MiniSki XVIII- 2008 Write-Up

The first week in March this year brought the usual good weather to the Wasatch Front and Salt Lake City along with a record number of those interested in testing their waning skills on Wasatch ski slopes.This year, like recent previous years, several of the classmates were joined by their sons, daughters, and members of other USAFA classes.It was great to have everyone as a part of the expanded group. They claimed to have as much fun as we did and expressed strong thoughts about returning next year. We sincerely hope they will, and that others, will follow suit by bringing more skiers next year.They bring a great deal to the party and go a long way toward keeping us all young.

On Sunday evening, Jerry unveiled and presented to Al, the "official" patch that he designed specifically to further recognize the legitimacy of the organization

The group consisted of: Al Johnson (the boss), Howie Bronson, Jerry de la Cruz and his son Greg, Gene & Jane Vosika ('59), Ron & Connie Yates, Earl & Pat Van Inwegen, their son Curt and daughter Kristin, Andi (Snow Bwana) & Carole Biancur , Ralph Lalime and sons Jay and Chris, George & Diana Pupich, Greg (Chief Instructor)Boyington & June Colgan along with daughter Tiffany, Jim Boyle, (USNA Class of '81). Jim & Judy Gallagher, Rip Blaisdell, Dave Holt, and Jack Swanson (all from Class of '62).

The award for Marginally Magnificent performance for 2008 has yet to be determined as several performances warranted consideration. Serious deliberation will be necessary to determine the ultimate winner. This esteemed award will undoubtedly go to a very deserving person.

See more of Greg's photos at (click) miniski_2008.htm

Cole Porter opened his Broadway musicals with an up tempo song--this column opens with some very upbeat news: "Rosie, put out a NOTAM warning everyone that an old pilot is back in the skies! I finally got my FAA Medical reinstated in September 2007, and I am back in the cockpit of a Cessna Citation Excel," writes Jim Thomasson. "It took almost seventeen months after I had a stent implanted in my left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) to get the FAA in Oklahoma City to approve everything. I had to undergo an echo stress test, a nuclear stress test, and a second cardiac catheterization. After all those tests and a multitude of letters we finally got a First Class Medical. It's great to be back flying--this Citation Excel is a great airplane to fly. I hope to keep flying for two or three more years."

"After my Houston checkup (PSA negligible, follow-up to treatment for prostate cancer), I flew up to Washington, DC, to see my son Greg for three days," writes Phil Meinhardt. "Al Johnson, Greg and I had lunch, and Greg took the attached picture. It was a fun lunch (R: Some background: Greg is a Special Agent, GS-14 with Homeland Security's Policy Division in D.C., essentially, he keeps an Assistant Director informed--she's Julie Myers, niece of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff).

"When Greg and I were in Santiago, Chile in June and July of 2002, we had a private guide and car. On the last day, Greg coerced our guide into taking us by El Presidente de Chile Augusto Pinochet's house. We were dressed in black, stopped and got out of the car and took pictures of Pinochet's compound. Greg had dutifully checked in with his counterparts at the Embassy and got some feedback later. Seems Pinochet wanted to know who we were; his guys didn't know, so they called the CIA. The CIA didn't know, and Pinochet got paranoid; he thought the CIA was abandoning him. The next morning, two men, also dressed in black, showed up at the Intercontinental Hotel demanding to know who we were. Three days later Pinochet resigned his lifetime appointment to the Chilean Senate. On the other hand, it may have been a coincidence.

"Al also had a great story about Charlie Wilson (book, movie: Charlie Wilson's War). Don't want to blow your cover, Al; you'll have to tell Rosie! Greg and I had both just read the book, Charlie Wilson's War; so, we found Al's story very interesting. Charlie was an unabashed womanizer and boozer, and it's a fascinating book from a historical 'Big Picture' of the Afghanistan War period and real workings of the CIA and Congress. The rich socialite, Joanne Herring from Houston (played by Julia Roberts) is still 'on stage' (the Houston paper said she was being feted and treated like royalty in Hollywood surrounding the making and release of the movie, and she was eating it up. Then I heard a NPR session where they interviewed the author of the book and Charlie Wilson.")

Al Johnson was happy to share his story with me: "My 'Congressman Charlie Wilson Story' is simple, but still somewhat shrouded in mystery. When I was a Major assigned to Legislative Liaison in the Pentagon (believe it was 1977 or 1978), I attended one of those many typical L&L parties--this one at Wilson's house in D.C. Later in the evening my wife Gale joined me from her job in the Pentagon. The party was nothing out of the ordinary--just the 'usual suspects.' I think we were celebrating someone's birthday. Don't know why Wilson's guys were armed, or even if they were actual body guards. Wilson was good-naturedly flirting with most of the ladies there, and at some point during the evening, in a grand manner and in his superbly flirtatious mode, Charlie Wilson picked Gale up, and, accompanied by his armed 'guys,' carried her to another room on the main floor of the townhouse, which was also filled with party goers. Among other things, Wilson told Gale that he could get her husband promoted. Nothing untoward happened, it was all in 'good fun,' but Gale was certainly surprised by Wilson's actions. Not sure of all of the subsequent details--you know how it is with the passage of time. But I did get promoted to LC, so I guess that L&L had its rewards." (Al and Gale Johnson are now living part-time in Camden, Maine, well out of the reach of Charlie Wilson, and supervising the construction of their cabin while they plan to put their house in Arlington, VA on the market in April 2008).

When Brian Kaley told me their home in Connecticut was almost 200 years old, my first reaction was: "Gosh, Brian, I just hope you start making more $$ so you can buy a newer house!" But BG then told me that "Our home was built in 1815, and has had only seven owners. It abuts open spaces of 250 acres in our little city of Brookfield 60 miles northeast of New York City, and it's a village of only 22 square miles and 16,000 residents. We live in the original town center, which is a designated historic district, and our house is on the National Register of Historic Places with a plaque indicating that important fact. The house across the street was built in 1750, and the one next door in 1859. This village is a typical New England early American town with a Congregational Church at its original center.

"Our home has a carriage barn, which is painted barn red and obviously once held horses, while the property has an acre of lawn and numerous mature maples; all in all, a comfortable setting for us while we are in Connecticut from May to November, as we then leave for our condo in Naples, Florida for the winter. This home has always been well-maintained by all of the previous owners, it's still in very good condition, but has also been updated regularly as needed. We bought it in 1975 and did most of our improvements by 1980, but it always needs repairs to plaster walls and ceilings periodically, which is true of most homes similarly constructed." (R: I'm going to wager that Brian and Carol's house is the oldest owned by anyone in our Class--any takers?).

"I retired again from working as a contractor for the Army in Huntsville, Alabama," wrote one of my roommates from at least one lifetime ago--Russ Currey. "A couple of years ago I moved, with my wife of 25 years, Glenda, to a small farm in Eastaboga, Alabama. It's just across from the famous Talladega Racetrack, and I can hear the cars roaring even as I write this. It reminds me of all those years of living under the traffic patterns at bases around the world. I have a couple of cows and a bull, and spend a lot of time watching the grass grow and maintaining fences. We entertain our Atlanta, New Orleans, and Sacramento based grandchildren whenever possible. Mostly, it is very quiet and uncomplicated living. Glenda has three children and I have two, a boy and a girl. My son is in the Air Force, he's divorced, and his two boys live in Port St.Lucie, FL; he is in Diego Garcia on a one-year remote. My daughter has two young boys, including the eight months old baby who is shown in the photo; Glenda's son designs golf courses and lives in Atlanta, his two boys and a girl are also in the photo; Glenda's daughter is an architect in Sacramento, CA, she has a little girl, and another daughter who is handicapped and lives in an institution here in Eastaboga (which is the reason we moved here three years ago)--she is also in the picture. I have talked to Jim Thomasson and Kirk Canterbury this year, Dale Mayo also called recently, and we reminisced about being at Thomasson's wedding in 1960, right after graduation. Hope to see you all at the 50th."

It was another great luncheon for the DC-'60 group, with fifteen in attendance at the January 15^th 2008 get-together. "Bill Carnegie and Bob Odenweller had to cancel at the last moment; I guess the weather in North Jersey was a bit bleak. Al Johnson was coming, until an unexpected meeting with his builders required his presence in Maine," wrote Tony Burshnick. "Joe Higgins led off a great discussion on the proposed 50th Year Book. Ken Alnwick informed us where we are going with the Heritage Trail for our Class of 1960 gift. Mike Loh discussed problems with the AOG--those problems being money and fund raising. I'm glad to report that Bill Taylor is doing fine with his hip replacements. As is our latest patient, GJC Fries; he's walking three miles at a clip and seems well on the way to recovery (R: See "More Friendly Fire" later in this column for more on George). Bill Taylor got to see the USAFA/CAL game and was impressed by the Falcons, even if they lost. We were glad to have a former classmate, Bill Hockenberry, join us for lunch. Bill left in 1957, got a degree at Gettysburg College, joined the Army as an officer, then worked at Ford and eventually got a law degree, worked for the government, and is now a private lawyer here in VA. Tom Burke is working hard at becoming the most prolific grandfather and now has 13 grandchildren (Norm Haller is still two ahead of him)." (In the photo, left to right: Bill Hockenberry, Higgins, Querry, Lalime, Badger, Burke, Clarke, Fischer, Burshnick, Loh, Goodson, Taylor, Fries, de la Cruz. Ken Alnwick left before the photo was taken).

This note from Tony Burshnick regarding Chris Warack's widow: "Pat moved to Virginia several years ago to live with son Christopher (Jr.) and his family." Pat has spinal stenosis and had surgery in June, and writes that "I am doing very well, just tired and sore, but can get back to any activity that I want, like walking, swimming, etc. Tony and I can compare notes about whose back hurts the most!" Son Chris (Massachusetts Institute of Technology-ROTC) built her a nice apartment upstairs in his beautiful home. Chris was promoted to full colonel, has a great job in the AF space and intelligence program and had a promotion party at his home. Tony said that "Karen and I and the Burkes enjoyed a wonderful evening with Pat and the boys. The younger son, Mark Andrew Warack (AFA '87--one of Tony's cadets when he was Commandant), is an LC stationed at Langley."

Driving down from Colorado Springs to Fort Worth for the Cal-USAFA football game at the Armed Forces Bowl on December 31^st were Jim and Jenny Glaza, John and Deanne McCullough, and Tom and Jan Kroboth of the AOG Staff. There was a Pre-Game Tailgate, Post-Game Tailgate and then a New Year's Bash at Denny and Liz Haney's house. Also attending the game were George and Diana Pupich, Andi and Carole Biancur, Dale and Ina Thompson, Deke Johnson, Randy and Jan Cubero ('61), Bob and Jan Brickey ('61), Dave and Phyllis Phillips ('59), Ed and Lucia Montgomery ('59), Max and Trix Miller ('59) plus their son Scott and wife, and Eddie and Sharon Rosane ('59). "Liz Haney did yeoman's work on all the chow--it was outstanding--and, everyone stayed up 'til one minute past midnight (what stamina!)," wrote Jim Glaza. "We all felt the team played well except for the monster defensive pass giveaways (shades of yesteryear!), but were doomed when Shaun Carney ('08) went down with a torn MCL and ACL and meniscus, that's everything in the knee, which is a very ugly injury." Cal won 42-36

George Pupich went on to forecast the Falcons' football future: "That was a mighty good football team for Cal that beat us. I guarantee that at least four of Cal's players will be high draft choices. That magnificent offensive line of theirs was something else. I also talked with Falcon Coach Troy Calhoun ('89) at the hotel after the game, and he had his reasons for going for two points near the end. If we went for one and then scored on a touchdown, plus an extra point, the score would have been 44-42 in our favor; they could then beat us by one with a field goal. Should we have had this same scenario, but went for and made the two-pointer (making it 42-37), plus scored as described before, they could have only tied us. Granted it was an unlikely script, but once again, he was thinking ahead of all of us. So, we went for two." George predicted that "The next two years will be lean ones for our Academy football team. We do have a few good doolies and a good bunch coming up from the prep school, but there are some big holes that will take time to cover up." (In the photo taken at the tailgate prior to the game are Liz Haney (partial, w/ Bloody Mary shown), Tom Kroboth, Carole & Dave Hardy (friends of Jen), Jenny Glaza, Jan Kroboth, Deanne McCullough, Jim Glaza and Denis Haney--John McCullough was also there somewhere, hiding).

I later found out that Bill Taylor also attended the AFA-Cal game, "but I went with my son, Jim (AFA '85, Lt Col Retired, lives in Tucson), who also got us the tickets," wrote Bill. "We rendezvoused at our daughter's house in Dallas, which is where Kitty stayed during the game. We thoroughly enjoyed the game, but it would have been a lot better if the Falcons had played better defense in the last three quarters. There was a nice crowd, with lots of blue in the stands."

"My wife, Diane, and I just returned from a three-week cruise-tour in Asia, visiting China, Japan, Taiwan, Okinawa, Viet Nam, Singapore and Thailand," wrote Gary Karshnick. "One morning at breakfast on the ship, we were joined by a couple. He looked strangely familiar. After some quick interrogation, I found it was John Goodley ('61) and his wife Casey."

"At the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki, we discovered that the Japanese are trying to re-write history. There is no mention of the attack on Pearl Harbor or the invasion of China. They simply say that WW2 started December 8th, 1941. At the Peace Monument, there were daily visits of hundreds of school children praying and singing songs for the poor innocent children that were killed by the bomb. The Japanese history books now say that the United States bombed Japan because they wanted to dominate Asia. All of our tour guides had been born after WW2 and none of them knew anything about the Japanese involvement," reported Gary.

Rugged outdoorsman Howie Whitfield and wife Linda assembled their entire family at the beautiful Ruby Beach on the Pacific shore of the Olympic National Park in Washington State. Howie's description of those in the photo: "On the left is our son-in-law Dean Nicosia, next to his wife/our daughter Dawn, with their daughter Sarah (13); our son-in-law Eric Frey next to his wife/our daughter Lynn, with their daughter Erin (14); my wife Linda; Eric and Lynn's oldest daughter Lauren (15); and, that's me on the right with the hat."

I was reminded of the old sawm>--"The Gods Must Have Been Out To Lunch"--when I saw this photo (R: don't know why, just always liked that little locution). George Luck has had several planning meetings regarding the Class History Book up in Washington State; one the 12^th of December at Duke's in Seattle, this one in Mukilteo, WA at the Whidby Island Ferry Terminal on January 8^th, 2008. George has been busily working on our Book for the 50^th Reunion--now, he's collecting stories and information about those of our classmates who left prior to graduation, and tracking down their post-Academy years. But, some unexpected wisdom from that meeting came through Nels Delisanti, who sagely stated that "I guess we are now approaching that time of our lives when Mother Nature is going to extract her price for letting us get this far." (The photo has Dennis O'Keefe, Vic Yoakum, George Luck, Charlie Diver and Nels Delisanti.)

Friendly Fire. Retired from the DOJ in 2000, where he defended" the US in wrongful deaths, personal injury and aircraft-hull-loss lawsuits arising under the Federal Tort Claims Act," Bob Badger still consults in the field of aircraft crash litigation . . . Jim Glaza's 70^th Birthday Cruise for our Classmates will be August 11-23, 2008, "Eastern Europe to the Black Sea" . . . John and Nancy Gonsky took a Caribbean cruise last January, spent a week in Cabo San Lucas in May and then toured Spain in September--John then bit-the-bullet and had a "total(right) knee replacement" on December 28^th ('07) at the Lynchburg (VA) hospital where his daughter Linda is the anesthesiologist . . . Wordsmith Paul Vallerie reminded me that "level" and "kayak" are palindromes, and "dreamt" is the only English word ending in "mt." . . . From Bill Hales, who wrote that "On December 29^th, 2007, Charlie and Kathy Liggett visited while on an East Coast trip. They were visiting family in the area, and we had them with us for a day. Good to see them, and they looked great. They are still living in California but thinking of retirement plans. It was our first classmate visit here in Greenville, SC, and we gave them the $2 tour" . . . Dave and Camille Sweigart write that "We've been on the road since Thanksgiving, when we went to Galveston, TX, then Cincinnati for Christmas and finally to Albuquerque, returning to Marble Falls, TX, this past Friday (12 January) only to have company over the weekend! We are now anchored here at home until our next scheduled journey to Italy in April, followed by a C-123 reunion at W-PAFB, OH in May." (See photo).

More Friendly Fire. The sprightly, youthful-looking and rapid-talking George Fries, ever optimistic, had his (right) hip replaced November 8^th ('07) at Portsmouth Naval Hospital by some Navy Lieutenant Commander, and he (George) was so excited about his progress that he telephoned me in Sarasota a couple of days before Christmas: "My last marathon was in Hawaii in 1993, and I'll be running the next Boston Marathon this 2008!" (In a subsequent e-mail on January 26^th, George said: "No on the 'Boston Big one.' I'm just enjoying the three-mile walks and 30-minute swims. Will visit Dean Bristow during the 2009 Mini- Ski, and I'm going to make both the Navy Game and the Army game this Fall" . . . Les Hobgood, who devotes an inordinate amount of time to matters of minor pith, recently posed this question to himself: "Self, how many Corvettes could we get on an aircraft carrier?" Joining 30 other Corvettes from San Antonio to support the (very large) Corpus Christi Corvette Club, they all went charging up the ramp to the USS Lexington and finished with 304 Corvettes on the Lex's flight deck: "Focus on Vettes and Jets on the Lex," it was called . . . Eve and Frank Mayberry travelled a little this last year (what's new?), and in '07 it was to Australia in February; July to Steamboat Springs, CO; September to Portugal and Spain; November Italy; and then, at Savona, boarding the Costa Fortuna cruise liner for their tripping back to Ft. Lauderdale (w/ stops in Tenerife, St. Maarten, Guadaloupe, Dominican Republic and Nassau. In the photo below Eve and Frank are at Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy) . . . Bill Gillis writes from Panama City,FL, relating that "we now have a TV on our sport fishing boat to 'disappear on.' Sons Glen and Sebastian and I went sailing before the cold snap arrived, and we all went out to Shell Island on our neighbor's 'Regal' but had to leave the beach to annoying little bugs." (Ah, yes, the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous").

"We're riding out the winter at home," writes Miles Kaspar, from Fullerton, CA. "Went to Honolulu in December, took a cruise around the islands, and stayed in Honolulu a few days. My mom is 94 and has had Alzheimer's for over three years now; she's in a nursing home in Nebraska. Char's dad is slowing up and she's spent a lot of time with him in Alabama. My knees are pretty bad--still putting off replacement for a while. I have sold several of the Mustangs I'd accumulated and hoped to restore. Tom Seebode got one, and I've two left. Spend most of my time building model airplanes from scratch--takes me 50,000 hours to build, and looks like it was made in kindergarten!"

Sid and Marvann Newcomb recently made Footsteps Missions' trips to Costa Rica (R: You all, of course, remember that Sid was originally from San Jose, Costa Rica) and Reynosa, Mexico; travelled twice to Redwood City, CA, also went up to a lake house in Minnesota; and, extended his entrepreneurial ventures from tacos (Martinez Food Company) into formation of the M&N Livestock Company (three Angus cows, three calves, one bull, and 12-year and 22-year old horses named, appropriately, Joe and Gus, as well as "a partridge in a pear tree.") Sid also sent this great photo of his family, complete with explanatory: "On the left is our son Sid Paul (he teaches tennis, and is an assistant pastor in CA), his wife Linda is holding their daughter Tea; to Linda's right is their son Ty, and to Ty's right is his brother Payton. Behind my wife Marvann and me are daughter Holly (she works at National Instruments in Austin), and her husband Mike Drazich (a micro-biologist, recovering from lung and brain cancer). To Mike's left is son-in-law Adam Blumenshein (a partner in a medical supply company he started in Austin), Mike is holding his son Sammy; Adam's wife/our youngest daughter Danelle is to Marvann's left, holding their daughter Madelyn. On the right is our daughter Nanci and her husband Manuel Martinez, their son Noe and daughter Sidni (Nanci met Manuel when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras in 1987. Manuel became a US citizen after marrying Nanci and migrating to the USA 18 years ago). Manuel is my business partner in the Martinez Food Company which he and I started in the Houston area 10 years ago."

Frank Gorham sent in a story from a 1959 issue of the National Geographic Magazine (see item below). "I've enclosed the story entitled 'Where Falcons Wear Air Force Dress Blue,' go to the paragraph entitled 'Radio Free Cadet' on the lower right hand side of the page--it tells you about the day when Tom Pattie and I tapped into the intercom system at Lowry (see page 855 on the link: http://www.usafatoday.com/scans/natgeo1959/). Frank was browsing in an antique mall in Chipley, FL when he came across the article). The Fourth squadron PA wiring ran thru my closet in our room. We had access to a tape recorder, so we tapped into the wiring with a recorded message cancelling Freshman Inspections. In order to sound legitimate we preceded it with the usual announcement of uniform for the evening meal. With several minutes of blank recording before and after, we turned it on just before going downstairs for the usual hallway harassment of Special Inspection

"Sure enough, shortly after the 'run your chins in dumb smacks,' the tape began with 'Attention in the area! Attention in the area! The uniform for the evening meal will be (whatever it was). Freshman Inspections for this evening are canceled.' We kept a straight face and were dismissed to return to our rooms. We thought the broadcast would only take place in our own dorm; but, it turned out that it reached across the quadrangle at least to Third Squadron. The net result was confusion on the quadrangle as different dorms showed up in different uniforms for dinner formation--depending upon whether they had received our bogus uniform announcement, or not." Further, Frank swears he had absolutely nothing to do with painting the D.U. stadium while we were at Lowry, or with that Blue statue at Colorado College. Who were the real culprits? (R: Stay tuned).

"Of our 15 grandchildren, many are heavily into sports," says Norm Haller. "In the fall we go to as many football games as possible, and then or later in the year to other events, like baseball. Getting around to many of these events requires a lot of travel! When we go, we like to take pictures.

"Four grandsons are now in college playing football. Senior Richard Hauffe (son of daughter Debbie and her husband Ted) is at Carnegie Mellon inPittsburgh (Division III, the "Tartans")--in his last season he won conference-wide recognition for scholarship and defensive-line play. Also a senior, but with one more year to play, John Sheehan (son of daughter Laurie and her husband John) is at Shepherd University (Division II, the "Rams") in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, where he plays wide receiver and kicker and on special teams (see photo,)

taken at Shepherd University,showing Liz and Norm with grandson John Sheehan); John's brother, junior Steve Sheehan, is at Harvard (R: "Never heard of it!") and plays safety; and sophomore Daniel Hauffe, at Davidson College (Division I, the "Wildcats") near Charlotte, North Carolina, plays defensive line. (See photo of Liz and Norm plus grandson Daniel--he's the tall one with white T-shirt after the Davidson-Butler game in Indianapolis; also in the photo is son Steve, his wife Shelley, and their family, who live nearby)

We also have another grandson in college, Ryan Sheehan, who is a freshman at Notre Dame (R: "Isn't that the little school that AFA defeated in football in the '80s four consecutive years?), and he runs winter track."

"Future college prospects include two other Sheehan boys, grandsons Nick and Matty, who play football in high- and junior-high schools in Loudon Valley, Virginia, and grandson Jeff Haller from the Cincinnati area, where he plays wide receiver for West Chester's Lakota High School JV team; Jeff is also a stand-out baseball player. (Third photo is Liz with son Richard and his wife Julie at their son Jeff's game--Richard and Julie are both USAFA grads, Class of 1988)

Granddaughter Mary Hauffe plays soccer and volley-ball at her high school in Manassas,Virginia. Our other grandchildren are in below-high-school sports; for example, two Haller grandchildren in Indianapolis are into soccer and wrestling." (For Thanksgiving, Liz and Norm had dozens of family and three turkeys, giving you some indication of the magnitude of Liz's culinary adventures--like Napoleon's army, the Haller family travels on its stomach).

James Dale Mills' sister, Elaine M. Eklund, is anxious to hear from those who knew Jim at the Academy and in the U.S. Marines. Elaine was Jim's younger sister, six years younger, and said that "I absolutely do want to hear from people who are willing to share stories and memories of my 'big brother'." Write Elaine at 1125 Summit North Drive, Atlanta,GA30324, call her at (404) 495-9913 or E-mail: Elaekl@mindspring.com.

Mr. Answer Guy is "back in the barrel," this time dexterously handling this snappy snippet from a certain Denis Leo Walsh, formerly of Springfield, MO, who made the following cognitive query: "Was D. D. Stevens, Honor Committee Chairman while at the US Air Force Academy, the only 1960 classmate who was a recipient of the Air Force Cross?" Mr. Answer Guy: "Right you are, Mr. Denis Leo Walsh, now of Denver,Colorado, you are correct--Mr. Donald Duane (Chik) Stevens, Class of 1960, was the only member of that Class to receive an Air Force Cross." (For knowledge, lots of it, send your quixotic queries to Mr. Answer Guy, c/o this column).

"A snowy evening did not prevent the Colorado contingent of the Class from gathering on 8 December 2007 at the Waddle's community club house," wrote Class President Andi Biancur. "Once again, Carole Biancur and Jeanette Glaza performed miracles by creating a very festive atmosphere. We were fortunate to have 12 classmates and their 'significant others' attend, along with three couples from the Class of '59. The great food and ample bar finally gave way to an entertaining session of 'Combat White Elephant' (*), making for an overall successful preview to the holidays. We were fortunate to have RG Head and Carol Hoover join us, as they were in town for another occasion. Those attending: Duck & Mary Waddle, John & Deanne McCullough, Barb & Wayne Kendall, Fran & Bill Hodson, Ron & Connie Yates, Jim & Jeanette Glaza, Andi & Carole Biancur, George & Diana Pupich, Jim & Judy Bujalski, Fred Porter, Steve Bishop & Kathy Toucher (Norm Haller's sister-in-law), while Brock & Claire Strom, Ed & Lucia Montgomery, Max & Trix Miller from '59 were present to provide adult leadership." (In the photo: Front Row--Fran Hodson, Lucia Montgomery; Second Row--Jeannette Glaza, Barb Kendall, Judy Bujalski, Deanne McCullough, Connie Yates, Diana Pupich; Third Row--Trix Miller, Carol Hoover, Mary Waddle, Jim Bujalski, Ron Yates, Claire Strom, Bill Hodson; Back Row--Jim Glaza, Ed Montgomery, Max Miller, RG Head, Wayne Kendall, Jim Waddle, Andi Biancur, Steve Bishop, Carole Biancur, John McCullough, George Pupich, Brock Strom, Fred Porter). *(For an explanation of "Combat White Elephant,"" contact Andi Biancur. While you've got Andi on the line, sign up to attend MiniSki XVIII March 1-8, 2008 on the powdery slopes of Utah).

Woe Is Us. Just when you thought it was safe to vote in the Presidential Election--Oops!--along comes the news that our Cocktail Party is a thing of the past (R: I'm crestfallen). The Cocktail Party was formed in 1995 at our 35^th reunion with the intent to run our star-aligned classmates--1960's General Officers ("Ben-Gay Candidates"); first, it was Mike Loh taking the fall as our very first candidate. In our last campaign in 2003, it was seasoned pol and Media-Darling Ron Yates--practitioner of "bare-knuckle politics"--losing in a landslide, after being labeled a "spear chucker for the military-industrial complex." Savvy voters, though riveted by the Party's banner calling for "Lots More Guns, No More Butter," failed to have their passions ignited, while I've been pummeled from obstreperous classmates demanding that we place a candidate into the '08 fray for Prez. No dice. The dream's not going to live on. The Cocktail Party is dead, and that keening you hear in the background is its final lament. (R: As a remembrance of what now might symbolize our "Last Hurrah," I've included a 1999 file photo of Ron Yates signing one of my balls as he embarked on one of his campaigns: "Rosie: It Takes a Lotta Guts For Me To Sign This, But, I'm UP To It!" (Ron's inscription). And to you, "We'll Always Have Monument, Ron."

What was Charlie Liggett doing "surveying the Lesser Gorges just north of the Yangtze River" in October 2007? Why would a former native of Ripley, Ohio be conducting a survey of the waterways in the interior of China? Was this a cabal with possible contretemps for the CIA? Find the answer to this, and other matters of great moment, in our next issue on May 15^th.

Final Roll Call. Hoyt Leroy Prindle, Jr., died of cancer at his home in Tallahassee, FL on July 28, 2007.