Earlier this year, Bill Kornitzer, accompanied by classmate Mike Loh and other family members, was inducted into the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Commando Hall of Honor in Tampa, FL. Bill was singled out because of his more than 26 years of service and leadership in the search and rescue discipline and many heroic events during his career. He flew the lead HH-53 in the Son Tay prison raid and was the mobility commander for the Eagle Claw mission into Iran. His last assignment before retirement was as the Commander, 2^nd Air Division, and Commander, 1^st Air Commando Wing, Hurlburt Field, FL. The Commando Hall of Honor has only 69 inductees, including many memorable special operations leaders since WWII. Bill is right at home among them.

"It's beautiful out here," says Vic Yoakum, reporting from our Northwest outpost, "now that the smoke from US and Canada wildfires has dissipated." As you read this column Vic and Suzanne will have travelled to the Mediterranean to augment their frequent travel to Hawaii and more local venues. Vic is fighting back against the effects of Parkinson's disease by partaking in a program called "Rock Steady Boxing" which is designed to ameliorate the debilitating effects of the disease. The program employs non-contact boxing training regimens to restore the dopamine loss encountered by Parkinson's patients. Vic attends his sessions three times a week and swears by them.

Charley Hart, former F-105 jock, is a seventh-generation farmer with ongoing farming operations in Ohio and Arizona. The land in Ohio is a legacy from the Revolutionary War where his forebearers were granted land in Ohio as a reward for service in the fight for American independence. Like Aaron Thrush in Ft. Walton Beach, he is also active in local Democratic politics. His family has a long record of service to our country–including two grandsons, a Marine mechanic/sniper assigned to Marine detachments afloat and a former Army officer, now a FBI special operations supervisor. Charlie says that the touchstones of his family's history are "adventure and service."

During this last reporting period, I had the privilege of meeting with two small gatherings of classmates in mini-mini reunions in Fort Walton Beach and the greater San Antonio area. In Fort Walton, Pete and Myke King, Aaron Thrush, Mike J. Clarke and I gathered at Ali's, our traditional meeting place. Mike was bummed out about a recent bout of vertigo, which is particularly hard on a guy who lives in a "fly-in" community and has two flying machines in his back yard. Frank Gorham was down with pneumonia at the time and is still recovering from the aftermath of that disease. The following day, I was in San Antonio and talked Les Hobgood into driving me to scenic Marble Falls in the Texas hill country in his C-7 Corvette to have lunch with George Elsea and Dave Sweigart. After lunch, we adjourned to Dave's home in Meadowlakes, a nearby golf course community, where we met his wife, Camille, and, surprisingly, our classmate, Larry Chiappino. After graduating with the class of '61, Larry had gone on to build a career as an Army helo pilot and now lives a few doors down from Dave.

After an intriguing post-retirement career as a businessman, which included selling ice machines to the natives in Ft Walton Beach and servicing off-shore rigs in Texas, Jerry Caskey became a successful real estate broker in Central Texas. Now retired and devoting his energies to golf and dog-rescue volunteer services, Jerry is the proud grandfather of a USMC lady JAG and an Air Force Senior NCO.

Clem Douglass stays healthy by participating in Cross Fit activities at the senior level. Several years after his wife died, Clem got tired of being lonely and checked in with the web site, eHarmony.com. On the first pass, he met a lady from the Twin Cities and is now engaged to her. She suffered the loss of her husband, raised two kids on her own ... and then her house burned down. "She is a survivor," Clem says, and "perfect for me."

Norm and Liz Haller's 19 offspring keep them busy with weddings and newborns (four great-great grandkids). When not attending family affairs, Norm has recently published two conference reports for the Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine: Human-Automation Interaction Considerations for Unmanned Aerial System Integration into the National Airspace System, and Creating Capability for Future Air Force Innovation, Proceedings of a Workshop. Heady stuff.

Dean Bristow is "mellowing in place" at the Central Utah Veteran's Home in Payson, UT, not far from his family and friends in the Payson environs. The privately-run home houses 108 residents in several "pods" in which each resident has a private room fronting on a large central communal area where residents can take their meals, watch TV, etc. Dean loves it there and gets to visit his daughter and his dog in his former home in Payson just about every day. He is on the "Residents Council" (of course) and is the facilities "Chief Mormon Missionary."

Dean Vikan reported from Fosston, MN, "Since my wife died 5 years ago, I have lived alone in the house I built back in 1997. I have recovered about as much as possible from my ‘hit and run' accident 8 years ago--still some elbow and knee issues, but I have learned to live with them. I'm in the process of joining the Civil Air Patrol squadron over in Crookston, MN (45 mi west) as a senior member. The only women in my life are married, so I am just an observer (a very old one at that)."

John Kuenzel is in his 38^th year in his home in Arlington, TX. After a post-retirement career in defense marketing and as an investment broker, he and his second wife, Stella (a teacher from Cali, Colombia) are enjoying the multiple attractions in the expanding Dallas-Arlington entertainment district.

By now, you should be aware that Bill Leninger has flown West. During his time in the Air Force, Bill was a scientist in blue and upon his retirement he became one of seven National Science Advisors. His Q clearance allowed IBM to install their super-computers in Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs and Kirtland AFB.

Just prior to closing out this report, we learned that the class also lost Bill Hodson, another career mathematician and scientist, who taught math at USAFA and several prestigious universities before finally settling in Colorado Springs. His obituary, and that of Bill Leninger can be found in the Gone But Not Forgotten section and on our class web site.

Many of us have experienced the loss of a loved one or are even beginning to think about our own eventual final flight. For several years now, one of our classmates, Jerry de la Cruz has served as a hospice volunteer. Since I took on this scribe assignment, I have pressed him to share with us his personal observations and basic information about a program that, to many of us, is a somewhat discomforting and mysterious topic. Jerry's excellent article, "What to Know About Hospice," is posted on our website. In addition to Jerry's piece, Wayne Kendall also recommends another great book on ending life with dignity called Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.