1975 Hours. Local Time. Dec 30, 2008. We toasted JT. "Here’s a toast to our classmate JT Wolter, Gone But Not Forgotten. He is sorely missed. Until our Rejoin !! Here, Here !!!." JT Wolter was laid to rest Dec 30th. From Bentley Rayburn: JT had been in the hospital for a couple of days fighting a serious illness and it was just too much for him. He is survived by his wonderful wife, Meg, and their two great kids, David Wolter and Lindsey Wolter Elliot.
From Larry Bryant: Mark Wells, Mark Volcheff, and I were able to attend JT’s graveside service at the USAFA cemetery. It was a very small gathering, since the memorial will be Friday at the church. Since the winds have been howling, most of the service was held in the new, glass-enclosed facility erected for just such occasions when the weather makes being outside miserable. Mark Wells presented the flag to Meg after the color-guard folded it with great care. I gave our Class’ condolences to Meg and told her about the toast tonight at 8:15 pm (1975 hrs). She seemed touched and pleased that we plan to remember JT that way. For those who did not know JT well, he was a Christian man of great faith. “Here’s a toast to our classmate JT Wolter, Gone But Not Forgotten. He is sorely missed.”
The 1975 Hours Toast elicited some email responses: Dean Spraggins, in the Black Hills: JT's memory is well served. From Bill Murray: At 8:15 PM tonight CST at the AOG Fund Raiser for the Armed Forces Bowl tomorrow, Terry Young, Jack Shine and I raised our glasses in memory of JT........He was a good man who had a good attitude and lived a memorable life. We will pray for Meg. From Dave Clough, CS-36 Pink Panthers POC: “Here’s a toast to our classmate JT Wolter, Gone But Not Forgotten. He is sorely missed.” John Quattrocki To all: It is 1975 hours in Falls Church, Virginia. To JT and every other member of the Class, who has left us too soon. Jerry Manthei inquired, wanting to share the toast: Anyone meeting in the Alexandria area tonight?
From Rick Perry (Chairman, United Airlines Denver Council 33): JT had been elected nine months ago as the United Pilots Aero Medical Chairman. He expressed his willingness to serve with great passion. He had been grounded for a few years after undergoing open-heart surgery. His experience with ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association) medical was so positive, that he wanted to volunteer to give something back. He wanted to show his appreciation. JT and his smile will be missed.
The Scribe also Toasted JT, who was in my doolie squadron, RebEleven, with me. My wife and both kids were with me for the Toast, in Hawaii, at Bellows AFS, celebrating our 20th Anniversary. An interesting scenario developed for the scribe about 30 minutes before the appointed toast time. While putting on some water socks to take a walk on the beach, I felt a sharp pain in my toe. Quickly removing the shoe, a large centipede emerged. I'm assuming JT arranged that so I wouldn't forget to toast. Till we meet again, JT: Here, Here. Here's a JT Story from the scribe: As doolies, JT would buy vinyl LP's from the Cadet Store, listen to them for awhile, then sell them at a discount. Always looking for a deal, I bought several from him. I still have them, with the initials "JT" in electrical tape slivers on the LP.
Per the request of Jim Carlson, our class president, and as suggested by Fred Whitican: Wherever 2 or more classmates are gathered (in person or by phone), let us raise a toast to our fallen brother at an appointed time in the evening at 1975 hours (8:15 PM) your local time. Additional times suggested to toast - but for ALL our departed brothers: at our annual Dark Ages Party. 4 June every year, maybe also on 5 July every year: “Here’s a toast to our classmates, Gone But Not Forgotten. They are sorely missed. Until our Rejoin !! Here, Here!!!”
Classmates. From Jim Carlson: During my trip to Texas a couple of weeks ago, I had the tremendous opportunity to meet up with our ’75 contingent in the Houston area. Meeting me at a popular watering hole were: Chuck Willis, Dan Woock, Mike Matte. I was able to contact Ed McCollum, one of our long-lost and had a good catch-up chat. You might know that Ed went Navy right after graduation along with Mark Lenci, Jerry Manthei, and Al Nash. Ed assures me he’s happy to be in the ’75 comm loop and welcomes any an all classmates going to Houston to stop by and visit. Lately, he’s had the aftermath of Hurricane Ike to deal with and other vicissitudes of life – but as he’s found out, you can run, but you can’t hide – from the ’75 mafia! Danny Woock set up the get-together and this just might be the first time he and I have met. Same with Chuck Willis. Chuck, by the way, has graciously agreed to serve as the ’75 Geographic POC for Houston – so if you folks happen to be in the area, give Chuck a shout. Chuck will be on the lookout for other classmates locally and will keep me advised. Mike Matte, I was unaware, is known as “The Marathon CEO”. Since I don’t think he doesn’t head up Marathon Oil, I assume it means he runs long distances. Mike goes around the country giving motivational speeches – and recently got back from the Zoo talking to cadets about the important things they need to keep in mind as they become America’s next generation of leaders and achievers. Danny gave me a few more names of classmates in the Houston area, which grew my list from those 3 to 8. Perhaps more, as we keep looking.
From Jim Carlson: Here's a quick note to share the '75 mini-reunion in Phoenix on Election eve. Rich Chanick graciously invited classmates to a rooftop margarita-and-shrimp warm-up at his top story home in Phoenix (a home site he shares with John McCain down a common hallway). We had dinner at a nearby sports bar and had a great evening as the photo attests. Great company with great classmates! From Rich Chanick: Jim, As you may remember I live next door to a squid. He is our senior senator in Arizona and has been in the news quite a bit lately BUT we have been giving each other grief for years, soooo I spiced up our hallway with the help of the athletic department.
From Chris Glaeser: Our classmate Dennis Mellen had a very serious heart attack three weeks ago while mountain biking in the foothills east of Seattle. He was very fortunate in that he was aided by a good Samaritan who called 911 and subsequently got him medical care in a timely manner. Dennis spent about a week in the hospital, and is now resting and recuperating at his home. I talked to Denny yesterday and he was in excellent spirits. Denny works for Alaska Airlines as a pilot, and interestingly enough, the chief pilot at Alaska is Tom Kemp, also a '75 grad. Tom is keeping very close to Denny as he recovers. Update from the scribe: I had lunch yesterday with Chris Glaeser and Denny. I grilled Denny about his "bike ride" probably more than he wanted to, but I found the details very interesting: a seemingly healthy and physically fit grad with low cholesterol, who has a heart attack on his regular bike ride. Denny also volunteered that he apparently holds some kind of record for the number of times being "paddled" with a defibrillator for a single event. We're glad he is still with us.
From Jim Carlson: I met up with classmates in Phoenix and Miami, and had a '75 mini-reunion in Ft. Lauderdale with Bill Caskey and Mark Modrich (our organizer). Each of us drove 30 minutes or more to meet up at a central location (Mark had an 0700 flight the next morning and Bill was on-call as a Physician Anesthesiologist). Now, THAT'S dedication to class unity! Mark is the Backup POC for Seagram's 7; and Bill and I were on the same SERE trek team (with Dennis Carter) and is the only guy I know who was made to eat all his cornflake and pemmican bars after we were captured on the first day of evasion. I suspect he's still bummed that he couldn't ration those essential food items for the rest of the trek. (Dennis and I shared ours with him until we ran out). BTW, Mark owns a DeLorean (one of 6,500 to still exist today). What an unexpected thrill! Mark drove it to the restaurant – and for a moment, I was Marty McFly.
From John Venable in Australia: I have more time now than I've had in a while, as I've finished my job as Head of School a while back, have just finished my marking for the semester/year and have next semester off from teaching for a sabbatical. I also think it would be interesting for me to be in touch with ‘75 grads outside of the USA. I'll be spending part of my sabbatical next year in the USA, visiting at Georgia State University for about 6-7 weeks in parts of March and April.
From Jim Carlson: I just got back last night from my Thanksgiving trip to Croatia and other Balkan countries, and have a few hours of turn-around time at home before flying out to Seattle for work this afternoon. I took our ’75 Class Guidon and displayed it in 4 of the 5 countries I visited (landed and flew out of Venice – the only place not photographed). BTW, I’m planning to make a few more of the class guidons for you guys to take pictures of in each of the States, and overseas locations. I think we can get a good photo collection together by the time our 35th reunion rolls around in 2010. So start thinking of sites you want to photograph with our class guidon. It might take me a few weeks to get the order for the guidons in, and I’ll have to figure out whom to send them to at first – but I would expect you guys to pass the guidons around after you’ve taken your respective photos. Rich Chanick responds: I love the idea of more 75 flags however I believe we ought to concentrate not on where the picture was taken but on who is holding it and how are they clad. If you are a wife reading this…then I am just kidding.
From Paul Lotakis in Seattle: I picked up Carlson at his hotel and after some admin duties, we arrived at Rockbottom promptly at five. We knew there would be a latecomer or two, so we just took over the back bar area. Jim regaled me with stories of Croatia interspersed with Best Alive Lore. By 7PM, we figured we had been jilted, and Jim was thoroughly bored with me, so he decided to score some babes from the next table while I chaperoned. (Well sort of...I said hello and he took over. See first picture). Jim was really on a roll about the time Tom Kemp and Denny Mellen showed up and the covey of quail scattered like they were looking down the barrel of a 20 gauge. (See second photo to see how it ended up.) One thing we did accomplish was that Carlson is finally convinced that Seattle is in Washington not Florida...but that was only after consulting the gazetteer proving that WA is on the "weast" coast and DC on the 'least" coast. Rest assured we all talked about you all not present with love and admiration (please don't turn me into the Honor Board for that) and you were sorely missed.
From Rick Douglas: I'm sorry to inform you that the famous photograph of our Class President, proudly arriving on a Cadet Bus and stepping off at the Base of the Ramp, was actually misprinted – BACKWARDS! That's right. After actually seeing the place, Appointee Jim tried to make a hasty escape, but was successfully blocked by a usually inattentive Bus NCO ! See two attached photos. Please ensure these more realistic pictures are inserted into our Class inCircle Photo Album, Checkpoints, and any other applicable history to FINALLY set the record straight. Thanks from this old USAFA History Major.
From Gary Oreshoski: I was reassigned July 1 to the Cathedral in Rapid City, SD, after 6 years in beautiful Buffalo and missions.
Dark Ages Party. In what seems to be an escalating social occasion, as this column deadline approaches, the annual DC area Dark Ages Party is set for Feb 21st. We'll report fully next column. The DC contingent was joined last year by a good size group in Colorado Springs and a well-intentioned spontaneous group in Seattle. Expect the participation to grow. Possibly to Perth, Australia, where John Venable, our International POC, lives. (although only John will be present). Still...
Admin. From Jim Carlson: Here’s a call-out for classmates who would like to give our Class Webmaster a hand in maintaining our ’75 class website. Marty Stytz, CS-11 POC, has done a wonderful job in setting up the website and keeping it current as much as humanly possible considering his other work (like the one that actually pays him money) and other demands on his time. Marty has never complained, but I know that the kind of pace I demand of him to update our very own class site on the World Wide Web won’t keep him healthy in the long run. I’m not putting Marty out of a job – I just would like a classmate or two with some HTML skills to be his web-backups in the event Marty croaks, or has other higher priorities from time to time. Marty and I talked about this, and he’s perfectly fine with granting other classmates editing access to the site. He will remain our primary Webmaster – but hopefully soon we can have webmaster expertise more than 1-deep. If you would like to help, please contact Marty and me.
USAFA 1975 Generals: Please take a look at the page that our classmates Marty Stytz has put together to honor our Flag Rank classmates. Thank you for sending us your hi-res official photo (but we're still missing pix from a few of you) Marty has a special request of each of you: as you move your mouse over Muddy Waters' photo, you’ll notice a hidden picture. Would you please send Marty a personal photo you'd like to share (which will only be seen during a mouse-over) such as a family photo, commissioning photo, stars pin-on, retirement, hero action-shot, etc. Marty and I can't speak for the whole class – but we're sure damn proud of you. From Jim Carlson, in regards to percentages of Generals in a graduating class: After I asked the AOG, they did some crunching and came up with these numbers: In terms of us having 28 General Officers, only ’64, ’77, and ’78 have more. In terms of percentage of graduates for us at 3.704%, only 7 classes have higher percentages than us. Not too shabby at all, I have to say.
From Jim Carlson: Some of you have been getting emails from me lately about going to the ZoomieNation website (Now Defunct) and updating your profile. Here's another reason to bear a little patience with my oppression of your good nature: If you go to our class website on the Graduates page, you'll notice that your name has a direct hyperlink to the ZoomieNation site. It is yet another way for your classmates to connect with you. Clicking on the link beneath your name takes you to your profile and contact information on ZoomieNation. Our classmate and much harried (by me) webmaster, Marty Stytz, has painstakingly added every single link that you find there (all 756 of us). That's a lot of effort on his part, so please complete the circle it by logging on to the ZoomieNation site and have that link go to your particular spot online – instead of it being a lonely unlinked link. You'll also notice that Marty has placed a CHALICE icon upright for each of us. But when the unthinkable happens, and we depart the fix for other skies, the chalice is turned upside down and grayed out. The link then goes to the GBNF page (and hopefully with links to classmate tributes to honor your memory).
Just so you know, we have about 375 updated classmate profiles already on ZoomieNation, some with photos, blogs, and other interesting and fun things on their page. A dozen of them logged in for the first time in the last couple of weeks. My goal this year is to get ALL 720+ living classmates on ZoomieNation with current contact information. I intend to have this be the clearinghouse for any of us to reach out to other classmates – until the last 2 are left to drink a commemorative bottle of brandy to our collective memories. The site is password protected and is not open to the general public, just to fellow zooms. If you’ve NEVER logged in before, please go to the site and follow the steps to validate who you are and to start updating your profile. If you’ve actually logged in before, then please make sure you make your email address and phone number visible to classmates (whom you’ve accepted as “Friends” in the website). You update your contact data by going to your profile page, clicking on EDIT at “My Contact Information View All | Edit” Then go to the “Privacy Settings” tab and make your selection for “Internet - Email” and “Phone” to be visible to Friends (or Community). Once you’ve registered and updated, and if you haven’t joined up with the Class of ’75 Best Alive group, go to the link and click on the “Join Group” button. Only 355 classmates to go before I stop pestering you.
