Bill Gillis is recovering from a series of rather mysterious strokes and is Patient #1 in a world-wide program exploring issues relating to ESUS (Embolic Strokes of Undetermined Sources), his cardio diagnosis. Currently he is in the process of relocating from his bay-side house in Panama City to his second home near Luke AFB. Judy and I had lunch with him in Panama City in May, and he and Kath were in their usual good spirits.

Bill Zerson and George Lester are among the Class of '60's most prolific e-mail bloggers--and each of them has their own take on the information they share with us on an almost daily basis. Bill reviews some 40 e-mails a day and then parcels out the most relevant items to his roughly 150 "clients" like us. Bill comes from a long line of preachers and devotes most of his non-blogging energy to Christian charity endeavors--primary among them being his work with the Band of Brothers for Christ, serving the homeless and needy. From Las Vegas, George Lester takes great satisfaction interacting on an almost daily basis with his network of some 70 correspondents (40-50 classmates, former commercial airline pilots, etc.). He is a qualified Financial Adviser who enjoys sharing ideas and helping his friends make informed financial decisions. Currently, his primary interest is in the shaky status of the US economy and the role of gold in the overall US and global financial picture.

Some good news for the DC contingent--Al and Gale Johnson have abandoned their plans to sell their beloved Mt. Vernon home. The deciding factor was Al's decision to equip their bathrooms with modern, easy-flow, senior-friendly toilets. Their summers will still be spent in Maine in the company of other part-time Maine residents, Don Stevens and Billy Delony and any '60 stragglers who would like to drop in.

In spite of all the histrionics about terrorists in Europe, Mike McCall, and his friend Debbie flew to Amsterdam to take a river cruise and then go on to Paris. The highlight of their stay was a side trip to the Normandy beaches. "The contrast between the US and German cemeteries was striking ", he said. "Also, in Switzerland, we felt the Swiss were trying to kill us with second hand smoke. If you wanted some clean air you had to go inside!" In spite of everything, they had a good trip with great weather. and thumbed their collective noses at ISIS.

Corvettes are Les Hobgood's thing. In June 1960, he headed South from the Air Force Academy in a black 1960 Corvette, and he has owned an unbroken succession Corvette convertibles with manual transmissions ever since. This past fall, he traded in his Atomic Orange 2007 Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car for a black 2016 Corvette Stingray. Shown above are Les and his daughter Rani at this year's speed race. They are using her car; race rules allow them to compete in a higher speed category because her 2003 C-3 has an internal roll bar. Top speed was held to 150 MPH, at which point glass starts to pull out of the window track!

Dean Bristow is now living in Peyton UT, but he has hung up his stethoscope. Dean is coping with some mobility issues and has devoted much of his free time to exploring his family's genealogy. One of his rather surprising findings was the young age at which women died in earlier times. Many passed away in their early 30's apparently worn out from child bearing and caring for large families. As we drag our feet reluctantly into our "Golden Years," many of us can consider ourselves blessed that our life partners have been able to share so much of the journey with us.

Recently, Joe Higgins and a group from his church in Greenville SC made a visit to Poland to see the sights and venues associated with St. John Paul II (the first Polish pope) and also drink beer and eat pirogues. "Not having been to Eastern Europe before," said Joe, "I was struck by how recent the memories are of WW II and the Soviet occupation after WW II. It's instructive to talk to people who had to learn Russian in grade school and who experienced the shortcomings, and depredations, in a state run economy.

Ed Haerter made sure he was dressed for the part for his F-100 Super Sabre flight May 17--his first since February 1969 when he flew his last combat mission in Vietnam. Ed's wife, Nancy, their sons, Chris and Matt, and their grandson Nicholas were on hand for Ed's flight at Fort Wayne IAP. His flight to coincided with the Super Sabre Society's convention in Fort Wayne. Dean Cutshall, who owns and flies the F-100F based in Fort Wayne, and his crew chiefs, are working to make sure the fighter pilots can fulfill their dream to fly the Super Sabre "one more time." "It's exciting to go out there and to feel that burner light for the first time in many years," Ed said, "I felt like I'd never been gone."

RG Head informs us that Casemate Publishers (PA) just released their Fall 2016 catalog, and it contains his new book, Oswald Boelcke: Fighter Ace and Father of Air Combat, which will be available in August of this year. Gordie Savage has written two SF novels, Peacemaker (published) and Teleportal. in final draft. He is in the process of making both available as e-books.

In his upgraded 1975 Aerostar 680, at an airspeed of 255 kts, Jack Brush has broken the 1975 international record of 238 kts for piston airplanes class c1d (weights from about 3800 to 6600 lbs) over a 2000 kilometer closed course (out and back--no landing). Pilots must declare a start and finish point in advance and have it approved. An official observer checks the aircraft weight and verifies the distance. Jack waited nine months to find the right conditions at flight level 250.

Three generations of Mike Lohs: Gen Michael John, Maj Gen Michael Anthony and 2d Lt Michael John convened at young Michael's USAFA 2016 Graduation

1956 Flashback According to the log book of N/C D L Walsh, he flew his solo check ride in SNJ-5, #84997, on 14 May 1956, at Whiting Field. As was the custom, he was thrown in the pool and reported to the Cadet Club to buy beer for all hands, which he did. "It was after staggering my way back to my room," says Denis "I found a note pinned to my door, saying I should call the OOD immediately regarding a message from the Secretary of the Navy. It was my appointment to USAFA." Thus, Denis contends that he is the only member of our class who was drunk when notified of his appointment. That dubious achievement aside, May 2016 also marked the 19th anniversary of his first solo in his home-made airplane, an RV 6A. Since then he has accumulated 3200 hours in it.

We offer our condolences to the families of Mary Ann Waterman, Joannie Stevens, Diane Smith, and Gay Nogar, strong women who enriched the lives of all who knew and loved them.