TLC logo TLC #53:  June 15, 2003


 
Dear Hearts & Gentle People:
 
Big week in Big Lex. This week is the Heritage Festival, complete with old-time carnival rides, etc. For those of you who remember the Fall Festivals, this is vaguely reminiscent of those innocent days. The carnival rides are located on Franklin, between 13th and 15th. Now, don't you know the people who live there are loving that?
 
There are some good old-fashioned events, such as the parade, Fun Flower Show, the frog jumping contest, beautiful baby contest, old car show, but no queen contest. No teenagers loping across the auditorium stage in bathing suits and high heels. See? We've matured here as well.
 
Next weekend is the Old Homes Tour, Sat. & Sun. Since my home is on it, this is a fairly busy time for me. Lots of polishing and sprucing up in preparation for putting the best slipper-shod foot forward. The following Friday is the Garden Club garden tour....as opposed to the Garden Tour which was part of the Heritage Days celebration. Our yard is on the G.C. tour too. My husband Ken has been creating a New Orleans courtyard for some four years now. He's close to finishing!
 
Another Big Event: the performing arts series called "Live! in Lexington." This week is the season subscription
sales campaign, but the performances will be held beginning in October. We have four international acts committed to performing in Lexington, and that's why the ticket campaign is going on now. We needed to lock in their contracts.
 
Briefly, Oct. 13 is (Dancing On) Common Ground, a group of dancers in the mode of Riverdance and Stomp. It's an ensemble of Irish step-dancers, country cloggers and tap dancing; high energy and great fun.
 
Nov. 13 is Stars of the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats. You've no doubt seen them perform on TV - their Tower of Chairs, 14 men on a bicycle, exotic dances and flaming sword routines.
 
After the holidays - Feb. 10 - the series resumes with Antonio Pampa-Baldi, a classical pianist who was Silver Medalist in the Van Cliburn competition last year. He's performed in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, etc.
 
Finally, on April 1, we will present the Manhattan Rhythm Kings who recently appeared on Broadway with wonderful choreographer Tommy Tune, and on the Tony Awards show, Kennedy Center Honors show, and they also performed with Mel Torme a few years ago. They sing close harmony, tap dance and play musical instruments - another high energy act. Their music is mostly from the 30s and 40s.
 
Now, if this sounds like a commercial, I unashamedly tell you it is. I want to sell you tickets! I want you to come to Lexington for a wonderful time!
 
Season tickets, all 4 shows, are only $60 for adults and $30 for children - so bring the grandkids too. The reason we are able to present acts of this calibre for that price is because the booking company Live On Stage can book them in other communities nearby, thereby making it a worthwhile venture for these performers.
 
This is something the "Live! in Lexington" board expects to continue for years to come. The more people who attend, the bigger acts we can sign.
 
This year all performances will be held at 7:30 at the Wentworth Chapel auditorium. It's a wonderful and intimate setting for acts like these, although it can seat around 670.
 
Where can you get tickets, you ask? I'll be glad to give you details. Contact me at skworth@iland.net or 660-259-4559. Your other Lexington contacts can work it for you too. If you live close enough to consider it, get in touch!
 
Now, on to this issue's correspondence. TLC (Tracer of Lost Chums) has been successful again!
 
From Don LeJuene:
 
Thanks for printing the info I was asking for. I did find Sherie LeJeune. She lives in Lee's Summit MO. I have talked to her, but we haven't seen each other as of yet. I was through there last weekend coming home from a motorcycle rally. I called her, but didn't get an answer so came on home. When I got here she had called and said she was home but on the computer. So will call her again later on. Did I understand in the newsletter that someone else was trying to find her? If so, I can put them in touch with her. Thanks again for the newsletter and keep up the good work.
 
Jim O'Malley adds another nickname:
 
In a couple of recent TLCs a list was presented of Lexington nicknames.  I'd like to add my dad's to the list.  His name was James O'Malley, but his nickname (and HIS father's nickname) was Scoop. Maybe it was because they worked in the mines and scooped coal. Beats me.  When I was a wee lad some of dad's friends started calling me "Little Scoop."  My mother would correct them in a strong voice
and tell them, "HIS NAME IS JIMMIE!"  That settled that. 
 
Barbara Jarman had some more:
 
I really enjoyed the nickname issues, thanks to Bob Warner's 'recall' and research of all those nicknames. My goodness!  I must admit to seeing a lot of names there to which I could not make any immediate connection, so I will await any and all responses to that long list. 'Doghair' has been doing his homework.
I had not seen 'Doghair' for many a year (48?) when I saw him at the last 5-class reunion in 2000, and he was always Bobby Warner when I lived down on 7th Street, and he was one of the 'neighborhood kids'. I was a bit new to that whole business myself when I first encountered him, and am really not sure just when he moved out of our neighborhood.

But I did remember that Bobby Warner was the best marble shooter around, and I never ever wanted to play 'for keeps' when he showed up for a game. I wasn't all that good at it myself (I was a 'sissy-shooter'- shot off of the second knuckle instead of the fingertip), and I usually got shut out if I wouldn't play 'for keeps'. And, I knew better than to do that because of my own limitations, as I really loved my pretty marble collection. So, I normally just watched, as Bobby Warner
always walked away with all the marbles. And, then he moved  into another neighborhood, and out of my immediate attention for a few years.

Then, Bobby Warner became 'Doghair' when I got into high school. And, I never knew why, until I met him at that class reunion, and called him 'Doghair'. He just laughed, and wondered if he would ever live down that nickname. I admitted that I didn't know why he became 'Doghair.' So he told me the story about football practice that day. He said it even followed him to Europe when he was there, and heard somebody say, "Doghair?"  It was Ike Skelton, and they just happened to be in the same place at the same time, halfway around the world, and that was what Ike called him. Who else would respond to that name? Some things, you just never forget - or outlive. So, I look forward to hearing some of the stories behind these names.

Thanks, Bob, for a great idea, and for those who added to that extensive list. Since there was still some reference to nicknames in the last TLC, I'll add some comments here.
  
"BANJO" FAUSS (The first of many references to the name 'Fauss'? My first and only recollection is to 'Silly' Fauss, who got up and left when a friend and I sat and cracked pecans with our teeth at the Mainstreet Theater in the sixth grade, and he left with a few curse words because he couldn't sleep through the movie - muttered something about us sounding like a bunch of *@*^% hogs eating corn. His snoring had stopped only when our noise began, so it wasn't about the movie!)

"BOBO" MEIERER (he married 'Giz', a classmate, and was a nephew of Miss Lena - 'Leaping Lena'?).
 
"BUBBA" LEGGETT (I always thought it was Bubby - another early neighborhood guy.)

"CHICKEN" FAUSS (Was this also "Silly", or a brother or cousin? )
"COTTON" BOYER (older brother to 'Poot', and younger brother to 'Red" - more neighborhood kids).
 
"DOOTSIE" GUEVEL (everybody knew him, too - athlete extraordinaire. I might someday tell the story about him being called 'Juicy' in art class, by 'Giz', and he turned beet red. haha.  He had tried to embarrass Giz, and she turned the trick on him, as only she could!)
"IRONHEAD" JOHNSON (Did that nickname also come from football?)
"KRAUT" FAUSS (Another one?!)
"MONKEY JOE" ALBERT (I could write a story about 'Monkey Joe' - you had to live in the neighborhood. But, I am very surprised that someone else knew his last name.)
"MOUSE" SHORT (and, how about 'Loochie'? - neighborhood kid again.)
"OBIE" PARIS (Where did the nickname come from? He was Bobby Dean before I started school. I recently ran across a picture of his dad, Hubert, taken by my Dad.  They were very good friends.)
"PIMP" CROSS (hmmmmmmmm - never heard that nickname. Which Cross was
that?  And why? This reminds me that I should not bring up a few more
nicknames that are NOT mentioned here.)
"POOT" BOYER  (Gene's lovely wife didn't learn that he was 'Poot' until just a few short years ago. But, he was always Poot to us. He had the biggest tricycle EVER in the city of Lexington. The rest of us had old roller skates nailed to boards, and we called them scooters.)

"SCRAP" PARKS (9th & Main store - always figured that the nickname was the surname in reverse - Skrap.)
"SHEIKI" VIALLE (Snappy Service & Sweet Shoppe, next to Mainstreet Theater - where I met my 'first husband', who is still around the house. :-)  And I still miss those old landmarks when I go to Lexington.)
"STINKY"STEVENSON (Must be a good story here - "Stinky"?)
"TEETER" BLAND (Have never heard the 'Teeter' reference. Which one was it?)
"TINY" BRYANT (Another football player - and, anything but tiny!)
There was also 'Ikey' Bryant, who played basketball like no one else in the MRVC. Remember that leg-churning lay-up shot from the foul line?)
"TURK" LYBARGER {And, the origin of that nickname?  This was Tommy, and I think he went on to be a state patrolman. Speaking of that, I heard that "Mel" {Clarence Fisher} went on to become head of the Missouri Highway Patrol.}
 
"WOP" GUILLIA (Another one from my Dad's era - never did know his real name, and am not sure I ever saw him. I just know that beautiful house and lawn at the edge of town, and the stories Dad told about when they were young.)

I saw no mention of "Grasshopper" - surely another one that originated with Bill Hamann on the gridiron. That was H.J. Guillou, of course. He was so tall and thin that he may have resembled the running gears of a grasshopper when he ran down the field. Bill Hamann had an active imagination - like my husband becoming 'Chunk' when he worked so hard to put on weight one summer for the next football season. I think he is still trying to live up to the name, but don't tell him I said so!

Oh, of course we won't tell him!!! It's our secret.
 
Some business to take care of - those of you who use a Spam filter may have trouble receiving TLC. Since it has many delivery addresses, it is not always recognized as personal correspondence.
 
And one more thing....I promised I would not get into the obituary business, unless specifically asked. But many of you remember him. Morris Cox, lifelong resident of Lexington, died on Wednesday. His funeral was today.
 
Your devoted scribe,
 
Susan
 
  


 

 
 


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