TLC #108: March 23, 2008
Dear Hearts & Gentle
People:
Happy Easter! The calendar
says Spring in the old hometown, and the sun is shining. But it's still pretty
chilly. Nevertheless, plants are peeking their noses out of the ground, and
we're confident it will arrive eventually.
Lots of nostalgia in the
air here. On Thursday night we had our Tall Tales & Short Stories of
Lexington meeting. These are always interesting and most of the time great fun.
Thursday was a reunion of sorts. The subject was Great Athletes of Lexington
Part 2, and many former athletes were present, from a variety of
decades.
Part 2 became necessary
when we couldn't cover it all during Part 1. And guess what the April 17
topic will be...Great Athletes of Lexington Part 3! As you know we have had some
outstanding years/seasons in many different sports, and the Glory Days are
always fun to discuss.
We had Meredith Stephenson
and John "Mooney" Rostine from the 40s, Wally Hulver from the 50s,
Coach Tom Hayes from the 60s, Coach Bob Mitchell from the 70s, State Champion
Wrestler Danny Knapp from the 80s, Joe Aull covering several years as well
as some non-school sports; and Slick Heathman from any decade you can think
of. It was a great night.
If you visit our web pages
you'll see some of those old-timers gathered together. There were a lot of
laughs and there were a few tears. Thanks to "Snaps" Hulver for continuing to
document Lexington events.
Tall Tales & Short
Stories meets at our Mexican restaurant, Las Carretas, at 6 p.m. for
approximately an hour on the third Thursday of every month. Everyone is
welcome.
Wally also sent along some
St. Patrick's Day Parade and post-parade photos. It was a mighty chilly day, but
the Parade went on!
Also at the website are
some wonderful old photos of places long gone, many thanks to Mary Kay Wilcoxon
Gooseman and Mary Pat Gueguen Miller, who dug the pictures out for their
Class of '58 reunion which will take place in
October.
But first, the
mail!
A delightful note (and
surprise on the website) arrived a few weeks ago from Norman & Sophie
Vialle, original proprietors of Maid-Rite. One of the rituals of
attending Lexington Jr-Sr High School (later Lexington Middle School and
later demolished) at 16th & Main was lunch at Maid-Rite. It would be packed,
wall-to-wall people, during lunch and after games. And when we were finally able
to drive, Maid-Rite was a great hang-out at the drive-in. They didn't mind if we
sat there for two hours drinking two 5-Cent cokes, visiting with our friends,
and watching to see who was cruising Main. Our friends were the
carhops, and the only one I ever heard of who left them a tip was Bobby Price.
They still served with good humor, which they probably picked up from the
proprietors.
Sophie wrote that she and
Norman enjoy receiving TLC because it makes them feel closer to "home." And
that's the whole purpose.
When we look back at all the
years at the Maid-Rite, we have so many wonderful memories. The faithful
customers who were our dear friends and neighbors for 50 years made it fun - not
work.
Many of you worked with us and
later allowed your children and grandchilden to do the same.
Each one has a tale to tell when
we see them now, and it is quite humorous what they remember and confess to.
No one knows or appreciates the
caring people in Lexington more than our family. The realization that nothing
lasts forever come to everyone sooner or later.
There is no place on earth that
has a greater history of good, caring honest people. We have to come home often
to get that "good warm feeling."
Thought we would include one
incident (of many) that happened during those 50 years.
Don't miss it, Kids. It
says Lexington like few things do.
From Doug '73
Booker:
Good to see this Tall Tales is
still going on! I am now in Bella Vista, Arkansas, and am going to do what
I can to get back there for the next one and see some friends. Sure
enjoyed my short stint in Lexington, before getting run out of town :))))
I am going to drag along a few buddies for that one on Athletes--ought to be
some others interested in that topic, and ol' coach Mitchell. Hope all is
well in your world, keep up the good work.
Well, he didn't make Session 1 OR Session 2, so the pressure
is on now, Doug.
From Shirley Briggle '53
Miller:
Several years ago when our class
of '53 were included in a reunion of five classes, Larry Bland '57 won the
golf trophy for that day. At the evening gathering, Coach Bill Hamann was
our guest, and made a speech about his boys. He said he had coached
many fine athletes in his time, but the best one was -- Larry
Bland.
Larry's name came up
several times in our Tall Tales & Short Stories sessions too. Larry,
write and let us know what you're doing.
Mike '51 McDonald wrote:
We are shocked and saddened by
the passing of Harriet Skelton. We will miss her. Mike & Bobbie
McDonald
Several
people wrote notes which I forwarded to Mary Kay and
Charlotte.
I talked Webmaster Bob
'58 Ball into letting me print the first reminiscence to arrive
regarding doctors in Lexington. That's a topic we're seeking memories of, so
send more in.
First, I want to say that thanks to your
plug for the '58 reunion site, we had a most remarkable number of visitors!
There's a definite spike in the traffic reports for the day after the latest
TLC. Think of the power you have at your
fingertips! Frightening!
Woo-woo!!!
My family used Dr. Payne rather than Dr.
Brasher. Of course, I knew who he was because I knew Sally and Judy. And
also he was the "on call" doctor at the LHS home football games. But
medical care was much different in those days. I remember that sometime
around the 4th or 5th grade, say 1950 or 1951, I sprained my wrist.
This was in late afternoon, and I whimpered all evening until my parents
figured I needed to be seen to. Nowadays, or even 40 years ago, that
would mean a trip to the ER/Outpatient Clinic. But in those days, my
parents just called Dr. Payne's number and he came out to the house around 7:30
in the evening and made up a splint of folded corrugated cardboard and cloth
strips to tie it on. And a small sling out of a dish towel. And that
was that. Pain went away, and Dr. Payne probably received something like
$5. No paper work. Yup, a lot different.
Young people will not grasp
how it was then. House calls were common. A visit to Dr. Betty was $2! But she
may have charged more for a housecall. Bob continued:
Dr. Smith was our dentist and had his
office just down the hall from Dr. Payne's office. That was on the top
floor above Hix Brothers. (Later Cox's Corner and now Lexington Antique Company)
I remember the flight of stairs up to the offices was long and dark and of
absolutely no comfort when you had to go up them. Because you were either
going to the dentist (which hurt a lot more in those days) or you were going to
the doctor and he'd probably give you a shot. Talk about
dread!
Or a door farther west you
would have been going to Miss Bess Graves' apartment for a piano lesson. More
dread if you hadn't practiced!!!
Dentists in those days did not have the high speed drills
that they use now. The drills were belt driven and I remember one occasion when
Dr. Smith was drilling in order to fill a cavity in one of my teeth.
Things were not going well, even though Mary Jo Smith ('53), whom I
remember as a very pretty girl, was assisting her father and should have been a
distraction! But I was not happy. In
desperation, Dr. Smith put a couple wads of cotton on the drill's spring belt
and tried to get me to "watch the rabbits going round and round!" Oh,
yeah, that took my mind off the pain.
Bob's memories are
so like mine, and I'm guessing many of you have them too! I remember
climbing those stairs, walking down that hallway....and why didn't our parents
take us? I always took my children for doctor and dentist visits. We were
actually quite mature to remember to go there after school or
whenever.
One time - I think I was 11
- I was sitting in my living room, in exactly the spot I often sit now, and
it was time for me to go for a piano lesson. It was February, close to my
birthday, weather was awful...but it never occurred to me to ask to be driven. I
was just getting ready to go when I (for some unknown reason) lifted my shirt. I
had broken out in measles! It was one of the happiest moment of my life!
There is a story about a
girl getting hurt - perhaps a broken wrist? - at the Catholic School. One of the
other girls walked her down to the doctor's office. Can you imagine that
taking place now? I need help identifying the girls, but I believe one was Judy
Ussery '58 Johnston. Somebody tell me.
Laveda Coskey Cross' note is
a little dated, but I'm sure the photos are still
available.
Congressman Skelton hosted a reunion at his Lexington
home for the class of 1949 on Saturday February 2, 2008. Go to cooleypics.com and you can see
pictures from the reunion. Click on "Photo gallery" and
then "Reunions". There
are some really good ones and you are able to order them from the website.
If you know of any one who might be interested, please let them know about the
website. Susan, Maybe the TLC would be a good
link to some that might be interested in viewing the
pictures.
From Marian Johnson '59
Buchanan:
I have missed receiving the TLC... Somehow I
stopped getting them. I do have a new
address. Please try putting me back on
your Send list.
Of course I was happy to do so...which brings up a subject I've
been meaning to mention. If you change your address, please remember to let me
know. I suspect I was the culprit in Marian's case, but if you want to stay on
the list, be sure to keep me current. Marian is back in good standing, and has
made several trips to our website in the meantime, so she has caught
up.
And from Kendall
"Mickey" Conger '51, who reinforces my plea:
Hello, Susan-Looks like I've been
dropped from the TLC email list again. The last one I received was probably a
year ago. As a long time resident of Lexington (1939 thru 1953) and a 1951
graduate (kind of) of LHS, I really enjoyed them. Could you please include
me on the TLC distribution list again ? And maybe bring me up to date on
missed issues?
I
did. And he wrote back:
Susan, many thanks for getting me
back in the loop!! TLC #107 came through fine, also. Keep up the good
work.
Some of
you may remember that my server decided I was a spammer and shut down my
transmissions to you. I had to cut the list into 3 different mailings. And now
I'm going to have to cut it into 4 different mailings. It worries me, because
that's how some folks got dropped last time. I try to write once a month, but
(like this time) it's been two months. Still, if you go a period of time without
receiving one, please check with me or one of your friends on the
list.
Till next time I
remain,
Your devoted
scribe,
Susan
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