5423 Myrtle Wood
Sarasota, FL 34235-4624
(941) 371-4843
Email: RCtherose@aol.com
WEB COLUMN
LET ME START WITH
. . . a great photo of a good-looking man."Hello Rosie, I'm doing some experimental fishing for big bonefish along the south shore of Molokai, Hawaii. I have not seen another fisherman, but having a grand time stalking and casting to these really large fish (for the species). I landed and released this 12-pounder on my first day out. It's the largest bonefish I've caught in twenty years of experience. I'm hanging out in a nice small cottage, checking out the island and waiting for grandson, Tyler, to come over from the Big Island to learn a bit of fishing lore," wrote John McCullough, on 3/7/2011.
Here are some smiling faces from Christmas cards in December 2010--Al and Gale Johnson in their boat in the harbor of Camden, ME; Dave and Camille Sweigart in "that old rocking chair" at Meadowland,TX; Howie Whitfield and family in Moses Lake, WA; Fred and Mary Lou Porter at BJ's Brewhouse in the Springs; Les Hobgood and family on the slopes; Ron and Connie Yates in dress mode; and Frank and Eve Mayberry with friend Pegasus.
"During our 4-day visit to Panama, we made a partial transit of the Canal; toured the colonial section of Panama City and the ruins of the original town, sacked by Henry Morgan in 1671; and visited an Embera village", this from Diane and J. T. Smith. To read the detailed account of their Route of the Maya trip in Central America with pictures, click HERE.
The DC-60 Group met January 11, 2011, and this report is provided by Tony Burshnick
"Despite the cold and the threat of snow, 14 stalwarts braved the elements and got together at the Springfield Golf and Country Club for another year-opener lunch. Thanks to Tom Burke for setting up the luncheon.
"First a quick run down on those who could not attend. Bill Hales and Goodyear were down in Florida for the Destin '60 dinner. Bob Odenweller had a "must attend" stamp collector session where he will receive another award; and, he will deliver a speech here in DC on the 4th of February. Doug Rekenthaler had business in California and Oregon. Bob Fischer had to help register some folks in Pennsylvania for the upcoming school semester. Mike Loh was busy, too; this time it was a speech he had to make at the NDU and then the Senior Statesman session with the CSAF." Tom Burke decided to spend some of his money and bought a new Lincoln MKZ. His son had a child born last year, so Tom and Mary now have twelve grandkids. He will never catch up with Norm Haller (15). Jerry de la Cruz recently met with a '91 grad stationed at the Pentagon who is going to set up a session where we can get briefed on AF planning. GJC Fries and Becky had a nice trip to Idaho prior to the AF/Navy game. George discussed tickets for this year's AF/Navy game, and in order for everyone to sit together we will have to order the tickets through one person. On the weekend of the game, Les Querry and Marty will again sponsor the Falcon Roost. Bill Hockenberry is recovering from the first cold of the winter, but he was well enough to really brag about the 50th reunion--no question that Cathe and he had a great time. Les Querry also wanted me to remind you to be on the lookout for even more pictures and clips from the reunion. Al Johnson also extolled the effort expended in making the reunion book--his thanks to all who worked on it. Al & Gale will be going back to their summer home in Maine in the next few weeks, and he will put his Mount Vernon home on the market. Ken Alnwick took on the new computer books. Leon Goodson says KINDLE is the only way to go. Leon rode his motor cycle to Seattle to see his twin grand babies, and also drove to Texas and viewed an RAF Air Museum on the base where British pilots trained prior to WW II. At Christmas he was back in Seattle. Anne Carnegie's Mom has been very sick and recently passed away. This caused Bill and Anne to delay their trip to Guatemala, where they will visit with their son. Bill is doing good health-wise, and he will need a another scan in a few months to be sure the lymphoma cancer is still benign. Bob Badger sounds like he is thinking of a new book: "Plunging Toward Death." Lil Badger is still having a few stomach problems, but they are coping. Norm Haller also bragged on the reunion. He told us that the AFA baseball team had a nice reunion the week before our bash. He got to put the old uniform on and took a few swats"he couldn"t hit the ball out of the park! Also told us that John Kuenzel tried to give the USAFA football coach a copy of the play book from his varsity days, but time did not allow it to happen. Ralph Lalime had son, Jay, and his family with them for the Christmas Holiday. They will soon head back to California and pack up their LA home to relocate here on the East Coast. His other son and his bride are getting ready for a honeymoon trip to Tierra del Fuego and other parts of South America. Mike A Clarke is really doing well and is back to work fulltime. You guessed it: the work deals with AF projects and where the force is headed. He and Nancy were in Los Angeles for the New Year, where Nancy was judge at the Rose Parade. I (Tony) finished by telling everyone that the back gets no better. It is painful and I seem to be getting more unsteady. I need two canes or two of Jock Schwank's ski poles just to walk. Like Mike Clarke, no more operations (for me)."
DC-60 met again to celebrate Founder's Day on April 1, 2011: "Every one is set to vote for the AOG Board members and complimented Dick Sexton on his rundown of candidates," wrote Tony Burshnick. "Al Johnson told us about his ski lift accident at the last ski school session; he had an MRI, and it showed damage to a disc and neck and lower back to include stenosis. Mike Clarke is getting along well. Nancy stays busy making speeches and very soon her book "My First Ladies" will be on the market. Mike plans to retire in a few months and will move to the Richmond, VA area. Bob Badger regaled us with the story of the fire in the Shenandoah Mountains. Jerry de la Cruz said Nancy is doing great after her double knee replacement. Jerry had a great time at the ski school. Norm Haller is still trying to get Randolph Macon to be an Academy prep school, and his grandson is doing well at the Naval Academy. Les Querry spent time with Noel "BEETLE" Bailey, who is having health problems. Les reminded us that he and Marty will host their annual roosting the second of October, the weekend of the AF/Navy football game. George Fries has agreed to order a block of tickets for the game, so let him know if you want to sit with the gang. GJC is working with the Virginia MOAA to give out medals and money to deserving college and high-schoolers. He also told us that Dean Bristow had a stroke after the reunion, but he is recovering and plans to be with George at the AF/NAVY game. Bob Fischer fought a typical Pennsylvania spring storm of snow, rain, sleet and fog on his drive to attend the luncheon. He and Lutzi spent a wonderful month at Marco Island in Florida earlier in the year. Bill Hockenberry was busy as ever working and traveling, and he is tied up at NATCA (National Air Traffic Controllers Association) trying to be sure they do the job right. Leon Goodson seems to be slowing down with work and enjoys spending time with the grand kids. He advised us that JT Smith's wife Diane has been slowed down with a serious foot problem. Tom Burke stays busy with his company, TEB Associates. We all agreed to get together on Monday, the 11th of July, for a 55th year entry to USAFA anniversary luncheon."
You may recall that paragraph and photo in the "December 2010 Web Column" regarding Don Thurman's son, Dr. Alan Thurman. Here's a follow-up message I received from Jed Dale, AFA Class of 1963: "I very much appreciated seeing the write-up and photo in the '60 class news article. Your article reminded him (Alan) of his dad's classmates and his active duty assignments. He was 10 years old, the oldest of five children when his dad passed away. Their Mom managed well for years, but eventually felt the need to go back to work. Apparently, she started with an ROTC detachment and later moved to W-P AFB, working her way up the ranks until she ended up working for another '60 graduate, as you are aware. It was about 15 years after the passing of Don Thurman that she married a widower, also with five kids. Of course, by then they were not kids any longer. Dr. Thurman says that their combined family get-togethers are great fun. He ended the conversation today with a comment about how much the USAFA associations meant to his dad and now to him. So, regardless of what the article did for your classmates, it was a tremendous success with Dr. Alan Thurman."
"If you thought the University of Oklahoma was just a bunch of football players and those nubile coeds in the cheerleader squad, you are very sadly mistaken," writes Gordy Flygare, who lives with wife Ann in Norman, OK, home to OU.
"I volunteered to be a docent at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and one of the volunteer jobs was working for a Herpetology Curator keeping the snakes, toads, frogs and salamanders in a sufficiently sweet bath of alcohol. I am off this morning to check the alcohol concentration in the Toad Collection--this critical task is to assure that the concentration is between 66% and 70%, and, if not, sweeten it with a good shot of 95% ethanol. OU has LOTS of TOADS and other specimens in the herpetology collection. I have another several weeks of toads before I get to the salamanders.
"Here I am with my blue gloves and a big jug of Bufo Cognatus. The 95% ethanol is in the blue jug and waste goes in the white. The alcohol tends to evaporate, winding up in the 62-64% range, and I sweeten it to the desired 70%. There is NO SMOKING! I'm not sure why the University needs so many toads, and can't just have one and take turns looking at it. I guess it's like the Army and aero planes
"In the jars behind me are all different sorts of Bufos, Cognatus being one of the prevalent Oklahoma varieties. You can tell by my grin that the ethanol fumes must have gotten to me. Lately, I've been pulling an educational shift in the "People of Oklahoma Exhibit" where there are a LOT of arrowheads. It turns out that there were people out here at least 7000 years ago killing buffalo and trying to stay alive. Unfortunately, not much besides the arrowheads remain."
Karen and I were staying with Brian and Carol Kaley, who live in CT (summer), and have their condominium in Naples, FL (winter)"this was the first meeting of the 'south-SouthWest-by-South-Florida-Class-of-1960 Graduates-Alumni-Association." Bob and Lutzi Fischer reside in Forest Grove, PA, and spend a month on Marco Island, FL each year. We were having dinner at the Kaley's on Sunday evening of March 6, and Bob mentioned that he"d been watching the nesting of four bald eaglets outside their rental home in Marco, on the golf course that borders their residence. Bob was artfully relating his eagle-viewings, and it reminded me of an incident in Sarasota several weeks earlier; renovations were being made--$32million worth"to our Spring Training Baseball Complex at Ed Smith Stadium, and two bald eagles had nested up in the night lights, laying two eggs"the local conservation society quietly climbed to the top of the light poles, and gently removed two eggs, taking them to a local "bald eagle expert," who transported the eggs to a location in Tennessee (one egg hatched, the other "didn"t make it"). Photos: 'six for "Dinner at Eight" on Marco Island", Brian and Carol Kaley, Lutzi "On the Beach", and at Kaleys" condo in Naples.
The next day we went to Marco Island, where we spent the night with Lutzi and Bob. Early next morning, Bob took me on a long walk around the golf course, where he showed me the eagles' nesting spots, and later wrote:
"Dear Rosie--I'm enclosing a variety of pictures. One shot shows two in the nest with one parent watching from another tree. There is also a picture of the two parents in a dead tree, one eating a fish, prepping it to feed the babies. I watched the nest 3X a day and reported the happenings to the Florida SW Conservancy. Since one of the parents was killed, the remaining mate quickly sought and found another mate the very next day. One parent cannot feed the eaglets alone, as they are as big as the parents, but they are dark brown in color and don't acquire the white head until they're about five years old. Bald Eagles mate for life and generally live 30 years in the wild. They return to the same nest every year and their nests are 8 to 10 feet in width and 45 feet in the air. One each of the two pairs of eaglets fledged later in the same day we left Marco, and the remaining eaglets fledged the following day. They are truly a magnificent bird and it's very exciting to watch them." Photos: Eagles at Rest; Eagles Nesting; and Twin Eagles.
Bob sent an article which had appeared in the Marco Island Sun Times entitled "Cause of Eagle's Death Unknown," and included: "Bob Fischer watches the eagles several times a day from his Jamaica Street home and during early exercise walks on the golf course." Several days later, in our Sarasota Herald-Tribune, this article from Decorah, Iowa appeared: "Thousands go online to watch eagles hatch," the web site was: www.raptorresource.org This entire story is truly "For the Birds."
"We arrived 22 December, 2010, got our car, our European & German wine/beer/FOOD & spent the night at the new Ramstein Inn, directly across from the air terminal, which is part of the fancy German shopping for the military of 50-75 shops plus our BX," wrote Kath Gillis, their trip including husband William Allen Gillis, daughter Cecelia and son Sebastian. "23 December, we drove to Garmisch, stayed at the Edelweiss Hotel, and ate downtown at the Lamm (hirsch--deer, gluewein, small pretzel with smoked trout, dessert). Skied 24 December--Cece & I in the Zugspitze area (Hausberg) while Bill sat in the German tent eating & drinking, then we ate downtown at the exquisite pub for the grandest Christmas Eve meal EVER! On Christmas we feasted on the Edleweiss buffet with 10-15 salads, ham, turkey, beef, 8-12 fresh vegetables, 16 different breads & rolls, seven different potatoes, 25-30 dessert selections, German champagne; then, hot tub (eight times the size of normal tub), and heated pool as big as three city pools). On 26 December, we drove to Heidelberg for the day with German friends Putz's, their two married daughters & their husbands, each have two children. We stayed in the Heidelberg Guesthouse. On 27 December we were with the Christmann family at their weekend home in Neuhemsbach, where they have their huge recreation house of bar, sauna, heated pool, and Jacuzzi. We spent the night at the Barbarossa Hotel, and on the 28th we went to Kaiserslautern for the Christkindl Mart which had become the Neuss Year Holiday Mart with sweets, Gluewein, sweet nuts, brats, and spent the night at the Ramstein Inn, turned in our Euros & car, ate German food at the Bakeri/Imbiss. On the 29th we boarded our plane for Baltimore, then on to Panama City, FL and home."
"Vic and Suzanne Yoakum spent two months at a lovely place in Palm Desert (CA) called "The Lakes." Greg Boyington and Junie flew in, and daughter Christina lives there in the winter. Christina's friend, Paul, a doctor, lives there year-round," wrote Phil Meinhardt. "Veronica and I drove to San Diego, and then to Palm Desert, where we looked at houses for a possible move. Ten of us had happy hour and heavy buffet on Friday at Vic and Suzanne's place, and the next night at the Van Inwegen's second home. The cocktails, munchies, dinner and evenings were very nice. Pat cooks very good food; she seems to love doing so. Greg and Junie stayed with Vic, and Veronica and I stayed with Pat and Van. The weather was beautiful and Palm Desert was crowded with locals and tourists. The weather today, though, is 101. I think they have six months of temperatures over 100." Later, Phil added that: "Greg is going to San Diego about 30 June for a ceremony honoring his dad. Van and his organization is dedicating a plaque to Pappy at the Soledad Cross in La Jolla, and his old squadron from Yuma is doing a fly-by. I sent you four photos: (1) Vic, Greg, me and Van; (2) Vic and wife Suzanne; (3) Greg with Junie; and, (4) Suzanne, Junie, Veronica, Pat VanInwegen and friend Christina (Christina's ex-husband worked for Van, and were neighbors in Colorado Springs."
This from Frank Gorham: "How great to see you and all the others at USAFA at our 50th, which was my first reunion. We stayed over thru Sunday to visit our infant daughter at the cemetery, pay our respects to each classmate also interred there, and visit my niece, who is a US Army pilot stationed at (nearby) Fort Carson. Then, we detoured thru The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Taos, NM on our way back to Lynn Haven, FL.
"Meanwhile, doing a major garage cleanup, I finally found the color 35mm slide of me marching punishment tours at Lowry. I think it was Mamie Eisenhower's visit that saved me from eternal damnation on the quadrangle. Also found a picture of my newly-acquired blue 1960 Ford Falcon in our cadet parking lot, with another identical car in the background, plus a white Corvette and a few other strange 1960's vintage cars. I suspect the two marching tours were either David Ullery or Tom Patty--both 4th Class, 4th Squadron roommates."
4003 words / 71 photos