GBNF: Craig T. Scott, CS-06, and Dave Fleming, CS-24. Their obituaries, and classmate memories are on the GBNF page of 75bestalive.org.
Enjoying the Spice of Life: Stan “Chumley” Collins, and spousal unit Mary, spent a week in Aruba. He didn’t go into details on their activities there, but a Google search for Americans being deported from the island came back empty, so Chumley must be getting stealthier with age. My son, Luke, and I visited Curacao for a week of diving in July. My idea of a week in the Caribbean is eat, dive, eat, nap, be one with the couch while watching mindless drivel on the television, eat, sleep, and then repeat the same thing the next day, but at a much more relaxed pace. Luke’s idea of a diving week is eat, dive, sleep, and repeat. My ears still haven’t cleared from spending so much time underwater. Lance Grace, Ed Wilcock, and Gary Shugart did their best to keep their heads above water as they celebrated the 46th anniversary of our graduation from the Zoo by taking a 14-day rafting trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
Rudy Roth, Don Byers, and Ric Lewallen, and their spouses traveled to Eagle River, AK, to attend the wedding of Dean and Sandra Cox’s daughter, Rebecca. If it was like most weddings, the ladies cried and the guys stifled yawns and gas.
On Father’s Day, Bran McAllister and his son, Dan (‘04), enjoyed a Mitch’s Mountain Supreme prepared by their better halves, Carolyn and Brie. As expected, it didn’t last the evening.
Just when you thought it was safe to go outside again, I received a report that the Hacker Classic gang was spotted on golf courses around Ogden, UT. Wayne Willis was the host this year, Charlie Simmons was the guest IP, sandbaggers Jim Corrigan and Tom Popp took top honors, and Rod Hennek retained the coveted USAFA Cheerleader hat, symbolic of “the one with the most opportunity to improve.”
Worthy Deeds: Duane Jones spent the USAFA Class of 2025 “I” Day as a volunteer in the Field House, primarily in the COVID screening and immunization area. Whether he was doing that as a good deed or because he derived a sense of pleasure out of seeing the faces of those who have no idea as to what is about to befall them, is debatable, but the gleam in his eye would support the latter theory.
The Friday prior to Memorial Day, Bruce Mitchell, Bentley Rayburn, Bruce Fritzsche (is it legal to have that many consecutive consonants in a name?), Foster Bitton, and Scott Hente placed coins on the headstones of ‘75ers interred at the Academy cemetery. Not surprisingly, at least one person in the group had a memory about each of the classmates’ whose gravesites were visited. Further proof that we are unquestionably brothers in arms.
Fred Weems graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in astrophysics in May and has been accepted into the graduate program there in astronomy. Great Fred, you’re 68 and you have at least four degrees, but when are you going to get a job? John Scherer and his twin brother, Dr. Jeff Scherer, received their FAA Master Pilot Awards at Waukesha County Airport (WI) on July 8, 2021. John and Jeff both soloed at that airport in October of 1969, and they both still fly Jeff’s P-35 Bonanza. Airport manager Marty Miller is still producing airshows at his hometown airport in Great Bend, KS. This year the show takes place September 17-19, which is probably about the time this magazine will show up in your mailbox. Oops. You can go to www.greatbendairfest.com to see what you missed.
Chris Glaeser was selected to participate in the first episode of the “Grads in the Cockpit” series produced by the AOG and AFA Foundation. Chris, having flown more than 70 types of aircraft, represented the test pilot community on the panel of five fighter pilots.
Workaholics: Despite repeated belittlement done with the best interests of the recipients at heart, we still have classmates who refuse to step away from the grindstone and let a younger person pulverize the wheat into flour. One of those offenders is the aforementioned Christopher Glaeser. Mr. Glaeser has just signed on with Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth, MN, as their first Director of Safety. He rationalizes his irrationality by pointing out that he will be able to fly production flight test and delivery flights. Admittedly, that sounds like it could be enjoyable, but work is still work, therefore the kudo given to Chris in the preceding paragraph is hereby rescinded. Stan Jones is likewise reprimanded for joining the “retired and working full time” group. After retiring from the defense industry in 2018, he’s been flying a Citation XL for a charter company for 2 1/2 years. Last, but not least, our almost beloved class president, Jim Carlson, has taken on a new position in Hawaii. Actually, that’s forgivable because it gives all of us a place to stay when we go to Oahu.
The photo submissions this quarter were great and numerable. If you don’t see yours here, it’s on 75bestalive.org.
Memorial Day 2021
