The LEHS Class of 1958
Maroon & Black Threads
February 2008
Published in Greenville SC
By Rex Redmon
Greetings to all Class of 58 Maroon Devil Classmates in the US, the Netherlands and Korea.
I hope everyone is fairing well despite
all the harsh and unpredictable weather we are experiencing this winter here in the states. If any of you
have a newsworthy weather story you would like to share with your classmates please pass it along to me. Sensationalism
of a traumatic weather experience is not my goal. However, sharing interesting experiences such as helping with clean-up after
a bad weather experience is newsworthy.
You will notice I included Korea in my greeting as a place where a fellow classmate resides. It is my understanding Theo Clark lives in Korea. Information obtained from Theo’s sister who lives in Spartanburg, SC, by Pippa Clark Dolen, our people finder from the Class of 59, states that Theo retired from the Air Force
and lives in Korea where he is married to a Korean lady. I have written to Theo
via e-mail and am waiting for his response. I have also learned he is returning to the states in June of
this year.
Lucy Eaton Jonckheere is our Netherlands representative. Lucy
lives in Holland and is planning to attend the reunion—that is, she will attend under certain
conditions known only to the two us.
Paul Thomas and Gwen Richardson Redmond
live in Hawaii. Gwen lives with a son and has some health concerns. Paul is a regular
communicator by e-mail. He and I recently shared stories about our grammar school days at Grace School.
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We now have 263 classmates reading the class newsletter. Members of
the Steering Committee divided the names of those classmates who do not have personal PCs and are copying and mailing the
newsletter to those classmates. Each Steering Committee member has about ten names each for whom they are responsible. If
any of you want to participate in forwarding a copy of the newsletter to other classmates, please let me
(Rex Redmon @ Redhrex13@aol.com) know and we will share the pleasure with you. I will furnish you with a list of four or five names.
As
a result of mailing the newsletter to those classmates without PCs, many of the Steering Committee members, who mail the newsletter;
have received phone calls from their adopted classmate thanking them for the newsletter. Francis Arnette, who has had some
serious health concerns for the past ten years, called me two weeks ago and we talked for over an hour catching up. Edward
McDowell, “Possum”, called Sidney Mitchell and they had a great conversation for 45 minutes. The
spirit of reuniting is catching folks, so come along and hop on board.
Also,
we have seven new classmates to add to our e-mail network as a result of mailing the newsletters. Welcome Sarita Krickhan
DeRamus. (skkderamus@hotmail.com), Theo Clark @ buddyray26@gmail.com, Judy Erwin Kuykendall @ JKuykendall@nc.rr.com, Larry Freeman @ LKFree65@yahoo.com, Joe DiBacco, who now lives in Greensboro, is at jdibacco@triad.rr.com, Arthur Cheek is at alcheek@charter.net and Janice Gehres Dillon @ jdillon221@mybluelight.com.
Sarita sent a nice e-mail from Selma, Alabama,
telling me she is looking forward to receiving more information about the reunion. She is looking forward
to September and is looking for someone in her area of the world with whom she can ride to the reunion.
Janice
Gehres Dillon who lives in Sun City Center, Florida, sent a nice card expressing
appreciation for the class website and all the work the Steering Committee is doing. She is in the process of rearranging
her schedule to be in Asheville in September.
Carol Anne Freeman also sent a nice
card from Asheville and expressed a desire to mail the newsletter to friends in Asheville.
She contacted Betty Anne Ray Richardson in Texas after seeing her photo in the Newsletter. Carol Anne and Betty
Anne were childhood friends and Carol Anne says, We had a wonderful long visit on the phone. I love it folks when
I hear news such as this. It makes my job worthwhile.
George Couch sent along an interesting
report about former Hall Fletcher Coach., Joe Eblen, which will interest those of you who attended that Jr. High on the other
side of the river. George participated in an awards ceremony where Coach Eblen was presented with the “Order
of the Long Leaf Pine”, a very prestigious award previously bestowed to men like Andy Griffith, Charles Kuralt and Hugh
Morton, owner of grandfather Mountain. Coach Eblen was honored for his outstanding charitable work in WNC
through Eblen Charities. The list of his charitable contributions both physically and monetarily is indeed a thing worthy
of honor. Men such as Dean Smith, Brad Doughtery, Dan Ackroyd, Brad Johnson and hundreds of other celebrities have answered
his call when needed.
Barbara June Sorrells Cleaton announces she has a new web site
for you ladies who are battling breast cancer,or are a breast cancer survivor. Barbara is such a survivor and asks you to
look in at www.bcsurvivor.us. It is a neat web site.
Elaine McPherson Cole continues to reap
benefits as a good will class ambassador. Recently Elaine attempted to reach classmate Ernest Fox by phone
when we did the every classmate canvas and was unable to reach him. Determined to make contact, Elaine
noticed Ernest lived not far from her place of business, “Stitch in Time”, on the Sweeten Creek Road. She gathered her husband in her car for moral support and drove to Ernest’s house.
Was she surprised to find two identical Fox men peering at her from the front door! Ernest and his twin
brother, Ellis, live together. The twins were actually members of the Class of 57. However, Ernest loved
LEHS so much he returned and graduated with the Class of 58. Both Ernest and Ellis plan to attend the reunion.
Congratulations to classmate Jane Jenkins Merrill who is celebrating her 50th Wedding anniversary. Not
too many of us made it fifty years Jane. Way to go!
I received a call from B. L Coleman,
a member of our Steering Committee a couple of weeks ago. He is off in the world enjoying his retirement.
He is presently in Florida and has plans to travel next to Texas, New Mexico
and Arizona. B.L., who loves in nearby Mauldin,
SC, has plans to join us again in May.
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Please allow me to take a moment to
thank each of you who have sent donations to offset expenses for our 50th Class Reunion. Our
class accountant, Ken Cooper, has crunched numbers to infinity and Ken is to be commended for keeping his pencil sharp as
he keeps the cost of the reunion to a minimum. Two classmates in particular who sent donations suggested
if every classmate, who has not yet made a donation, would send at least $20.00; we could easily meet our financial goals.
What about it folks? Would you overwhelm Ken and me during the next two weeks with $20.00 donations? Of course we will always
accept larger donations as well. Too, we will print your name in GOLD
in the Class Directory that will be distributed at the reunion. Wouldn’t it be nice if we
printed everyone’s name? Write you checks today to the ”LEHS Class of 58
Reunion” and send it toLEMail ; Rex Redmon, 11 Cantera Circle, Greenville,
SC, 29615 or Ken Cooper, 240 Balfer Drive, Greenville, SC 29615
In particular, we have received very
generous donations from at least 8 classmates and those donations have helped make the $1,100.00 deposits for the Country
Club of Asheville and The Renaissance Hotel Ball Room where our reunion events will be held. But there are extra expenses
such as hiring a DJ, postage and paper for future mailings, and buying materials for decorations for the event.
As a reminder, please do not hesitate to make you hotel/motel
reservations in Asheville ASAP for the reunion. A list of available hotels and motels are listed on the web site. Click on
Asheville Hotel Accomodations. For those of you who do not have PCs you will receive the list along
with you next newsletter. We presently have 11 classmates registered at the Renaissance.
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As you read this month’s newsletter on the web site please take note of the two new pages added to the
web site index. A neat poem titled, “The
Land of Sandra Dee”, was sent by Jane Harrell Tolley and I have devoted 1½ pages to the poem.
For instance;
Oh, there was truth and goodness in the Land where we were born,
Where
no one thought of body piercing and only Peyton
Place was Porn,
For Ike was in
the White House, and Hoss was on TV
And God was in His Heaven in the Land
of Sandra Dee.
Another new page is titled “Asheville High Renovations”, and is an article
that appeared recently in the Asheville Citizen Times. The article is written about a $10,000,000.00
renovation project to the School. These pages will also be mailed to those without PCs. I have removed
the memorial page to Mrs. McDevitt as it has served its purpose to notify everyone of her passing.
Also, have you noticed the number of hits we have on the web site since its inception one year ago? We have over
4,717 hits as of February 21st. Thank you for checking out the web site and for making this project worth
while.
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The nostalgic photos of old Asheville I sent to everyone on February 14 created many positive comments from Classmates, including comments from a member of the Class of 55 and one from
a member of the Class of 49. Those two particular comments will follow the comments from members of the Class of 58.
Rex,
where in the world did you get these photo's, they are priceless, and bring back so much, especially Pritchard Park, Thanks
Rex.
Molly Alexander
Thanks for the great photos, Rex. I loveeeee looking at
old photographs of Asheville. Our city has changed so much, but we can be proud of the progress we
are making now. It has taken years since the malls were created, but our revitalization is finally paying off.
My Spouse and I browse about town on most of the pretty days, and the streets are loaded with folks. Also, not
seeing as many flower children as we were not so many years ago.
It will be interesting to see what our out-of-town classmates think about all of the changes. I so hope
they will be pleased.
Anne (Anne Beckham Ewald)
Wow!! I love these! Makes me kinda wish for some of the "good
old days" ???
Jane (Jane Harrell Jolly)
Rex, Thank
you so much for these special pictures. Of course the one most meaningful to me is our family business, Dunham's
Music House, burning down. We really thought that we were financially ruined! Henry's father was in their
winter home in FL and he had to call and tell him the bad news. I was in my car on the way to pick up our little girls
at West Asheville Baptist, they were
at Preschool Choir Practice, and I heard the news on the car radio!! When I got to the church the sec. told me Henry was ok
and no employees were hurt. BUT all of our Accounts Receivables were left out on desks in office and we had no records of
what people owed us. Mickey Hoyle's dad was so great to us, he set up an office for us in just a few days in an
empty store front right across Pritchard Park. Then we set up in
our Service Department store on Biltmore Avenue, so that we could at least make phone calls, write letters, etc.(There
is a fancy Pizza area there now) Our faith in people was greatly restored as many came to us and told us how much they
owed. This fire was on my daughter's 3rd birthday!!
Strangely enough,
I was going thru some old files and came across the old newspaper clippings of the fire. Thanks again for all you and
the committee are doing for our class.
Bette (Bette Wilson McClain)
Rex,
The original Bon Marche which
was photographed in the 1920's actually was later the same building which became Ivey's. This is a rather sordid story
which I can tell you about if you are interested. Bon Marche then moved across the from Haywood in about 1935; this is the Bon Marche we remembered in the 1940s
and 1950s. Sears moved to Coxe Avenue
in 1948 I believe.
The Emporium which was photographed during a fire became
the Plaza Theatre when we were there. Do you remember the Blue Bird soda fountain next door to the Plaza? We used to get snacks/drinks
after school, walking from David Millard. Best,Don (Don Printz)
Rex,
Wow. Great pic's. Thanks so much. Hopefully someone will supply more.
Bob Gamble
Thank you Rex - wonderful to see some of those old pictures - I loved Ivey's and Bon Marche, etc. My grandmother
used to take me to lunch at the S & W too :)
(Sandy Setzer Rau)
Hello Rex! I received the wonderful pictures of old Asheville. They were priceless! I recognized every place except the West Asheville picture before I read the explanation. Once I read about
the W. Asheville picture, I remembered it. I went to William
Randolph and No! I did not know it had been a prison! I hated to see that building torn down. I went three years
there, three at Claxton for my elementary years. They really brought back memories. I remember Prichard Park
that crowded on many an afternoon and there wasn't a fire! Thank you for sharing the pictures and creating the memories.
I have made my reservations at the Renaissance and have received my confirmation. This makes
it a reality. I asked my sister to ride with me. She contacted a couple of her high school friends, and lo and
behold, the class of 50 is having their annual Fall "picnic" as a luncheon some where on that Saturday.
Now she's as excited as I am! Bette Ann Ray Richardson
Hello.....My brother, Paul Thomas sent me a copy of the early Asheville photos and they were much appreciated. Please put me on your mailing list if you print more and
for your publication which I don't quite understand what it is. I have at least one friend who would also like to
be on your list for photos.
Ross Thomas.......Class of 1955 and now living in Texas
Hi Rex: I am Ruthie Sevier Foster LEHS class of '49, older sister of Joe, Caroline, Mont and Bob Sevier. Mont forwarded the photos
to me and I am thrilled to get them because I am working on our family history which has quite a few generations rooted
in Asheville.
I am always looking for illustrations
to the family stories which are contained in my writing. (I am doing this for my family and not for publication!)
.
If there is any way I can help you with ideas for your reunion (I was the chair of our 50th.) or your family history,
please don't hesitate to ask. Are you related to Carolyn Redmon who was in my class?
Thanks so
much.
Ruthie (Ruthie’s comments are paraphrsed)
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Following are a couple of neat web sites you perhaps
will enjoy. They are about the age of innocence (the 1950s), and abnout the patriotism we all shared during those,our formable
and impressionable years.
You may need to watch the first one three times; once to watch the Burma Shave signs change, and once to catch all the neat pictures, plus once to listen
to the music of the Statler Brothers. For any of you who are too young to remember; "too bad you missed it!!" Enjoy!! The second site is Red Skelton at his best with
the Pledge Of Allegiance. http://cruzintheavenue.com/DYRT.htm & http://patriotfiles.org/Pledge.htm
(PS: It interesting how many of the "Do you
remember these" things are 'back')
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Results of February Steering Committee Meeting on the 19th
follow. The meeting began with 11
committee members present, two spouses and one new classmate, Loretta Jarvis Sanders of Franklin, NC, joined us. Five committee
members were unable to attend the meeting for various reasons.
After a time
for socializing and dinner, we began our meeting at 7:00. Topics of discussion for the evening included a report from
the Food Committee, chaired by Jennie Lazenby Padgett. Ken Cooper followed with a financial report and your committee moderator
conducted the rest of the meeting as we discussed various reunion topics.
Jennie
gave us an excellent report with regard to the food we will be eating at all reunion events. While
not giving the entire present away without the package it came in, let me say the food menus are superb for all venues. We
will have three course dinners both Friday and Saturday evenings at the Country Club of Asheville and The Renaissance Hotel
in Downtown Asheville. Entrees will include a choice of two meats. Of course, Friday evening’s dinner will be buffet
style while dinner at the Renaissance will be served table side with some items preset.
Imagine if you will, Chilled Cucumber and Tomato Salads, Fresh Garden Green Salads with choice of dressings, Frisee
Salad w/Roquefort and Sherry Vinaigrette Dressing, Honey Pecan Chicken, Fillet of Mountain Trout, Chicken Marsala (topped
with mushrooms and Prosciutto and Marsalla Wine Sauce) Tender Beef Tips with Noodles, a wide selection of fresh vegetables
for each dinner, plus the Chef’s selection of homemade breads and finally, some of the most appetizing and appealing
deserts imaginable. For instance, a Fall Crisp consisting of fall fruits, i.e., apples/raisins/cranberries and topped with
oatmeal and brown sugar served with a generous scope of ice cream on the side. And, other deserts will consist of Apple Carmel
Pies and warm Chocolate Cake.
The menu for Saturday’s catered box lunch at the school
allows for a selection of Roast Beef or Turkey sandwiches served on the chef’s own Focaccia bread (a flat, round sandwich
roll—whole wheat optional) with a side item of Fire Roasted Corn & Garbanzo Salad, and for desert, a Naked Oreo
Cookie (the chef’s own creation) with a variety of drinks.
Ken Cooper’s
reunion costs are looking better and better each meeting. However, we are not yet ready to give a final cost per person until
the end of March after we have counted all donations. I will add, the final cost will include all food, service charges, taxes,
bar facilities, (not your alcoholic drinks themselves, but the bartenders and the use of the bar) and some minor miscellaneous
expenses depending on our final tally of donations.
Co
Chairs of the Hospitality Committee, Patsy Farmer Jones and Jo Anne Dalton Vaughn and members of their committee are starting
to make name tags for classmates. Classmate name tags will of course have their senior high photo on the
tag. The committee will not begin to make “significant other” name tags until information sheets are received.
“Significant other” tags will be a different color tag from the classmate tags so it will be easy to distinguish
who is who, as I’m sure the majority of us will not look the same as we did fifty years ago.
Elaine McPherson Cole and Jo Ann Chandley Elliott, Co Chars of the Decorations Committee are in the
process of buying their supplies for table decorations for both dinners.
The Program and Entertainment committee made up of Ken Cooper, Sidney Mitchell, Bill Morris and myself, will meet
soon to select an appropriate DJ who is familiar with the music and current events of the 1950s. We will also plan Saturday
evening’s program. Friday Evening is for reserved for socializing, reuniting and getting reacquainted.
Pippa Clark, our Class of 59 detective, reports we are still looking for one classmate who seems
to be in hiding. Bob Cunningham, whose last known address was in Chevy Chase, Maryland,
cannot now be located. If you have information to share about Bob please let us know.
Our next Steering Committee dinner/meeting will be held Tuesday evening at 6:00,
March 18, at Kelsey’s Restaurant in Hendersonville. All classmates are welcome to sit in on the meeting.
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As I conclude this month’s LEHS Class of 58 Maroon and Black Threads, let me thank each of you who
sent news and comments. This is your newsletter; your network of communicating to the rest of the Class of 58.
If you have some news or comments you want to share with the class at large, please send your comments to me and I
will try to place it the next issue, space available.
Until March, take care and remember
in your prayers those classmates who have health issues. Also, classmate Jim Cathcart had an adult daughter
who unexpectedly passed away recently, so let’s all remember Jim and his family in our prayers as well.
My Best Regards to Each of You,
Rex
PS
I hate to end the newsletter on a sad note, but as I was getting ready to post the newsletter to the web site tonight, I received
the following e-mail. The e-mail says it all.
Kind sir-
Just a note to advise that in April of 2004, your classmate Arthur
Edward Turbyfill, Sr., of Mount Holly, NC, passed away. You have me,
his oldest child, on your mailing list in his stead. I know he remembered his days at Lee Edwards fondly. My mother,
Mary Kay Radford Turbyfill, (Class of 59) has attended at least one reunion. She spoke of her experience there with
joy. I hope you will continue to be in touch with her at her current home in Acworth,
GA.
I wanted to notify you of this so you could update your records
accordingly. Thank you for remembering him, and I wish you all the best in the years to come.
Arthur
Edward Turbyfill, Jr.
Raleigh,
NC
