DISAPPEARING MEMORIES
of
YESTERDAY

It was 1934 and I was five years old when my family moved from 1119 North Duval Street to 310 West Lafayette Street, This was our home until 1940. The street began on Adams Street at the rear of the old Capitol. It was flanked on the north by Pensacola Street and on the south by St. Augustine Street. The first two blocks of West Lafayette were paved with sidewalks. After crossing Bronough Street at the end of the 200 block you entered a different world. This was "the other side of the tracks". The 300 block of West Lafayette was on a steep hill with an unpaved street of red clay with deep ditches.

Our home was a modest frame house sitting on brick pillars that allowed my brother Don and me to stand up under portions of the house. There were no TV or computer games in the 1930's so we played mainly outside. A favorite game was cowboys and Indians. Underneath the house served as the corral for the broom stick horses the cowboys rode. In the dry dirt underneath the house were funnel holes created by ant lions (doodle bugs). Drop an ant into the hole and the struggle of the ant to climb out of the loose sand would cause the ant lion, who lived at the bottom of the hole, to grab him. Don and I spent many an hour playing with the "doodle bugs" and ants.

The steep hill in front of our house, with its deep ditch, provided for another fun game. We would pretend our little red wagon was a stagecoach and ride it down the hill. We would jump off just before allowing the wagon to run over the "cliff" into the ditch. The stagecoach running over the cliff idea was inspired by the cowboy movies we would see at the State Theatre on Saturday mornings. The movies cost 10 cents and the theatre located on College Avenue was an easy walk.

At the bottom of our block at the intersection of Boulevard Street (now MLK) was a rooming house with several colorful characters. I recall a round little man walking down the hill with a sack full of beer in bottles. In those days (1930's) there were no six packs with handles. Beer was stuffed in paper bags. Mr. Roly Poly was a little tipsy and lost his footing on the slick clay. Beer bottles flew everywhere and our tipsy neighbor rolled into the ditch. This doesn't sound funny on paper, but it was hilarious to the two young boys who witnessed it.

Our Lafayette Street house faced south. The back of the house had steep steps coming down from a screened in back porch into a small back yard. On the east side of the back yard was a one car tin garage and on the west side was a low brick wall. On the north side, facing Pensacola Street was a wire fence separating us from our neighbors, a black family. Branches from a pear tree growing in our neighbors' yard hung over our side of the fence. Don and I enjoyed playing baseball with an old broom handle as a bat (one of our broom stick horses) and pears as baseballs. Hitting a pear over the brick wall was a homerun. One day our mother watched us playing and evidently felt sorry for us. She bought us a real baseball and bat. Baseball in the back yard was never as much fun after that.

The tin garage served as a backstop for our baseball games. A tree grew at the back of the garage. The roof of the garage was our "secret place". We could easily climb the tree to the top of the garage and survey the neighborhood. From our perch we could see the back of Leon County Sheriff Frank Stoutamire's impressive home on Bronough Street and our landlady Mrs. Harper's home on Bronough. From our secret place we could "telephone" our friend James Phillips (Jimmy remains a dose friend to this day) who lived on the corner of Bronough and Pensacola streets. Our telephone was two tin cans joined together with a long string coated with Octagon soap. It really worked and was much more fun than today's cell phones.

In the summer Don, Jimmy, and I explored the deep ditches and culverts that were being installed on the surrounding streets. Some of the sewer pipes were large enough for us to stand erect. Others we had to crawl through and unable to turn around we would back out. All this we did barefooted and suffered many cuts and bruises, but we would never consider wearing shoes in the summer. Another summer activity was hitching rides on the back of mule-drawn ice wagons. The cooling ice was better than today's air conditioning and the ice slivers quenched our thirst.

From our front door we could see the back of L.C. Yeager's "mansion" located on the "better side of the tracks" at the southwest corner of Bronough and Lafayette. On the "other side of the tracks" at the southwest corner of Boulevard and Lafayette was an African-American church. A short distance from our Lafayette Street home on Boulevard (now MLK) was Hines grocery store. Mr. Hines was a white man with an impressive white handlebar moustache. Farther south on Boulevard was Speed's Store. The Speeds were an influential black family. The curb market was also located on Boulevard. Ours was a very diverse neighborhood.

My brother Don and I first started to school from Lafayette Street. Although we had a tin garage, I don't recall us having a car so we walked to school. The school was located on the campus of the Florida State College for Women (now FSU) on the corner of Copeland and Call streets. The first through the sixth grades were called the Demonstration School. The seventh through the twelfth grades were known as Florida High School. Although FSCW was an all girl's school, the Demonstration and Florida High School were coed. The schools were designed to train teachers in a real live environment. They were called practice teachers and were supervised by the regular classroom teacher.

Walking to school was an adventure. The school was located several blocks west of our Lafayette Street home. Sometimes we would walk the College Avenue route and other times choose the Park Avenue path. Some days dogs would chase us, but we were never bitten. Friends who lived along the way would join us. Among them were Corbett "Buddy" Dean and his sister Carol who lived on Park Avenue. The Dean family had lived at 310 West Lafayette just prior to our moving there. Their father was an employee of the Tallahassee Democrat. He was in charge of the presses. I had a crush on a girl named Deryl Brumbalow who lived on College Avenue.

We sometimes attended "Prom Parties" and played "spin the bottle". If you spun the bottle and it landed facing a certain girl, the two of you had to walk 'promenade" around the block. Maybe you got a kiss or maybe not.

In 1940 we moved from "the other side of the tracks" to 223 North Adams Street and attended Leon High School. (That is another story to be told at a later time.) Sometime after we moved, many of the homes on West Lafeyette were demolished to make room for the Florida Supreme Court and other state buildings. The old 100, 200 and 300 blocks no longer exist but boyhood memories of 310 West Lafayette Street still live in the pages of this octogenarian's mind.

It was 1940 and I was twelve years old when my family moved from 310 West Lafayette Street to 223 North Adams Street. Like our Lafayette Street address, the Adams Street location was only a few blocks from downtown Tallahassee, but we were closer to Leon High School. My brother Don and I switched from Florida High School to Leon High.

Our new home was a two story building with four apartments. It was located on the SE comer of Adams and Tennessee Streets. Several of my schoolmates lived on Adams St Among them were Wilda Larson, who was to teach English at Leon High for 41 years Another good friend was Freddie Ley who, many years later, moved back to his boyhood home in the 500 block of north Adams. Next door neighbors were Ronald, Leonard and Lindy Melton. Ronald and Leonard played on the first Florida State University football team. My cousin Harris Riley lived two blocks away on Virginia Street.

The block across Adams Street from us is now taken up by the City Bus Terminal. In the 1940's a duplex apartment was located in this block. One of the apartments housed long time Leon County school teacher Kate Sullivan and her sister. Dr. William Robison was to later open a dentistry office in one of the duplexes. In the next block north were two stately old homes with beautiful grounds. The home of Mary Whitfield was located on the SW comer of Adams and Virginia. On the NW comer of Adams and Tennessee was the Johnston home. These homes were to eventually be destroyed and replaced with an A&P Grocery Store, Trallways and Greyhound Bus Stations. The Greyhound Station still stands in the location of the old Johnston mansion. The Trailways and the A & P are no longer located in this block.

On the SW comer of Adams and Call Streets was Register's Fruit Stand. Mr. Register allowed me, my brother Don and Cousin Harris to sell peaches door to door. Peaches were 25 cents a basket. We would keep 5 cents for each basket sold. In addition to selling peaches, the three of us had Democrat paper routes. Once I accompanied my cousin Harris on his route. Harris had two dogs. Prince was a German Shepherd mix and Spot was a small mutt These dogs knew the route as well as Harris and would run ahead of him as he delivered his papers.

At that time there was a vacant lot on the SE comer of Monroe and Gaines Streets. Adjacent to the tot was a garage apartment. It seems Prince, on previous occasions, had been chasing the owner's cat and this day she called the police. Patrolman Barney Gatlin arrived and confronted us in the vacant lot. He was preparing to shoot Prince. As he unholstered his pistol, I stepped in front of him begging that he not kill Prince. Somehow in all the commotion. Prince disappeared and lived to run another day.

My friends and I were seldom inside. We traveled all over Tallahassee on our bikes. A favorite destination on hot summer days was Diehl's Pool. Today, if you travel out East Call Street until it dead ends past the railroad tracks you will see to the north a thickly wooded area sitting between Call Street and the tracks. In the 1940's there was a small spring- fed pool located In these woods. I, my cousins Sylvan Strickland and Harris Riley, along with others, enjoyed skinny dipping in the cool spring water until one day we climbed out of the pool to find ourselves covered with leeches. That was our last visit to Diehl's Pool!

In the fall and winter we played tackle football on the weekends. We would gather up our team and arrange to meet another group at Lafayette Park or some other location. We had no uniforms protective gear and no referees. I don't recall anyone getting seriously hurt and we always seemed to settle any arguments.

One December Sunday in 1944, our team met the Sunnyland team at a vacant lot beside the old Armory (now the Senior Center). There were eight men on each side. Our lineup consisted of: Francis Smith, Audie Stanaland, Tommy Reynolds, Wallace Martin, Harry Mullikin, Harris Riley, David Bingham and myself. The Sunnytand eight were: Louie Sutton, Skeets Strickland, Ernest Williams, 3.W. Grimsley. Ricou Browning, Jim Tully, Bobby Tully and Bob Foster. Our team won 30 to 12.

Other players I remember who participated in our week- end games are: Sylvan Strickland, Harry Ryder, Ed Ranew, Gene Fitchner, Tom Ellis, J. Hall, Dougald McMillan, Frank Gray, Leo Crutchfield and Earl Cawthon.

I can't play football on a vacant lot next door to the old Armory anymore, but I am eligible to participate in the activities of the Senior Center.

PROMINENT FIGURES MENTIONED IN "223 NORTH ADAMS STREET"

Dr. Don E. Strickland retired Vice President Brevard College, Brevard, North Carolina.

Ronald and Leonard Melton on first FSU football team. Leonard became Colonel US Air Force. Youngest brother Lindy Lt. Col. USAF

Kate Sullivan who lived with her sister Mattie Sullivan on Adams Street. She taught school in Leon County for 41 years.

Kate Sullivan Elementary School was named in her honor.

Wilda Larson dowers Lundrigan, daughter of State Treasurer Edwin Larson, lived on Adams Street. She was a beloved English teacher at Leon High School for 41 years.

J. Hall became an outstanding athlete at Leon High and the University of Florida in football and track. He later became a Circuit Judge.

Harry Ryder was an Appellate Judge in Tampa,

Robert (Bob) Foster became a Brigadier General in the US Air Force.

Ricou Browning is a film director, actor, producer and under- water cinematographer and action specialist. He played the underwater roll of the Gill-Man in "Creature from the Black Lagoon." He was a producer on "Flipper."

Tully Gym was named after Bob Tully. Jim Tully is his brother.

Sylvan Strickland is a former Leon County Prosecuting Attorney.

Harry Mullikin is a prominent Tallahassee CPA.

Louie Sutton, Skeets Strickland, Ernest Williams, Frank Gray and Leo Crutchfield were athletes at Leon High School.

Before the Florida Association of Realtors was located on the SW corner of College Avenue and Monroe Street there was Bennett's Drug Store. Bennett's holds many memories for me, both pleasant and not so pleasant. The store was divided in half. One side was devoted to the pharmacy, overseen by Dr. Cal Hicks. Prescriptions were delivered to the home by motorcycle. The other half housed the soda fountain and luncheonette, a favorite gathering place for both students and senior citizens. Upstairs above Bennett's Dr. Knight had his dentist office. Sometime in the late 1930's or early 1940's my mother took me to his office. I don't recall the reason for the visit, but I do remember Dr. Knight chewed tobacco. He would spit into a tin can as he examined me. He also accused me of smoking. This was not true and I denied it vehemently. Many years later I was in Bennett's when I first heard that President Kennedy had been shot. There was also a second Bennett's located only a half block away on east College Avenue.

Directly across College Avenue from Bennett's (NW corner of Monroe and College) was Fain Drug Company. This was a favorite meeting place of those attending the downtown churches. They would have their cokes and coffee before and after church services. Fain's was family owned by brothers L. D. (Llewellyn Donalson) and John Fain Sr., along with their sister Vivian. I remember two of L.D.'s sons. Bill and John, who were a few years younger than I. Bill was a fighter pilot in the Korean War. While returning from a mission, his plane crashed. His body was never found. I recall John as a gangly red head. John Fain Sr. also had a son named John, Jr. who became a respected minister and author.

In 1949 the Fain store was demolished to make room for the Diana Shop. Fain's opened a new store across the street in the 100 block of South Monroe.

Another drug store of the era was Martin and Dalton located in the 200 block of South Adams Street and owned by George Martin and Charles Dalton. They advertised as, "The World's Happiest Drug Store." Mr. Martin's daughter Newell was a classmate of mine. We both graduated in the Leon High School Class of 1946.

To keep the drug stores busy retired business man Ed Miller reminds me that in this time period there were three general doctors: Doctors Dozier, Williams and Wilkinson. Dr. Wilkinson had the only X-ray machine in town. The doctors made house calls day or night.

A favored gathering place for teenagers in the 40's was the Blue Heaven. The Blue Heaven was a drive- in built on the present day location of the Midtown Caboose (NW corner of 7th Avenue and Thomasville Road). After the Blue Heaven it was changed to Mutt and Jeff's. Ed Miller remembers that the original name was the Little Dipper and it was built in the shape of just that. He recalls that the Little Dipper partially burned and was rebuilt as the Blue Heaven with a pagoda roof.

Two other drive-ins with pagoda roofs were the Green Derby and the High Hat, both located on South Monroe Street just past the railroad overpass. They were built directly opposite each other, one on the east side of south Monroe and the other on the west. Although Leon was a dry county in the 40's, you could purchase a bottle from either establishment. Another source of bootleg whiskey was the U-Drive-It Taxi located in the east 100 block of Call Street. They delivered.

For those who preferred a milder refreshment, there was the snow cone man. He rode a motorcycle with a large side car. The side car contained ice, paper cones and various fruit flavors. He would chip the ice and cover it with the flavor of your choice. For a nickel, nothing was more refreshing on a hot summer day. The snow cone man could usually be found at the NE corner of Adams and Jefferson Streets. Located on this corner was Stewarts Shoe Repair with Hawes Market next door. On Saturdays this corner was a favorite gathering place for Leon County's Black population.

Stores stayed open later on Saturday nights. People from the rural areas would flock to town on Saturdays. Some came on mule- and oxen- drawn wagons and mixed with the town folk. You could feel the excitement in the air. It was a good time to be alive. I miss the Tallahassee of my youth.

In his memoirs, "MY LIFE FROM SIX TO EIGHTY SIX", my father wrote, "I was born in Union Grove (now Mabson) Alabama on August 10, 1899 [the oldest of eleven children]. I was named Leroy Marcellus after a country doctor and a Roman General."

The only people who called my Dad "Leroy" were his parents and siblings -My Mother called him "Strick" and his friends called him either "Strick" or "L.M.". I was named after my father, but was always called "Roy".

In 1900 he and his parents, Hardy Orlando and Susan Powell Strickland, moved to Chalkhead, AL where his father taught school for a year before opening a general store in Ewell, AL. Hardy was a school teacher, merchant, postmaster. Justice of the Peace, Sunday School Teacher, ordained Baptist Minister, Woodman and Master Mason. In 1906, my Grandparents Hardy and Susan built a house in Ewell with their own hands. Seven of their eleven children were born there.

My father was an avid reader. One room in my parents' home (my dad called it his office) had three walls lined with books .He would check out books from the Leon County Library twelve at a time. In his memoirs he tells of his father buying a set of REDPATH'S HISTORY. He read every chapter in each of the volumes. My grandfather, being the Justice of the Peace, was furnished with THE ALABAMA CODE OF LAWS. After reading these my father knew every punishment inflicted for all types of crimes. This came in handy when he later taught Business Law. He was also a whiz at math. He could add a string of numbers in his head faster than an adding machine could calculate them. I didn't inherit this talent, but my brother Don did. Don passed the CPA exam and earned a Ph.D in Higher Education Administration at Florida State University.

Of his mother, my Dad said, "She was a darling, soft spoken and extra good to her children." I remember my "Grandma Susie" as always having a beautiful smile. I felt warm and wanted when in her presence. She died January 10, 1968 at age 87. My grandfather died at age 56 when I was five. One of my earliest memories was attending his funeral.

There was no such thing as an allowance when my Dad was growing up. The children of that day worked for their spending money. He picked cotton and pulled "fodder" as a small boy. He was paid fifty cents per hundred pounds for cotton. Sometimes he made as much as $3.00 a week. My father always had a good work ethic. He recalled in his memoirs earning a silver dollar for unloading 100 pound sacks of fertilizer from box cars. The train tracks ran beside the Strickland home in Ewell, AL He was paid two dollars a month by the railroad for maintaining the red/green lamps located at the side track switches.

My father finished the twelfth grade (yes, they did have twelve grades at that time) in a two-room school house located a half mile from his home. Rural schools did not have the authority to grant high school diplomas. The County Superintendant of Schools issued a certificate stating he had the equivalent of a high school education. In the spring of 1916 (he had not yet reached his 17th birthday) he decided to take the state examination for a license to teach school. Licenses were in three categories: third grade which in rural schools paid forty dollars a month, second grade paid fifty and the first grade paid sixty. He was granted a certificate to teach third grade in rural Henry County, AL at a salary of forty dollars a month for six months. His room and board for the period was forty eight dollars. He purchased a suit of clothes for eight dollars and after buying a few necessities had one hundred and seventy-five dollars left.. This paid his way to attend spring and summer school at Troy State Normal School, now Troy State University, m 1917 he accepted a position to teach at a rural school two miles from Ozark, AL. A better salary allowed him to save two hundred dollars. He again used this money to attend Troy State.

During World War I he served in the Student Army Training Corps. This allowed him to continue school while being available for shipment overseas. He was paid thirty dollars a month. The war ended before he was called to further duty. After being discharged, he enrolled in Campbell's Business Institute in Dothan, AL. He finished the accounting course and received his diploma in sixty school days.

Mr. Campbell offered him a teaching position at the Institute. It was there he met a student, Myrtle Riley, whom he describes as "charming with golden brown hair, an attractive face and a charming smile." That was in 1921. They were married the following year on December 22, 1922. After the ceremony they drove to Dothan for dinner. Their waiter was Tom Holland who moved to Tallahassee and opened the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Tallahassee.

In 1923 my father L.M Strickland and Dothan, AL businessman Joe Beall combined assets and opened a small wholesale store in Dothan. During the period between 1925 and 1928 they opened retail outlets in Enterprise and Elba, AL; Chipley and Blountstown, PL and Donaldsonville, GA. In early 1930 a fire destroyed the stock and fixtures in the wholesale warehouse. L.M. Strickland writes, "We were just beginning to feel the effects of the great depression and didn't feel it was feasible to continue the wholesale side of the business. We divided the retail stores, with Mr. Beall taking the Alabama and Georgia stores and I the ones in Florida."

From his memoirs L. M. Strickland states, "My wife and I sold our home in Dothan and moved to Chipley, FL. We bought shoes for the Chipley store from Brown Shoe Company through their representative Bill Hughs. Mr. Hughs said there was an excellent opportunity in Tallahassee, FL for a family shoe store. Pitt Riley, Myrtle's brother, was a cashier in a bank in Headland, AL and wished to make a change. We formed a partnership and opened the Strickland and Riley Brownbilt Shoe Store in Tallahassee on December 10, 1930." Most customers referred to it as the Buster Brown Shoe Store.

The first location was on South Monroe Street, but was moved to 115 East College Avenue in 1932. It remained in this location for forty years. Mr. Riley died in 1945 and his share of the business was purchased by the Strickland’s. After struggling through the depression years, business began to improve. Strickland's Shoes became one of the first local stores to expand into the shopping centers. First into Capital Plaza Shopping Center, next into the Parkway Shopping Center and finally in Northwood Mall. The stores were sold in 1972.

There are many things I could write about my father: the leadership positions and honors he achieved in organizations such as the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Masons, the Shriners. I could tell of the many trips he took to other countries after his retirement in 1972, but the thrust of this article is to show how a boy from rural Alabama achieved success through hard work, dedication, determination and discipline. I am proud of my father!

Leroy Marcellus Strickland passed away on September 18, 1986, one year after completing his memoirs "MY LIFE FROM SIX TO EIGHTY-SIX".

Most members of the class were born in 1928 and experienced the Great Depression in the early part of their lives. By today's standards we would have been considered poor, but we didn't know it at the time. Our parents were self reliant and we enjoyed the richness of family and friends.

Even though we were not an exact fit in the time niche suggested by Mr. Brokaw, I considered my classmates to be "The Greatest" and so begins my story of The '46 Club.

In 1966 the Class of 1946 celebrated their 20th anniversary. Two functions were held. Friday night was hosted by Shirley (Long) Collins, Nancy (Carn) Brautigan and Letitia (Shaw) McClellan. It was held on Rhoden Cove Road. The Saturday night affair was held at the Tallahassee Elks Club. The very popular Billy Graham was chosen to be the master of ceremonies for Saturday night. He and Sarah Eleazer had been voted the "Wittiest Couple" in our class. Sadly, Billy passed away the night before the Elks Club event.

The much loved Henry "Tiny" Edenfield volunteered to fill in for Billy. Henry and June Gilmore held the title of the "Friendliest Couple" in the Class of 1946. Henry died in 2002. His funeral was attended by a large portion of the population of Tallahassee.

It was 1986 and twenty more years had passed. Our 40th Anniversary had arrived. Frances (Hall) Summitt recalls she and Joe Winterle were talking about the upcoming 40th reunion and were concerned that no plans had been made. Joe volunteered his home as a meeting place if Frances would call some of the classmates to act as a planning committee.

Frances remembers calling: Joe Ann Rackley, Martha (Wheeler) Maddox, Mary Love Rowell, Charlotte Landrum, Henry Edenfield, Harry and Mary (Baggett) Mullikin, Jesse and Nancy Burt, Betty (Branch) Grambling, June (Gilmore) Ashmore/ Barbara( Gilmore) Spooner, Nick Eppes, Grade (McCoy) Seckel, Roy Strickland, Frances Nell (Cogswell) Melton and Wilda (Larson) Lundrigan. (Frances says she may have missed some names and may have included some she failed to call.)

Since the committee was so late in starting, it was decided to hold the event in November. Sara (Scott) Hartsfield offered the Hartsfield Dairy Lake House for Friday night. The Saturday night affair was to be held at the American Legion Home on Lake Ella. Jesse Burt was the Master of Ceremonies.

Of all the reunions (the 20th/ the 40th, the 50th and the 60th held by the Leon High School Class of 1946,1 think the fortieth (1986) was the most memorable. The committee planning this developed a close comradeship while meeting many times. From this group The '46 Club was born.

Because of the renewed friendships developed during the planning committee's meetings and the success of the Fortieth Reunion's events, many of the classmates began having informal get- togethers. All 1946 graduates were invited, but the main attendees were the classmates who resided in Tallahassee. Non residents: Bill Headington, Mel Turner, Doyle and Hankie Smith, Tom Ellis and Mona Marshburn were among those who traveled longer distances. Mona, who is deceased, was our unofficial photographer. She is missed and was loved by her classmates. We called ourselves The '46 Club and aimed to meet three or four times a year.

The events took the form of covered dish dinners, with each person or couple bringing a designated dish and the hosts/hostesses furnishing the main course. Some of the very gracious hosts were: Joe and Hilda Winterle, Jesse and Nancy Burt, H.C. and Frances Summitt, Thad and Dottie Chason, Lucius and Jean Bivins and Henry Edenfield.

As the mini-reunions grew in popularity and became too big for the individual homes to accommodate, a larger facility was required. The Gilmore sisters - June Ashmore and Barbara Spooner lived in Havana, Florida by the golf course. They secured the Havana Country Club for our meetings. We met there quarterly for several years. It is interesting to note that for the first few years we would meet on Saturday evenings. As we grew older and our eye sights grew weaker, we changed to noon meetings.

Driving to and from Havana was becoming a chore for some of us octogenarians. We changed our noon luncheons to the Ramada Inn in Tallahassee. With the dosing of the Ramada, we will be meeting, three or four times a year, at the Holiday Inn on north Monroe Street.

Extra credit is due some of our members. Joe Winterie was instrumental in forming our group and has served as our unofficial president. Although ours is an informal group with no officers as such. Harry Mullikin is our unofficial treasurer. Marthine (Vance) Woodward might be called our unofficial secretary. She is responsible for our correspondence and keeping our records straight. Marthine and Charles Binnicker were voted the "Most Intelligent" couple in our class. No meal would be eaten until it was blessed by one of our volunteer Chaplains - Thad Chason, Jim Reid or Hurley Rudd. Hurley was a big man with an even bigger heart. We miss him. Jesse Burt is such an asset to our class. We leave our meetings with a smile on our faces and a song in our hearts after Jesse's very funny jokes and his cheerful and positive attitude.

Here we are in our eighties, the winter of our years, and we continue to enjoy the friendships formed when we were teen- agers, some of us even from the first grade. May God continue to bless us.

The South I lived in from my birth in 1928 until the 1950's was segregated. Here are some of my experiences from those times. My father in his memoirs tells of taking my baby brother Don and me, a two year old, on a vacation to St. Augustine. He hired a young black student from the Tuskegee Institute to serve as our nurse. We adored her and she was kind to us. My Dad praised her as an efficient nurse and intelligent young lady. Coming back from our St. Augustine vacation we stopped at a cafe near Jacksonville for lunch. The meals were served family style. Food was on platters and you served yourself. He asked for permission for the nurse to dine with us while taking care of the boys. This was refused. My mother proceeded too wrap up the food that was left and take it out to the nurse. The owner lost the price of the meal, but the nurse had lunch. My father wrote we should be thankful this kind of prejudice is disappearing.

My father, along with his partner and brother-in-law Pitt Riley opened the BROWN-BILT SHOE STORE (better known as the Buster Brown Shoe Store) in 1930. The store was located at 115 East College Avenue in Tallahassee, FL. Next door to the store's front door was the P.W. WILSON DEPARTMENT STORE'S back door. The department store had water coolers. On one was written WHITE ONLY and the other COLORED ONLY. Across the street (College Avenue) was the STATE THEATER. Blacks were only allowed to sit in the balcony of the theater. Black customers of the Shoe Store were allowed to sit where they wished and were waited on in turn. When questioned about this my father simply replied, "They were next in turn".

When I was eleven or twelve years old I was allowed to wait on customers if the store was over crowded. My first customer was an elderly black lady. When I asked if I could help her she said, "I want a real salesman to wait on me." This shows she expected the best when visiting our store, but it sure deflated my ego. We were the first shoe store in Tallahassee to hire an African American as a salesperson. She was an attractive student from Florida A & M University.

My cousin Harris Riley (son of my Dad's partner Pitt Riley) lived on the NE corner of Virginia and Duval streets. Across the street from Harris was an African American Church. Harris and I were close pals and continually getting in to mischief. One day we slipped in the unlocked front door of the church and rang the church bell. We were not caught this time, but I won't tell of the times we were caught in our many pranks.

Behind the church was a jungle-like area of trees and vines. We enjoyed playing there with our friend Sonny. Sonny was a black youth and probably a year or more older than us. Sonny was beginning to show his adolescent muscles and was greatly admired by Harris and me. While playing with Sonny and Harris, I was swinging from a vine which broke. I landed on a sharp piece of stump. It was very painful, but there was no way I was going to cry in front of my two buddies. It was weeks later that the final bit of the stump ejected from my leg.

Roy Strickland, February 2016

Now begins the tale of the Two Toms who impressed me in my days at Leon High in Tallahassee. There was Tom Brown the coach, business man and County Commissioner and there was Tom (Tommy) Brown the athlete.

Coach Brown came to Leon High School as the Physical Education Director with a B.S. from Clemson. He coached the 1944 and 1945 football teams. I, a 145 pound senior, tried out for the 1945 team. Coach Brown did not take kindly to boys who went out for the first time in their senior year unless they were outstanding players. (I was not outstanding.) He was looking to build future teams, although he left Leon after the 1946 school year.

An incident with Coach Brown left me with one of the few grudges that I have ever nurtured. It was Thanksgiving Day 1945 and Leon High’s Homecoming. As I warmed the bench Coach Brown called out, “Strickland warm up.” I jumped up in excitement eager to get in the game. Assistant Coach Charlton “Bit” Pierce grabbed my arm and began to give me instructions. Coach Brown yelled, “Strickland, I told you to warm up, now get back on the bench.” I was devastated and disliked that man for many years. Here I was a young teenager, it was the last home game and I was trying to follow both coaches. Well I am happy to say this 88 year old man holds no grudges against Tom Brown or anyone else and has not for many years.

Playing on this same team was 5 foot 10, 150 pound Tommy Brown. He was the best natural, all round athlete I have ever known. My 90 year old, former Leon County Prosecuting Attorney, cousin Sylvan Strickland gave me the following account of Tommy and the 1946 Tallahassee Leon High-Panama City Bay High game.

SYLVAN’S ACCOUNT OF THE LEON – BAY HIGH 1946 GAME

The game was played in Tallahassee. Bay had won 21 consecutive games and was heavily favored. They scored early and Lions fans could have been thinking that the touchdown was the first of many. But Bay missed the extra point. They led at half-time 6-0, and led after the third quarter 6-0. In the third quarter, Leon had the ball near the Bay goal line at the north end of Centennial Field (present location of Cascades Park). Four consecutive passes into the end zone fell to the ground and Lion fans could have been close to losing hope. Late in the game, Leon had the ball near midfield and Tommy caught a long pass at about the 25 yard line and ran into the end zone. There was a lone defender between him and the goal and I’ll never know how Tommy got by him. The extra point was good and the Lions led 7-6.

Late in the 4th quarter, Bay had the ball and was marching down the field, apparently unstoppable. They earned a first down at about the Lion four yard line. Three running plays straight up the middle carried to the one or to the half- yard line. The Bay High Tornado came out of the huddle and lined up for what was expected to be the winning touchdown. Suddenly Lion Carroll Schlader came running from the Leon defensive line toward the sideline with a broad grin on his face. Time had expired (in that day time was kept on the field rather than a scoreboard) Bay could not run the play, and Leon won 7-6.

Back to 1945 and Coach Brown who I was beginning to think had a very short fuse. After one game, I don’t remember which (I was probably sitting on the bench), he was very displeased with the team’s performance and called for a special practice. This practice consisted of two players lining up facing each other. We were then required to run into each other as fast as we could. Several of us were injured. In 1945 our leather helmets did not have nose guards. For the first and only time in my life I was knocked senseless. This only lasted for seconds and no one else was aware of it. It did result in a crooked nose which I was somewhat proud of and shows until this day.

This “practice” resulted in team Captain Jim Yancey and a few others voicing concern with Coach Brown. He later apologized to the full team.

Lest I mislead you, Thomas Irvin Brown, Jr. had his tender side. In 1969 my youngest son Matthew , 9 years old, was to have a hernia operation. Coach Brown and Matt were in the same Tallahassee Memorial Hospital elevator. Matt of course was frightened. Coach Brown recognized this and voiced words of encouragement. He was in the hospital for a serious blood disease but still showed concern for my son. I am grateful for his kindness. Coach Brown later died from this disease.

Another example of Coach Brown’s kindness is revealed in this next story written by my friend Judge Pope Hamrick Jr.

THE FOLLOWING IS JUDGE POPE HAMRICK'S ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPERIENCE WITH COACH BROWN.

In 1957, when I was a senior at Leon, the School established a club called Junior Civitan. It was to be in competition with Key Club. I was asked to join both clubs but chose Junior Civitan. At Christmas the club sold Claxton Fruitcakes and the club members that sold the most won a prize. One Saturday all the boys met at Leon and someone drove me and Pleasant Strickland (Pleas) to Country Club Estates and let us out saying they would be back in two hours to pick us up. Neither Pleas or me wanted to go up to houses and sell Claxton Fruitcakes, you might say we had a bad attitude. We went up to one house knocked on the door and said, shaking our heads “you don’t want to buy a Claxton Fruitcake, do you?”. The owner said no, and shut the door. Then Pleas and I went and sat on the curb and he asked “when did they say they would come pick us up?”

After a while we decided to go to one more house. We knocked on the door and went through our same spiel. The owner, who we didn’t know, said “you boys from Leon? How many fruitcakes do you have?” We counted them and said 50, he said," I’m Tom Brown and I have a great affection for Leon, I will take them all and give them to my employees for Christmas.” So Pleas and I won the contest! And we got to meet Tom Brown.
That’s my story. Pope

In contrast to Coach Brown, Tommy was even tempered and seemingly always smiling. Although he was a star, he had the ability to make others feel important. While at Leon he earned 15 letters in 5 sports. Not only was Tommy a star in the major sports he was Tallahassee’s champ in ping pong and pool. He won many amateur golf tournaments and for a while went professional.

After high school Tommy won an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy. As a freshman he played quarterback and defensive back . In 1949 he starred on the varsity team as a punter and defensive back for the Army team that was undefeated that year. He was a star of the Michigan game in which his punting and his interception in the end zone contributed to Army’s 21 to 7 victory. This ended Michigan’s 25 game winning streak.

Tommy left West Point early in time to join FSU’s 1950 football team. In his first game against Troy State he scored two touchdowns. In the 1950 game against Tampa he registered the longest punt in school history, an 84- yard kick from FSU’s 16 yard line into Tampa University’s end zone. I am not aware of that being equaled by any college team or for that matter any football team in a regular game. FSU ended the season undefeated – eight wins and no losses.

Before leaving Leon High School Coach Brown courted Leon’s lovely young Music Teacher Mary McCormack. They were married in 1945, with Leon football seniors Albert Bradford, Bill Lewis, Ed Ranew and Jim Yancey serving as attendants. Brown opened a gas station at the SW corner of Adams and Tennessee Streets. Directly across the street on the NW corner was the Greyhound Bus Station. My family lived in an apartment on the SE corner of these same streets. A ways down from the gas station on Tennessee Street was a dry cleaners owned by Brown. Thomas Irvin Brown, Jr. won a position on the Leon County Commission and he served for 14 years. Tom Brown Park, Tallahassee’s largest and most diverse, was named for Coach Tom Brown. He was a coach for the Babe Ruth League for 20 years and played for the Kiwanis in the City Softball League. Brown did not use a glove. I played for the Lions Club Team (I used a glove.)

Both Toms were outstanding citizens who had a positive influence on the lives of many. Thomas Irvin Brown, Jr. died August 14, 1973, from a blood disease. Thomas Edward “Tommy” Brown died February 16, 2008, from heart disease. And so ends the tale of the two Toms.

Roy Strickland, November 2016

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