......LHS News......


Originally sent August 25



I am so saddened to report that we lost Dorothy A. 'Duffy' (Hankins) Gilbert, 67, on Monday morning, August 24, due to extreme complications of cancer. Duff has put up a brave fight with cancer since 1993. We will miss her sweet, smiling face and her always positive attitude.Friends Preston & Sandy Holsinger and Beth Garrett were with Duff the last couple of days as were Duff's daughters, Kelley and Kara. Both girls work and it has been noted how 'generous' the girl's bosses have been in allowing the girls whatever time they needed to be with their mom these past few years.Duff was a '60 grad of LHS and attended Cameron. Duffy is survived by the daughters, her sister Susan (Hankins) Ellington, four grandchildren, and numerous other relatives and friends. Duff was preceded in death by her husband James 'Jimmy' Gilbert, who passed in 1989, and her parents Ned and Veda Hankins.


Services will be at 11:00am this Friday, August 28, First Christian church in Lawton.


Extended obit and guest book at: <www.beckerfuneral.com>


Also passing, Kenneth Lee Calhoun, 44, of Lawton was killed in a [single vehicle] jeep accident this past Saturday night. Kenneth is an '82 grad of LHS. He is son of Lenin and Georgia (Moralez) Calhoun, class '62; cousin of Sharon (Godfrey) Nottingham McLawhorn, class '64.


Kenneth is survived by wife Marriane (Mackey) twin 14 year old daughters and a 16 year old son.


Services will be at 10:30am Thursday, August 27, at Becker Funeral Home Chapel.


Extended obit and guest book at: <www.beckerfuneral.com>

I know our hearts and prayers will be with these who have lost loved ones.



Susan (Hillis) Mackey fell in her yard last week and broke her shoulder. She is...hanging in there!I'm tellin ya.....rehab is the new place to meet and greet! Although Sara (Leister) Bridges is now out of rehab and home waiting on that broken leg to mend.

From the eMail bag:
Some additional recollections about the infamous 'dome' at LHS/Central......This from Murdoch Matthew, '49.......


"You ask, What?s going on with the dome? As I remember, in the 1940s it was just decoration, nothing in it. I think there were joists across the opening, but no floor. I don?t remember a way to get into it, but there was a long ladder up to a trapdoor onto the roof, so you could look through the little windows to the inside. Quite a view from the high school roof ? nothing taller anywhere around.The top floor of LHS was then mostly an unfinished attic. There were only two classrooms, Mrs. Snow?s chorus/music room on one side and a small room on the other where I took art classes one summer. The one time in my life that I played hooky, I hid out all day in the attic. There were screens over ventilation vents over the porch, so you could look down between the columns onto people on the steps. (No cafeteria then: Mrs. Tackitt?s class was the lunch room for people who brought theirs.) I found a lot of old printing plates for yearbook pictures, scattered on the floor on the music room side."

And, from Bob Kinniard, '54.....

"Reference the dome. When I was going to Lawton high, I was in the attic several times during high school The dome was below the roof as well as above. It extended below the roof about 8 to 10 feet and about 8 feet above the attic floor .[remember, I was a teenager and had not received the practical education of a adult which means my estimate of footage is probably not very accurate ].It had a ladder type stair going up into the room from the attic floor . Naturally I had to look it over. In the room which was round with vents above the roof line and below, were four metal pipes sticking above the room floor. These pipes went to the four outside perimeters of the building and tied into risers from the rooms down below. If you remember, all the rooms had a high and a low vent on the inside wall. It appears that the dome was part of a natural ventilation system for all of the classrooms. I hope this clears the mystery of the dome."

Seems to me....the city could make some extra $$$$$$$ by offering tours of the DOME!

Girls of '52.....Jane (Lacy) Ard, Robin (Alford) Adams and Marcille (Burns) Covey, and Pat (Banks) White had a luncheon get together at Red Lobster in Lawton on August 19th when Robin drove through on her way to her daughter's in AZ.

The girls of '56 are travelin' again. This time to the east coast to join Connie (Lassetter) Johnson at Emerald Isle, NC for a long weekend of catching up, lots of laughter, eating out, cooking, and domino playing. Myrna Kay (Langley) Daley, Yvonne (Anderson) Coombs, Barbara (Waid) Shelton and Kay (Kimball) Scott made the trip. (pix at top).

Regards from the 'home-town'...........Georgia