Notable. Mike (Vito) Goyden, Liberty High School (Colorado Springs) Soccer Coach, took his Lancers team to the State Championship on the evening of November 7th. It was Liberty’s 5th State Title, which sets a Colorado state record.
From Jim Carlson: A terrific turnout for Andy Dichter's retirement ceremony last month! 17 classmates had a mini-reunion for this event: Meyerrose, Gunther, Marro, Henney, Lyerly, Dalson, Cox, McCorry, Miglin, Posey, Smith, Braun, Noetzel, Lodrige, Dichter, Carlson, Waters. Missing from the photo: Dale Meyerrose, Rod Gunther, and Mike Marro, who could not stay past the end of the formal phase of the ceremony in order to minimize the risk to their careers and/or marriages due to scheduling conflicts. But it was great that they were willing to take a portion of their valuable time, however brief, to honor our classmate Andy. It's always a delight for me to see our class together for these events. It's like a family reunion every time.
Steve Rogers, who left the Academy his sophomore year, was recalled to active duty by the AF. Among his many accomplishments is the algorithm he developed to detect breast cancer cells which is now used in every screening device worldwide. AF v SDSU in October: Jim Carlson was hoping to find a group of classmates at the tailgate and game, but he only ran into two: Rich Chanick, and Mike Perry. Roy Rice kindly sent a grainy shot of Ralph Rhye before he disappeared into the woods again with Sasquatch. Ralph is really a self-actualized man working as a custom carpenter and doing a lot of fishing with Roy. Scott Smith sent photo of himself at Philmont. From Rick Benbow (reflecting on his return to Del Rio, TX): Just to show you that life is a circle, I am relocating to Laughlin AFB, TX where my Air Force career started some 30+ years ago! I think I will be reuniting with my roommate, Randy Sheppard, who also instructs at Laughlin.
Osama bin Lyerly. Since Bill Lyerly was at Andy Dichter's retirement ceremony, and entertaining as always, here’s another new and amusing Lyerly story to add to our class lore: Lyerly was flying from Geneva to Ottawa. Arriving at Ottawa international airport at 0200, Security pulled Bill aside because Lyerly's name was similar to someone on the airport suspect watch list, and their birthdays matched. Bill was detained for several hours while his organization made frantic efforts to get him released in order for him to make a 0800 speaking engagement. Bill Lyerly, Class of 1963? In the Fall 2006 Edition of Checkpoints, in the “Long Blue Line” section, Bill Lyerly was incorrectly identified as being a member of the Class of 1963. Astute classmates who actually read the magazine and sent humorous comments include Dan McCorry and Dean Cox.
Jim Eken has landed at ITT Industries and will be the Program Manager for the Base Operations Support Contract at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar. From Steve Marino: My son finished 8th at the PGA Tour Qualifying School in La Quinta. This means he will be a full-time player on the PGA Tour starting in January 2007. From Wayne and Amy Willis: Hooray! We are grandparents! Tytan David Willis (yes, his initials are “T.D.”) arrived in May and we are enjoying every minute with him. From Bill Murray: I’m plugging along at Lockheed Martin on the F-22.
For '75ers in the Washington, DC Area, The 7th Annual '75 Dark Ages Party (DAP) is planned for 10 Feb at Ft McNair. This year's theme is Mardi Gras, with beads and masks. Dan McCorry is arranging for a sit-down venue (this year, we're upgrading to '75 DAP 2.0) with a menu reflecting New Orleans type food. From Rick Pyatt about Dan: For those that don't know it, Dan recently led a winning proposal for his company which had BIG $$$ associated with it. He's probably working 24/7 putting things together–so again thank you. The Goodrich Corporation Class of '75 team will attend with a four-ship. Sam Ryals and his charming wife Ginger are flying in from Dayton, Ohio. My wife and I will also attend. Both Ginger and Zara are former blue-suiters. Here's the current lineup of The Usual Suspects (and a couple of new faces): Akers, Anderson, Awtry, Beesley, Braun, Bready, Carlson, Charlton, Cox, Dalson, Kerby, Lodridge, Lyerly, Manthei, Marro, May, McCorry, Meyerrose, Piotter, Posey, Pyatt, Quattrocki, Ryals, Soto, Sullivan From Carlson: Would like more of you guys to show, of course. Especially the ones I haven't seen in decades. I finally get to see Chris Soto again – last time (not counting any brief flyby at the reunions) was at the end of 2nd BCT when he won one of the "Meanest-Mother-in-the-Valley" awards. From Dave Wallace: Following the DC gang's lead, Brian Duffy told me that we may be holding a similar Dark Ages get-together in Colorado.
From our class president about Mark Holmes: I cannot think of another classmate that has as much pride in the class of '75. So much so, that he has tattoos on his body of: (a) both sides of the crests on our class ring (inside left and right forearms); (b) '75 Best Alive on the right side of his neck; (c) prop and wings on the left side of his neck. Note – Mark's father was a B-17 pilot shot down over Europe and spent three and one-half years as a POW.
Some Closing ZoomieNation (Now Defunct) Posts. From Fred Weems: Does anyone have a copy of the speech Jimmy Stuart gave at our ring dining in? From Scott Smith: Does anyone have any info on Ronald Montoya? Last rumor I heard was he is a surgeon in the Corpus Christie area. From William Taylor: If this list ['75 Attritees] is those who didn't graduate, it seems to be missing my childhood classmate Phil Jones. Perhaps his name was "James Phillip", and he's listed as Jimmy? He died a few months ago of an aneurysm while driving near Nashville. He apparently pulled his car over, got sick, passed out, never regained conscious, and died a few days later. From Mike Garrett (re: "inCircle – on '75 Attritees): Gus Mirich left us during our smack year and went to Beale AFB as a crew chief on the SR-71. Approximately 1 to 2 years later I heard he'd died.
From David A. Clough: Maj. Gen Stan Gorenc was quoted in Aviation Week & Space Technology: "It was the safest flying year ever, in 2006, for the U.S. Air Force, measured by the number of major aircraft accidents, 19, with eight destroyed aircraft, and a single fatality. The chief of USAF safety contrasts 2006 with the service's first year, 1947, when there were 1,500 major accidents, 500 destroyed aircraft and more than 500 deaths." From Lee Colburn: As of December I'm a Verizon Employee and work in the same building as before, only I have a Verizon address. From Will Cosby: Sitting at work trying to avoid the two weeks of stuff that built up while I was on vacation. Went to South Africa just for the fun of it. From Bill Dalson: We're on the road at the moment visiting friends in South Africa! From Marty Stytz: I would like to put a prominent notice in Checkpoints for ZoomieNation and the Honor Group? (note from Scribe: Done!) Dave White is getting married to Liz and moving to Phoenix. For those who've been wondering whatever happened to John Kambourian, check out what he says on ZoomieNation, about how he got back to the Academy.
Want More News? This printed column is limited to 1200 words and three black-and-white photos. “Checkpoints for ZoomieNation” (Link Above) is over 7000 words. As the scribe has mentioned, in addition to the ZoomieNation posts, I get included in most email exchanges between our verbose class president and the rest of you. In a shift from past scribe’s writings for Checkpoints, I am basically cutting, pasting, editing and cleaning up all the stuff I get. There are 281 of us in the ZoomieNation Class of 1975 Group as of Feb 12th, 2007, the day I am submitting this column. Since the scribe has unlimited space in the electronic version, I delete very little. This printed column is edited down a lot.
Some more ZoomieNation (Now Defunct) notes from Jim Carlson: This is a great spot for you to post photos for your family and hobbies. It’s a great way to network and find other zooms. After you set up your basic profile, you can find classmates and other alumni to add to your personal network. Don’t forget to look for the Class of 1975 Best Alive! group and request entry. You can also set up your own groups. Some examples: Squadron groups, local interest groups, professions. Some of the groups I’ve seen: Prep Schoolers, Varsity Baseball, clubs, chapters, fellowships. You’re only limited by your imagination. Our Class Scribe, Paul Kent has agreed to post our Checkpoints column on the ZoomieNation site. That means I will no longer be forwarding a copy of the column, which I manually copy (and thus comes out poorly along with smudged photos) and tends to clog up your bandwidth. So if you don’t get the hard copy Checkpoints, register at the site to read his column and check out the photos. (Note from Scribe: I will upload the current printed column in an expanded format shortly after the printed Checkpoints appears in my mailbox). Anyone can create a group. Personal profile pages have lots of room for photos. Anyone can create a blog. CS-30 has their own group set up. You've also posted some heartfelt, tender writings. An example is the blog by Marty Stytz about his late wife Gayl. I met our classmate Marty, FOR THE FIRST TIME, at lunch last month – and surprise, it seemed as if we were friends for decades. (This sort of thing happens quite a lot with you '75ers). Our classmate Chuck Buck added a blog that references Marty’s tribute and adds his own paean to his wife Katy and her passing due to cancer. Thanks guys for including us in the splendid heights of the vicissitudes of your lives.