As the sound of Taps reverberated across the Academy burial grounds, Karen Burshnick, her son Joe and daughter Kris and family, classmates, Academy leadership, cadets and other friends said farewell to Tony as he embarked on his final flight West. Karen is very appreciative of the planning and thoughtfulness of the Academy Mortuary Affairs Office and local Class members, although she was somewhat mystified by the tossing of nickels on the grass as the ceremonies ended. A fuller description of the events of the day can be found on our class website.

This spring, Joe Higgins embarked upon 10-day group tour to England. The themes for the tour were English martyrs and Catholic literary heroes. He arrived in London during the Queen’s 70th jubilee celebration which included a flyby of every type of plane the Brits owned, including a Spitfire. He then visited the usual sights, including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Circling back to London, his group visiting Canterbury, Cambridge, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Oxford, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. Literary heroes they visited were mostly 21st century, C.S. Lewis--Chronicles of Narnia, J.R.R. Tolkien--The Hobbit, and poet T.S. Eliot--The Wasteland. Upon his return, he resumed a far more enduring endeavor, tutoring Javius, a second grader he helps with reading two days a week. The tutoring is done through the Augustine Literacy Project, a regional North and South Carolina group that serves Title 1 (free lunch) schools. Joe says that it is not quite like instructing in the T-38, although the principles are the same—multi-sensory, hands-on-practice, one-on-one instruction.

Javius and Joe

Betty and Jerry de la Cruz are among the pioneers of the pickle ball community in Northern Virginia and the surrounding environs. Both have played competitively at the amateur level. Recently Betty competed nationally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and took third place in the tournament’s three categories: Woman’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. Assuming that Jerry’s body heals from earlier injuries, they are ready to go on the road for next year’s round of pickle ball tournaments.

JT Smith has two major passions linked to a common theme: BALANCE. Balance on his motorcycle and balance on the dance floor. JT’s attraction to motorcycles began in his teens when he helped in his uncle’s Indian motorcycle shop. Most recently, he joined up with his group of motorcycle pros, Los Guajolotes, in a small town in southwestern Arkansas, a short 600 miles from his home. As JT said of their recent junket, "With straight roads in scarce supply, the edges of our tires were properly worn down, and smiles were the dominant expression behind every face-shield". Regarding the ballroom dancing, aside from Mrs. McComas tutelage and Class formal functions, JT had avoided dancing for most of his life until, in desperation, he bought tickets to a 6-week ballroom class for himself and his wife Diane. Following Diane’s death in 2016, JT undertook more challenging private dance lessons with his teacher, Juanita Simanekova, a competing professional dancer. It took two lessons per week for several months for them to create a 2-minute 45-second hybrid routine that would be JT’s venture into the world of performance dance. Their music was Queen’s, Another One Bites the Dust, and, to his great delight and pride, they achieved near perfection.

JT and Juanita

Tony Bilello spent most of his professional career as an engineer for the U.S. Postal Service, but unlike most of us, he also managed his 80-acre plot of land some 42 miles Northeast of his home in Denver. Traditionally, Tony has leased most of the land for others to till and leased some of the property for oil and gas extraction. Recently, he has taken a more direct interest in making his land more productive. Unlike some absentee landholders, Tony plays an active role by smoothing and reshaping his land to increase its yield, further water conservation and play a small role in Colorado’s efforts to be good stewards of the state’s natural resources. Indeed, on many days, Tony can be seen kicking up dust in his new 303E John Deere--with a big smile on his face.

The Al Johnson Ski & Lawn Mower Repair School, (established in 1990) created the Marginally, Magnificent Performance Award in 1991 and has had 25 recipients. In July of this year, the performance reward trophy, with winners’ names engraved was presented to its creator, John Allen Johnson, at his home in Alexandria, VA. Attending were Al’s wife, Gale, Jerry de la Cruz, and Ken Alnwick.

In all, 25 awards were granted from 1991-2015, including one husband and wife team, three two-time awardees, and three female participants.

"On one sunny day at The Canyons ski area, Les discovered and exercised a new, innovative route to get from the midway portion of the mountain to the lodge at the bottom. It seems that he "logically" followed the fall line down into and along a stream bed, completely disregarding trail markers. This route took him well below the lodge and adjacent parking lots. After removing his skis, Les climbed out of the stream bed, trekked through the woods, slogged across a muddy construction site, negotiated the parking lot, and finally joined the group around the beer cooler. Of course, he was some thirty minutes late and thus had to down several quick ones to catch up."

Ken, Al, and Jerry