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Dear Classmates, Families and Friends,
This report is getting out a little later than usual because of the in-barracks mini at
West Point. I believe everyone who attended shares my viewpoint that it was a great
success and that those of you who have an opportunity to attend a graduate seminar in the
future might try to do so. We have heard it said that this is West Point's answer to
Elderhostel.
Contents
Perpetual Fund Update
The Provisional Endowment Board (Ed Weckel, Lee Miller, Church Hutton and Chuck Hansult)
drafted a set of by-laws, which were then modified based on legal advice provided by Joe
Luman, and submitted to the Executive Committee
for review. We believe they have been carefully thought out and written to secure the long
range stated objectives of the fund. They are enclosed for your review and approval, which
we recommend. We also request that you nominate candidates at this time for the five
elected positions specified in Section 2a, Article IV. A ballot to record your approval
and to list your
nominations is at the end of this letter.
For your information, the fund is doing much better than we even anticipated. Our initial
investment of $64,339 has increased by 26 percent to $81,039 as of 8 June 1999.
Health Care Proposal
As those of you on email already know, the Executive Committee supports a proposal by The
Retired Officers Association and other members of the Military Coalition to allow military
members (active and retired) and their families to join the Federal Employees Health
Benefit Plan (FEHBP). We hope that with an endorsement from a majority of our classmates,
we can get a
ground swell going to build support for this cause. First our class, then other classes,
the Association of Graduates, and so on to add to the on-going efforts of the Military
Coalition to get this legislation passed.
We are not trying to turn our class into a political advocacy group, but we believe this
legislation, if passed and implemented, will help a sizable number of classmates. As you
may know, the military retiree and his family are getting less than they bargained for on
health care after age 65. Although we were promised free health care for life for putting
in 20 or more
years, what we are ending up getting is Medicare along with everyone else and the
POSSIBILITY of care in a military facility IF space is available. Contrast this with all
other federal civilian employees (including the President and members of Congress) who get
great guaranteed medical benefits for life for a nominal fee under FEHBP. What we are
asking for is to be given
the opportunity to enroll in FEHPB also.
To those of us who are military retirees, the benefits of this proposal are obvious. A
legitimate question is why should a non-military retiree support this program. One good
reason might be that it would support your classmates who did do the 20+ years. Beyond
that however, we believe that this breach of promise by the government is one of the
causes (not the only
one by any stretch of the imagination) why the military is having such a hard time
retaining and recruiting people. Speaking personally, I have reservations recommending a
military career to a young person these days. If you share this concern, perhaps that
might be motivation enough for you to support this endeavor.
Please help us military retirees by:
1) Supporting the efforts of TROA and the other members of the Military Coalition to
regain our promised health care,
2) Contacting your Congressmen and asking your Representative to support Rep Moran's Bill
(HR 205) and your Senators to introduce a companion bill in the Senate (for a list of
Senators & Representatives email addresses and/or phone
numbers, see TROA's web site at www2.troa.org/congdir.html ), and 3) Supporting our
efforts to go forward on behalf of the class of 1958 to the Service leadership and others
asking for attention to this important matter.
We need a mandate from the class to move ahead.
Memorial Ring Program
Ron Turner proposed to the AOG that they sponsor a program whereby graduates may bequeath
or their descendents may donate their West Point rings to West Point for the specific
purpose of incorporating the gold into class rings for all future graduates. These grads
would then wear rings composed in part from the rings worn by hundreds of West Pointers
who have since joined the "ghostly assemblage". As Ron states in an article in
the May/June 1999 issue of Assembly, West Point started this tradition of class rings in
1835; this is just the next evolution. Congratulations to Ron for a great idea.
Presentation of Annual Awards
Bill and Antonia Giallourakis presented the Capelle Award on 20 May to the cadet company
commander of Company C, the winner of the intramural competition at the USMA Prep School.
The class also sponsored the annual pizza party for the 60 or so members of this winning
company.
Pete Brintnall presented the Malone Award at the annual Georgetown ROTC dinner to Cadet
Philip Radzikowski of George Washington University, the leader of the best Ranger
challenge team in the regional competition. Pete spoke to the ROTC cadets from Georgetown,
George Mason and American Universities about Larry's work in establishing the Ranger
Company at
Georgetown and his service and death in Vietnam.
Lastly, Tom and Emily Carpenter were involved in two events in memory of George Walker.
They presented Cadets Trent Baer and Kenneth Kando, the two most outstanding debaters in
the USMA graduating class, each with a set of
bound books. They also participated with about 45 members of the class in the dedication
of the Walker Debate and Counsel Room at USMA. Tom certainly brought tears to the eyes of
a lot of us when he, LTG Greenleaf and two
family priests spoke about Mom and Pop Walker and the values they instilled in their son
and daughters. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great gift to West Point from the class.
Election Results
Jim Castle was reelected to the AOG Board of Trustees for a new three-year term beginning
in July 1999. Alan Salisbury was elected to the Class Executive Committee at the April
class luncheon, replacing Chuck Hansult. On behalf of the class, we would like to thank
Chuck for his seven years of dedicated service to the class. During these years he
provided significant
input to the decisions that went into the renovation of the First Class Club, the
preparation and execution of the 40th reunion and cruise, and the preparation of the
Perpetual Fund By-laws. You will be greatly missed, Chuck.
Recent Deaths and Memorial Articles
Although we are certainly in the "zone of consideration" now, the grim reaper
seems to be hitting us unusually hard recently. I am sad to announce to you who are not on
email that Dick Webb died on 7 December, Jack Madigan
on 9 January, and Ted Burke on 31 May, all from heart attacks. We have also just learned
that Ron Brunner died on 20 November of liver failure. I am sure I reflect the sentiments
of the class when I express our condolences to
Audrey Webb, Elizabeth Madigan, to Ted's son, Tom, and to Ron's sisters. I'd also again
like to thank all who have taken the time and effort to attend the funeral services and
for your continuing support of those who remain behind.
I just received some data from the AOG that of all the classes since 1930, we rank third
in the percentage of memorial articles completed on our deceased classmates. This superior
ranking is due largely to the efforts of the 48 writers of the published articles and the
leadership of Jack Downing, CINC Obits, and his predecessor, Tom Claffey. Having said this
however, I
don't mean that we can not improve. The list of memorial articles to be published in the
Assembly continues to grow. As of this writing, we have 25 that have not yet been
completed. Included in this figure are five on classmates who died over twenty years ago:
Bob Stinson's, now being written by Will Roosma, Ed Hale's by Jim Wildey, Bob Degan's by
Ed Offgant, Bill
Denson's by Don Martin, and Jim Godbey's by Glenn Brown. I again especially ask these
writers to complete these efforts as soon as possible and ask everyone else to please
assist and encourage them in this very emotional task
As Jack Downing continually points out, everyone needs to take just a half an hour now and
jot down your early life history, significant accomplishments that you take special and
deserved pride in, and anything else that you would like to have included in an article on
yourself. Then send it to the AOG. It will certainly help your obituary writer in years to
come.
AOG Goings On and Upcoming
Leaders Conference
As you may have noted, this year the AOG sent a ballot to each graduate to use to vote for
new trustees. The good news is that this initiative resulted in a five-fold increase in
the number of people voting (from about 800 to 4,000). The other news is that only about
80 graduates made any comments on their ballot on the issue of choice. About 60 indicated
that they wanted more choices and the other 20 stated they were comfortable with the
current system. In my opinion more choices are very desirable, but the real problem is in
the nomination process itself. If we are to get more people on the board who are
independent thinkers and not beholden to the current leadership for renomination and
eventual trustee emeritus status, we need to revise the nomination process. Perhaps the
nomination committee should be composed of members who are randomly selected and are not
current trustees (as they are now).
Jack Hammack has appointed a committee to examine issues bearing on how the association
should be governed. Among the issues to be examined are the roles of class and emeritus
trustees, means for further increasing member participation, and ways to improve the
functioning of the board of trustees. Although these governance topics are not at the
heart of the topics to be
discussed at the upcoming leader's conference that Palmer McGrew and I will attend at West
Point from 7-10 July, they will be discussed. If you have any ideas on how the association
can help classes or any other thoughts on any relevant issues, we would welcome the input.
Annual Financial Report
Thanks to the combined efforts of Alan Chase, the class treasurer, Dusty Rhodes, our
checking account manager, and Sue Meyer, our resident CPA, we have also inclosed with this
letter our annual financial report. You will see that we have about $81 thousand in our
gift fund, which is being held, in trust by the AOG for eventual use by USMA. If we add to
this amount the money in our Perpetual Gift Fund, we have accumulated about $170 thousand
for eventual use by West Point.
Our class operating fund continues to operate in the black even if we take out the 40th
Reunion revenues and expenditures on which we inadvertently made a profit of about $8.8
thousand (we try to just break even). We do not mean to imply that we are running deep in
the black because part of our revenues this year includes money for the Malone Endowment.
Even discounting these two facets, we are about tangent (breaking even), which is where us
goats like to be.
Future Class Events
You should have already received the mailing from the Gang of Four/Eight (the Vantures,
Connells, Hills, and Millers) on the Portland mini, 7-10 September 2000 and the follow-on
cruise to Alaska. If not, contact Paul at 8311 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97219-4609 or by
email at pvanture@cyberhighway.net.
In response to feedback on the proposed Alaska cruise, Dick Oberg has arranged for a
possible alternative cruise from the one discussed in the mini letter. This cruise would
provide for a more intense experience on a smaller boat. The alternative cruise is from
Juneau to Seattle just prior to the reunion on a 96-passenger vessel, whereas the
Vancouver to Seward (Anchorage)
cruise on the Holland/America vessel outlined in the mini letter is after the mini. For
more details or to give Dick your preference, contact him at ricko@seanet.com or at (425)
355-4533.
For planning purposes, our next mini after Portland is in Santa Fe, NM in 2001.
Bill Gillette is putting together a class skiing trip to Austria from 7-17 January 2000.
Jerry Mitchell and Phil Pryor are sponsoring a very reasonably priced boat trip down the
Rhone River from the middle to the south of France on the Princess de Provence in May or
June 2000. So far about 40 people have expressed interest. They still need to commit for
the total number of cabins needed, so if you are interested contact Phil at
ppryor58@aol.com or call him
at (703) 998-8214 ASAP. Space is limited and it's first come first served, so contact him
soonest.
Class Email Net
The number of people on our class email net continues to grow. We now have 316 on the net,
which is the highest percentage of any class in our general year group. However, we are
always recruiting more. For every person who joins this net, that's one less letter we
have to print, fold, stick, stuff and lick. For those of you who have done a mail-out, you
know what I'm
talking about. The email solution is a win-win situation. You get class info in a more
timely manner, and get to participate more fully in class affairs by getting agendas and
minutes of the Executive Committee on which we solicit (and welcome) your input. We save
on postage and the work associated in mail-outs. If you are not already on our net, please
consider joining. Contact Dick Buckalew at rbuckalew@freewwweb.com to be added to the
list.
Lastly, if you want a copy of the new class address roster when it comes out in a week or
so, please let me know. Also, please remember to send in your ballot slip.
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