01/14/05 - NNHS Newsletter - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

 

Dear Friends and Schoolmates,   

   You might have noticed that I'm working on a redesign of the front page of the web site. At the moment all I've succeeded
in doing is destabilizing it somewhat (ARGHHH!!!), but when I finish, it will include a focus on the upcoming 40th Reunion
for the Great Class of 1965.  Meanwhile, all the information previously available on the page is still there; it's just rearranged
a bit.  Stay tuned!

 NEWBIES:

1. Bill Gross ('48) of  VA (I think) - 01/12/05:

Carol,

I was just introduced to your web site by Dale Parsons ('48).

This is wonderful and something someone needs to do for all the years at dear old Newport High. Our February
and June classes went together some years ago and we always have a ball reminiscing

For our 55th reunion I wrote up the history of NNHS from the library on Main Street. If you would be interested
I will be glad to furnish you a copy.

I wish I had time to read all on your web site but I wouldn't get anything else done. Again, its great.

Bill Gross
February 1948

   Thank you, Bill!  We're delighted to have you!  (And thank you, Dale, for pointing him our way!)

   We would be absolutely thrilled to see your NNHS History - thanks so much!

   It would indeed take you several hours to make your way through the whole site.  I haven't tried it myself for quite a while because
I'm too busy adding more to it each day.  It doesn't matter, though.  I STILL don't get anything else done!  GIGGLES!!!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/alumni-list.html

From Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 01/12/05:

Fellow Alumni,

 

The Reunion Committee of NNHS Class of 1964 is pleased to offer to the Alumni a video recollection
of our Fortieth Year Reunion, which was held at the Newport News Omni Hotel on October 23rd, 2004.
Whether you attended and want to have a permanent remembrance of the events of that very special
evening, or were unable to attend and want to see what you missed … this video is a “must-have”
for every proud Typhoon.  You won’t want to miss these highlights:

 

All this can be yours on DVD or VHS. It was professionally recorded with multi cameras and microphones,
edited, and packaged in its own jewel box with professional artwork.

 

To order your copy of this priceless treasure, simply mail your check or money order for $15.00, payable
to “Tom Flax” to cover reproduction and shipping costs.  Be sure to specify DVD or VHS.

 

Tom Flax

2413 Adair Court

Virginia Beach VA 23456

You may also e-mail Tom at nnhs40video@yahoo.com

TYPHOONS FOREVER

Dave

    YAHOO!!!  Thanks, Dave!  I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival!
 

From Tom Flax ('64) of VA - 01/12/05:

Hi Carol,
The items your wanted will be in the mail on Thursday 1-13-05..
Sorry for the delay...your can spread the word on the website, I would be very appreciative..
Thanks
Typhoons Forever..
Tom

   YAHOO!!!  Thanks, Tommy!  Let's see - mailed on Thursday, they might arrive by Saturday, but by Monday
for sure!  Oh no, wait a minute - Monday is a holiday!  Tuesday, then!  YAY!

From Pam Wright Owen ('62) of VA - 01/12/05:

Carol,
 
I don't know if Miss Sherman had a favorite song or not, but I do know that she made me sit through hearing "CARMEN" a lot. 
We even had an exam on it!  I think she was determined that we would have an appreciation for music other than Rock N Roll
before we left NNHS!
 
Pam

   Thanks, Pam!  Thanks to my daddy, I have a big soft spot in my heart for Carmen.  In fact, it's my second favorite opera!

   Our Music Expert, Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA, found us this great MIDI file:

http://www.broadwaymidi.com/operamidi/Carmen01-Prelude.mid - Thanks, Dave!

AND ...

From Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 01/12/05:

Hi, Carol:
One of Miss Eleanor Sherman's favorite songs was "Walk On". Some of the lyrics were "When you walk though a
storm, hold you head up high, and don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm is a golden sky, and the
sweet silver song of a lark. Walk On, though the wind, Walk On through the rain tho' your dreams be tossed and...
___" "Walk On, Walk On, with a dream in your heart and you'll never walk alone."
Always,
Adonis

   Thanks, Adonis!  I clearly remember going to one of the concerts - I believe it was the Spring of 1957 - and seeing the choir -
complete with you and my sister (Eleanor Buckley Nowitzky - '59 - of NC) perform this number from "Carousel".  It has
remained one of my favorites ever since.

   (By the way, Joe - the word you couldn't recall is "blown".  And it's "hope" in your heart - but a dream is always good
to have, too!)

   Once again, Dave found the perfect version of this song:

http://n2rainbows.homestead.com/files/YoullNeverWalkAloneA.mid - Thanks again, Dave!

   AND ...

From Kathy Pilgrim Clark ('63) of VA - 01/13/05:

Carol, the first song that pops into my head concerning Miss Sherman is "Bless This House". She had made a commitment
to the school board that IF they would but replace the auditorium after the fire, she would cherish it and honor it through performances of band and chorus. She began what was already a tradition when I went to my first assembly - the singing
of "Bless This House". That anthem was used to start the school year at the first assembly every year.
Kathy

   WOWZERS!!!  I did not know that - and I certainly did not remember it at all!  It's a perfect segue into our next coming attraction,
but we haven't finished this subject yet.  Thanks, Kathy!

   My #5 son, Nathaniel Harty (Hillsboro HS, IL - '97), had previously found me this MIDI file on 01/03/04:

http://www.southcom.com.au/~seymour/serendipity2/6ablesshouse.htm - which is attached and playing here:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/trinity-methodist.html - Thanks again, Nathaniel!

   AND SO .....

   Okay, we now have three great suggestions.  Shall we have a vote?

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/faculty.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teachers.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Sherman.html

   I personally have strong emotional reactions to all three numbers for different reasons, so as they used to say in the small
Appalachian town where we lived in 1953, "H'it don' make no nevah mind t' me."

   SO CAST YOUR VOTES: "Carmen Prelude", "You'll Never Walk Alone"; or "Bless
This House".

From Me in NC - 01/13/05:

   And speaking of The Great Fire of December 28, 1952, Tom Norris (HHS - '73) loaned me his 1953 Anchor, and.......

   
1953 Anchor, p. 134 1953 Anchor, p. 135 1953 Anchor, p. 136 1953 Anchor, p. 137    

   After 52 years, can the story finally be told?  Do we know the identity of the "three young arsonists", their motives, and the
consequences which befell them?

   A new page containing the story of the fire and the subsequent rebuilding is in the making.  Consider this a sneak peek.

   Thanks, Babe!

From Janice McCain Rose ('65) of VA - 01/12/04:

This is a very moving site.....honoring our military

http://www.clermontyellow.accountsupport.com/flash/UntilThen.swf

   Thanks, Janice!  It is beautiful!

From Ron Miller ('59) of NC - 01/12/05:

Carol -- a question for Miles Nowitzky (Granby HS - '50) who made some silly claim about some relatively unknown HS being
the best:  if they WERE truly the best, why did Lefty Driesell (Granby HS - '50) quit coaching basketball there? The obvious answer:
to coach NNHS so he would get noticed, and get the big break he needed to become a rather famous college coach thereafter.  :-o) 
(And a few evil snickers!)

   GIGGLES!!!  Thanks, Ron!  Have fun, Guys!

From Gail Kiger Bonsey (Ferguson HS - '73) of OR - 01/12/05:

Cool to see my aunt's beauty salon honored within  your recent newsletters…'Ruth Staples House of Beauty'
on Kecoughtan Road was our Aunt.  She is still residing in Hampton, although up in years.  She had two glass containers
of nickel 'Nap' crackers up towards the cashier, and a glass bottled coke machine in the back.  She raised three children
by herself and was a strong woman.  Her shop was across from Woolworth's, where I brought my first Beatles poster,
and down from her shop was a great duck pin bowling alley - where my brother Steve ('66) and cousin Ronald Staples
(HHS '68?) took me !        

Gail 

   COOL BEANS!   Thanks, Gail!  Now that's a happy thing!  Of course, I had no way of knowing that when I added the page!
I've added your memory to it:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/old-stomping.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/ruth-staple-house-of-beauty.html

From Kathy Pilgrim Clark ('63) of VA - 01/13/05:

OK,. Carol. The Evans' really got to me. I took lessons there forever.

Seriously, from age 7-17. I had taken from Sandy Vossler previous to my family's moving to Hampton. After I met
John Clark ('57 of VA) , my future husband, he had also taken dance there. Muriel Evans was always on the look out
for males so that she had enough to do her annual "Nutcracker" at Christmas.

Anyway, out daughter Dana also studied there from age 5 to 19. I went back as an adult a couple of times for a year
or so at a stretch.

Everyone in my family except my son has been in the "Nutcracker". We've even got a pet name for it (which I will not
repeat) because it takes its toll every year. Edgerton (who was from Poquoson) and Muriel Shelley (Williamsburg) met
in NYC and opened the studio when they returned to VA.

Their daughters Lisa and Darcy are still teaching there and Muriel is still alive. That woman knew more about how
to survive in life than anyone I've ever met. In her bird like way, she did only the things that were important and
stressed that if others were bothered by the things she didn't do, they'd do those things themselves. One time Mr. Evans
(whom everyone called Bid) was teaching class and he wanted us to do something dramatic. He told us that when it was our
turn to pirouette or something across the floor, we needed to stand up in such a way that we had every eye in the audience
on us because they knew we were about to do something important. He said that posture would improve our dancing. He
certainly was right about thinking that you should treat everything you do as important. I have found that things just turn
out better if I use the "this is important' approach. Lisa Evans is now the main teacher and the studio is now at the S/E
corner of Armistead and Victoria in the old Hampton Sweet Shop (later Cheney's Photographic Studio). The ballet
company still does an annual "Nutcracker" as well as a fall and spring ballet program and an annual recital. The studio is
truly a Peninsula institution in terms of its meaning and value to the community. It is really a slice of Americana.

Kathy

   WOWZERS!   Thanks, Kathy!  We strive to get to everybody sooner or later.  Pam's "Carmen" suggestion got to me, and I had
to take off about an hour just to devote to sobbing over old memories.

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/evans-studio.html

Also from Ron Miller ('59) of NC - 01/12/05:

Carol -- in reply to Fred Field ('45) of CA's comment that "If students began to be referred to as Typhoons, it must have happened long
after my time." This will help narrow it down some: I started at NNHS as a mouse in Sept '53, and we all referred to ourselves as Typhoons
by that time.
 
So -- it wasn't terribly long after Fred's time -- we're only talking an 8 year span there in which the change was made.
 
Guess we need some input from others who attended there between '45 and '53 to further narrow it down.
 
I missed this the first time I read Fred Field ('45) of CA's comments. He asked if the Apprentice School was referred to as the "Shipbuilders"?
 
To the best of my knowledge, they always have been.

Ron

   Thanks, Ron!  We're hot on the trail now!

From Craig Miller ('63) of FL - 01/13/05:

Response to Fred (Field's - '45 of CA) comments:  Yes, the Apprentice School was also known as the Shipbuilders. 
My dad, John E. Miller, (who played on some of those great football teams in 1925-1928!) was in the class of '28,
so he was well-before Fred's time, and he said NNHS (students) were referred to as Shipbuilders in the 20's and, perhaps,
the 30's.  The change in name may have taken place in response to the advent of the Apprentice School's nickname.
 
Fred has narrowed the time of the nickname change to before 1945, and, according to my dad, the change must have
occurred after 1928.
 
Newport News Shipyard built Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet of battleships sometime around the time of World
War I.  It is reasonable to assume this source of tremendous national pride helped promote the "Shipbuilder" nickname. 
This was when the U.S. became, for the first time, a world power.  Being a "shipbuilder" allowed NNHS to share in this
glory.  Does anyone have any Anchors between 1928 and 1945 that might help resolve the mystery of when (and how)
we got the "Typhoon" nickname (and the tornado logo)? 
 
Craig

   Thanks, Craig!

   When we actually DO pinpoint these dates, remind me to post them in a safe and logical place for future reference.

   And speaking of the Apprentice School, once again from Tom Norris' 1953 Anchor, p. 158.......

         
1953 Anchor, p. 158          

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/old-stomping.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/apprentice-school/53-ad-158.jpg - brand new page

   Thanks, Tom!

From My #2 Son, Brent Harty (Hillsboro HS, IL - '90) of IL - 01/13/05:

Mom
 
I didn't remember a Miss Raine (at Tuckahoe Middle School in Richmond during the '84-'85 school year).  I went back
to the year book and didn't see her listed.  I may have missed her, but I tried to be fairly thorough. 
Sorry. bh

   Awww.  Thanks, Brent.  (My daughter-in-law) Mary said (my #1 son) Lewis didn't recognize the name either, but he had
not yet had time to view her images.  Still, it looks as though my chances for a small world story are gone.  My sons were
never taught by an NNHS graduate.  Sigh.

OTHER UPDATES:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/faculty.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teachers.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-allen-powell.html - Who among you knew that Miss Allen, originally from Fairfax, and now
back again in Northern VA, was a member of the Hampton High School Class of 1955??? 

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Kanter.html - And who among you knew that Miss Kanter was not only her classmate,
but Co-Editor of the Krabba that year??? 

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Baab.html - And how many of you realized that before she taught us English at NNHS,
Mrs. Baab taught at Hampton High???

   Our thanks to Tom Norris (HHS - '73) of VA for lending me his 1955 Krabba which revealed these important truths unto us!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Armstrong.html - Many of us were aware that Mr. Armstrong was a member of the NNHS
Class of 1953, and that he was not only a football star, but President of the Student Body.  Still, it's fun seeing his senior
portrait and football picture anyway.

   Thanks again, Babe!  There's much more to come, especially for the Faculty pages.

    Y'all take care of each other!  TYPHOONS FOREVER!

                          Love to all, Carol

==============================================

NNHS CLASS OF '65 WEB SITE: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com
PERSONAL WEB SITE: http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/cluckmeat

==============================================

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Sung by Jerry Lee Lewis, 1957
(from the 1957 release)


Come along my baby, whole lotta shakin' goin' on
Yes, I said come along my baby, baby you can't go wrong
We ain't fakin', while lotta shakin' goin' on.

Well, I said come along my baby, we got chicken in the corn
Woo-huh, come along my baby, really got the bull by the horn
We ain't fakin', whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

Well, I said shake, baby, shake,
I said shake, baby, shake
I said shake it, baby, shake it
I said shake, baby, shake
Come on over, whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

Oh, let's go . . .(Piano break, guitar rift)

Well, I said come along my baby, we got chicken in the barn,
whose barn, what barn, my barn
Come along my baby, really got the bull by the horn
We ain't fakin', whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

(Talking break) Easy now. Shake.
Ah, shake it baby
Yeah, you can shake it one time for me

Yeah-huh-huh-ha-ha, Come along my baby,
Whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

(Talking break) Now let's get down real low one time now
Shake, baby, shake
All you gotta do, honey, is kinda stand in one spot
Wiggle around just a little bit, that's what you got
Yeah, come on baby, whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

Now let's go one time
Shake it baby, shake, shake it baby, shake
Woo, shake baby, come on baby, shake it, baby, shake
Come on over, whole lot-ta sha-kin' go-in' on.
 

"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" midi courtesy of http://www.wtv-zone.com/REMEMBERTHEN/musichall1.html
at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 01/09/05
Thanks, Dave!

  "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" lyrics courtesy of http://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=1577 - 01/08/05

“Let’s Rock” divider line courtesy of http://www.feebleminds-gifs.com/animated-dividers-9.html - 01/08/05

Animated Dancing Couple clip art courtesy of http://www.thestatenislandboys.com/U_thrill_me/index.htm - 01/08/05

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