Grandchildren and missing in action classmates highlight the docket... the Court will come to order!

WAYNE VERRY sent in a quick note on a PCS move: “RITA and I are moving to Foley, Alabama on Thursday, June 27th!  Last month, RITA was offered an early retirement from her job with DoD, and so I'm leaving my job with AmeriCorps, we've sold our townhouse, hired a mover, sold or gave away most of our furniture, and we're outta here.  We've designed a home and hired a contractor to build it on 2 acres of land that we bought 5 years ago, and we should be settled into our new home in about a year. Neither RITA nor I have any firm plans for what most people would call a "job". We're going to take our time and slow down our pace of life a bit before we plunge into something new.  In the meantime, I plan to spoil our granddaughter, harass the builder, and do a lot of sailing and fishing.”  Did you say Foley...as in BOB FOLEY?  Think BOB’s living near Mobile as well.  And did you say ‘granddaughter’?  The Court will entertain a photo!

Here’s how it’s supposed to be done.  DON & JOAN ESTES sent in a very short notice on becoming Grandpa and Grandma: “At 11:29 PM on July 1st, DON and JOAN became Grandpa and Grandma.
His name is Ryan Matthew, his specs are 8lb. 2 oz. , 20 inches, and dark hair. That's all we know for now....more to follow.”  Obviously this report was a “news at 11” kind of tease...more to follow in the December edition!

BARNEY sent in a great photo taken just before the Great Cummerbund Explosion.  “Here's pics from Eric's wedding on June 22nd in Mansfield, Ohio.  That's Katy (the bride’s younger sister), Emily, Eric and Eric's proud DAD!  Eric and Emily both graduated from Ohio University.  Eric has only his thesis to go for his Masters and is working as an athletic trainer in the Toledo, OH area.  He didn't revert, so I'm not sure where I went "wrong."  Emily is interning this summer for a law firm in Toledo.  She just completed her first year of law school at UT.  When she finishes law school, they are probably going to move to the Columbus, OH area which means I'll have to find yet another pub in yet another city....  will the "work" never end?  Emily's Dad is a judge in Mansfield, OH.  Eric, the judge/father-in-law-to-be and other guys in the wedding went out for a round of golf the morning of the wedding.  I HATE golf so I drove the golf cart.   Those electric contraptions can hum!  I hit 47 mph on the downhill at the 5th hole!  And did you know there's a BEER cart that goes around the golf course?  I may have broken some obscure golf etiquette rules when I sprinted across 3 fairways and two greens to get a cold one.  A beer cart on the course...I may have to take up golf after all.  During the rehearsal dinner, the bride-to-be and groom-to-be handed out gifts to the wedding party.  Groomsmen and Best Man got engraved glass beer mugs, and an assortment of beers.  Eric picked mine out special.  The name of it?  "Old Peculier."  Proud I are!  My son Eric asked me to be his Best Man, and Eric REQUESTED that I wear the uniform. Fortunately, it FIT!  Well, it fit for a while.  Later, a few members of the wedding party were slightly injured during the wedding reception by flying-gold-stud-shrapnel, and a cummerbund snapping with enough force to sheer the mizzen!”  Old Peculier promises the Court a TURLO family photo including daughter Dee and the 3 grand-kids...also in December?  

Want to go sailing?  CHARLIE HARRIS reports around with a quick update: “Have been working on the Deepwater proposal with the Northrop Grumman/Lockheed Martin team.  On Tuesday the 25th - as most know by now - the CG announced that our team won the contract.  Naturally, our folks are extremely pleased.  For all of those classmates who were involved in this effort, on all the competing teams, we all know how difficult this was.  I certainly sympathize with PHIL and TIM and JIM and the others for expending all the blood sweat and tears.  However, your families will be glad to see more of you now which is a lot more important anyway!  MARLAYNE and I have taken possession of a new 40' Catalina sailboat, "AUTUMN'S CHOICE III.”  It is our pride and joy and the one place where we can go and get away from the rat race.  Sailing on the Chesapeake is a real pleasure; there are so many great spots and the weather is pretty accommodating.  This boat is our retirement boat; our idea is to sail north in the summer and south in the winter...probably get moving on that in about five years or so.  Come and see us and we'll go sailing.  GRACIE and DAVE ISBELL are in the vicinity somewhere, but we can never seem to get together, boat wise.  We'll keep trying.”  Check with AL GRACEWSKI...he lives in Arnold and can contact DAVE for a sailing ron-dez-voo!

RALPH LEWIS just returned from a trip to DEB’s promotion ceremony.  “The other services make a bigger deal of promotion than I remember the CG ever doing.  It was a nice event, with the two-star general who DEB works for presiding.  Lots of her other service co-workers and a few family members were present to witness the event.  We had a reception with libations and pu-pu’s afterwards.  DON and BRENDA WETTERS were in attendance, so ’71 was adequately represented.  Now my wife outranks me in reality, but has in practice for a LONG time!  The General was sensitive to this, so he pinned a star on my lapel right before she was promoted, for whatever that’s worth.  The next day, we trekked down to MacDill AFB in Tampa, which is now CAPTAIN DOMBECK’s new duty station.  She is one of the USTRANSCOM LNO’s (liaison officer) to HQ US Central Command.  She is now more in the thick of the war, and stands a better chance of getting deployed to a forward base.  Admittedly, I am not very fond of that prospect, but am very proud of her contribution to the war effort.  She has been away from home for over a year now, having planned on only three months of active duty last summer.  Getting mobilized after 9/11 has been an interesting experience, and required some adjustment to supporting two households.  The dogs and I are doing fine, and DEB and I do get together every 6 weeks or so, so we are surviving!”

Saludos desde la selva en Peru!  JAY TAYLOR’s on the move again: “Greetings to all from the jungle in Pucallpa, Peru.  I make an annual pilgrimage here to visit my jungle guide Gilber Reategui Sangama, his family, and the population of about 280 in the peaceful, serene village of Nueva Luz de Fatima next to Lake Yarinacocha.  Usually, I stay in the house of Gilber's family.  This year I am staying in the city of Pucallpa to assist in a long awaited mother and son reunion.  CWO (ret) Dallas Block, via his computer expertise, helped me locate the mother of assistant jungle guide "Alligator Pepe."   His mother moved to the USA 16 years ago from Lima and contact was lost when Pepe moved about the same time in Peru from one jungle town to another.  Dallas and I brought Pepe's mom here using an airline family and friends pass.  Witnessing this encounter between a mother and son after so many years has been a nice experience.   I am here during the dry season when the water level is about 27 feet lower than the dry season.  The Rio Ucayali has some sand beaches during this season.  The port has 4 different locations depending on the water level.  During the wet season cargo boats moor right beside the downtown Pucallpa market.  Temporary houses are constructed and deconstructed at each port location as the port moves.  Heavy vegetation grows in areas previously flooded and construction vehicles create and maintain dirt roads in these areas.  The wide fluctuation of water levels creates different worlds around Pucallpa as the seasons change.  Life in Nueva Luz remains basically the same from year to year.  It is my hope that technology (especially TV) will not encroach upon the serenity of village life in future years.  Presently, there is no electricity in the village; thus, there is no MTV, etc. to brainwash the kids with ugly concepts.  They all show deep respect toward adults and enjoy physical activities such as soccer, volleyball, canoeing, and swimming which keep them in good condition. Physical labor helping parents around the house and on small farms is accepted as a duty rather than a task.  Bathing at night is accomplished by wearing a bathing suit and taking a bar of soap to the lake.  Many parents desire specialized education for their children such as small engine mechanics and nursing.  These children are sent via peke peke (small boat for about 12 people using a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine) each morning to Puerto Callao for further land transport to schools.  One of my favorite activities from the waterfront at Nueva Luz is traveling in a small dugout canoe around the lake.  The first time I attempted to board a dugout canoe, I was swimming before I knew what happened.  I watched 3 and 4 year olds traveling solo in dugout canoes with well coordinated maneuvering.  A 6 year old taught me how to board and remain afloat in one of the tipsy canoes which have been made from the trunk of one tree since anyone can remember.”  Don’t run for the Atlas... Pucallpa is about 300 miles northeast of Lima.

The Court is pleased to note that the subpoena had been answered.  AL SGANGA sent in a report on granddaughter Sierra: “Sierra is my daughter Beth and son-in-law Dan’s first child, thus elevating LORI and me to the lofty status of “proud-grandparents.”  We see her several times a week.  LORI was on duty in the hospital the day she was born (5:22 PM on 7 March, 6 lb. 9 oz. and 19.5”) and actually assisted in the delivery…how many grandmother’s can boast of that?  To wax philosophical for a moment, in case there are other classmates out there suffering from empty-nest syndrome who may benefit from my experience.  Our nest got empty; you already know the Key West saga by now.  So why did I give up our Key West condo with the Atlantic Ocean for a front yard, and swimming pool and tennis courts for a back yard…all maintained by someone else…and leave Paradise?  Simple answer: so that I could mow my lawn with my granddaughter on my lap!”  AL, sounds like you’re in Paradise!  Bigger question...did SIERRA LEONE get a naming fee?

Another classmate on the move...not all the way to Alabama, but from Burke to Fairfax Station.  PAT and MARIE WIESE sent in a short explanation with their address change: “We have lost our minds - but are moving to a lovely home on nearly an acre. Life's too short to not make the most of it. We're not risk-takers but feel additional investment in real estate has to be better than the stock market!”  PAT, talk to BOB GONOR on the stock market.

The space time continuum is back in balance.  As noted in the last edition, PHIL and ANNE VOLK moved east to New London.  Well, AL and EV JOENS were moving back to God’s Country at the same time: “Family obligations dragged us kicking and screaming to the wilds of Connecticut (Thomaston to be exact) near Waterbury in the eastern part of the state.  However, once there, we realized that we had become thoroughly indoctrinated as "West Coast People."  We just couldn’t adapt to the east coast life style, so while the references and résumé were still current, we decided to make the return trip.  Feels great to be back HOME. We both figured life was too short to spend it being miserable somewhere we didn't want to be.  I will be teaching at Pine Lake Middle School in the Issaquah School district.  Nice campus and the staff seems very friendly...at least until they get to know me!”

I welcomed AL back with lunch just before he started training to begin the fall semester and brought along a surprise guest.  TOMMY and SUSI CLARKE and youngest daughter Katie took advantage of a vacancy and great summer rate at Casa de Swedberg on both the front and back end of a month long western camping vacation.  Good news is that TOM’s South Carolina Red Cross district survived his absence...even better news was they took him back!  They arrived in Seattle on the 4th of July and then headed north to Canada.  They spent 5-6 days camping in Jasper, Banff, and Glacier and finished with 8 days in Yellowstone.  A specific highlight...a visit to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  BOB and CHERI GONOR stored their car and picked them up at the Atlanta airport on August 4th.  TOMMY and SUSI have produced an Oscar caliber slide show...visit them in Greenville for a private showing.  OK, OK, another Atlas visit...it’s about 100 miles south of Calgary.

Not so sure about that slide show?  How ‘bout an extensive briefing on historic architectural renovations?  GREG COPE sends in a This Old House update: “Everything's going great in Schwenksville.  I find retirement wonderfully liberating.  I especially enjoy being able to control my own time.  I'm still living in an RV and working full time renovating my childhood home, a stone
farmhouse built in 1832.  I had to renew about 40% of its structural members and I've replaced all interior walls, doors, windows, wiring, plumbing, etc.  Knowing my limits, (as well as DAWN's), I contracted out all plastering, drywalling, stonework, plumbing, and electrical work.  That helped expedite the project so DAWN and I will be able to vacate the RV and move into the farmhouse by mid-August.  Throughout the project I've tried to showcase the construction techniques and character of an old home while incorporating the benefits of modern conveniences.  I find it truly satisfying to see a reality emerge that so closely matches what I saw in my mind's eye.  If anyone from '71 happen to be in South-Eastern PA, please stop in or spend a night.  Send me an E-mail via our Classmates page <http://www.oocities.org/CollegePark/Campus/7184/classmates.html> and I'll give you directions.  I'm always eager to show off my "new" old home and I promise to bore you to tears with the details of the project.  Of course, if you need some help to endure the briefings, I'll have a few brewskis on ice.”  BARNEY, wonder if he’s got a beer cart to follow you room to room?

Saludos desde Guatemala!  A month after Peru, JAY’s in Guatemala: “Greetings to all from Antigua, Guatemala where I am staging for an early departure tomorrow for Guatemala City and a return to the USA.  I spent most of this short trip in Panajachel next to Lake Atitlan at the home of Bob Lynch, a retired school principal.  Bob spends much of his time helping missionaries in remote parts of Guatemala.  On Tuesday, I drove Bob's jeep with a missionary named Thomas and his supplies on rough dirt roads to the small village of Naranjo in the mountains.  Thomas has lived there in primitive conditions for over a year working with the locals.  His dedication to the cause is impressive.  He is attempting to identify leaders in the Church he initiated to hand off responsibilities so he can move on to the next village and establish another Church.  Thomas also works with orphanages to meet the needs of children abandoned by their impoverished parents.  We stopped at one on the way to Naranjo.  The return trip to Panajachel was uneventful but provoked deep thoughts of what had been observed in areas rarely visited by gringos.”   Don’t have an atlas?  Check out <http://www.enjoyguatemala.com/panajachel.htm>.

You’re reading this probably about the first week in October.  Know what that means?  You’ve got about 10 weeks of shopping days until Christmas.  Don’t forget to link to Amazon.com via our homepage <http://www.oocities.org/CollegePark/Campus/7184/index.html> for books, electronics, movies, and music...great Christmas presents and our Class Fund will make a few bucks!

RON and BEV SILVA had a great time at the annual Coast Guard Festival.  “We really had a great time.  Now I know what you were referring to when you wrote about the burning hillside.  We were there from Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning and what an action packed schedule.  Everything we did was very special.  MACKINAW was there in all of her glory.  We held a press conference on her on Friday morning with Congressman Hoekstra, VADM Barrett, a local emergency management person
and myself.  MACKINAW was also the host for the Reception before the ESCANABA memorial ceremony.  The parade was wonderful, but the evening musical entertainment, lighted water show,
and fireworks were spectacular.  We had to rush home on Sunday because we had the Coast Guard Band play at the new Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland Sunday night.  After I did the introductions of the band and was heading to my seat, I saw DAN SHOTWELL.  I hadn't seen him since graduation.  We
sat together and talked during almost the whole show.  He lives in Spencer, OH and will soon be working with TSA at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport.  DAN and his wife MIDGE also run a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It was a very nice surprise to see them that night.”  Burning of the hillside?  Trust me...you’ve got to attend once to understand.  

Know who’s living in Washington County, on the west side of Portland, Oregon.  BILL GAMBLE reports around with a great update: “After retiring in 1991, I started working in local government and ended up in August of 1992 as the budget analyst for Technology Services at Washington County, Oregon. I budget for and keep track of all the computer and telephone system expenditures and revenues for Washington County, a part of the tri-county area around Portland, Oregon.  I have enjoyed the budget analyst job. I especially appreciate my staff of accountants and buyers. They are a talented bunch and keep me out of trouble. They are either all very smart or I am getting a lot dumber. One day I did get into a discussion with some of them about their high school and in some cases college work. I was not surprised to learn that most of them had straight A's. They basically come from farms in the rural area of the County, lived dirt poor lives, and never had an opportunity - like the Academy. I've started an in-house program to help them get their degrees. They remind me of those SA's we got on board ship that were raised on farms. They knew how to work. The city SA's leaned on their mops and flapped their jaws while the farm boys worked their mops and did the swabbing.  I'll probably just keep working at the County until it is no fun anymore. As long as I keep my head down and avoid the politics I should be okay. Sometimes it is hard to watch while stupid decisions are being made. Fortunately I have some experience with this from my Coast Guard days. Hey, nobody's perfect.  Although my professional life has missed a few hoops; my married life has been nothing but net. I met my wife HALLIE while stationed in Washington D.C. in 1973. I thought she was joking when she told me she was working on her Ph.D. in English at the University of Maryland. In response I said I was an astronaut. Unfortunately for me it turned out to be true in her case. I had a lot of explaining to do. Anyway I used my creative explanation ability that I learned as a swab at the Academy. Like when I gave linseed oil to Norm Scurria to wax his floor. Both my creative explanation ability and my arms (through pushups) were thoroughly tested by Norm. HALLIE and I got married in August 1974 at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. It was an interesting ceremony. We actually had to get married twice to make it legal. NORM SEALANDER and JOE MILO might remember this bizarre incident, since they and most of the other guests were outside the church waiting for us to come out while the second ceremony was going on. By the way, JOE has an interesting nickname among all my wife's relatives, he is called "Kissing Joe." He kissed every woman at the wedding multiple times. Maybe it was the champagne?  My son Evan lives in Seattle, started going to Community College last fall and has just finished his freshman year. He plans to apply to the University of Washington after finishing his sophomore year. He also works as a waiter at the Outback restaurant in Kirkland. For four years after high school he worked, traveled and partied and partied and partied some more. You get the picture. He said he wasn't ready for college and didn't want to waste the money. I suppose I could have gone that route also, but I guess "swab" summer was my transition. Instead of working and partying, I got to run around bracing up, doing Zulu drills and polishing brass on the Eagle. Instead of seeing drunken revelers with their heads in toilets, I got to see cadets with their heads over the lee rail and someone (guess who?) in foul weather gear, laying in a scupper, clutching saltines with a sign that said "kill me.”  I really enjoy reading your articles about our class and its activities in the Bulletin. One story comes to mind...first class year LT Haldeman, Golf Company tactics officer, called me down to his office. He said he was looking through my record and was surprised to learn there was virtually nothing in it. He asked me where I had been the last four years. I jokingly said I had been hiding. I did wonder why I wasn't even assigned a room during a couple of makes? Anyway, he became agitated and waved his pencil at me. It flew out of his hand and stuck in my black shirt next to my name tag and hung down like one of those Indian arrows in the side of a buffalo. I looked down and then looked up and said, “See what happens when I come out of hiding?”  I have never confirmed this, but I believe I was the last person in our class accepted into the Coast Guard Academy.  My Camarillo, California high school principal got an afternoon telegram at the end of my senior year that asked him to speak with me immediately to see if I wanted an Academy appointment. If I wanted to go, he was to call the Academy admissions office before 10:00 PST the next day.  I was sitting in class when they announced over the PA system for me to report to the principal's office at once. I figured I had done something really bad and wasn't going to graduate. A week before my car had caught fire in the parking lot and the vice principal thought I had done it on purpose. I couldn't convince him even though I showed him the remnants of a burned rag that I was using for my missing oil cap. I hadn't learned yet that engines get hot. I would learn that later while serving in the bilges of the Eagle with an oil can in my hand squirting oil on that old German diesel.  Anyway, when I walked into the principal's office, the principal, vice principal, and the counselor were standing there looking at me with an air of disbelief. The counselor had already advised me to go the local junior college because I wasn't ready for a four year college. They were highly suspicious at first and thought it might be a practical joke. Well, the phone call was made and here I am thirty years later pondering and smiling about my twenty-four years as a Coastie.  Damn these Academy stories keep popping in my mind. If you can assure me that the statute of limitations has run out on getting demerits and having to march in the quadrangle, I can tell you how I managed to avoid haircuts from the Academy barbershop for my entire first class year, made extra money with one of our classmates by selling pizza's to the swab class, sold our old black shirts to Connecticut College students (I didn't share this deal with anybody it was too good), attacked a Connecticut college dorm with one of our classmates by doing a ground assault on our bellies, pulled another classmate out of my grandmother's bed while my grandmother was in it, ended up going 90 miles an hour in the middle of the winter on a Connecticut freeway sitting on the back seat of a motorcycle driven by another classmate, etc.  Those were the days! I am still amazed that I lived through them.”  BILL, the statute of limitations has definitely tolled...wonder if anyone can beat your appointment story?

We’ve got 123 classmates on-line, but have 20 missing in action.  DON BUMPS, BOB BUSH, RICH ENGDAHL, BOB GAU, DON GERBER, BOB GULICK, BOB KASPER, BRUCE LEE, BOB LETOURNEAU, JIM McGUINESS, BILL MILLER, PAIGE MOORE, BRYANT NODINE, BILL PHILLIPS, CHARLIE PIKE, DON PLAKE, DAVE RAMSEY, JOHN SMITH, STEVE WALLACE, and JOHN WOOD...where are they now?  While you’re checking your old address books, writing a letter or making a phone call to get one of these guys to report around...we’re adjourned!