The Next Generation. Larry Bryant: Garret (#3 son), graduated from USAFA following his two older brothers into the Air Force. Since Philip (#1 son) was still at Kadena, where his wife had just had our 4th grandchild, we made a “flat daddy” to replace him at the pin-on ceremony. The flat daddy was a surprise to Garret and got quite a laugh from the crowd. Our son Philip and Marc Hallada’s son Josh (’02) received Silver Stars at Randolph AFB from Gen Ed Rice (’78) for a combat rescue in Afghanistan last year. (a fine tribute to these young men and their parents and others who made them Who They Are)
Doug Miller: Allison and I were very proud to attend our son's graduation at Fighter Weapons School. He is Captain Ryan D. Miller (’03), F-16 pilot currently stationed at Shaw AFB. I was surprised that I could still shoehorn myself into my Mess Dress. We live in Hot Springs, AR and invite any classmates traveling through to stop and visit or spend a night or two.
Fire on the Mountain Duane Jones: The wildfires, terrible as they were, brought classmates together in ways we didn't expect. When Jan and I evacuated, Debbi and Bentley Rayburn gave us a place to store some irreplaceables during the week we were out of our house. Mary and Mark Volcheff live two blocks away and were also evacuated. Mike Rosebush gave refuge to his brother's family ('72) who live about a half mile from us as well. It was a crazy time. Now we're back in our home and thankful that we sustained no damage.
Unfortunately, Rex Hoey lost a house; fortunately not the one he is living in. Scary nonetheless. The fire melted steel "I" beams, melted glass in houses and cars parked in the street. The COS FedEx ramp manager told me that police and firemen were running for their lives.
Last Man Standing? Chuck Schmitz finished his Afghanistan tour and looks forward to retiring from the Ohio ANG on 29 Dec. His may be the last combat tour by a classmate–any other nominations?
New Beginnings Ralph Paul may have been the Last Man Standing in another way: On 25 May I got married–first time for both of us! Don and Donna Lewis came all the way from Germany, where he is currently serving after volunteering to return to active duty as part of the Retired Rated Officer Recall Program. Mike and Susan Ruth flew in from Missouri to attend and supplied a couple of Academy sabers for pictures after the ceremony.
Kent Traylor and Jim Burling reported on Bruce Fritsche’s engagement to Diane Turner (Jon ’75) and they will be married over the Labor Day Weekend at the Broadmoor. Several classmates held an engagement party for them on 15 July.
Mike Buckley retired from Alaska Airlines in September 2011 with 27.5 years of service. It was a great ride, but it was finally time to move on the other things. Now my goals are to get my golf handicap lower, and my bike miles and volunteer time higher.
Forward March! David Beeman reports: The drill & ceremonies training got me a job! Just got back from serving as Parade Marshal for the California delegation in the annual Lions Clubs International Convention Parade. This year it convened and paraded in Busan (no longer Pusan - well, okay, Gimhae airport is still PUS), South Korea. I hope there were no movies of us: California looked more like a group of tourists on a stroll, but we had a great time. Largest international convention the Lions Club has ever had, and largest ordinary convention (not counting the 88 Olympics) Korea has ever had, so it was a pretty big deal.
John MacDonnell misses the periodic email updates, but understands our President’s new priorities in life. Many of us probably expected life to get less busy by this time in our lives, and some have made that dream come true. Beyond these quarterly articles, ZoomieNation, and 75bestalive.org, is anyone inclined to do something more frequent and detailed? If so, let the Scribe or Jim Carlson know and let’s see what develops.
MiniReunion. Bill Murray reports on Joe May's daughter’s wedding in Allen, TX crashed by five Best Alive representatives: This little deal was arranged by Charlie Simmons; at the last minute Joe couldn't come because his son's (Major, USMC) Iraq report date was moved up. Jack (Sally) Barton lives in Mississippi and flies for FedEx; Walt (Penny) Burns runs his own company, Blue Force, near Langley; Charlie (Sherry) Simmons is a CEO in oil and gas in Texas; Billy Stephan flies for SWA; and I'm (Judy) instructing 757/767 for AA.
Check out the picture of John and Nance Kearns in their restored cadet Porsche 914–the car makes them look 37 years younger!
Closing plug from Chris Glaeser: I saw your note on ZoomieNation and noted we have 430 classmates signed up–perhaps you could have squadron contacts push for more members–I will do an inventory of Stalag 17 and see if I can get a few more signed up. Just a thought, as ''its later than you think!" And a plug from the Scribe: I still receive many “bounced” emails when I send notifications, so please update your address (thank you, Billy) or do so on ZN. The deadlines for these articles are usually the third Monday of January, April, July, and October.
The toughest part of this Scribe gig is deciding which three of the many deserving pictures to include in the printed article. So if yours is not here, please be assured they will be on the websites, and this is no reflection on anyone’s character or ancestry. Until next quarter...see you around the campus!
