'Echoes' of Robert E. Lee High School: The First Decade, 1955-65

This book is an anthology about the first decade of Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Alabama, written and compiled by persons who supplemented their unique personal experiences at the school with research on the same. The "echoes" of the title refers to how life experiences reverberate back to us. Thus, from the beginning, its editors and writers thought of this little book of big memories and lessons of life as a compendium of the strong, positive echoes they recall from Lee and the few negative ones they cannot forget, which seem still to be informing and inspiring the lives of the school's graduates. The audience for Echoes is, of course, all past Lee High alumni, faculty, and staff and all present and prospective Lee students, faculty, and staff, along with any who support or have supported them and/or the school, and any others with sufficient connections to Lee or Lee people to enjoy reading others' recollections of their time there. The book might also be useful to anyone with a general interest in public secondary education in Montgomery County.

CLINTON CARTER (HOF '95) is a graduate of Troy University and Auburn University and was a teacher and administrator, Lee's assistant principal (1962-70), principal (1970-80), and assistant and associate superintendent (1981-95) of the Montgomery Public Schools. He was called out of retirement to become the MPS superintendent from 1998 to 2004. He was honored with the unique "[Five Star] General's Award" in 2009.

JIM VICKREY ('60; HOF '94) was Lee Student Council President, award-winning Youth Legislature Speaker, and Senate leader. He was also SGA president at Auburn University, and he earned his PhD in rhetoric and public address from Florida State University. He served as president of the University of Montevallo (1977-88). After earning a JD from Jones School of Law in Montgomery, he practiced law and taught speech communication at Troy University (1991-2014). He retired in 2014, in part to work on this book.

KERRY PALMER ('90; HOF '14) was the drum major at Lee and Troy University. A protege of Lee Marching Band director and HOF member John M. Long, he is Head of School at Trinity Presbyterian School, Montgomery. He previously headed its middle school.

ROGER STIFFLEMIRE ('60; HOF '05) lettered in football at Lee High and has enjoyed a long career in private and public education in two states, including a long tenure as principal of Prattville High School. He is now retired and educating his grandchildren -- or vice versa.

RHETA GRIMSLEY JOHNSON has covered the South for over three decades as a newspaper reporter and columnist. She writes about ordinary but fascinating people, mining for universal meaning in individual stories. In past reporting for United Press International, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a number of other regional newspapers, Johnson has won national awards. They include the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for human interest reporting (1983), the Headliner Award for commentary (1985), the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Distinguished Writing Award for commentary (1982). In 1986 she was inducted into the Scripps Howard Newspapers Editorial Hall of Fame. In 1991 Johnson was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Syndicated today by King Features of New York, Johnson's column appears in about 50 papers nationwide. She is the author of several books, including America's Faces (1987) and Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz (1989). In 2000 she wrote the text for a book of photographs entitled Georgia. A native of Colquitt, Georgia, Johnson grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, studied journalism at Auburn University and has lived and worked in the South all of her career. In December 2010, Johnson married retired Auburn University history professor Hines Hall.