January  2002
Volume II, Issue 1

Allen O’Briant continues in therapy, Annie Ruth’s husband, Bob, continues to need constant attention and Mickey Sellers is pretty much homebound as he takes the chemo treatment. Margie Gibson Crabtree is typing with one hand for she is recovering from some surgery on her hand. Mary Ann Wills Welty is doing much better in recent weeks. Too, Moby Manchack and John Watson are both doing very well in post recovery.

Luther Laminack has a new grandchild. First grandson. Okay, Lamo, no more excuses. You finally have something to write about.

Don and Lory Kaye have moved to Lake Livingston and we are in need of a new address. We want to find out from them when we can all come for a visit.

Gerald Buckley loves trouble. He is a candidate for county commissioner again.

Ann and I were in New York in December. While there we had dinner with Vivian O’Shaughnessy. You may recall that Bennie Marie had written earlier about Vivian. Vivian told us a lot more than I wanted to hear about the attack. As you might have heard, she was right in the middle of it. She offered to take us down to Ground Zero. Ann wanted to go but I begged off. I guess that I wish to stay in denial.

Vivian and Ann had a lot to talk about re school business since Ann is a school administrator but mostly Vivian is excited about buying a condo. I won’t tell you the price or you will all want to rush up there and buy one. Whatever, it is a great building and a great location. Yes, it needed lots of attention but that is part of Vivian’s fun. And, gang, there is now room enough for us all.

We did see the New York version of the Rockettes and, and, yes, you guessed it, it was much better than Branson. I won’t spoil it with the details for you should try to see the shows and judge for yourselves. Just this. The three dimension sleigh ride keeps you bobbing around in your seats as you try to keep from getting hit by the presents that are falling out of the sleigh as it flies all over Manhattan.

Mickey is a good friend from our class of ’54. His illness prompts me to want to include some thoughts about him and the wonderful days gone by. I am thinking of planning a Mickey Quiz for you. How about:

Where did Mickey go to elementary school?

How did he get there?

Who was Mickey’s cheerleader partner?

What kind of car was Mickey’s first?

What was unique about that car?

Who was Mickey’s favorite girl in the Class of ’54?

But, then, I thought that you would all know the answers to all of the questions about Mickey for he was such a popular boy. He was a buddy to me as we washed cars, worked on cars and drove around in cars (and truck). Mickey hauled a lot of us around before we all finally got wheels. And, fun we did have. Fun like riding around in that pickup truck with a load of boys in the back singing at the top of their voices. I wonder who would admit to doing such? And, who could name the songs that we always sang? I always joked about our gang being more backwards that American Graffiti and I believe that the singing pickup truck proves it. Why, if they had put that into the movie nobody would have believed it.

Margie writes a note for us about the cheerleader Mickey and Winston Hamby writes about Mickey as the teacher’s pet. Did this have something to do with that sweet cherubic face of his? He did seem very innocent, didn’t he? And, I write a story of how the ice show came to South Park and made a hero out of Mickey.

Our closing story is a true one from Moby who seems to have a knack for mysteries. Who is the mystery boy from this month’s story?

MICKEY SELLERS - that name takes me back a long time ago, a time when the only cares we had involved how we were going to fit in all our activities and still have time to study. Back then, my activities included cheerleading, and Mickey was my partner on the squad. We were also members of the Good Sportsmanship League who greeted representatives from other teams that we played.

Mickey was a fun-loving, personable guy who tried out for cheerleader and was elected by the student body. I remember the pep rallies, the shirttail parades down Highland Avenue, the bonfires, and the football games in all kinds of weather. Mickey could be close to his friends on the field and the sidelines, and was there to explain to some of us what was happening on the field.

Those were carefree, fun-loving times when most of us were serious about our studies and cared about each other with a passion. I suppose that's why we still want to stay in touch and why we hurt when one of us from the Class of '54 is in need of our love and concern.

Mickey, it's been a long time, but my memories of those great times definitely include you and all the happy times of our teen years. I wish you the very best.  
Marjorie Gibson Crabtree jfarm@jas.net

I have one special memory of Mickey.  You see, I was in the Class of '53 so I was not in many classes with Mickey.  However, we did manage to be together in Carl Dillon's Algebra I Class  (It was going to be Carl Dillon or Katherine Bailey.  I chose Dillon although for Algebra II, I went with Bailey).

Anyway, Mickey sat right in front of Carl Dillon's desk.  Mickey could wisecrack, talk back and just cutup in general.  Dillon loved every minute of it.  You see, Mickey was the teacher's pet.

I sat toward the back of the room between Larry Gardener and Billy Halfin.  That part of the room was a troubled spot.  I think Halfin got me into more trouble than any three other people I have ever known.

Well, when Mickey would start wisecracking and getting Mr. Dillon to laugh, I would come up with what I thought was a Funny.  Dillon would walk back and pop me on the top of my head with the edge of a yardstick.  Even Mary Elizabeth Vickers would cringe at the sound of that stick hitting my noggin.

One day, Mickey got all the laughs and I got two goose eggs plus a trip to see Mr. Lauderdale.

Anyway, Mickey never knew it but he was one of my favorites also.  My main admiration of him was the fact that he was Carl Dillon's pet; a feat I never achieved.

Winston Hamby
Class of 1953 
Winston & Mardell Hamby
Win@winoverpn.com
http://www.winoverpn.com


The South Park Ice Show

Mickey Sellers and I were the heroes of the South Park Ice Show. Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Do you remember the ice show? Did you attend? Here is what I remember:

It was the summer of 1952. Mickey and I did not have a lot to do. But, then, sometime during the dead of summer, the school bought a new trampoline. This trampoline was a big professional model and it caused a lot of excitement to all of the ballplayers who happened to be around. We could hardly believe it for the school had never made sure that we had even the necessary equipment much less unnecessary equipment. The thing was set up in the stadium on the grass between the track and the ball field. It was just where you would come out from the football dressing rooms, about the fifty-yard line if you don’t remember. At first, there was a lot of jumping going on and we all had to wait our turn. But, as the summer progressed, things slowed down so that one morning Mickey and I found that we had the trampoline all to ourselves. We must have been jumping a lot and the day must have been plenty hot and humid for we were soaking wet. Then, from time to time we would just lie on the canvas and rest. We would rest and talk about all of the great girls there were in our Class of 1954. This is what I would call hanging out. We were just hanging out when a fellow approached us. He had been talking to some folks in the corner by the baseball dressing room. That was the northwest corner. I say, "was" because this happened fifty years ago and because the stadium is no more.

The man told us about the ice show that he was planning to put on in the stadium and he asked us if we would like to go to work for him to help put on the show. Soon we were scouting around trying to find some of our schoolmates to work on the crew. Besides us, he needed six or eight more strong guys. Everybody was signed up one morning at a table set up in front of the baseball dressing rooms. Then, by noon some big trucks showed up. The trucks were loaded to the top with, yes, yes, with an ice show. With the unloading of the trucks, the adventure began. I guess that Mickey and I helped out but it was already clear that we were the special guys of the crew who were, well, special.

It turned out that the guy who hired us was an expert on making an ice arena from out of nowhere. I am not sure just how long it took but I think that we may have completed the setup for the rink in a day. I don’t know how big the rink might have been. Maybe fifty by one hundred? It was set as close as possible to the track (right where the trampoline had been) centered on the west side fifty-yard line with the length of the ice running out away from the stands and beyond the center of the field. Whenever we were finished, we set a tent up around the skeleton of a rink, a big motor started running and just before dark we started making the ice. It seemed very complicated at the time but I guess that it simply involved putting some piping down to serve as coils, connecting all of the pipes together and pumping the coils full of freon. Whenever the ice making began, the crew went home but Mickey and I stayed. We were to be the icemakers. Again, I lose track of the time frame but with the tent closed tightly and us spraying the water on to the coils, an ice rink began to appear before us. And, of course, your heroes were thrilled for the ice was beautiful and, and, Amazing.

As we were getting the rink in order more trucks and house trailers arrived with the performing troupe. Maybe half of the stadium became filled with trucks, equipment and trailer homes. They must have put on three shows. Maybe Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. I have not the slightest idea of how so many tickets were sold but I believe that the answer was Rotary or the Lions Club. This must have been some organization’s fundraiser.

So the center section of the west side stands would fill with people each night, we would help pull the front part of the tent back and the show was on. The back part of the tent stayed up for props and for the staging of the coming acts. One clear vision I have is that all of the performers entered and exited the ice through a flap in the tent. And, sometimes the clowns would leave the ice skating very fast. They would come zinging through that flap maybe with their hat held high in the air. I wonder how on earth they got stopped. The show was just a typical variety show. Clowns, trick skaters, singers, skits and a band with lots of accompaniment. I remember that the costumes, props and lights presented a marvelous scene on the ice and I remember the lead male and female singing the love song to each other in the finale. "How can I let you know the song my heart would sing, the beautiful melody of love and youth and spring?" I can’t put a title on the song but I am sure that we were all in love with the two as they skated and sang under the spotlights on the beautiful ice. There is no such thing as a bad ice show, is there? We were all in love with the members of the cast.

So, Mickey and I were special every night. We helped to open the show, we prepared the ice at intermission and, after the show, we stayed to replace the tent and to clean and resurface the ice for the next night’s show. Now wasn’t that heroic? Two kids with nothing to do became part of a great adventure.

Too soon the show was ready to move on. The guys on our crew came back to help us take it all down and to load it all back on to the trucks. As quickly as the show had come, the show was gone. Two heroes remained.   

True Story

One night when I lived on Highland Avenue, I was lying in bed.  What I was doing in bed, I will never know.  I must have been sick or had been out all night the night before.  But, I was in bed.  The phone rang.  A friend of mine called and said, "Moby, could you come get me?  I am out of gas."  So I got up and went to rescue him.  He put in 25 cents (approximately one gallon) worth of gas. We pooled our money for this purchase. Don't laugh, 25 cents was a lot of money in those days.  I went back home and went to bed.  I must have been really sick!!  Lack of sleep never affected me in those days.  The phone rang again.  The same person on the phone said, "Moby, could you come and get me?  I am out of gas." I got up and went and got him.  I asked why he had not made it home.  He said, "Well I thought I
would ride around for a while." Though this car was a gas hog, it would probably do 0 - 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. It was a 1958 Chevy with an engine bigger than Beaumont.  I may be lying a little about those last two items, but it sure did seem like it when we were racing on those old roads out in the country out toward Amelia. Sometimes we could watch it run from the ditches of mud and water that we lay in out in the rice fields when we saw cars approaching with the red and blue "bubble gum" lights.

I am not going to tell anyone who this guy is.  He has been and continues to be one of my dearest friends.

Moby Manchack (Honorary Class of ’54) Manchack@aol.com

Mystery Story Writer

The e-mail addresses above have been added to the e-mail directory.  Be sure and write to them and welcome them to the SPHS54 e-mail directory.