Jon MCCLURE's wife Jean died in January of massive heart failure. Charles David GEORGI's death of Dec. 8, 1998 was reported in the February 1999 issue under "Gone But Not Forgotten." Pete KING wrote and enclosed a copy of the Daedalius Flyer, which listed a certain Howard E Bronson. Jr., as dying 27 Feb 98. I called Howie BRONSON in Big Bear City, CA and asked him the Big Question: "Howie, are you dead?" Howie's response was adamant: "No, any reports of my death have been grossly exag­gerated!" Oops. (Remember--Howie's a III, and it was his 81-year-old father who died.) He and Judy left the next day for Aspen, CO, where they were going to ski for a week with a group of the 1959 Cotton Bowl warriors.

We can all remember that Cotton Bowl--having had to march for our tickets, as usual--when we tied TCU 0-0. Members of the team from '59, '60, and '61 who attended this mini-reunion were Brock STROM, Dave PHILIPS & Phyllis Kern, Randy & Jan CUBERO, Howie & Judy BRONSON, George & Diana PUPICH, Mike & Susan QUINLAN, Ed & Sharon ROSANE, John & Pili GULLEDGE, Bill & Kris MCLAIN, Larry & Carol THOMSON, Gene & Jane VOSIKA, and Ron & Connie YATES.

Tony BURSHNICK says that "The AF Science & Technology Board met recently in Woods Hole, MA with four of '60's finest--Norm HALLER, ME, Ron YATES, and Mike CLARKE--insuring that the Air Force got its money's worth. You'll note that they are all smiling, since Mike just gave us cigars which he received at a discount (substantial) from the White House, where his wife, Nancy, is em­ployed." (R to Tony: Do you KNOW where those cigars might have been? Did she also buy a blue dress? Tell Nancy to get out--NOW!)

We have only three in our class who will ADMIT to having more than two Christian names--George Joseph Charles FRIES, Jock Charles Henry SCHWANK, and my Dance Committee buddy, William Frederick Hugo ZERSEN, who gave me an update on his life: "I got married last September to Danielle, who was born and raised in France (R: by the time you read this, Bill and Danielle should have re­turned from France visiting her parents, who live on the Riviera near Cannes. How non-gauche!) For the past two years I've been working at Hollywood High School helping the teachers set up classroom media projects for students which is a California Partnership Academy. Our program's specialty is in New Media, which is using high-end media computers so that when they graduate they are reasonably trained to get jobs in the entertainment industry. Graduation rate for our students is 20% higher than for the rest of the school. Been working with '59ers Larry THOMSON, Bob JENNINGS, and Bob CHEPOLIS, as well as Vic YOAKUM. I'm now waiting to see if I'll be hired on as the Digital High School Grant Program Manager." Bill and Vic get to the golf course about every other week, and he recommends getting a hip replacement now, for anyone who needs one. "I even had the opportunity to tell Jack Nicklaus to get his hip replaced at the Senior Open last year; he could have been playing in this year's Masters if he'd had it done last October." Bill's coming to our 40th Reunion--Why Not? He attended the 1998 Zersen Family Reunion at Aunt Violas house for their Zersen/Busse reunion, which had 2,400 in attendance, and was on national news. Bill's son Britt graduated from Western Washington U. last year, avid surfer and son Aaron gets his business degree from Humboldt State this year, and his son Todd has his higher sea rating and works for the Washington State ferry system.

This quarter's WHAT I AM MOST FAMOUS FOR AWARD goes to, uhhh, Bill GILLIS (Cheerleader 2, 1): "Although famous for many things, I am perhaps most famous for having personally met those numerous celebrities who visited my parents' home in Winthrop, MA. My father was feature editor for the Boston Globe, and he knew lotsa important people, many of whom used to visit us. Babe Ruth was at our house in 1939, Joe Louis dined with us after beating some Brit, and I personally met Ted Williams at our home when I was 10 years old. And, one of my relatives--we called him Ainsworth (R: I swear I didn't make that up)--actu­ally swam the entire beach off the nearby coast of Logan Airport's shores (six miles), and he was a Medal of Honor winner in W WII. My Grandpa Murray once took me to a practice session of the Boston Pops Symphony back in 1950 where Arthur Fiedler allowed me to conduct a rendering of the 1812 Overture, although I actually only got up to about the year 1630 or so. And, if that ain't enough fame, I was at a meeting with President Kennedy in 1962 and personally invited to pilot his Air Force One--I did not accept his offer, since I wanted to become the world's greatest fighter pilot, which I wuz!" (R: There's a LOT more, but Bill is simply too modest to mention all of them.)

While not wishing to parse too fine a point on this small chestnut from Charles Stewart DIVER, consider his missive: "Enclosed is a pic of two geek (crossed ­out) Greek freshmen at the place we live at just south of Canada. (R: That's Sedro ­Woolley, WA which I am almost sure that Chuck made-up!) The reason I'm wear­ing a hat is--NO HAIR! Bill HALES still has a very nice head of hair!" (R: Bill is originally from Steubenville, OH and shares that great greasy hair-heritage with Steubenville native Dean Martin.)

Our old sage Howie (Indiana Jones) WHITFIELD reports that "I was down (un­der) in Melbourne in late February '99 at an international air show. I contacted Jim KERR and we had dinner together. The Dolphin has been in Australia about 10 years, along with his two sons (he also has two daughters), selling lawnmowers and associated equipment. After I retired from the Marine Corps in 1985 at El Toro, I spent a year for Rockwell in Anaheim, then Linda and I moved east when I joined Sikorsky, first in advanced design, then into marketing, and after four years I moved west to San Diego to run their West Coast office. When Sikorsky closed that operation, we came back to Madison, CT where we built a house near the water. I'm now working on International Programs, specifically, a com­petition in Australia for an armed reconnaissance helicopter." Howie and Linda have two married daughters--Dawn and Lynn--one and two daughters, respec­tively. Dawn's husband works for Boeing in Seattle, and Lynn's a schoolteacher and her husband's a Presbyterian minister and they live in Spokane. Howie adds: I plan on being at the 40th Reunion!"

MiniSki IX--Don’t those things ever end? Class President for Life, Andi BIANCUR, once again taking time off from his normal avocation of fomenting unrest, hosted this alleged skiing event near Salt Lake City starting 27 February--this is that annual event where they all get together and display their downhill prowess with all the expertise of Olympian class one-legged tap dancers. Attending were Jerry DE LA CRUZ, Les HOBGOOD, Al & Gale JOHNSON (R: Al was taking a proba­tionary week off from his Fairfax, VA County jail, where he is enjoying incarcera­tion for stealing hubcaps), Greg BOYINGTON (chief ski instructor), Charlie and Weesee HOLMAN--who performed magnificently her kitchen hellbroth--whilst Andi and others under severe lubricants tele-contacted various unsuspecting "usual suspects" to determine why they weren't there! Al JOHNSON (never heard of him) of the Ski & Lawn Mower Repair School, unveiled his wambly Trophy Cup to be awarded to that hapless skier who demonstrates their most "Marginally Mini­mum Performance." Note to Andi: Put a warning label on your future invites

David Lewis (Slats) WIEST, originally from Lynchburg, VA but now living in Silver City, NM moved to New Mexico when his wife, Laura, was already work­ing for the U.S. Forest Service. "I started working for the Forest Service in March 1988 doing trail maintenance in the Wilderness, packing in with mules and us­ing crosscut saws. When funds for trail work ran out, I applied for a position in the supervisor's office as a cartography aide. Since my academic record and de­gree qualified me as a civil engineer, I've been one since 199L Sort of defined my position as engineering systems manager--I took care of all PC engineering technology. Meanwhile, Laura was and still is a computer specialist in the Gila National Forest computer shop; although we work for different bosses, we're only 30 yards apart. CPS is part of our technology, and I am the forest GPS coor­dinator, as well as other acronyms; keeping busy is not hard to do. Both of us plan to retire in March of either 2001 or 2003." Dave and Laura have no children, recently spent some time on Lake Powell in a houseboat. Dave plays just enough banjo to bother those four cats which Laura rescued from a local animal shelter, and they're currently remodeling their 1971 vintage house which is only two miles from the Continental Divide. "This area down here's known as Billy the Kid country. There are some old-timers who can still remember ('member) him when they were four to six years old." I hope to come to our 40th Reunion."

Goose GULBRANSEN is enamored about the advantages of donating his class ring to our old school (P 20, Feb'99 Checkpoints): "I have a copy of this with my will that advises my wife to, just before the casket closes, take off the class ring (I won't need it) and send it in for a tax deduction based on gold content. $300 sounds about right." GGG and wife, Susan, spent the month of May in Europe where he picked up their new Mercedes in Stuttgart and drove to Milan where their two daugh­ters met them, then on to Italy and France, shipping the MB home from Paris. Pat and Earl VAN INWEGEN(Choir 4) vacationed in Portugal last March, and Van sent me this photo of my recently-opened mens' boutique in Lisbon (R: And I was trying to keep this entrepreneurial entrance "under wraps," Van).

This reminder from a lovely lady who's married to a prominent classmate:

Potpourri. Our oldest living classmates are Jim PEEL (3 Ju134); Jack HARDISON (3 Sep 34); Phil MEINHARDT (3 Nov 34); George LUCK (5 Nov 34); Steve BISHOP (9 Feb 35) ... Comment made by one classmate (General Officer, so what should HE know?) after the AFA-Rice game last Fall: "Why can't they just pick on some­body their own SAT (score) size?" ... Frank & Eve MAYBERRY are back--once again--in Australia ... George PUPICH (who is still recuperating from his recent goat­ gland transplant) cancelled his Second Annual Serbian Christmas Party for the first consecutive year ... we've located Jerry GIRARD at 24306 East Parkside Drive, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 ... and Bill CURRIER at 384 Downwind Leg, Gilbert, SC 29054 ... anyone got a "read" on Bob BAKER or George HINES or Dick MROSLA or Ernie WHALEY? ... Frenchy (nickname: William Reno) OUELLETTE and wife, Marilyn, (no nickname) drove their pickup truck all the way from Maine through to Salida (CO) for some trout fishing, and to visit their son at Hill AFB ... results of the Nickname Contest, and their winners will be announced in the NEXT issue. TTFN from the Rose.