TLC #122 December 2, 2009
Dear Hearts and Gentle
People:
Good wishes to you from the old
hometown. I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are up to
Christmas preparations. We will have the annual Festival of Lights Parade
here on Friday. It is perhaps our most popular annual community
event.
One of our most faithful
readers and correspondents lived in Lexington when he was a cadet. Al
McCormick should be an honorary member of our Chamber and Tourism
Bureau.
I am attempting to generate a
little interest in Lexington. A former Mayor of Parkville, who is now a Platte
County Commissioner, is a friend and I have invited her and another Alderman of
Parkville to visit me while I am on the Wentworth campus. They are very active
in economic development at the city and county level, and I want them to see
some of the spirit that is alive in Lexington. Perhaps an outcome will be
discussions between those two and some Lexington officials about conditions in
both cities.
And we have another connection with
Parkville (besides resident JoAnn Oetting '56
Tognascioli). As Al knows, Wentworth and Park College
have linked to provide additional college courses which may be taken in
Lexington. It is possible to get a four-year degree through this program.
I received a
gentle reproach from Lucia Cope '59 Hulston for not
printing her very much appreciated offering in the last
issue:
Our LHS class of '59 had its 50th anniversary
reunion this year. We had a grand turnout and a marvelous time. I
was, however, appalled at how many had to read the words to our school
song, which, I understand, the young kids don't even sing anymore. I have
teasingly imagined that we could have been separated into groups: Stroke
survivors at this table, arthritics and joint replacement and surgeries folks at
that one; heart disease classmates in one corner, cancer survivors in the
other corner, and for those not limited to one category, please take the
seats right by the door; for all others, we've arranged seating close to
the bathrooms. Or, there could have been other seating assignments:
Table #1 for the vision and hearing impaired, #2 for those with color-enhanced
hair, #3 for those who still have hair, #4 for those who don't; table #5, the
smallest table of all, for those who can still fit into their band uniforms,
cheerleading outfits - tops and bottoms - prom dresses, etc; #6 for the women
who wore dresses and skirts. But I imagine for every class that gets
together after 50 years of graduation, those table designations could become
permanent.
Yes, we need laminated signs that
could be passed along to every class celebrating its 50th - or even
40th. Lucia continued:
Marlene and Sonny Oetting graciously
and deliciously hosted our Friday evening gathering in their beautiful home, and
Saturday we convened at Lexington's newest event space on Franklin.
Down the street we gazed at the carnival rides, fully convinced they were the
very same ones we used to enjoy, but with a new coat of paint. Hopefully some
who had cameras flashing will submit some pictures, but that would
require remembering to do so, so don't hold your breath.
We have been gathering formally en
masse every five years, but voted to continue more informally every three years
henceforth. Whatever, we will not let our connections go. The
organizing committee of Donna Swartz, Marlene Oetting, Frank Wansing,
Shirley Link, Jim Duvall and Gordon White put together a great booklet of
memories, and the decorations were amazingly time and place symbolic, including
such items as white gloves, neck scarves, Cherry Mashes,
etc.
Jimmie Lorantos brought on the tears
of remembrance with his amazing video montage, and the evening was simply too
short to be totally satisfactory. Since no gathering of those who grew up
in the 50's would be complete without some opportunity to dance, a bunch of us
adjourned to the Bottoms Up Tavern out on South St., where we treated all
those youngsters to the marvels of The Stroll and the Bop. The latter,
done by Molly Holman, left jaws agape - and not only from the young
ones!
In the course of the old stories, it
came to my attention that one chapter of Lexington's history hasn't yet - to my
knowledge - been recorded: Mr. Cameron's organizing, coaching and
managing the Blue Birds softball team, and a basketball team as well.
Can't remember the name of it, but in order to attend a national tournament in
Buffalo, NY, the girls planted many of the trees in the city lake area to raise
funds. Mr. Cameron was a driving force in the Lions Club, and all those
clubs might be interesting subjects of future TLC's.
Lucia, check the archives. I do
believe we covered the Blue Birds history in some long-past issue.
She added:
(There were tales of skinny dipping at various
places in Lexington, but I'd be surprised if many of your readers would be
prepared to "fess up.")
Skinny dipping in Lexington? Surely
not!
Bette Phipps '59
Thomas chimed in also:
A great time was had by all at our recent '59
reunion and my grateful thanks go out to Marlene and Sonny Oetting for hosting
us Friday evening in their beautiful Victorian, and for all the work (the heavy
lifting!) undertaken by the reunion committee: Donna Bertz Swartz,
Marlene Stigall Oetting, Frank Wansing, Shirley Jiovenale Link, Jim
Duvall, and Gordon White. Jim Lorantos also presented a panoramic video display
of our years at LHS (and earlier times) that brought back many wonderful
memories and for me, at least, the perplexing question: was I ever really THAT
young?
Yes, Dear, you were. My grandmother
told me.
And while we are on sensitive
topics, an anonymous correspondent wrote:
With regard to the fire at Las
Carretas restaurant, most will remember over the door in stone was
"Lexington Office" up until it became The Brewery
Restaurant. What I understood was that this building was
"the Office" for the Lexington Brewery, which is where MO Pub had their
warehouse across from Walker's Drug Store for many years. There were also
supposed to be tunnels from the brewery to several other buildings to the south,
but not sure which ones. I think when they excavated for the Theater
complex, there were some tunnels revealed, but not sure. Also in the Beiler
Grocery building which was on the Southeast corner of 11th & Franklin, there
was not only a basement, sub-basement, but one under that too. Not sure
whether this was connected with the Brewery at one time or not.
This may all be true. Another item
of interest: it was the custom in the "old days" to raze a building and then
build a new structure on top of the old one. This has brought forth many
interesting "archeological" discoveries years later. Yes, there were tunnels
discovered when the Cannonball Six Theatre parking lot was built. Someone please
send details.
That building was the site of an
FBI raid during Prohibition. Details are available.
On the subject of Reunions,
this arrived from Doug '73 Booker:
I suppose the unfortunate fire
at Las Carretas will result in the need to find another venue for the
'73 reunion.
And I suppose they did get
together, but have not yet received any reports. Hmmm...does this
mean the Class of '59 is sharper than the Class
of '73?
Lexington Historian
Jim '49 O'Malley solved a mystery:
The Franklin Ave.
establishment (mentioned in issue #121), "Jim's Restaurant," was operated
by Jim Hughes, the husband of Catherine (Cathy) Nicola Hughes of
Lexington. Jim died two years ago. I ate there several times
and the food quality and variety were amazing. Wish it were
still operating!
Lexington
lost a valued citizen on Thanksgiving. George W.
Stier passed away just prior to his 90th birthday. He loved
Lexington, and Lexington love him.
And we lost
yet another valued alum a few weeks ago:
|
Effie
Boldridge was an associate professor at Howard University in
Washington, D.C. I believe Dr. Boldridge was a member of the class of '61? Her
older sister Irma lives in
Connecticut.
Some good news
arrived from Barbara Tabb '55 Jarman:
I just wanted to send along a note
that I got through the surgery okay and am back home. I guess I'm a
little worse for wear - got 6" incision on the left side of my neck,
and my voice has dropped about 6 octaves. That's because of the tube
they put down my throat - had more soreness from that than anything.
But, they've told me to expect soreness for about a week to 10 days from
the incision. I've got some pain pills that should do the trick
while I need them. I do appreciate all the kind words of
concern, and the prayers, of course. It's good to have it over
with. |
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