my home. For years they would return to Staunton to perform on the Fourth of July for their local fans. Two of the original Statler Brothers' children perform as Wilson-Fairchild (family middle names). The WF duo are very popular in this area and I understand spend a good amount of time in Nashville. This is just a little “tidbit” of no note but indicates that, though famous, the Statler Brothers would return to their roots to perform for memorable occasions for their local fans.

* * * * *

Su Egner Peterson
November 6, 2021

*** * * ***

Bill Robinson
November 5, 2021

I had not seen David Veneklasen since Lee. He was a good friend then, and a very kind and happy guy. Sad to hear of his passing. Sounds like he had a good life.

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahaon
November 5, 2021

I’m so sad to hear about Dave. He was an officer in Delta Hi-Y when I was mascot and was such a wonderful person.
Thanks for letting us know.

Joanne Griffin Caraway
November 5, 2021

Sweet, dear shy David lived his life with purpose, humor & talents shared. I will miss the closest guy to being my brother. Peace, Kind Sir.

* * * *

Mel Fannin
November 3, 2021

It’s amazing that some of these guys are still going…..even if they don’t sing the high parts like they used to.

What fun we had!

How we spent Sunday night 60 years ago......

https://youtu.be/zUnrB8zQyvA

Chip Abernathy
November 4, 2021

Love it!

Una Howell Pardue
November 4, 2021

What fun! Dan and I had our own sing-a-long this morning...thanks to you and Mel. 🥳

Allison Easterday Rose
November 4, 2021

Great walk down memory lane. Where was Moms Mabley!? ( I know, not a singer)

Shirley Register Rountree
November 4, 2021

Bittersweet!

Ann Wilson Cramer
November 4, 2021

So much Fun!! MANY, many thanks!

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon
November 4, 2021

So fun!! What great memories...

Pat Roney Manko
November 4, 2021

And I was watching every one of them. I forwarded the email to my son and told him to show it to my grandsons, 10 & 12, so they would know what kind of music my generation listened to. When I think of what the kids are hearing these days I shudder!

Judy Wood
November 4, 2021

Mick is a great example of going, going, still going -- and can you believe how subdued his performance was way back then?!! Very fun! Thank you, Mel.

Kathy Burner Farrow
November 4, 2021

That was great!! Those songs brought back a ton of great memories!! Thanks so much!!

Margaret DeHoff Stanley
November 5, 2021

This is too funny! One of the funniest things is to see Ed Sullivan!

* * * *

Su Egner Peterson
October 15, 2021

I sent this to my ex and he responded, “good thing you didn’t have a gun.” I love the fact that we can still tease one another. Life is so much better without anger getting in the way.

Su Egner Peterson
October 14, 2021

Just a thought . . .

Susan Seaward Cravey
October 14, 2021

While I won't be able to attend the reunion, I wanted to advise everyone about a PBS documentary I just watched. "America's Untold Story" is all about the settling of St. Augustine over 200 years. I learned so much about that time in our history and I think anyone who likes this kind of thing will be engrossed. Did you know there was once an East Florida and a West Florida, stretching along the panhandle further than it goes now? Me, neither.

You can find the channel, PBS Documentaries, on Prime for $4/month....my nirvana. Take care everyone.

Raymond Roy
October 4, 2021

Mike, after retiring for the 3rd and last time from medicine, I have devoted a significant amount of time to creative writing. I have had some success writing haiku. I was just interviewed by a PBS station program out of Emery and Henry College for their Poets and Writers program (which is archived at UNC). In this podcast I focused on introducing haiku to their audience. It lasts about 25 min. Hope you enjoy. Take care.

Dear Classmates: You may readily identify with those students who faced the study of haiku in high school English class with trepidation, as Ray alludes to in his interview. I know I did. Listening to samples of Ray's haiku had a calming effect, however, and I came away feeling as though I had been reintroduced to an old friend.

As most of you know, Ray, as our Class of '62 Valedictorian, went on to distinguished himself as head of the Anesthesiology Department at Wake-Forest University before he retired for the third time. Since retirement, however, he has earned a reputation as a poet and an authority on haiku.

Congratulations, Ray, and thank you for sharing news of this honor with us for the rest of us to enjoy.

Chip Abernathy
October 8, 2021

It’s perfectly clear to me now why Ray was our valedictorian and I was not!!!

Julianne Battaglia
October 8, 2021

Wow, I love Haiku. This is awesome.

Carol Talbot
October 8, 2021

Just listened with great interest. Loved pairing with language arts faculty to teach science classes nature p-based Haiku, traditional 5-7-5. Students loved it and many were wonderful! Side note: History Week trips to John S. Campbell for demos. Thanks for sharing.

* * * *

Andrea Doering Miller (LHS '58)
October 7, 2021

I have no idea who put this together, but it's wonderful!

Long ago and far away,

In a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan,

Or the dawn of Camelot,
There lived a race of innocents,

And they were you and me,

For Ike was in the White House

In that land where we were born
Where navels were for oranges,

And Peyton Place was porn.

We longed for love and romance,

And waited for our Prince,
Eddie Fisher married Liz,

And no one's seen him since.

We danced to 'Little Darlin,'

And sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then,

And 3 was one too many
And only boys wore flat-top cuts

Except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams

Did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick,

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon,

Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie

They never made it twice.

We didnt have a Star Trek Five,

Or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty

In the Land that Made Me, Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold,

And Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat

Whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr. Wizard,

But not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet,

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had our share of heroes,

We never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin,

Or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal,

And life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never seen the rock band

That was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson,

And Zepplelins were not Led

And Beatles lived in gardens then,

And Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves,

Or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed,

But they were not grown in jars.

And pumping iron got wrinkles out,

And 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-Ed

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets

To talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left

At the bottom of the bag.

And hardware was a box of nails,

And bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

T-Birds came with portholes,

And side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough

To cover both your cheeks.

And Coke came just in bottles,

And skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power

Near the Land that Made Me, Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride,

We had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterened pantyhose

Or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

There were no golden arches

No Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda,

And cats were not called Bill.

And middle-age was 35

And old for forty-three
And ancient were our parents

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season,

Or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline

We swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations

To join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby,

From the Land That Made Me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world

In slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using

Smaller print in magazines
And we tell our children's children

Of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away

In the Land That Made Me, Me.

If you didn't grown up in the Fifty's,
You missed the greatest time in history.

* * * *

SCROLL TO SEE COMMENTS AND MEMES

Loretta Gries Hutchinson
November 11, 2021

What a great bunch of reminders. Thank you so much for sharing.

Diane Blair McWilliams
October 10, 2021

Hope all is well with you. Once again thanks for sharing the "good ole days" this was such fun reading with a little chuckle here and there. It's sad that our grandchildren, much less our children, aren't interested in "old" things and ways. I have told them the truth............I never walked to school in the SNOW!

Dianne Davis Edenfield
October 4, 2021

Going down memory lane.

Kathy Burner Farrow
October 4, 2021

Love this!! Thanks for the memories!! One term I remember from years & years ago when a woman was pregnant was “infanticipating”. Maybe it was just made up locally but I always knew what it meant! I kinda liked the idea of the stork. Lol.

Rose Ruediger Dreyfus
October 4, 2021

I also miss white wall tires!

October 4, 2021
Una Howell Pardue

Love these, Mike! Being a girl I missed some of the car terms, but I certainly got the rest. Remember when the term “older than dirt” didn’t mean anything to us? Hmmm. 😬😂

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahon
October 5, 2021

Fun!

Donna Dreyer Schorrak
October 6, 2021

Thank you Mike, once again you made us laugh!!!

* * * *

Carolita Oliveros
September 19, 2021

Mike, this is what I so dearly love about our class -- we have a great sense of humor!! I listen to some of my friends here in AZ and other states talk about their high school classes and they don't have a class website; they don't share information with each other; they don't have class reunions etc. I am continually reminded how blessed I am to have been in school all those many years (from Fishweir through Lee) with such great people!

Donna Dryer Schorrak
September 18, 2021

Only in This Stupid World
......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put
Our useless junk in the garage.

Only in This Stupid World
......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the
store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in This Stupid World
.....do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet Coke..

Only in This Stupid World
.....do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters..

Only in This Stupid World ...........do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in Packages of eight..

Only in This Stupid World .....do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

EVER WONDER ...

Why the sun lightens
Our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why don't you ever see the
Headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is
'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that Doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made
With artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who
Invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of
Day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there
Mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah
Swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the
Needle for lethal injections?

You know that Indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep
Shrink when it rains?

Why are they called
Apartments when they are all stuck together?

I like this one!!!

If con is the opposite of Pro,
is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so Safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity
and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle)

...in other words, send it to everyone.
We all need to smile every once in a while. Amen.

Spread the Stupidity!

Bill Robinson
September 18, 2021

Frank Ingle
September 18, 2021

Men are Happy People

Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can never be pregnant no matter what you do. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress - $5,000. Tux rental - $100. People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.

New shoes don't blister your feet. You have one mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase and one pair of shoes. You can open all your own jars.

You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Two pairs of shoes are more than enough. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes, and nobody cares.

Everything on your face stays its original color, no changes needed. The same hairstyle lasts for decades. You only have to shave your face and neck; or maybe not. You can play with toys all your life, and receive them for Christmas. One wallet and one pair of shoes - one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.

You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24, in 25 minutes. No wonder men are happier!

NICKNAMES · If Laura, Kate, and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah. If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Bubba, and Wild man.

EATING OUT · When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though the bill is only $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller in their wallets and none will actually admit they want change back. When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY. A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs . A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t need---but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS · A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream and razor, a bar of soap, and a towel. The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 10 of these items.

ARGUMENTS · A woman has the last word in any argument. .Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE · A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

MARRIAGE · A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t. A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, but she does.

DRESSING UP · A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail. · A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

OFFSPRING · Ahh, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears, and hopes and dreams. · A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY. A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!

So, share this with the women who have a sense of humor …. and with the men who will enjoy finding out why they're so happy.

Susan Seaward Cravey
September 18, 2021

I swear "Men Are Happy People" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I just never thought about life in those terms! Thanks for sharing!

Clyde Anderson
September 13, 2021

L - R Larry Silas, Jim McCune(REL 61), Walt Shaw (not REL), Clyde Anderson, Charles Crews, Don Musselwhite

Gate River Run 44 Years in a Row!

2000 was Larry's last run, Jim stopped running in 2011, Charles quit running in 2012, Don couldn't run because of leg injury in Viet Nam. I'm still running. This year(2021) was race number 44 and I'm one of 26 runners that have finished every race. My goal is 50.

Classmates: When I told Clyde I was going to share his news with our you, he wrote back and said he didn't think running in the Gate River Run 44 years in a row was that big a deal. (Note that his goal is to make 50.) It is a Big Deal, Clyde! Congratulations! You’re an inspiration to the rest of us, and we’re cheering you on!

* * * *

September 11, 2021

"We Will Never Forget!"

* * * *

Mike Hoyt
September 2, 2021

A small voice

Today, I moved our hummingbird feeder from its place in the side yard where it hung from the branch of a Russian Olive tree. We’d decided the feeder was too far removed for us to enjoy viewing our tiny friends.

While taking down the feeder, a pair of hummingbirds showed up to demonstrate their displeasure at the move. They must have thought I was closing down their little restaurant rather than simply relocating to a new address outside our living room window. They were pretty vocal about it. Two clearly unhappy birds buzzed around my head telling me they didn’t want their food truck moved.

But their angst was short lived. Soon, the feeder was in place in its new home outside the living room window. As I climbed down the small ladder after securing the feeder under the eave, a hummingbird began whirring around my head, circling and peeping in an amazingly loud voice for a creature no bigger than your thumb. It was almost as if he was saying “thank you.”

Then, he perched on the feeder just a foot away and enjoyed a long and relaxed sugary snack. I’ve never been that close to a hummingbird and it was a special moment. Maybe for both of us.

I am convinced that God’s creatures speak to us, if even with a small voice.

Mike Hoyt
August 25, 2021

https://youtu.be/hy9BMxAh6Kg

Raymond Roy
August 25, 2021

https://youtu.be/YTrMLu4v21M

Ageing Men

Joanne Griffin Caraway
August 17, 2021

Here are some excellent age-related statements:

My doctor asked if anyone in my family suffered from mental illness. I said, "No, we all seem to enjoy it."

I thought growing old would take longer.

My bucket list: keep breathing.

Camping: where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.

Just once, I want a username and password prompt to say, "Close enough."

Being an adult is the dumbest thing I have ever done.

I'm a multitasker. I can listen, ignore and forget all at the same time!

Retirement to-do list: Wake up. Nailed it!

Went to an antique auction and people were bidding on me.

People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.

Retired. Under new management. See spouse for details.

When you can't find the sunshine . . . be the sunshine.

I don't have grey hair. I have wisdom-highlights.

Sometimes it takes me all day to get nothing done.

I don't trip, I do random gravity checks.

My heart says chocolate, but my jeans say, please, please, please eat a salad!

Never laugh at your spouse's choices. You are one of them.

One minute you're young and fun. The next, you're turning down the car stereo to see better.

I'd grow my own food if only I could find bacon seeds.

Losing weight doesn't seem to be working for me, so from now on, I'm going to concentrate on getting taller.

Some people are like clouds, once they disappear it's a beautiful day.

Some people you're glad to see coming; some people you're glad to see going

My body is a temple; ancient and crumbling.

Common sense is not a gift. It's a punishment because you have to deal with everyone else who doesn't have it.

I came. I saw. I forgot what I was doing. Retraced my steps. Got lost on the way back. Now I have no idea what's going on.

If you can't think of a word, say "I forgot the English word for it." That way people will think you're bilingual instead of an idiot.

I'm at a place in my life where errands are starting to count as going out.

I'm getting tired of being part of a major historical event.

I don't always go the extra mile, but when I do it's because I missed my exit.

Ate salad for dinner. Mostly croutons and tomatoes. Really just one big round crouton covered with tomato sauce, and cheese. FINE, it was a pizza.... OK, I ate a pizza! Are you happy now?

I just did a week's worth of cardio after walking into a spider web.

I don't mean to brag, but I finished my 14-day diet food supply in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

I may not be that funny or athletic or good looking or smart or talented. I forgot where I was going with this.

Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house.

It's weird being the same age as old people.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be older... this is not what I expected.

Life is like a helicopter. I don't know how to operate a helicopter either.

It's probably my age that tricks people into thinking I'm an adult.

Marriage Counselor: Your wife says you never buy her flowers. Is that true? Spouse: To be honest, I never knew she sold flowers.

Never sing in the shower! Singing leads to dancing, dancing leads to slipping, and slipping leads to paramedics seeing you naked. So remember... Don't sing!

I see people about my age mountain climbing; I feel good getting my leg through my underwear without losing my balance.

So if a cow doesn't produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?

We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, is shown placing the document before John Hancock, president of the Congress. With him stand the other members of the committee that created the draft: John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingst

* * * * *

Mike Seale
July 4, 2021

Robert R. Livingston, my first cousin 7x removed, served with Thomas Jefferson on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. The committee completed its work on July 2, 1776, and the final draft, after edits, was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, which is the date we celebrate Independence Day. Interestingly the Declaration wasn’t officially signed until August 2, 1776 a full month after it was drafted. Robert's father, Philip Livingston, my 7th great uncle on my mother’s side, was one of the signatories. Ironically, Robert declined to sign, in the belief that the act of declaring independence was premature. Thankfully, the verdict of History was has been more favorable, and to use John Adams’ prescient prayer, "the end (has been) more than worth all the means."

John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, "I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.”

As proud as I am of my ancestors’ role in the founding of our country (and, no doubt, others in our class have ancestors who were there, too), I am even more proud that 98 of the men and women of the Class of ’62 served in the support and defense of this nation. However you choose to celebrate the Fourth of July, remember the flag and display it proudly. And remember our freedom was not—and is not—free.

Dianne HOLLENBECK Hendley
July 5, 2021

Thanks, Mike, for some interesting history facts and especially about your ancestors. We are so fortunate to live in the United States and should never take our freedom for granted. A debt of gratitude is owed to every person who served in the military.

Just read an informative article about a man named Charles Carroll, from Maryland, and the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who was Catholic. I gather that there was a lot of hostility at the time about people being Catholic so this Charles Carroll was the only person who openly professed his religion. He was unable to hold any type of office in Maryland due to his religion! We are certainly fortunate in this country to worship and believe what we want.

Hope you had a nice July 4th. Thanks again for keeping us up to date on classmates, etc.

Judy Wood
July 4, 2021

So interesting — and beautifully written. Thank you, Mike. Happy Independence Day!

Ann WILSON Cramer
July 4, 2021

Oh, dear dear Mike - you always know exactly what to say!! This is extraordinary!! MANY, many thanks!!

Kay MARSH Allen
July 4, 2021

AMEN. GOD BLESS AMERICA. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤❤❤

Carol Talbot
July 4, 2021

My greatx5 grandfather, John Hart, New Jersey, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Maybe they knew each other!!!

Georgie (Mrs. Jeff) Johnson
July 4, 2021

Amen Mike! Some how, Jeff’s mother was related to Thomas Jefferson. I wish I had asked more! History never seems that important until you get older! I am not sure this generation could have survived back then. Have a wonderful 4th. I love to read your posts.

Robert Whitley
July 4, 2021

Very impressive.

Happy 4th!

Clyde Anderson
July 4, 2021

Thank You Mike, in so many ways.

Happy Independence Day

Marilyn MILNER Whiddon
July 4, 2021

Thanks Mike! Happy 4th.

Una HOWELL Pardue
July 4, 2021

“Rays of ravishing light and glory” indeed! Happy 4th and thanks for sharing your family’s story. It was wonderful. 🎉🎈🎊🇺🇸

Ronald Wilkinson
July 4, 2021

Even though I was already in the military because "our Dads" my neighborhood buddy's served I had not yet formed the idea that there were ideals more important than the individual, me. Until it was likely my time to head to the Vietnam fiasco, I had not considered the idea that a duty to one's country justified the loss of my own life and the taking of another's. It also made it much easier to subordinate ("humble myself") to those who may be appointed over me, not just in the military but in everyday life like police, coaches, teachers and those who continuously serve others like nurses and you. It also helped me understand the essence of what Jesus did for me and the debt I owe him that can never be paid. I prefer to celebrate with love over flags or parties and remembering the countless sacrifices of others who allowed me to get here. Thank you, Mike Seale.

Evelyn STEINMEYER Brubaker
July 4, 2021

Thank you for sharing. That last was very well said...Freedom is not free. Have a happy and safe Fourth.

Mel Fannin
July 4, 2021

Now I see where you received your communication talent and your heart for people. Thank you for all you do for the class of ‘62. Hope you and your family have a wonderful 4th of July and after reading your email it gives us reason to celebrate again on Aug 2. God bless you and our great country. As David said in Psalms 16:6 “ My boundaries have fallen for me in pleasant places” Blessings,

Bill Robinson
July 4, 2021

Thank you for those words, Mike. Very well done.

Happy Independence Day!

J.D. Humphries
July 4, 2021

A conservative could not have said it better. Celebrate.

Mike Hoyt
July 4, 2021

What a nice and thoughtful tribute to our classmates, our country and to your forebears. I had a grandmother 7x removed who was drowned as a witch in Salem in 1620. My only claim to fame. The only thing she signed was a confession.

* * * * *

Mike Hoyt
January 17, 2020

This is an amazing link. I checked out Gary Sikes’ remembrance and there he was. He was killed not too far from where I was stationed. I have always thought it ironic that those killed in action are awarded a Purple Heart. Seems like a pitiful little award for those who gave so much.

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Claudia HART Mally
May 1, 2021

Our children could never understand our emotional connection to our generation, to our time, but we lived it, and we were all present and accounted for February 3, 1959, the day the music died! This made me cry."

A friend who shared this with me said it well: "Most people only think they understand the lyrics when actually they don’t, at least not until they see this. When the words are put together with pictures and film clips, the song takes on a new and fuller meaning. It took a lot of thought to produce this and it brings back lots of memories and also makes the lyrics really come alive!"

Those were the days and some of us were very fortunate to grow up during that period of time...It was a different time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhX3b1h7GQw&feature=youtu.be

Libby GIRLINGHOUSE Bernard
May 1, 2021

Too Cool!

Bruce Jones
May 1, 2021

Thanks Mike and Claudia.

Kathy Farrow
May 1, 2021

Thanks so much!! That was amazing. The pictures really made the song come alive!

Warren Dixon
May 1, 2021

Really a GREAT post and video. Thanks. I did understand where about 95% of the lyrics came from when the song was popular - but I had to chuckle over the “Big Booper slide.”

Georgie Johnson
May 1, 2021

Jeff and I went to see The Buddy Holly Story at the last big reunion. It was at the Alhambra Theater and it was FABULOUS! When I pick up two of my grandgirls, they will say, “Gigi, can you put on the old music?” and I always put on the 60’s!

Kay MARSH Allen
May 2, 2021

Thank you, Mike for sharing. And thanks to Claudia for putting this together. I so enjoyed every minute of this. Brought back a lot of memories. Some good and some not so good, but that makes the world go round. Have a great day.

Mary Elizabeth BARKER McMahon
May 2, 2021

Wow! Impressive. I knew the story behind the song but it was fascinating to see the film footage of some of the major events of that time.

Thank you Claudia and Mike!

Dianne DAVIS Edenfield
May 3, 2021

This is fantastic! It is an incredible production! Thank you Claudia Hart Mally. Thank you Mike Seale for sharing this.

Joan TANNER Toney
May 4, 2021

Wow, what a journey back in time!

* * * *

Carolita Oliveros
April 6, 2021

I can remember singing this during girls PE in the gym at Lake Shore Jr High and listening to the high pitched tones echo around the gym!

Old_Guys_Still_Have_it.mp4

(A classic; sounds exactly as I remember it!)

https://youtu.be/BbGUg7VEYs0

* * * * *

Human Nature - Ooo Baby Baby (A Cappella)

Bruce Jones
April 6, 2021

https://youtu.be/uCHo8ClU4lQ

I think this one is worthy of sharing

* * * * *

Mike Hoyt
Februay 24, 2021

The Dance Goes On

The email arrived in my inbox a little after 5:00 p.m. today. It was from Phil Cushman telling me that our longtime dear friend and Lee classmate Jerry Patterson had died shortly after noontime.

Phil’s email prompted a flurry of comforting phone calls and messages amongst those who knew Jerry best. That’s what happens between friends and, now, it’s happening far too often.

Phil and Jerry had been married for many years and travelled the world together, enjoying life to the very fullest. I’d only seen Jerry a couple times in recent years, but the memories we shared were as bight and vivid as if the events they portrayed had happened last week. Jerry was quick to laugh as we remembered. A gift.

At Lee, Jerry was a talented swimmer and an exemplary dancer. At Jay Notes dances at the Woman’s Club, my dates always wanted to dance with Jerry which was a good idea because I not only had two left feet, I had three. There was a time, in fact, when Jerry had designs on heading to New York to dance on Broadway. He would have been good at it.

According to Phil, Jerry’s passing was peaceful, a blessing we all hope to welcome when our time comes.

On too many occasions these days, we get the emails telling us that yet another friend has left us. We all know friends and classmates who are ill and declining, some barely clinging to life. And when their time comes, it is a gut punch.

About all we’re capable of when it happens is to say a quiet goodbye, knowing there will be more and more farewells to those with whom we’ve spent a part of our lives. Think of them in this moment and think of those who love them and are left behind.

In Jerry Patterson’s case, I’d like to think that somewhere he’s dancing. As the hymn reminds us:

Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,

And I'll lead you all, where ever you may be,

And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.

Unbelievable Dessert Suggestion!

Richard (Dickie) Cason
December 21.2020

If you’re wondering what to serve for dessert after a delicious dinner, consider this delicious and unforgettable—if not unbelievable—suggestion!
(Click on the link) https://youtu.be/ZkU9jeB8Ar0

Robots doing the twist

Frank Ingle
January 1, 2021

Check out the robots doing their thing.
"Do You Love Me?"

https://youtu.be/fn3KWM1kuAw

Andrea Doering Miller - LHC '58
January 13, 2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR. MAY THE YEAR 2021 BRING PEACE, HAPPINESS AND FREEDOM FROM
THE FEAR OF COVID 19

The Charles Schulz Philosophy

http://melissagalt.com/2013news/snoopy.gif

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz,
creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions.
Just ponder on them. Just read the e-mail straight
through and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half-dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

http://melissagalt.com/2013news/schulz-lake.jpg

Howdid you do?

Thepoint is, none of us remembers the headliners of yesterday.
There are no second-rate achievers.
They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish ...
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

http://melissagalt.com/2013news/snoopy-art.gif

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

http://melissagalt.com/2013news/schulz-group.gif

Easier?

Thepeople who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money ... or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most about you and you about them.

http://melissagalt.com/2013news/schulz-group2.jpg

Pass this on to those people whom you keep close in your heart.

"Don'tworry about the world coming to an end today. It won't.

It's already tomorrow in Australia!"

Carl Cochran - LHS '58
January 14, 2021

Fond memories from the '50s . . .
https://1funny.com/fond-memories-of-the-1950s/

January 7, 2020

Dear Classmates,

Mike Hoyt recently published an article on his blog, LastGaffe.com, about our 1962 Powder Puff game. He kindly agreed to sharing the contents—including pictures—on Lee High Shop, but until I can reconfigure some postings on our Lee High Shop portal to create more space, I am utilizing the next-best means of sharing information: good old email. Mike says his inspiration for the article came from all the news about the first girl playing varsity football for a college team. (My guess is he was waxing nostalgic about the anniversary of the game and current events just happened to coincide with fond memories.) Maybe it was a combination of the two; but whatever the case, here’s the story. If you're already a subscriber to LastGaffe, you’ll enjoy reading this again. If you recognize yourself in one of the pictures or simply recall the night and would like to share your own memories, let me know and I’ll share them. -Mike Seale

Playing Like a Girl

When Sarah Fuller became the first female to score in a Power Five college football game recently, she booted in a new era with an extra point. Fuller, who plays for Vanderbilt, won’t make it to the NFL, but that’s not her aim. She just wanted to do it and she’ll not only go down in football history, but may have opened a door to other young women who want to play the sport.

At Lee, football was pretty much king. I don’t know why and it’s not meant to demean other sports at our school, but playing football was a big ticket for a teenage kid for one reason: It helped pave the way to get girls’ attention. And that’s all it took to put up with getting your butt kicked a lot by guys from Miami High.

But one night a year back then, it was the girls’ turn. The annual Powder Puff football game was much anticipated and it was a huge deal. Something on the order of 80 senior girls put on pads and helmets and went at it tooth and nail in a night game on the field behind the school before a big, screaming crowd.

The term “powder puff” is grossly misleading. I mean we’re talking full speed, head-knocking, no-holds-barred tackle football with all the trimmings. Imagine a girl fight with 22 participants at a time. This was no lavender and lace affair, it was smash-mouth football at its fiercest.

On December 18, 1962, the Powders clad in gray, and the Puffs decked out in royal blue, streamed out of the field house and the crowd roared its approval.

On the sidelines, the roles were also reversed as a couple dozen guys took on the guise of cheerleaders. Instead of the alluring short skirts worn by the real cheerleaders, out came a conglomeration of shorts, T-shirts, a smattering of silly hats, and strange body makeup. They were as goofy as the girl gridiron stars were intense.

I was one of the Puff coaches who, along with three other guys on the Lee boys’ football team, thought we knew how to coach. We were delusional. Just because you play the game is no guarantee you can either teach it or motivate others to smack into opposing players while running at full speed. It hurts. And it can put you in an ambulance.

On game day, we coaches all wore ill-conceived attire that resembled what we imagined real football coaches wore on the sidelines.The outfits included long coats and sadly inappropriate hats of various descriptions. Old photos tell the story: We looked downright silly, but back then somehow we didn’t know the difference or didn’t care.

Now, back to coaching. There was a lot of on-the-job training involved. We didn’t dare let on to the gils that we hadn’t a clue about coaching football, much less girls football. I point this out not out of misogyny, but from a sense of total surprise and delight at how serious and adept our girls were at playing this violent sport.

Years later, I had a conversation with UNC girls’ soccer coach Anson Dorrance who’s won more national titles than I can count. Dorrance shared two tips I could have used almost 60 years before. First, never praise a player when she does well in front of the team. Her teammates will hate her, he confided. Conversely, never criticize a player when she makes a mistake. She’ll hate you forever.

This was tricky for us guys, because we wanted to go out with most of the girls on our team. And making enemies was certainly not in our crude adolescent playbook. You don’t scream at someone you want to take to the prom.

All we knew from years on the practice field was getting yelled out was, well, coaching. And worst, when you made a mistake the whole team was punished with “gassers” or wind sprints. Trust me, these techniques do not work with female players.

We practiced and practiced hard for a couple weeks leading up to the game. The first day was spent untangling the mysteries of wearing football equipment which, of course, wasn’t normal or comfortable attire for our girls. They used all the pads, the helmets, and other football accoutrements, everything except cleats thankfully.

We tried hard, but were quickly ushered from the locker room long before the suiting up began. We were robbed of what we’d hoped would be one of the perks of Powder Puff coaching.

We “coached” as best we could, using all the techniques that had been ground into us over time on the practice field. Running, calisthenics, blocking and tackling, scrimmages, learning a basic playbook, the works. They got down in the dirt. They smacked into each other. And when they got banged up, they shook it off. Nobody cried.

The girls learned in just a few intense days what took their male counterparts months, sometimes years, to comprehend. I now know why girls excel in the classroom: They paid attention, and they were quick, eager learners. And, on the football field, they were fearless competitors.

Now, there were a few notable differences. Throwing a forward pass with a football is not a natural motion for females, but our quarterbacks got it and threw a tight spiral when all was said and done.

There was also a fair amount of yelling and shrieking, but unlike the guys, no cussing. No fighting. No trash talk. There may have been a little scratching and clawing when players piled up, but nothing that would draw an unsportsmanlike — make that “unsportswomanlike” — penalty come game time.

“Targeting” wasn’t an infraction back then, but our gals had no fear of lowering their heads and “sticking it” to opposing players. Thankfully, there were no injuries — at least serious ones — but if you don’t think our Lee girls could wreak havoc when they put the pads on, you'd better think again.

What we didn’t anticipate, though, was how seriously our girls would take the game that night. I sensed women were competitive, but they took it to another level under the lights that Friday.

The 1962 “Blue and Gray” called the annual game a “feud.” Mary McCrory scored the first touchdown for the Powders and Cynthia Prado scored two, along with Mary Helen Carswell who put one in the end zone. Catherine Sears scored the solitary touchdown for the Puffs and we ended up losing by the unusual score of 25-6. Nobody cried, except the coaches.

It was a tough, grinding, head-butting, entertaining couple of hours that was an unexpected learning experience for all of us. I think the players learned they were up to the task and were able to do difficult things, things that hurt and that were patently ungirl-like.

We, their coaches or, better still, handlers, gained tremendous respect for the young women we mostly worshiped and had tried hard to impress, mostly unsuccessfully, during our years at Lee. Our secret was out. Girls could play our game. And they were darned good at it.

So, Sarah Fuller is no surprise. All, I can say, Sarah, is what took you so long?

The Original "Squad"

Team Captains Shake Hands

Going for the Score Powder Puff Game 1962

Powder Puff Coaches 1962

Powder Puff Cheerleaders 1962

Buddy Kellum
January 8, 2021
Mike Hoyt, great article. I was one of the cheerleaders. I remember it well!!

Marlene WALKER Thomas
January 7, 2021
I remember that game well. I was in it. Was a fun night. Our (Powder Puff game) was the last game in which tackles were allowed.

Sue EGNER Peterson
January 7, 2021
That was fun, Mike, thanks. I have a few pictures from that game. Part of the game, I was opposite Geneva Bethea and neither of us moved from our position while the game played around us. I couldn't move her and she couldn't move me. Hysterical to remember.
[Su - Send in the pics, I'll post them.]

Mike Hoyt
January 7, 2020

I believe that we as “coaches” learned two things. First, we didn’t have a clue as to what we were doing and, second, we completely underestimated the sheer courage, skill and tenacity of womanhood. The former didn’t do us much good. The latter has served me well through the years in business, in marriage and in life. Joan of Arc was not a myth.

I know now why women can do anything their make counterparts can do, and more. Fly jet airplanes. Run giant corporations. Fight wars. Lead countries. Pilot spacecraft. Anything. Including kicking extra points for the Commodores.

I am sorry you could not finish that game so long ago. We would have probably won.

Mary Rose McCRORY Plummer
January 7, 2021
I wish had missed the blackout, too! I wanted to continue playing. I’m glad Dr. Mendoza wasn’t there. I guess the administration thought girls were too nice to physically injure one another. We had them fooled in more ways than one, or so we thought.ary Rose McCRORY Plummer
January 7, 2021

Mike Hoyt
January 7, 2021

Hi Mary! Mike Seale forwarded your hilarious response to the LHS article about “our” game in 1962. I am still laughing at your story! Somehow I missed your blackout and now, 58 years later, let me apologize. Like I said in the piece, you all were tough as nails and driven to win far beyond many of the guys on the LHS men’s team. I hope you have had no lasting effects from this incident. After three seasons at Lee, I’ve never been quite right since. Or maybe because I wasn’t too sound to begin with.

We had a rule on the boys team, “please don’t let me pass out.” That’s because if we did, we would be attended to by Dr. Mendoza, who was a notorious quack. If you had a compound leg fracture, he’d tell you to “run it out” and get back in the game. We were afraid of an on-field amputation or worse at his hands. Be thankful he was not on hand for your game.

In any event, good for Sarah Fuller and for Vanderbilt for this overdue and exciting breakthrough.

Great to reconnect with you!

Mary Rose McCRORY Plummer
January 7, 2021
I had a call after this appeared on Mike’s blog. I had already read the article. My memories don’t include scoring a touchdown. I hope I did.

What I do remember - Joyce Kirby was our starting quarterback. I was her first backup - in other words, second string. Joyce took a hit so I was sent in. I called a play or two. I was hit hard carrying the ball. I returned to the huddle, called a play, clapped my hands to break the huddle, and fell over on my back. I was out cold for a couple of minutes. I remember opening my eyes and seeing a bunch of people staring at me. I didn’t get to play another play. Fortunately I’m kind of hard-headed and didn’t suffer any lingering consequences. (My kids would dispute the “fortunately” and “kind of”. They may also question the lingering effects.)

My alma mater is not known for football. If I had known what a trend setting school I was attending, I may have tried out for the team because of my high school experience! It took another 58 years for a girl to make the team and score. Way to go, Sarah Fuller!

Una HOWELL Pardue
January 7, 2021
What memories flooded back after reading this article! The Powder-Puff game was one of my best memories; it was such fun. Even knocking myself somewhat senseless against a blocking dummy didn’t matter. We wanted to win. Of course, I was a Powder, so my memories might be somewhat enhanced. There were never lovelier cheerleaders than the guys, and our coaches knew more than they thought. We, of course, knew nothing about football, so they seemed like geniuses to us. Thanks for the memories. Go Powders! 💕

Downtown Jacksonville, Florida 8 Jan 2021

Mike Seale
January 8, 2021
Dear Classmates,
This picture of Downtown Jacksonville was in this morning's Florida Times-Union. It has gone viral.

Richard "Dickie" Cason
January 2, 2021

These short video’s will blow you mind!

Use caution when swatting at mosquitos or gnats!

Drone technology used in modern warfare . . . frightening!
https://youtu.be/yzbs2fWEAXk

Drone technology used in firefighting . . . amazing!
https://youtu.be/UQnncJtrKEs

Announcing Plans for the Lee High School Class of 1962 60th Reunion

Dear Classmates,

It’s hard to believe, but it’s time to begin planning for our 60th reunion in 2022!

While we’re honored to once again chair our reunion committee, your ideas are vitally important to having a successful and memorable event. Toward that end, here are some initial ideas to get the ball rolling:

We will soon send out another "Survey Monkey" to assess any changes in preferences since the first survey was conducted shortly after our 55th. The responses will be compiled and serve as guidance to our Reunion Planning Committee.

We need volunteers! There will be plenty of work to go around, so your contributions to the effort will be most appreciated. Volunteers’ names will be listed in our Reunion Program when it is published. Volunteers, please email Mike Seale with your contact information.

Committee and sub-committee work will be conducted via telephone, text, email, and Zoom, especially while COVID-19 safety protocols are in effect. Whether you live in Anchorage, Alaska, like Terry Fortney; Orinda, California, like Libby GIRLINGHOUSE Bernard; or Atlanta, Georgia, like Ann WILSON Cramer, geographical location is no barrier. And what a great way to catch up with old friends in the meantime!

This is just the first step as we get underway with the planning process, so stay tuned.

All the best,

Bill Robinson & Mike Seale

* * * * *

A Message from Bill Robinson

April 23, 2018

Dear Classmates,

It was one year ago today that we gathered in Jacksonville to celebrate our 55th Lee High School Class of 1962 Reunion. Mike Seale and I, along with numerous committee members, did our best to see that everyone who attended had the best time possible. It appears that we succeeded, as the post-reunion survey was very positive, with most responding that they would be in favor of a 60th reunion in 2022.

Since the reunion, Mike, with assistance from many of you, has done a great job of updating and improving the ’62 Lee website, as well as communicating important information via email. This has been a great service for those of us who value learning about how our classmates are doing.

Once again, thanks to all of you who attended the 55th Reunion one year ago, and we hope we were able to rekindle some very happy memories and help you make a some new ones. We will stay in touch, and as 2022 approaches we’ll continue to talk with you about the possibility of a 60th Reunion. Let’s all do our best in the meantime to stay as healthy and happy as possible!

Best wishes,

Bill Robinson

PS. The never-before-seen video of The Highlanders performing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” at the 55th reunion is now on The Highlanders Page.

* * * * *

Survey responses from our 55th Reunion indicate a strong preference for a 60th Reunion. Bill Robinson, who was co-chairperson for the 55th structured the survey and analyzed the responses. Sixty-two percent of the questionnaires were returned, which, in itself, indicates a strong level of interest among Class of '62 attendees. As it stands, we plan to have a 60th reunion.

Next steps . . .

If you would like to be on the 60th Reunion Planning Committee or serve in another volunteer capacity, please contact Mike Seale via email (see Contact Us).
In 2020 planning activity will begin for our 60th:
- Volunteers will be contacted and communication lines will be established.
- One or more surveys will be conducted to assess preferences on a range of issues.
As the countdown to 2022 proceeds and the reunion schedule of events and program take shape, information will be shared on this web site, our Facebook Page, as well as emails to classmates.
Please keep your CONTACT INFORMATION up to date--especially your email address, update your PERSONAL NARRATIVE, and include a NOW PICTURE (see FAQs).

Ann Wilson Cramer new Co-Chair of 60th Reunion Committee

Bill Robinson regretably sends word that he has to step down as Chair of the Robert E. Lee Class of ‘62 Reunion Committee due to ongoing health issues. He said, “I know that Mike Seale and Ann Wilson Cramer will do a great job of chairing the reunion, as they have demonstrated in their past leadership positions. I hope to see everyone at Timuquana.”

While Bill has stepped down from his leadership role, he remains on the Committee and will continue to contribute his considerable talents as we proceed. All facets of the reunion plan are on track, thanks to his leadership.

Ann is assuming co-chairmanship of the Committee enthusiastically and has already been briefed on each of the sub-committee functions and their status. "I welcome the opportunity to work with Ann, and I know our Committee members will appreciate her hands-on style of event management," Seale said.

Reunion Registration Opens October 14

Attendance will cost $100 per person. Gift Fund contributions will be welcomed at the same time. All remittances should be payble to Lee High School Reunion Committee, in care of Mike Seale, 1045 Fairwood Run NW, Acworth, GA 30101.

Unbelievable Sounds of Nature (with thanks to Richard "Rick" Cason)

General Would Have Been Proud

Claudia Hart Mally’s Excellent Adventure!

HAPPY to just be ALIVE!

Georgia Classmates Celebrate Early at Wine & Cheese Party

September 10, 2023

* * * *

Authorities try to determine why Venice canal turned green

Italian authorities are looking into the causes of the abnormal water pigmentation around the landmark Rialto Bridge.

For the rest of the story, read on . . .

Forgetfulness

Saving Christmas

Joanne Griffin Caraway November 13, 2021

Bill Robinson November 13, 2021

* * * * * Su Egner Peterson November 6, 2021

* * * *

Bill Robinson November 5, 2021

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahaon November 5, 2021

Joanne Griffin Caraway November 5, 2021

Margaret DeHoff Stanley November 5, 2021

Susan Seaward Cravey October 14, 2021

You can find the channel, PBS Documentaries, on Prime for $4/month....my nirvana. Take care everyone.

Raymond Roy October 4, 2021

* * * *

Carolita Oliveros September 19, 2021

Donna Dryer Schorrak September 18, 2021

Bill Robinson September 18, 2021

Frank Ingle September 18, 2021

Men are Happy People

Susan Seaward Cravey September 18, 2021

Clyde Anderson September 13, 2021

* * * *

September 11, 2021

"We Will Never Forget!"

Mike Hoyt August 25, 2021

Ann Wilson Cramer new Co-Chair of 60th Reunion Committee

Reunion Registration Opens October 14

Georgia Classmates Celebrate Early
at Wine & Cheese Party

Joanne Griffin Caraway
November 13, 2021

Bill Robinson
November 13, 2021

* * * * *

Su Egner Peterson
November 6, 2021

*** * * ***

Bill Robinson
November 5, 2021

Mary Elizabeth Barker McMahaon
November 5, 2021

Joanne Griffin Caraway
November 5, 2021

Margaret DeHoff Stanley
November 5, 2021

Susan Seaward Cravey
October 14, 2021

Raymond Roy
October 4, 2021

Carolita Oliveros
September 19, 2021

Donna Dryer Schorrak
September 18, 2021

Bill Robinson
September 18, 2021

Frank Ingle
September 18, 2021

Susan Seaward Cravey
September 18, 2021

Clyde Anderson
September 13, 2021

Mike Hoyt
August 25, 2021