MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1995

Charlie Rich, the soulful singer-pianist who came out of Memphis in 1959 with the national pop hit "Lonely Weekends" and went on to enjoy an even more successful country music career in the '70s, died in his sleep early Thursday in Hammond, La. He was 62. Rich and his wife, Margaret Ann, lived in East Memphis. The couple was driving to Florida for a vacation after seeing their son Allan perform with Freddy Fender at Lady Luck Casino in Natchez, Miss. “I never have worked with a more talented person than Charlie Rich and I don't expect to if I live to be 100,” said Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who first met Rich in 1957. Nicknamed “the Silver Fox,” after his mane of prematurely white hair, Rich scored hit after hit in the ‘70s.

50 years ago — 1970

Collierville, Tenn. – There's nothing like a birthday party to perk up summer doldrums, especially when the party includes a town parade and a cow-milking contest. The party is for Collierville. The occasion is the Southeast Shelby County town's 100th birthday. Kicking off the nine-day centennial celebration is Saturday's parade. It will have bands and bugles and vote-seeking political candidates.

75 years ago — 1945

Thirteen students will be awarded certificates or diplomas in the sixth annual commencement program at the William R. Moore School of Technology on Friday morning. The class includes Helen Hansen, who has completed a course in architectural drawing, and Virginia Tucker, who studied mechanical drawing — they will have the distinction of being the first women ever to be graduates from the school.

100 years ago — 1920

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, distinguished leader of the suffragette forces and president of the National League of Women Voters, is to be the guest of Memphis today. Mrs. Catt is touring the state in the interest of the ratification of the Susan B. Anthony amendment by the Tennessee legislature.

125 years ago — 1895

Despite the phenomenal demand for bicycles this year, their price remains high — nearly $100 apiece — due to the labor involved in making them. A report from Chicago says that a syndicate is being formed between Alexander Revell of that city and P.E. Studebaker, the big carriage manufacturer of South Bend, Ind., to make bicycles by mass production. The new outfit will put 400,000 on the market by next April and sell them for $50 each, the report said.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Freddy Raby, right, 6, sets up his lemonade stand in his front yard every afternoon. Three of his best customers, from left, Gary Atkinson, 3, Janet Atkinson, 5, and Paul Payne, 6, stopped by to sip a 2-cent cupful and watch Freddy put his profits in his piggy bank cash register on July 26, 1952.