April - June 2013
As Compiled by JT Smith
30 June 2013
Pete
King sends the following unwelcome news: "I see in
today's paper that Karl McMaster Jones died June 27.
Visitation will be July 2 at Heritage gardens Funeral home in
Niceville FL from 5 to 7 PM and funeral services July 3 at St.
Simons on the Sound Episcopal Church in Fort Walton Beach at
10AM..
29 June 2013
Bill
Zersen has a knack for finding interesting stories and
videos related to aviation, and he has recently sent along two
great examples. This first is a story about an Army
Enlisted Pilot
in WWII flying the Spitfire on Photo Recon Missions. To access it, click here.
The second is a video documenting a flight in a U2 by a British journalist. The soundtrack contains the conversations between the pilot and his passenger, and the views are spectacular. Click here to watch this video.
13 June 2013
Here's
a report from Andi Biancur on the fire situation in
the CSprings area: "Rosie, Thanks for asking. Pupich
had to evacuate but the fire missed his home. He is safely
re-located to his mother-in-law's house. Initially, it was
burning southeast but yesterday, it reversed and is burning
north and northwest putting us, Sexton, Glaza,
Yates, McCullough and Kendall in the
pre-evacuation
areas. The fire is still zero
contained.
We and Sexton are in better shape than the others
because the fire is following the woodlands and they are in
the wooded areas. At present, the fire is
east of Highway 83 but if it jumps that highway, we will all
be evacuated. The wind is now calm but is expected to rise
this afternoon to 20-30 knots and the direction will dictate
where the fire goes. McCullough and Glaza are
away and returning today. Hopefully in time to react to
whatever occurs. All other of our classmates are, currently,
out of harm's way. That's it for now, Andi."
Andi followed up a few days later with, "We, along with all the grads I know are either safe with no loss or unaffected."
11 June 2013
Upon
returning from his trip to Georgia, Gordon Flygare
writes:
A couple of hot customers who will soon be rained on to cool
off their ardor.
"The rain we encountered was not the hardest rain I have ever encountered, but close. The hardest I have actually ridden through. Deals Gap is probably the biggest collection of gimcracks and motorcycle t-shirts to be found anywhere. It is actually a nice road; the 318 curves in 11 miles must count some of the ladies seen riding on the plentiful Harleys. We few, we fortunate few, did have a fine time in the North Georgia woods and when we broke up on Friday the 7th, I rode on to Birmingham and the Sistine Chapel of motorcycles, the Barber Vintage Museum. It hasn't changed much since I was there in about '07.
"The white one at 11 o'clock level is like [one of] JT's, a Honda Pacific Coast, just the sort of quirky machine to be included in a famous collection. As you can see, Mr Barber collected a few cars along the way, generally snappier than the Bug seen here, but definitely eclectic--Gordo"
6 June 2013
Once again Los Guajolotes have gathered for their
annual worship of the twisty road, and Gordon Flygare
and J.T. Smith are among the faithful. This year's
gathering is at the Lodge in Amicalola Falls State Park in
north-central Georgia near some of the best (read, good
surface with lots of curves) roads in the country. Two of the
area highlights are The Tail of the Dragon (aka 'Deals
Gap')--an 11-mile, 318-turn segment of US-129 that connects
Tennessee and North Carolina--and
the Cherohala Skyway that connects Tellico Plains, TN
and Robbinsville, NC. The 36-miles of sweeping turns and
wonderful views of the Smokies tops out at 5400 ft.
We rode both of them yesterday, and the weather stayed cooperative until we ran into a deluge for the last hour or so coming back. These 'famous' roads and numerous others in the area have provided several days of great riding, and the fellowship among the guys and gals who rode them made the gathering a complete success. Next year's gathering will be in the The Dells in Wisconsin.
29 May 2013
Laura
has provided more details about our classmate Dave Wiest.
She wrote, "Dave died of prostate cancer, which was first
diagnosed in 1997, and the cancer reappeared in his bones in
the early 2000s; it has been a long battle, but the sharp,
sudden decline began barely two weeks ago, and he was in
hospice here at home for only eight days. Earlier this month,
Dave was still planning his next
project."
For those of you who may have missed seeing it, Dave wrote an article some years back about the role cars had played in his life to that point. As an added remembrance of Dave, you might want to read/reread it. You can find it in the Archives section of Class News using either the website menu or directly by clicking here
28 May 2013
Les Querry sent the following link to more
information regarding our classmate Dave Wiest: www.terrazasfuneralchapel.com/
memsol.cgi?user_id=996397
26 May 2013
With sad news regarding our classmate Dave Wiest, his
wife, Laura, wrote, "Yesterday morning (Saturday, 25 May) Dave
passed on to a better place quietly, peacefully here at home.
A simple service with military honors will be held on Friday,
May 31, 2013, at 1:00pm, at Ft. Bayard National Cemetery which
is about 7 miles east of here.In lieu of flowers please make a
donation to the charity of your choice, or to the Disabled American Veterans or
the Wounded
Warrior Project , or locally to High Desert Humane
Society, PO Box 1973, Silver City, NM 88062 ... . Thank you,
Laura."
10 May 2013
JT
and Diane Smith are currently visiting son Andy
Hooper and his family in Brandon, FL. A day at Fort De
Soto Park just south of St. Petersburg included some
fun time bounding about in Tampa Bay and the Gulf on their
Sea-Doo watercraft. The matched pair of Sea-Doos, which had
been idle for nearly 2 years due to Diane's multiple
surgeries and subsequent recovery, were trailered from TN
for the occasion. Also
enjoying the fun were Andy
and his two children, Nicole and Cody (Andy's wife, Shawn,
was unable to join in). Everyone got appropriately wet and
had a great time.
29 April, 2013
Jim Thomasson reports the
following after attending the memorial service for Kirk Canterbury:
" His memorial service was held in
Matthews, North Carolina on Saturday, 27 April 2013. The
following
classmates and spouses were present: Tom and Carole Seebode,
Dale
and Idee Mayo, Russ Currey, and Jim and
Carolyn Thomasson.
"The Memorial Service was wonderful. A Scottish bagpiper led the family into the Chapel. Kirk played the bagpipe for some years. Kirks oldest son, Mark, spoke on his days of growing up in the Canterbury household. Thomasson spoke about rooming with Kirk for 3 years at the Academy. A family friend and fellow swimmer, Patty Huey, told about her swimming days with Kirk here in Charlotte.
"The Chapel was packed, and Kirks wife, Millie, spoke to every person after the service. Although it was a sad day for classmates, Kirks family, and his many friends; it was great to hear those stories and celebrate Kirks legacy.
Mark
Canterbury, Millie Canterbury, Laura and John David (J.D.)
Canterbury
"(Aside):
Dale Mayo and Russ Currey
arrived in Charlotte on Friday, April 26. On Friday and
Saturday evening we had time to visit--catching up on
gossip, retelling some
of the great stories of the past, and enjoying some good
food and drink. "It was great to be with my old 8th
Squadron buddies!"
'Dear Classmates:," writes Rosie Cler. "Our classmate, Alfred Kirkland Canterbury, Jr., died from the results of a stroke on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 2AM. Russ Currey sent this information via E-mail, and he may be contacted at (256) 313-4785.
"The funeral for Kirk will be held this Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 11 AM in the Heritage Funeral Home, 3700 Forest Lawn Drive, Matthews, North Carolina 28104, telephone number: (704) 846-3771.
"Jim Thomasson
will be attending the funeral, and his telephone number
is (704) 904-5704 (cell). "
26 April 2013
"Diane and I [JT Smith] just returned
from a few weeks in Texas where we spent the weekend of 19, 20,
and 21 April at The Circuit of the Americas (the new,
world-class roadracing venue near Austin) for the inaugural
motorcycle Gran Prix. The weather was clear and cool, and the
racing was spectacular. The picture below gives a feel for what
motorcycle roadracing is like. If you are a fan of motor racing
(two-wheeled or four), you would do well to attend an event at
this wonderful track.
"Prior to the races, we visited with some Air Force friends who live near San Antonio. While there, we traveled to Fredericksburg, TX to see The National Museum of the Pacific War. This is a truly impressive place. Sadly, we only had 1 day there, because it really takes 2 days to do it all properly.
"Prior to returning home, we visited with some of Diane's relatives who live in the Austin and Houston areas and stopped in Nashville to see a beautifully staged and danced performance of Romeo and Juliet by the Nashville Ballet. "
21 April 2013
This from Gordon Flygare: "In its infinite wisdom,
BMW requires the drive shaft splines to be
lubed every 20,000 miles. This requires about 5 cc of grease
and about 2 days of labor. Thus, it is a task left to the
rider as it is out-of-sight expensive to have it done on the
clock.
"Ann has gone off to a weekend with her Nursing School friends, so I've got some time to use the entire garage. Too bad you can't see a 360 degree shot of the rest of the space.
"This is the lovely K75 which I got while at MD Anderson having my prostate bombarded with protons. The 30-minutes- a-day therapy left plenty of time for riding. [The K75] is the 750cc transverse triple that was the beginning of BMW's move away from the classic boxer twin motor. . . . [They have] now come out with the K1600 six.
"I have to admit some dalliance as I test rode a Yamaha FJR transverse four last week. I'll admit little appetite for young women, but a new motorcycle is something else."--Gordon
21 April 2013
Jim Glaza, currently in Florida,
provided this update on the Africa trip that he and
Jenny are putting together, " . ... We currently have
12 committed: Don
and JinHee Brooks '59, Vic and Sandy Thomas,
Dick and Donna Doyle plus
two local couples, for a total of 12. We need thirteen
for me to "earn"
my trip leaders compensation--to be rebated to all
attendees, so all
exposure is appreciated by all participants. Don't
know how much longer
I can hold off Overseas Adventure Travel from releasing the
remaining
four slots to a supposed waiting list. Wish I had been
earlier with our
commitment as
we might have been able to capture you and get over the
hump. In any
event, we hope this finds all of you well and happy.
We'll keep you
advised of our final arrangements. J&J"
11 April 2013
George Luck has reported
on the April gathering of the NW Falcons. You can access his
report and photos here