Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, and here the quarterly update is:
GBNF: Sam Hollins flew off into the wild blue on 3 March 2013, notice courtesy of Gary Whitfield. See full obituary in this issue. Godspeed to one of the best, Sam!
Movin’ on up: From Larry Fariss, on his election to the AOG Board: “It has been an honor to serve as our class senator for the past 7 years, and I am very excited about Bruce Mitchell serving out my current 5 year term, until 2015, when our class will elect its next senator during our class reunion.” Bruce noted that Leon Smith-Harrison had also served on the Board many moons ago, making three 75 classmates who have served in that capacity. Thanks for continuing to serve!
It’s a Small World, courtesy of Tim Murphy: “I learned how to connect with old classmates late last summer from Scott Smith. Driving along I-70 in eastern Ohio minding my own business and a shiny red Corvette flashed by with tags that read...well the picture tells the story better. I'm probably the only guy on the interstate between Ohio and Virginia who understood, but I did, so we used some old UPT hand signals and held a no-notice class reunion right there off I-70. Fun. (Pay no attention to the ad for my other Alma Mater).”
Off we go: Eagle-eyed Harry Mathis noted the retirement of Jim Heriot as Chief of Medical Staff at Eglin on 1 May. Harry serves as Command Chaplain for AFMC and has tentatively scheduled his retirement ceremony for Friday, 28 Mar 14 at the Hope Hotel at the main gate of Wright-Pat. (Mark the date–I see potential for another mini-reunion!)
Fame (and fortune?): Mark Wells accepted a one-semester Visiting Professorship with the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA, starting in July. “They’ve asked me to lead a seminar of hard-charging Army colonels along with a couple of reps from other services and DoD. Among other topics, I’ll be teaching strategy, policy, and military history. This TDY will count as the last sabbatical I’ll need to take before mandatory retirement in 2017. I’ll return to USAFA around Christmas time and resume my current position as Permanent Professor and Head of the Department of History. As it turns out, I graduated from Carlisle and the USAWC twenty years ago, so it will be like a homecoming. Donna and I are particularly excited to spend time in Pennsylvania: Our daughter Emily lives and works in Philadelphia. She recently got engaged and looks forward to a Colorado wedding in the summer of 2014.” Multiple congratulations, Mark!
More fame: Doug Nelson was awarded the Silver Beaver by the Inland Northwest Council (Spokane area) of the Boy Scouts of America as the top volunteer in the (appropriately) Thunderbird District. The Silver Beaver is the highest award given to a volunteer Scouter and follows years of consistent superior service. Way to go, Doug!
DC Dark Ages Party summary from project officer John Charlton: Thanks to all making this a big success. We had 35 classmates show up, most with their spouses, totaling 60 folks: Dahlson, May, McCorry, Arnott, Charlton, Quattrocki, Beesley, Awtrey, Waters, Saenger, Hargrove, Burns, Bready, Hartney, Smith, Dichter, Murphy, Akers, Mefford, Sullivan, Snelgrove, Soto, Davis, Carlson, Lylerly, Foster, Drow, Anderson, Anhalt, Pyatt, Van Pelt, Byers, Powers, Henney, Manthei. Special thanks to Andy Dichter for working with the Army-Navy Country Club (ANCC) folks. I thought the venue was elegant and the food was good as well. Andy hasn’t closed the books yet, but he is confident that he has enough extra money to cover all expenses, and he will hold any excess funding on account for next year’s gathering. Thanks to those of you who went a bit above and beyond the cost of dinner and contributed a few extra bucks, we had enough to submit a reservation deposit for next year.
Golddiggers? Wayne Willis’ daughter-in-law is cheerleader coach at Weber State, which explains the next picture during a recent AF-WSU basketball game. What a charmed life!
Remembering the Alamo: Jim (P.) MarshalI continues holding the fort in San Antonio and represented the class at the Alamo Chapter’s Founder’s Day Dinner on 13 Apr. “I have attended for the past several years and it is always good times, good food, great speaker and great company. We have people from the Class of 59 to current cadets.”
Paul Kent sent this amusing anecdote: Several years back the old CS-20 Trolls started an email exchange highlighting all our idiosyncrasies and generally just poking fun at ourselves. In the process, it was noted that Dave White (who was transferred out of CS-20 during our controversial firstie-year shuffle) and Steve Keen were not in the Firstie group photo, so I Photoshopped them in. Then the Photoshopping took a life of it's own for reasons beyond the scope of this short story. But for some reason Shakira was included in our senior photo. The other night my wife was watching some show Shakira was moderating (The Voice). I mentioned to her that Shakira was in my USAFA Squadron and we had a picture of all of us together. The wife remarked she would like to see that photo, so I showed the attached to her. Of course, as Dave White mentioned after we re-started this exchange, "At the risk of incurring the wrath of the other Elderly Trolls: Was Shakira even born then?" Of course not–she was born in 1977. Dudley Hancock had to add "Always wondered why Pete (Tom Peterson) and Charlie (Charles Buck) got Shakira, meanwhile, Thomas (Tom Finn) and I got Dave White!" The ‘stache looks good, too, Pablo!
Comment by Dean Spraggins (Via Zoomienation): From the twilight world of the semi-computer-literate: Shakira, Dave White, and Steve Keen were not the only items photo-shopped into our CS-20 Firstie portrait. I'd like to go on record here: I've never owned any AK, AKM, or civilian semi-only Kalashikov variant. And after ten years in gun parts sales and repair, after 15 years of OT&E while in uniform, I advise classmates to avoid owning one. And the JD bottle would be of only marginal interest today, as I drink less with each passing year (26 June 2013).
YHS went to a Cactus League game at Salt River with Scribe Emeritus Jeff Hackett–gorgeous night in the desert with great company, catching up on stuff. I can't imagine being Scribe for 20 years, most of that BC (before computers)!
Until next issue, keep in touch and keep the shiny side up!
