It is my honor to take up the baton of Class Scribe from the indomitable Rosie Cler. He has set a standard of excellence that one can only hope to achieve.

This spring, four young women began a journey down a path that many of us have followed in service to our country. They are 2/Lt. Alison Weiss and 2/Lt. Christine Schira, new C4C Caitlin Stewart-Moore, and incoming Midshipman Cassandra Haller.

John Gonsky was "bursting with pride" as his granddaughter Alison Weiss graduated 12^th in her class from the US Air Force academy. She was awarded a trophy for the Outstanding Cadet in Political Science; and will attend the University of Chicago in September, working for her Master's Degree in International Relations.

"I had the incredible honor of commissioning my daughter, Christine Schira, Class of 2015, during graduation week in May," said Jack Schira." We are so proud of her, and words really can't express the range of emotions we experience watching her go from C1C to a 2LT that week. Christine will be continuing her education at AFIT in Space Systems."

From Sweden, Doug Rekenthaler informs us that step-daughter, Caitlin Stewart-Moore, who finished second in her prep school class, will soon join the class of 2019. As you may know, Doug's health is a bit shaky--as this vignette illustrates: "Before we left on this tour of Northern European Capitals, Johns Hopkins boosted my blood so I could make the trip OK, and I made it as far as Gothenburg--and had to jump ship for a few hours to hit the local university hospital for a platelet infusion."

Norm Haller tells us that USAFA and the Naval Academy both offered appointments to his granddaughter, Cassandra Haller, but she chose to go to Navy where her brother and sister had gone. Her choice makes her the third USNA appointee from son Richard's family. Richard is married to Julie Northgraves --both Richard and Julie are USAFA grads from 1988.

Jim Alexander's work on a 9/11 Memorial that will help educate citizens of all ages as to how 9/11 has impacted our lives is nearing fruition. " It is hard to believe 55 million people have been born since it happened," he said. "The Memorial is now completely designed and permitted."

We have several world-class travelers in our Class, but perhaps none is quite as prolific at low-cost travel as Ralph Lalime, who has turned Space-A into an art form and mastered the art of low-cost RV travel as well. The epitome of his Space-A skills was a month-long trip to Misawa, Japan to visit with son Chris, daughter- in-law Robyn, and his two grandchildren. Robyn is a research scientist with the Center of Naval Analysis currently on loan to the senior Naval commands on Misawa. The highlight of Ralph's travel season (which is year-round) was a non-Space-A church group trip to Israel." It was a fantastic trip," he said," thirty Christians (I was the oldest by a fair margin), one Pastor who could read Hebrew and Greek, and one Jewish Israeli tour guide with a Master's degree in History. Both Tony Burshnick and Ron Yates had told me beforehand that it would be a marvelous adventure and indeed it was. While we sipped lattes outside on the Golan Heights, we could hear the sounds of artillery exploding near Damascus."

Andi Biancur reports, " On 17 June our group gathered at the Falcon Club (former O-Club) for our monthly get-together. After the usual greetings, food, and bull session, Wayne Kendall introduced Tom Berry, '71, Deputy Director of the Center for Character & Leadership Development (CCLD) who brought us up-to-date on the current Honor Code. Tom briefly described how the code has aged over the years since we experienced it and briefly outlined the genesis of the current Honor Oath now taken by all Doolies near the end of the first summer." The full report from Andi can be found on our class website under "Local '60 Groups."

Sometimes our retirement plans do not work out quite as we envision them, as Gary Gulbransen informs us, "With my boots on the ground, we are suffering in Santa Barbara. We're covered in oil (the spill was 29 miles away), it hasn't rained in four years and we are getting into fire season. We have the highest state tax burden (13.1%), an 8.41% sales tax and the highest gas prices in the nation at $3.60) and don't even bring up earthquakes. The good news is we now have 219 Condors in the wild (the program cost $35 million)."

Phil Cooke and Barbara were married on 11 April 2015. Three days later Barbara was hospitalized with a stroke. According to Phil, "The stroke was fortunately light, Barbara was in good physical shape through routine exercise and her mental orientation is excellent. Your prayers are welcome and appreciated. I am fine. It's novel for me to be attending a wife who is getting demonstrably better each day."

Ken Werrell checked in to report that he " continues to research and write. In March I gave a paper in Jerusalem on a controversial subject: " Could the Allies Have Bombed Auschwitz." A number of unhappy people in the audience, as you might expect. I am now working on the 1 Aug 1943 Ploesti mission."
Dick Sexton stepped down as President of the Class Advisory Senate (CAS) at the first of the year after seven years at the helm.  In that time the CAS has become an effective two-way channel of communication between the members and the AOG Board.  Dick will continue as our Class Representative to bring the concerns and ideas of our class to the Board. We all owe Dick a round of applause for his service to our Class and the greater USAFA community.

Here is a brief note from Pete King," After dating a beautiful lady (just slightly younger than I am) for over a year, I married Myke Atwater on June 27 in a sunset ceremony in front of my house on Boggy Bayou in Valparaiso, FL [not far from Eglin AFB]." Myke's husband died two months before Pete's wife, and they met while attending a grief counseling session at church.

In closing, shown above is George Luck in 1970 at Nakhon Phanom AB, Thailand in front of his A-1. He had transitioned from the A-26 when that aircraft had been withdrawn from service. George died on 10 June 2015 from injuries suffered in a plane crash shortly after takeoff. We applaud his devotion to duty, country, and family--and his classmates. Also shown above is Paul Sones, a Medalist in the first Paralympics Games in Rome,1960. Paul served as an exemplar for disabled children around the world. He died on May 3rd, 2015. We also mourn the passing of Sue Higgins on 10 May 2015 and Mimi Kuenzel on 30 May 2015.

See you at our 55th Reunion. Check the website for latest details of a great program and current class news.