Randy Barrett checking in: I had my FAA First Class Medical reinstated this year and have gotten some work flying ab initio at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale for subcontractor Aerosim and flying MD80s for Falcon Air in Miami. After my forced landing accident in July 2005 nobody thought I would ever be healthy enough to fly again! 
I’ve also been hired as an Adjunct Professor for a classroom course this summer. Way to go, Randy–you proved that they can’t keep a good man down!
Dave White: The Steve Canyon TV show from the late 50s was one of the things that drew me to aviation at a young age. It's being released on DVD, by a guy in California who got the rights from Milton Caniff's estate. There is a statue of Steve Canyon in Idaho Springs, CO–wish I had known when we were cadets.
Chris Glaeser: Karen and I spent a weekend with Rock Bottomley and Maggie at their home in Chicago–a great chance to catch up, and a good reminder that friendships never grow old! We really enjoyed telling stories and lies about some of the Stalag 17 escapades–some of the stories might have even been partially true! Here's a challenge: Everyone find a chance to meet up with one or more of our classmates this year, and post a photo or two (ROE: travel over 100 miles, eliminating the easy Colorado connections). Somebody is certainly likely to find Dick and Michele Webber's RV in their driveway, so that might be an easy one, and we are still in Montreal, but retirement is beckoning due to the increasing crop of grandkids back in Minnesota. (Photos Below).
In February, Stan Siefke (Sluggo), Stan Collins (Chumley) and wives (Wanda and Mary, respectively) visited the Rocking L Ranch in Solvang CA hosted by Rick (Duck) and Leigh Layman. It was branding season and Rick, the Cowboy Colonel, had some branding work to do at a neighbor's. Great friends, great food and drink, hilarity at old stories...a great weekend!
Steve Lerum: Excuse me while I brag about my son, C2C Thomas Lerum, who just participated in the world record setting collegiate Wings of Blue formation jump in Arizona this week! (Video Below).
DC Dark Ages Party tradition continues: John and Bernadette Charlton (mostly the latter, according to John) put together another successful DAP–here’s a summary: We ended up with 41 folks: Dan McCorry, Bob Miglin, Scott Arnott, Scott Smith, Jerry Manthei , Jim Carlson, Phil Saenger, Dusty Rhoades, Terry Young, John Charlton, John Sullivan, Dave Anhalt, Chris Soto, Bob Akers, Al Piotter, Joe May, Greg Schmitt, Colt Mefford, Bob Awtrey, Randy Chapman, Bill Lyerly, Mark Beesley and Muddy Waters. Andy Dichter took a nasty spill while jogging late last week and had surgery on his leg, and Al Bready’s wife, Billie, also had some medical issues late in the week. We missed Andy and Cheryl and Al and Billie, and we wish them a speedy recovery. Joe May suggested that we select 75 days into the new year as the "normal" date of our DAP. According to my calculations, that would be 16 March 2013.
Ebola Bill Lyerly adds: Don Byers and Greg Collier could not join us in person, but they raised their drinks from Barcelona, Spain to toast the class. (Video Below).
High plains drifter Dave McDaniel reports in from Lubbock: I taught Western Civilization I and II at Texas Tech–nothing like having to be prepared to cover from 20,000 BC to the present all at one time! I didn’t make much progress on my doctoral dissertation, but I am trying to get that finished up by the end of the year. Our oldest son, Ryan, just came out on the USAF major’s list and is PCSing from Kirtland to Los Angeles AFB in the summer, and our youngest son, Robert, survived the great DFW-area tornado of April 2012 hunkered down with his middle school band until an hour after normal quitting time.
Meet George Jetson: Phil Meteer is testing a flying car, the Terrafugia Transition, in Woburn, MA–we are so jealous! Google for more details. Hey Phil, any chance we can get a class discount? (Video Below).
Mark 'Scotty' Scott hog hunting in Central Florida with Rob 'Stu' Stewart for his 60th birthday. We need a beer to tell about Scotty's over the shoulder blast!
Jim Corrigan, Larry Fariss, Dave Pratt, and Wayne Willis met in March to fulfill another of Larry's bucket list items. Larry and Dave played five days of golf with 36 holes each day. Wayne joined them for two days and Jim Corrigan and Roy Rice played at least four days with them. Afterward, Larry and Dave joined Rod Hennek in Augusta for the first two days of the Master's. Since September, the Willises have three new grandsons, for a total of five grandsons and no granddaughters. (Vito Goyden should tell Wayne what he’s missing: He has five granddaughters and a new grandson born on Washington’s birthday)
Swimming with sharks? Nah, just dolphins–even Bill Murray has his limits: Experienced a minor miracle called the "toe push." You swim out about 100 yards, lie on your stomach with your arms out front and your legs extended behind you with your knees locked. The dolphins swim behind you, place their noses on the flat portion of your foot, and accelerate until you come up out of the water like you're skiing--and they propel you for 90 yards back to the dock, dropping off just as you reach the end. It's the most amazing sensation-the strength, coordination, and power of these animals is just amazing! I've always wanted to swim with the dolphins ever since I watched "Flipper" as a kid.
Look for some great pictures of Duane Jones’ retirement ceremony, with 16 classmates attending, on the website. (Photos Below). Jim Marshall represented the class at the Alamo Chapter’s Founder’s Day dinner--thanks for your work, Jim.
In closing, an update on the class website from Bill Estelle: I've just linked a Twitter account [@75bestalive] to the web site. I've found about two dozen classmates use Twitter (so far). I realize I'm preaching to the slide rule set but it’s another way to link members of the class. Some examples can be seen in both locations. I assume if someone Tweets, they don't mind it being out there. I've begun archiving the Checkpoints columns, starting with 1975. They prove to be an interesting historical log. It will probably take a couple of years to get them all online. I just posted 1977.
Thanks to everyone who submitted adventures, updates, and photos. Due to space limits, look for more photos and a couple videos on the website and ZoomieNation. See you around the campus!
