And a GREAT time was had by all!  OUTSTANDING 30th Reunion with ATTABOYs to CHUCK, PETE, & PETE for their considerable efforts in organizing our Friday night soiree at the Rock, Saturday afternoon’s Tailgate Lunch at the Rowing Center, and an exceptional Class Dinner on Saturday Night.  A specific highlight?  Our March On with the flags of the 50 states...with another big ATTABOY to AL GRACEWSKI for securing and transporting the flags!  Have you seen the photos yet?  They can be accessed via our Web Page, but wait for the first recess...the court will come to order.

Remember back a few issues to the story of the heart problems PAUL and ANN BARLOW’s granddaughter experienced after her birth?  A wonderful update from Ann:  “On Lauryn’s one year checkup with her cardiologist, Yvonne was told that Lauryn’s heart function was normal.  With only about a third of cardiomiopathy babies having a complete recovery, we feel very blessed.  Yvonne and her family are living in Tampa and loving it.  When Kim graduates from college in two years, we will have to seriously consider moving south.”

KEN BORDEN reported around with an E-mail address just before homecoming.  Now for an update: “I'm divorced with three children.  Sara, 24, is living with her fiancé down in Manassas, VA.  Eric and Nick, both 18, are going off to colleges in CT.  Nick got an alternate appointment at the Academy, but didn't make the final cut.  My sons are twins.  Eric is a freshman at Eastern Connecticut State University and Nick is a freshman at University of Connecticut.  Sara is working during the day, taking some college courses, and doing some horseback riding in the evenings.  Hopefully she is spending a little time with her fiancé somewhere in there.  He's a Navy officer at the Pentagon.  His last assignment was in the engine room on the SEAWOLF.  I've been working at Electric Boat in Groton, CT, for the last 20 years as an electrical engineer.  BOB ALLING has also been working there for about 25 years in nuclear test, but I didn't run into him until less than 5 years ago.”   

I “borrowed” a couple photos being passed around at Homecoming...always looking for important stuff for these notes.  First, a great shot of JIM and PEG SYLVESTER, beaming proudly at daughter Megan’s graduation from Boston College.  She graduated in June with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and is currently working for the Boston office of Arthur Andersen.  CONGRATULATIONS to all!  

The second, BOBBY and CHERI GONOR spoiling grand kids Christopher (9) and Emily (16 months) on their 2001 family vacation to Hilton Head, SC.

A little unfinished business to close the loop on.  Got an E-mail from John Schott ‘77, Commanding Officer in MIDGETT, providing a SitRep on the Burial at Sea for CRAIG EIDE: “Greetings from the Bering Sea.  We finally had favorable weather and the operational opportunity to conduct the burial at sea today, following our departure from Dutch Harbor.  The burial was on the evening of the 17th of September, off the NW side of Unalaska Island, north of Makushin Bay, 3.4 nm southwest of Volcano Bay, and a few miles east of Bogoslof Island, a volcanic spire that is the youngest island in the Aleutians. It was a beautiful, calm evening with views of the rugged volcanic shore through broken fog.  We will send Linda Eide a letter and a videotape from our next port call.”  John, on behalf of LINDA and all CRAIG’s Classmates, our thanks to you and the men and women of MIDGETT.

JAY TAYLOR didn’t make it to our 30th, but reported in from Almaty, Kazakhstan just before Homecoming.  “Greetings to all who read from Almaty, Kazakhstan which is south of Russia and west of China.  I am here with a pastor from my church in Pensacola who is from Kazakhstan.  We are working with local churches in Almaty as well as rural churches to provide short and long term support.  The people are all very nice and the Wx is beautiful with daytime temps 60-70.  The tree leaves are turning colors with deep red and brilliant yellow hues.  Life is quite peaceful here unlike a short distance to the south.”  JAY provided more detailed information after his safe return October 3rd:  “I traveled to Kazakhstan with Peter, a pastor from Kazakhstan, who left the country about 3 years ago.  We attend the same Sunday school class at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL.  Peter and I stayed in houses of various pastors as we traveled.  None of the pastors we visited receives a salary from the church.  They all have other jobs and volunteer their work.  They are all highly committed, dedicated servants.  Peter and I spent time in Almaty, Kapchagai, and Tekele near the Chinese border.  In my opinion, the people who suffer the most are the old people.  They had to endure the hardships associated with communism and now have freedom but no pension or help from the government, which they would have received under the previous system.  The church, with its highly limited resources, is housing many of the older folks placing a strain on other church programs.  In the countryside, there are numerous abandoned factories and apartment complexes.  Many of the abandoned apartment buildings have been reduced to rubble by those desiring some building materials.  These areas look like war zones.  The few families who remain in the apartment buildings have no heat, electricity, or running water.  I don't know how they survive the harsh winter.  Peter's emphasis has been with evangelizing the Kazaks and we spent considerable time with a church he started for them.  We stayed with Serik, the pastor, and his family for 2 nights.  Serik is the Chief Accounting Officer for an American Petroleum Institute and his English is excellent.  I found his historical perspective of the region extremely interesting.  He recounted his previous life as an atheist and talked about the content of a course he took in the university titled "The Science of Atheism."  Serik is fervent in his desire to evangelize his fellow Kazaks.  Peter, who is of Russian descent,  feels that the future of Kazakhstan is with the Kazaks and that the Russians are a doomed minority even though many are 5th or 6th generation residents.  They are viewed as historical oppressors, which is hard to deny.  I'm glad to be back home, but my present thoughts and sentiments are with those who suffer in Kazakhstan during a difficult transition to capitalism.  Instead of commenting on their own plight, the people of Kazakhstan instead expressed sorrow over the recent terrorist attacks in the USA.”

J. B. WILLIS wants to do a little networking: “It appears that I am now 'really' retired. I left my job at CENTECH GROUP and I have begun the search for my next career. If you see something that might fit, shoot me an email.  For those of you who haven't seen me in a while, my graduate degree and significant experience is in training and education (MS Instructional Systems, managed entire CG training system).  My secondary career field was IT/MIS which culminated when I managed the CG's corporate computer center (OSC).  Somewhere in there, I managed to sneak aboard 4 ships to do various fun things.  Initial preference is for a job within 60 miles of one of the two houses we own (Noank, CT and Shepherdstown, WV). That would include roughly Providence to New Haven and Winchester to Dulles. But if no dream job appears, we've moved so many times, one more time wouldn't be a big deal, especially if it was to Sonoma County, CA.  In the meantime, KIM and I are going on vacation to take advantage of one of our few opportunities to have some 'down' time.”  

CHUCK BECK doesn’t need to network and apparently will have to give up his day job as an [Insert your event here] Planner: “I got a call form the Office of Emergency Management for the State of Connecticut last evening.  I start working for them on 12 October. The State has until 31 December to have a strategic plan and grant proposal into the Feds in order to be in on the distribution of some of the "terrorism" money Congress will be providing.  I think I will be responsible for putting the plan together. Should be fun with lots of political intrigue but a bit grueling for the next several months.”  CHUCK, are congratulations or condolences in order?  

AMY and BOB TABOR have a deal for us.  “Bob & I have a high quality color copier in our Mail Boxes Etc. store and since some people, including ourselves, didn't come with cameras we thought we'd offer to create a "Reunion Weekend Memory Book." Anyone who took pictures that they'd like to share can either send us by mail their photos (which I will return) or email them as a jpeg file to me at ATabor@aol. I can put them all together and bind them in a book. When sending your pictures if you want to add captions (funny or just names) I can add those too. In this way everyone will get the full compliment of pictures and anyone not in attendance can order a book as well. I can get several pictures onto an 8 1/2 x 11 page and double side them to save on cost of printing and mailing. If you're interested just start sending them to me and I'll keep you informed as to the response. Bob & I also want to add our thanks to Charlie for a spectacular job. We had the best time. It was great seeing everyone.”

Before we adjourn so you can go look at the on-line photos or start E-mailing your photos to BOB and AMY, CHUCK BECK offers a final synopsis: “I believe it was a very successful and fun Reunion weekend.  Thanks to PETE BARRETT, PETE TEBEAU and AL GRACEWSKI for their assistance and to all of you that came for making the Reunion a success.  I am here to tell you that some of us must have married child brides because the wives looked MARVELOUS!  For those of you that couldn't make it, start planning your trip to New London for the 35th.  Speaking of the 35th, let me summarize the class business meeting for everyone’s benefit.  After John Maxham (the Director of Development for the CGAAA) made his presentation, I laid out simple steps to obtain a reasonable financial goal by our 35th Reunion.  We need to select (agree to) a class agent to speak on behalf of the class on how our Class fund should be spent.  We need to have a "gift committee" to assist the agent in selecting projects to fund with our Class fund.  After some post reunion E-mails going back and forth, I think the Class of 71 now has a "class fund" organization in place. The following people have stepped forward (or were pushed forward).  Class President for Life PAT WIESE will act as our Class Agent.  KELLY CALLISON, DENNIS CLEAVELAND, CHARLIE HARRIS, RON SILVA, and PHIL VOLK have actually volunteered to act as the gift committee. RON currently serves on the CGA Board of Trustees which will provide some good insight. CARL SWEDBERG will retain the role as Class Scribe (just like PAT retained the Presidency) mainly because we never talked about the Scribe and he does such a good job.  With your permission and unless otherwise directed, I will also serve on the gift committee and act as the alternate Class Agent. (Permission granted...and flattery will get your name in print!)  We now need to organize our donations to the CGA Alumni Association to maximize the investment power.  We need to increase our individual donations to a "standard acceptable" level. The financial goal would be to have our Class fund reach $150,000 by the fall of 2006.  First of all, we all need to call (or e-mail) the Alumni Association and specify that any contribution we are making as individuals gets designated to the Class of 1971 Fund.  Many of us donate to the CGA Alumni Association but not specifically to our fund.  Any undesignated donation has been going to the Alumni Associations "general fund."  Although the money has been used for good causes, the causes have been selected by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Thus, over the 30 years of our giving, our class has amassed a meager $35,000 dollars (approximately). That's right, a little over $1,000 per year for all of us combined!  Please call John Maxham and designate your current donation to the Alumni Association to the Class of 1971 Fund ASAP.   John can be reached at (860) 701-6771 or via e-mail at jmaxham@ctol.net.  There are about 115 of us linked electronically via our Class web page.  A $300 per year ($25 per month) donation would be $252 per year above the cost of the magazine per person.  If all 115 of us gave the $300 per year donation that would garner ($252 x 115) $28,980 a year.  If we all start now, by the time 2006 rolls around our class fund would have $144,900 plus the $35,000 already in the fund or $179,900.  As John Maxham explained at our Class meeting, it takes a minimum of $50,000 to start an endowment fund so we would easily meet that level.  When we meet again in 2006, we could turn our Class fund into an endowment fund so that it would generate interest.  We could either donate the yearly interest to a designated project each year or let the fund build for another 5 years and then start using the interest for projects starting in 2011.  By 2011 we would have $324,800 in the Class fund not counting interest.  Get the idea?  Well, that about covers it.  I believed I touched on all of the points promised at the Class business meeting so for those that did not attend the Friday evening event you are as much in the know as the rest of us...which of course isn't saying much!  Unfortunately, you didn't get to partake in a great  memorial service conducted by TERRY ROBERTSON (Thanks again TERRY!) or graze on the hors d'oeuvres and drink at the reception.  Nor did you get to catch up on old times with classmates and their brides.  Maybe next time!”

Time to go on-line and look at photos!  But before you do, send that E-mail to John Maxham designating your contributions to our Class of 1971 Fund.  And if you currently are not a member of the Alumni Association you can join by calling Cathie Farrington at (860) 701-6708 or by going on-line to https://www.pay.onlinecommunity.com/uscga/contribute_unregistered.htm.  The Alumni Association has made joining and donating about as painless as  possible...you can charge your membership dues and any amount over the $48 minimum (donation) to your credit card.  SWABO...make the call and make your contribution!  We’re adjourned!