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Mr. Branyan was the electronics teacher at CHS. I had three years
of what
we called Radio, where we learned how to build and service radios. I
recall
fixing Miss Pott's (English teacher) car radio once. She gave me $20,
which
was a fortune in those days, but I did not expect or ask for anything. I
just
wanted to do it for the experience. The car radios had tubes in those
days,
which meant it took a while for the radio to come on while the tubes warmed
up!
Anyway, Mr. Branyan was an excellent teacher, kind, thorough, clear,
fair,
and really knew his stuff. He also taught us a course on becoming commercially
licensed with what was then called our "phone license" at
three
levels. Most of us passed the first level the first time since Mr.
Branyan had
so well prepared us. And most passed the second level the first time.
I never
tried for the third level. As I recall, they were termed "third
phone," "second
phone," and "first phone" licenses. He was a fine
Christian gentleman, and
I dreamed about him just several nights ago, which seems odd.
On another note, I often ask people to guess what sport I played in
high school,
and so far none have guessed it because it is so inconceivable in today's
environment. I was on the .22 match rifle team, which had a shooting
range
in the basement of the school. In those days, no one ever though of
shooting
another student, and most of the high schools had ranges. We had Tenn.
wide
competition among the high schools with never an accident or deliberate
shooting.
The rifle team was connected with ROTC, which means you could not be on
the
rifle team unless you were in ROTC. I was in ROTC for two years, and
thus on
the rifle team for two years. It was a tough choice to give up the rifle
team my
senior year, but I was tired of the hassle of ROTC. At least one member
of the
rifle team, who was at the last reunion (James ???), brought his own 22 rifle
to
school! How times have changed since the early 1960s, and not for the
better!
IN THE NEWS
GRANDKIDS…sometimes
you wish you had
had them first.
MARCIA
ECKLES
I
have 5 grandchildren, the oldest is 15 and has just gotten
his permit. As a good Nana, I told him I would take him to
get it and then like a not so smart Nana let him drive me
home. I live in North Shelby County and we had been
at the Millington Highway Patrol Office. We came down Mudville Rd doing OK
and stopped at Armour Rd. with the stop sign and everything seemed fine.
We continued and as we approached Rosemark Rd. I thought we were going
just a little fast. I was right, we went right through the stop sign and as I
screamed
what are you doing???? He innocently asked, "You mean I have to stop at
all of
those signs?" Smart Nana showed back up, placed child on passenger side
and
smiled inwardly, as I know that the other four are just plain out of luck.
Send us news of events
happening in your life i.e. the birth of
grandchildren, promotions, retirement, etc.
NEWS
FROM OTHER WARRIOR CLASSES
A
reunion for band members between the years ’60-‘65 is planned for Oct.
Contact: zlane@midsouth.rr.com
SUPPER
CLUB October
2,
in Jackson TN., at the home of John
and Leeba Andrews Curlin. Festivities begin at 2PM. Serving begins at 4.
Cost - $5 per person. Map, driving instruction, and car pool info - when
available. This date and time was chosen to coincide with the band reunion,
shown above.
Let
us know if you’re receiving monthly issues of Smoke Signals.
If you
haven’t already done so send a NEW message to:
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The October SuperClubs is out - click here
