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I have been making inquiries as to who the couple was at
the 4th of July parade who were both veterans of World War II. I went to the
Secretary of Hospitality for the City of Tallapoosa, Tommy Allen who said Ruth
and Will Wilbert met in the service to our nation during the fight against the
Axis powers in the second World War. I understand that Will served on the crew
of fighter planes and met Tallapoosan Ruth and he immediately waved the white
flag of surrender to her. Will and
Ruth are coming up on their 65th wedding anniversary. I
really hope I get to meet them soon. I admire their dedication to serving our
country and to serving each other. I recently took a trip over to Calhoun
County, Alabama and took a right in Oxford and went through Anniston up past Ft.
McClellan to Jacksonville and a visit to Jacksonville State University where I
went to school in the fall of '71. I had not been back since mama got my grades
at end that semester and made me move back home to "get my academic heart
right". I loved being in the Marching Southerners and making the drumline. It
was a wonderful experience. I also had a Civil War History class with Jim
Folsom, Jr.
who became an Alabama Governor just like his father "Kissing Jim" Folsom. Also
in this class was a guy who was an ROTC student with jet black hair and a buzz
haircut. He had a band with his cousins up in DeKalb County, Alabama. After
graduation with a degree in English he moved with the band to Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina playing for tips and went on to become the most successful group
in the history of Country music. Randy Owen the lead singer of "Alabama" was a
classmate at JSU in that Civil War History course. There isn't anyone that I
ever knew in the years of being in radio that I admire and have more pride in
than Randy. He has written numerous platinum hit songs and his voice is
instantly recognized anytime an "Alabama" song comes on the radio. He now has a
solo music career going and is a best selling author of the book "Born Country"
that was released several months back. He also has made quite a name for himself
in the cattle business. It isn't unusual
to talk to him at a cattle sale in Oklahoma or Colorado. Summer time in
Tallapoosa used to mean the recreation center at the old gym on Robertson Avenue
and games of ping-pong and basketball. Harold McWhorter was coaching at
Tallapoosa and kept the rec center going back then. In the bottom floor of the
gym was the site of the lunchroom that served up nutritious and tasty meals
during the school year. Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Thurmond and the other lunchroom
ladies all kept smiles under their hairnets and my favorite days were the ones
when we had these yeast rolls. The rolls were more manna from heaven than bread.
You could smell the rolls delightful aroma all the way to the Red Dot
on Head Avenue. During the summer months back in the '60s the lunchroom was
transformed into music emporium with a jukebox with all the current hits of the
day and dancing broke out when dusk began to fall on those steamy summer nights.
I remember "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis
and "Fun, Fun, Fun" by the Beach Boys blasting from the Seeburg as it was
constantly being fed nickels and dimes up until the plug got pulled around 9:00
p.m. Bruce King was the best dancer at the rec center in those days and could
have been on "Dancing With The Stars" had there been such a television program
back then. The last time I saw Bruce was in the movie with Daniel Day Lewis
called "Stars and Bars" back in the late 1980s when Bruce had a part as an
extra. The movie was loved by movie critics and it obviously wasn't by the
ticket buyers. Speaking of the recreation center in those days, how many of you
remember the asphalt tennis courts that were built behind the gym? I recall
Wayne Newman and Marcia Smith Callaway in tennis battles that were as heated at
the Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King duel in the Houston Astrodome 10 years
later. Later basketball goals were added on each end of the tennis courts where
I lost many games of "horse" to Tommy Hazel and Danny "Fish" Waldrop. Summer
days and nights back then in my mind are full of warm
memories of the smell of honeysuckle in the night air and of pretty girls and a
jukebox rocking to a Beatles song.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and serves as a member of the
administrative faculty at Kennesaw State University. Comments are welcome at
P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
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