"I was laying prostrate trying to read the Spring '97 Checkpoints when I read about all the prostate checks. What we should do is prostrate this prostate problem." That message on my machine was from Dr. William A. GILLIS, Ed.D.--who quite obviously has a lot of free time on his hands, and musta had a double dose of "froot-loops" that morn­ing--referent to the misspelling of PROSTATE (RC: but, truth will out, and it couldn't have been my fault, Bill. Remember, I was--and here I do not wish to brag--in the top 98 percent of our class! Would a guy with that kind of akidemeck record mess-up on a constant, or a bowel?). Dr. Bill later wrote about his three-week trip with wife, Kath, and their three grandkids to Hartford, Groton, Winthrop (MA), "Baa Haabuh" Maine, Cape Cod, New London, Boston; and, thence how deftly he replaced a roof and put on a new dock at his Florida home, followed by a new roof and landscaping at his Arizona residence.

Lew PRICE suggests an extract from the berries of Saw Palmetto trees--a scrubby palm from the West Indies--for reducing by HALF the effects of prostate cancer, and has remedies for other maladies. Lew, now living in Garden Valley, CA, writes: "THERE IS SOMETHING I SHOULD BE FAMOUS FOR. Sherrie and I research ancient cultures and religious practices, and I write books from material not found in libraries; consequently, we have books ranging from volumes used to translate ancient Hebrew to engineering texts. Since 1974, I have re­searched ethnic flutes from all over the world and developed the physics and math of woodwinds to the point where I wrote a computer program for designing flutes so they can be tailored to the hand size of the player by key and type of tuning desired. My work is original and has been in many countries all over the world--the farthest being to the president of the Australian Didjeridu Association in Tasmania (Scribe: I swear I'm not making any of this up!) This work is not very lucrative, but is a first in the science of musical instrument design." Lew's published a dozen books on how to make flutes an integral part of your life; so, call him TODAY at (916) 333-9470, since supplies are limited. Lew is also an honorary Kyoshi-6th Dan Master of the 6th Level Black Belt of a possible eight in Bushido, which is the Code of the Samurai, as listed in the 26th Edition of Maruqis' Who's Who in the West. Lew Paxton PRICE is, therefore, this quarter's recipient of our prestigious What I Am Famous For Award!

George Emerson ELSEA (Model Engineering Club 3,2) sent a photo of his DeHavilland DH-82A "Tiger Moth" which was designed after the 1920s Gypsy Moth as a primary trainer for the Royal Air Force. That plane in the photo was manufactured in 1941 and served as a trainer for the RAF until sold after WWII. "Mike LOVE and I plus two others at RAF Lakenheath bought it in 1963 (that August I took it on leave and was weathered-in near Inverness, during which time I first met Evey and her family)." George's wife, Evey, won't fly with him anymore, since her LAST flight in the Tiger was over the Grand Canyon in 1969--[There was] noticeable turbulence, and "I elected to continue on to a conventional airport rather than land immediately. Not a Popular Decision!" The ELSEAs went to Scotland in May and "attended the Highland Games at Moy. Managed four fishing expeditions with brothers-in-law stalking trout in various Highland Lochs, but did not significantly alter the balance of nature." George also mentioned his children--daughter Merran and husband, John, produce InterNet home-page support programs in Seattle, while son Roy and wife, Shannon, teach in Lampasa, TX-and closed by com­menting on "Your (my) typically respectful and reverent columns."

Nice letter from Ted STUMM (Gun Club 3): I enjoy teaching political science and public administration at the U. of North Florida. Still find time for fishing. Dona is taking life easy, although she talks about resum­ing her horticulture occupation now and then, but hasn't done so other than making me the engineering hydraulics worker for her yard work-I dig holes and carry the hose. We do have room for guests, so if anyone in our class is in the neighborhood, we would be glad to see them. See you at the 40th Reunion." Received another letter from Ted close to deadline: "Just a short note to update you on how I spent my Labor Day weekend. It seems I had a bit of heart trouble, spent the holiday weekend in the hospital and celebrated the day after Labor Day by having quadruple by­pass surgery. While this is not exactly what I had planned, it seems that it has all worked out well and a lot better than some of the alternatives. I've now been home from the hospital for a bit over a week and am recovering fine--but more slowly than I would like. Anyway, in 4-5 weeks I should be back teaching (may be longer if the fall fishing is good) and doing other normal things."

Dean BRISTOW is commander of the 43rd Medical Group at Pope AFB and our last classmate on active duty. Stationed in the Carolinas amongst a googol of rednecks, Dean writes: "Picture taken 15 April 97. At that time, wing commander of the 43rd Wing and five of Pope's six group commanders were AFA grads. The wing was the 23rd (former Fly­ing Tigers of which Pappy BOYINGTON's pappy belonged to in 1941), and we became the 43rd Airlift Wing under MAC with C-130s , and the A-10s became the 23rd Fighter Group. I'm having fun trying to keep the old wrecks--older colonels--flyable."

Potpourri. Techno-geek and wunderkind EDP wonk Richard Robert SCHEHR now leads the digerati of computer intellectuals by teaching classes on advanced-abacus in Aurora (CO), for "Those Who Hate Com­puters!" (really a hush-hush project, with Dick saying he'd have to KILL me if I asked any more questions) ... Dave REED returned in June after five months sailing around New Zealand ... In September, Gordy FLYGARE and his dad attended the 107th Tac Recon Squadron Reunion in San Diego for his 91-year-old father's WWII unit. Gordo's "busy get­ting Rockwell/North American and now McDonnell/Douglas straighten­ed out and integrated into the Boeing family ... George Elliott LUCK was named Washington Pilot Association's Pilot of the Year for 1996 (see Boeing's News of July 25, 1997) ... The picture below was taken during the marriage of Duchess Katrinka and Marquis Wiskers on Saturday, the twelfth of July at Jock and Hope SCHWANK's house. Lotsa elves, leprechauns, and ouphes were in attendance. Did you know that Hope is sister to Neal REAVELY? Do you care? ... Frank and Eve MAYBERRY have been traced from Colorado to California to Guam, Perth, Sydney, then somewhere called Goodnough in Australia's backland, on to Bali and back to Darwin, and then to the outback. Stay tuned ... late breaking news and addition to our last column concerning George PUPICH: "There is a Japanese branch to the PUPICH clan. 'Yokohama PUPICH' had 25 missions as a Kamikaze pilot in WWII (twice). He recently tried to arrange a squadron reunion and found out that he was the ONLY one who survived the war." (Unconfirmed source received via satellite transmission somewhere near Boise, ID.)

Karen and I recently had an enjoyable dinner with Brig Gen Denis WALSH and wife, Liz. Denis is still so skinny he only has one side, and probably fewer grams of fat on his body than the entire plate of Alfredo Fettuccine I was consuming in one of Denver's finest eateries, maybe even less then THE LALIME! Our brigadier had just completed his six-year project building an RV-6A and allowed me to ride Co-Pilot/Shotgun with him on a flight over Colorado's eastern plains on a balmy afternoon in late September. (Hangared at front Range Airport east of Denver, one of his favorite cross-country flights is for a visit with his 94-year-old mother in Springfield, MO.) D.L.'s nifty ship climbs at 2,225 FPM, has a ceiling of almost 25-thousand, weighs 1,088 empty, 23-foot wingspan, and tops out at 208 mph. (The photo of D.L. was enhanced by advanced digital cryogenics and LASER technology.) On the drive back to Denver follow­ing the flight, Denis reminisced and confided his secret for being THE WIZARD at shining shoes as a "doolie" in 1956 for Sixth Squadron: VODKA! (I guess if he didn't like the shine, he'd just drink the shoes.)

There was a Dinner Party for Lowry Pioneers on Sept. 26, 1997 at the USAFA O-Club for officers/cadets/civilians who served at Lowry AFB II from 1955-58. Comm-staff and AOCs in attendance: Barton, Braswell, Cassiday, Crawford, Gabriel, Tallman, Warren, (Mrs.) Yancey, and members of the Harmon and Briggs families; ATOs were Bassett, Bier­sack, Cole, Emmons, Freyer, Gilster, Greaves, Hall, Hess, O'Hare, Smith, Snook, Thoburn; and, 21 AFA staff members (faculty, training, library, athletics, and engineers). Including spouses, over 140 were at this event, and our classmates who attended were BIANCUR, BOYINGTON, BRUSH, CLER, JOLLY, OUELLETTE, PUPICH, WADDLE, WALSH, WARACK, and YATES. 41 years ago--excuse me while I just lie down for a small "Senior Moment." Bye, and have a Great Christmas.