Class of 1958 Executive Committee 7/27/00  

Dear Classmates Family and Friends,   Report on Events held Since 1 Jan 2000 . There were no major events such as mini-reunions or reunions during the last 6 months however there were a few events worthy of note.

 WALKER AWARD. Dick Trabert presented the Walker Award on behalf of the Class to the two very impressive cadets who came out on top in debating. Both are firsties, one is going into Armor and the other is going into Field Artillery. Col. Kaufman the head of the Social Sciences Department who will move up to Dean on July 1, in his remarks to cadets at the ceremony talked about joining the Long Gray Line. He cited the fact that our class continues to send a representative to this ceremony to honor a fallen classmate is a good indication of what it means to be part of that Line. 

MALONE AWARD. Dale Hruby presented the Lawrence M. Malone Award on behalf of the Class to the top member of the ROTC Cadet Ranger Company at Georgetown University. The presentation was made in May at the Fort Belvoir Officers Club during the joint Georgetown University and James Madison University ROTC Detachment Military Ball.

CAPELLE AWARD. Bill Serchak and Hugh Trumbull made the 26th award of the Gerald C. Capelle Memorial trophy on behalf of the Class to C Company of the USMA Preparatory School at Ft. Monmouth on 24 May.   The Commander of C Company, Cadet Candidate Duff accepted the trophy on behalf of his Company. The annual Pizza party which is given in conjunction with the trophy was held on 25 June when the Cadet Candidates returned to Ft. Monmouth from leave, before entering “Beast Barracks” at West Point. A good time was had by all.

The ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR OUR 13 CLASSMATES KILLED IN VN was held on Sunday, 21 May at 1030 at the VN memorial in Washington. The servicewas well attended by classmates and wives. The ABC “Good Morning America” reporter and filming crew were there and taped the entire ceremony, our telling stories about Larry Malone and the wreath placement at Larry's panel on the Wall. The reporter, Tom Giusto and his camera crew were very cooperative and unobtrusive throughout. Much of the event was televised on Memorial Day. For the invocation, Bill Tuttle used a prayer composed by Chaplain George Bean either for our 30th Reunion or the first VN Memorial Service in 1990. Frank Waskowicz read two selections of Scripture: Isaiah's call and John's saying that there is no greater sacrifice than laying down one's life for his friend. Jack Downing read the 13 names for our VN roll call. Pete Brintnall and Jerry Prochaska led our singing the Alma Mater. We concluded the service by saying together the Cadet Prayer.  The ending of the Cadet Prayer we did twice because the ABC cameraman wanted to film from further away and get more of the Wall in the background. At this point we shared stories about Larry Malone.  The local M2 files (Brintnalls, Hrubys, Tredways and Van Fleet) had taken Joyce, Malone’s widow to dinner on Saturday night. Dale repeated a story told at dinner by Joyce: his plane back to Vietnam was delayed. Joyce was not happy that Larry had volunteered to go back. She commented to Larry how young the soldiers were in the group waiting for the plane. Larry said that was exactly why he needed to go back--to help lead those young men answering their country's call. It was his chosen career and they needed him. Pete Brintnall commented that same thought was paramount in Larry's approach to ROTC duty between his VN tours--ensuring the Georgetown Univ cadets were as well prepared for combat service as platoon leaders as they could be. ABC reporter Tom Giusto asked us all why we do the service. One of us stated that we feel an obligation to honor and remember our classmates who were killed in Southeast Asia . Others said that we need to remember their service and sacrifice--the country needs to remember their service and sacrifice. We all then followed Dale and the wreath to Panel 33E. Joyce had brought lovely flowers from her garden. Dan Brockwell had printed the program for the service.  A smaller group then gathered at Army-Navy Country Club for brunch on Andy Andreson's bill. With some luck we collected enough money to cover him... and if not, Andy has been classmated again! Advanced planning. Next year our 12th Annual Memorial Service for classmates killed in Southeast Asia will be at 1030 on Sunday, 20 May 2001... a week and a day before Memorial Day on 28 May. We will gather south of the VN Memorial, just east of the Women's Statue. Rain or shine. And, given Andy's willingness to host us, we will enjoy brunch again at the ANCC. 

TWO RIVERS CRUISE IN FRANCE. Forty two classmates, wives and friends cruised the South of France on the MV Princesse de Provence on the Rhone and Saone Rivers from 3-10 June. The river cruise was preceded by 2 nights in Paris and was followed by various post cruise tours. Phil Pryor and Jerry Mitchell were the organizers of the cruise along with IMS Travel of Vienna VA. The cruise was a marvelous experience at a very reasonable price and of course the companionship was unbeatable, and all had a great time. The most common “plus” comment was that when on the boat they only had to unpack and pack once. Most said they are ready to do it again.  In response Phil and Jerry are planning to do a similar cruise on the Elbe River from Prague to Berlin on or about 2 June 2001 using IMS travel and the same river cruise line. The cruise will be preceded by 2 or 3 days in Prague in a first class hotel with tours of the city and a cocktail party. River travel will be aboard the MV Katherina a 5 star ship. Ports of call include Prague, Leitmerritz, Pima, Pillnitz, Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, Wittenberg, Magdeburg and Potsdam. The trip will follow by 2-3 nights in a first class hotel in Berlin with tours and other events. The Katherina has 50 cabins so we may take the whole ship depending on the response. More details will follow soon . Start your planning now as sign up will start soon. We are hoping that an informal group of travelers is forming, and that the planning and hosting duties will rotate among interested classmates on future trips. 

SKI TRIP Bill Gillette organized a ski trip for 12 classmates and friends to Austria. A good time was had by all. Mike Dugan will host the class ski trip for 2001 in Summit County (Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain) Colorado. He is planning it for the week of Feb 25 to Mar 3. This has proven to be a popular spot for ski trips in the past with skiing for everyone regardless of ability and plenty of fun stuff to do for the non-skiers.  

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION. The Class Executive Committee(Excom) meets a number of times a year to conduct class business. We have changed the process from the past and we want you to be aware of the changes. Instead of working all issues in the Excom as we have done for many years, we have assigned areas of responsibilities to each member. Each Excom member chairs a committee and the committee resolves issues within its responsibility.  The committees report to the Excom which will set policy and monitor committee actions. The current committee assignments are:
Chairman : Palmer McGrew (703) 323-9671.<palmermcg@aol.com>
Secretary and Class Records and Policy: Dick Reidy (703) 569-2292.<reidyr@nasd.com> Treasurer : John Nun (703) 317-9347.<johannun@erols.com>
Class Gift: Andy Andreson (703) 385-2502.<rkandreson@west.raytheon.com>
Communications: Jerry Mitchell (703) 866-0145.<germar@erols.com>
Social Activities: John Herren (301) 229-7713.<jdherr@aol.com> 
Class Initiatives: Pete Brintnall (703) 644-6869.<brintnal@erols.com>
Class History: Alan Salisbury (703) 242-8648.<alanbs58@aol.com> 

OBITS. There have been 83 deaths, 57 memorial articles written.  However, many deceased classmates have not yet received their due honor and some have little expectation. We urge authors, company CCQs, and all classmates to rededicate yourselves to getting these articles finished.You can help the Memorial Article author by posting a remembrance to the person's Personal Home Page.To add a remembrance to any deceased classmate, go to http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1958 and open the persons Personal Home Page. For a complete explanation on posting a remembrance, go to http://defender.west-point.org/docs/display/0,1648,99,00.html Several classmates have written their own obits and filed them with the Association Of Graduates(AOG). I would suggest that each of you make a stab at what you would like to see appear in your memory and file a copy with Jack Downing and Carol Malone,assistant “Assembly” editor for memorial articles. Her e-mail address is  yc5852@exmail.usma.army.mil. .  Please keep Jack Downing (71222.3245@compuserve.com), CINC Obit, informed though, so he can be sure to keep her replacement up to date whenever she moves on. On its home page, the AOG has a list of all deceased classmates and identifies those with published memorial articles. To get there, go to the AOG home page, http://.AOG.usma.edu and log in. You will need your Cullum number (graduation number in the Register) and a password(get from AOG) to read the grads-only section. From there a hyperlink will take you to the list of deceased classmates. Those of you on e-mail know that there has been heated discussion on an AOG proposal to remove all obits from the “Assembly” and to publish them in the future only in the”Register” for reasons of space, cost and other considerations. The issue is closed and Obits will continue to be published in “Assembly”. Your Class Leaders led the fight to achieve this outcome Since the last newsletter, the following class deaths have occurred: Edward J. Timberlake E-2, 9 Jan. 2000. Edward J.Jasaitis   F-1, 3 April 2000. Garth H.Payne Jr. D-2, July 4 2000. Hugh P. Finley ex C-1, July 7 2000, Joe Hornyak ex H-1, 17 July 2000. 

COMMUNICATIONS. Communications with its members and constituents are important to the Class of 1958, the Academy, the AOG, and your Excom. The means at our disposal are, e-mail, the Company CCQ system using phone calls , periodic newsletters, and the “Assembly”. By far the fastest, best, most efficient and cheapest is e-mail. If you are not on e-mail, this is a plea for you to join your 355 classmates, and get on e-mail. Try it and you will love it. The “Assembly” is published 6 times a year. The Class Columns and Obit sections are a valuable means to keep informed. The articles and columns in the “Assembly” are far superior to those of the past. Our class rather consistently runs about 60-66% subscribers--which means that 40-34% are not getting the magazine written by alumni of USMA, written about alumni and our alma mater. Mid-sixty percent of subscribers is not an acceptable level of support from '58, the class which leads the way in so many ways. Your Excom encourages you to grab your credit card, pick up the phone, dial 1-800-232-7821 and sign up for “Assembly”! We plan a major push the rest of this year to improve communications with the class to include better use of the Company CCQs. We need to improve our communications through the Company CCQs.   The Excom has recently sent a detailed set of instructions to the CCQs explaining in detail their duties. CCQs have the responsibility to get the word out quickly, particularly to their Company members not on e-mail. A first order of business for Company CCQs this year is to get your guys on e-mail, and to get them to subscribe to “Assembly”. CCQs are responsible for encouraging their Company mates to attend reunions, to participate in class projects, to inform of deaths of Company mates and family members and to take care of flowers and other requirements for the Company. If you are a CCQ and don’t want to be, let us know.  If you think your CCQ is not doing the job and you would like to help, let us know. We can assign a new CCQ or add an assistant CCQ if that is appropriate. A list of current Company CCQs follows: A1 Lee Miller A2 Charles Densford B1 Dick Price B2 Dick Schonberger C1 Jerry Mitchell C2 Al Pensiero D1 John Schaefer D2 Paul Ruud E1 Larry Bullis E2 Chuck Toftoy F1 Bob Rhodes F2 Glenn Brown G1 Bob Hattler G2 Pat Donovan H1 John Devens H2 Phil Pryor I1 Tony Bauer I2 Charles Glover K1 Ron Turner K2 Art Meyer L1 Tom Conti L2 Paul Johnson M1 Otto Thamasett M2 Pete Brintnall 

EVENTS FOR THE REST OF 2000.
3 AUG` Tour of Fredericksburg Civil War Battlefield-Herb Puscheck
24 Aug First Class Club turnover at West Point-Bob Pointer
7-10 SEP Portland Mini -Vanture/Connell/Hill/miller (More information below) Cruises before/after Oberg
27 SEP WPSDC Fall Luncheon Ft Myer O Club 1130 WPSDC
5-8 Oct Events surrounding and Army/New Mexico State football game at Las Cruces NM-Gerry Schurtz and Neil Mathis
12 OCT Tour of Fairfax Retirement The Fairfax 1100-Dale Hruby Facility & Class Luncheon
29 NOV A/N Football Luncheon/Rally @ Bolling AFB O-Club 1130 WPSDC
30 NOV Class Luncheon w/USNA '58 ANCC 1130 John Nun
1 DEC A/N Rally Party Salisbury's TBA Al & Florence Salisbury
1 DEC Glenn Brown's Cocktail Party Bel Air, MD TBA Glenn & Kit Brown
2 DEC A-N Game/Tailgate Baltimore Ed Weckel (More Info below) 

MINI-REUNIONS FOR THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND. The 1958 reunion and mini reunion schedule for the next few years is as follows: 2000 in Portland, Oregon 2001 is Santa Fe, New Mexico 2002 in Pensacola, Florida 2003 is West Point for our 45th reunion We are also looking at the possibility of a Washington, DC reunion in 2004 or 2005. 

PORTLAND OREGON. Reunion 2000 in Portland 7-10 Sept. 2000 is taking shape. We have everything fairly well locked up at this point.  We are still waiting in anticipation for the 25 or so classmates who preregistered but have not formally registered. We are getting down to the wire. If everyone signs up, we will have close to 275 folks attending this reunion. A reminder that, if you have not made hotel reservations, please do so before August 10. After that date, rooms cannot be guaranteed, and the discount will no longer apply. Bill Shely suggested having a dinner get-together for those who arrive early. We are working on that one for Wednesday, September 6.  Thus far, 14 have signed up for that. The M-1 files plan to have their own get-together the same evening. For those of you who wish to make side trips/tours, we will have a wealth of information for you when you arrive. We have no suspense date on signing up, but the sooner you can, it helps us in our planning. If anyone has any questions concerning the reunion, write or call anyone of us. The organizers for the Portland Mini, AKA “The Gang of Four”, are: Paul Vanture(B-2) (503) 245-1511; Terry Connell(F-1) (503) 292-1911; OK Hill(D-1) (503) 635-5376; Bob Miller(L-1) (503) 371-4718.

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO. We are calling the 2001 Reunion "The Reunion Different in the City Different". (Santa Fe, NM is known as "The City Different".) The event is scheduled for the period 1-4 Nov '01. The nearest big city, where most will fly in, is Albuquerque. It is about a 90 minute drive to Santa Fe. Headquarters for the reunion, the bulk of the rooms reserved and most of the activities will be at the La Fonda Hotel. The tone will be totally informal, and Gerry Schurtz will be armed with some dull scissors to remove any ties, other than Bola Ties. Golf will be available to those who want to play a round or two here in NM, at over 7,000 feet altitude. Bussing attendees to various locations is not planned. Attendees will be provided with information on what is available (a lot is within walking distance), but with our effort to minimize structure and formality, everyone will have abundant free time to visit any of the sites that interest them. There will be no formal seating arrangements for activities, so attendees can get together with friends, company mates, Brother Goats or Hives, or whatever. The first mailing on the reunion will be sent out in Sept.-Oct 2000. The Committee assignments are: Chairman - Tom Claffey Operations - Mark Sigurski Finance - Tom Claffey Special Events - Gerry Schurtz and Bob McCann Public Relations - John Sutherland 

OTHER EVENTS THIS YEAR. In addition to the many mini reunions and other events scheduled, many Companies have organized micro-reunions for their Company mates. We think it is a great idea and we encourage more of it, however we don’t intend to publish those events in our newsletters. We prefer to leave those as Company matters rather than matters of interest to the class. We also have a number of subgroups that communicate primarily through e-mail and the internet. The Stock pickers and the Ski Group come to mind, and they are organized, have their own communications and we don’t plan to publish their information either unless asked, however if you are interested, call any member of the Excom, and they will tell you how to get in touch with the group.

ARMY-NEW MEXICO STATE FOOTBALL FESTIVITIES. Gerry Schurtz and Neil Mathis are planning festivities in conjunction with the football game on 7 October. For more information contact Schurtz (505-527-1965).

ARMY-NAVY FOOTBALL TAILGATE: A tailgate party is planned by the class of 1958 on 2 December outside the PSI Net Stadium in Baltimore prior to, during and after Army beats Navy this year. Barbecue pit beef, beer, soda, and hot drinks are among the items on the agenda. Initial notification was provided to the class via the internet several months ago. Thus far over 100 classmates and guests have signed up for the tailgate. Cost per person is $50.00. For those of you without internet access, the semi annual class newsletter will be the only notification you will receive. If you plan to attend the Army Navy football game in Baltimore, you are invited to join your classmates for an extended celebration. Make out your check to Ed Weckel, in the amount of $50.00 per person, and mail it to him at 120 Regent Drive, Bel Air, MD 21014 so as to arrive NLT 15 October. You must sign up by 15 October to participate. Payment can not be made at the event, since the contract must be signed and all food and beverages ordered well in advance of the game. Mark you calendar - - or better yet, send in your check now, to ensure you don't miss out on the fun. Don’t be confused. The class of 1958 tailgate party is separate and distinct from the West Point Societies of DC and Annapolis each of which is having a tailgate party. The class of 1958 party is the place to be! 

USMA CLASS OF 1958 PERPETUAL ENDOWMENT.  USMA Class of 1958 Perpetual Endowment: The Class Perpetual Endowment was established in November 1998 to provide funding support for the Military Academy after our class joins the "Ghostly Assemblage". Fidelity Investments has recognized the unique concept developed by our class to provide financial support to the Academy, and featured the Class Endowment in a full page article in the 1999 Fidelity Gift Fund Annual report. (A copy of this article is available upon request from Ed Weckel, or you can contact Fidelity Investments directly and ask them to send you a copy of the Charitable Gift Fund Annual Report). In addition to donations in your own name, memorial donations can be made in memory of a deceased classmate. You will have the opportunity to contribute to the Class Endowment during the month of October, when the window of contribution will be open for the entire month. Your tax deductible check should be made out to the "Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund" and mailed to reach Ed Weckel in October. (Please do not send your check before October or afterwards.) Address is 120 Regent Drive, Bel Air, MD 21014. 

HEALTH CARE INITIATIVE. The Class Initiatives Committee is chaired by Pete Brintnall.  For now it is concentrating on the Military Health Care problem , and is responsible for developing a strategy for class activities aimed at improving military health care and restoring health care for medicare-eligible retirees. The Health Care committee includes Pete, George Lawton, Art Mace and Paul Vanture. It was charged with determining a way to become proactive rather than reactive, ensuring a coherent program involving all interested classmates. We've made modest headway on retiree health care, but there is still a very long way to go. We decided that we needed to do more than just write letters to Congress, so we drafted a letter to SASC Chairman, John Warner, to be signed by GO and Flag officers resident in Virginia.  We collected signatures from an even 50 stars and delivered to to Warner's staff in early May and followed up with a meeting with SASC staff two weeks later. On 7 June a near unanimous Senate agreed to a Warner amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill for a 10-year, $42 billion plan to include those over 65 in Tricare. For it to become law, the Authorization bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and then go to Conference. It is not as much as we need, and it is not as good as FEHBP, but it's more than we thought we would get this year. We also raised the issue at the Class Leaders' Conference at West Point. Still too early to see how much headway we made with other classes. Stay tuned to the periodic email from the Health care Task Force. Each of us should take every opportunity to remind everyone, politicians, media, etc, of the problem and the solution. We want you to write your congressman and senators IMMEDIATELY, telling them NOW is the time to fix military health care for both retired and active duty....this is both a national disgrace and a national security imperative.  

CLASS HISTORY PROJECT. The Class History Project has started its work. The primary deliverable will be a 50th reunion book (including a multimedia insert), which the group felt ought to be sent out a few months after the actual reunion in order that it can include pictures and other material from the reunion. A tentative outline of the book has been developed so that it can serve as a guide to collecting material for inclusion. Inputs will be solicited from each member of the class based on an outline and a survey to be distributed, with a goal of 100% participation. Special attention is also being paid to collecting "war stories" and anecdotes from cadet days, military service, and civilian life, along with well-captioned "great pictures" of classmates in action over the years.  An "oral" history component is also in the works. More details will be made available on the class home page shortly. In the meantime, volunteers who would like to work on the project are asked to contact Alan and Florence Salisbury,via e-mail to USMA58 History@aol.com, or call 703-319-2187 days or 703-242-8648 eves. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

CLASS RING MEMORIALIZATION PROJECT. Ron Turner (K-1) came up with the idea of what has become known as the Class Ring Memorialization Project. The idea is that class rings donated to the project by members of the Long Gray line will be melted down to become part of the raw material for new class rings for new members of the Long Gray Line.  This becomes a reality for the class rings for the class of 2002. At a recent AOG Leaders conference, the cadet ring rep from 2002 spoke of what the program means to his class and there was hardly a dry eye in the room. No one could speak. Initiated by our own Ron Turner! The class crest of 2002 has chain links on the bottom symbolizing the linkage to the LGL through the gold in their rings!!!!!!!!! More information can be found at the web page at: www.aogusma.org/class/classringmemprog.htm. Tony Ferraiuolo (1-800-232-4723, ext. 1563) e-mail <ya8199@usma.edu> is our point of contact at AOG, and is putting the program together. He will publish an article in the "Assembly" later this year after everything is in place.  Tony has indicated that he now has 19 rings for the program.  It's a start, but all classes could do better. HE HAS NO RINGS DONATED FROM THE CLASS OF 1958, although a number of us have indicated that you have your father's, grandfather's, or others ring that you would be willing to donate. The Class of 1958 has "led the way" in so many other projects.  Let's get behind this one and lead the way in this also. If class members would like to participate in the program they should so indicate in their will. 

INCREASED CLASSMATE’S WIDOWS PARTICIPATION. We have been looking for ways to include and increase widows of deceased classmates participation in class activities and social events. We have asked Audrey Webb, Dick Webb’s widow to join the Excom with the purpose of increasing widow’s participation. The Excom would like to hear from the class if there are any other thoughts on how to improve participation.

HELP TO CLASSMATES IN NEED. Bin Barta and others have suggested that perhaps the Excom could come up with a plan that would allow the class to discreetly and effectively help those classmates who may have fallen on hard times, and to enable them to participate in class events such as mini-reunions, reunions or even to communicate by e-mail or to subscribe to “Assembly. The Excom plans to discuss the subject and we are eager to receive any ideas from the class at large.

CLASS ROSTER. As been our custom, we plan to publish an updated class address roster and to distribute it at the Portland mini. In order to make it as accurate as possible, we invite you to send in any changes or omissions to the current roster (address, phone numbers, area code or even spouses names, which we might be missing) . The current roster in electronic form can be found on the class home page maintained by Pete Trainor at . We would also like to remind everyone that we have an active program to locate all our classmates who did not graduate with us and to invite them to join with us. If you know or know of someone who might know how to locate any of these missing classmates who did not graduate with us, please provide George Lawton with this information and we'll put out the search teams. 

CLASS FUND USMA 1958 Annual Report Calendar Year 1999 As of January 1, 1999   Class of 1958 Gift Fund (on deposit with the AOG)   Revenues   CY1999 CY1998 Contributions $6,746.13 $11,959.00 Dividends/Interest 11,485.21 3,657.29 Total Revenues $18,231.34 $15,616.29   Expenditures Total Expenditures $8,061.96 0.00  Net Revenues $10,169.38 $15,616.29 Net Worth $98,147.05 $87,977.67  CLASS OF 1958 OPERATING FUND  Revenues Interest, Dividends, Capital Gains $1,789.07 $1,652.46 Art Fund 1,955.00 1,330.00 Malone Endowment 0.00 2,491.61 Misc 4.31 132.00 40th Reunion 0.00 141,707.97 Total Revenues $3,748.38 $147,314.04  Expenditures Federal Income Tax $98.00 $116.00 Memorial Gifts 132.21 110.00 Printing, postage, supplies 565.97 1643.50 Art Fund 820.59 1290.77 40th Reunion 0.00 127,395.10 Typing 0.00 30.00 Gerry Capelle Award 207.00 234.00 Malone Endowment 139.20 158.00 Class Meetings/Functions 177.18 0.00 Misc. 86.73 0.00 Total Expenditures $2,226.87 $130,997.37  Operating Fund Balance Sheet  ASSETS Checking Account $1,557.39 $1,747.95 Rushmore Funds Savings Account 13,470.77 31,936.06 US Treasury Bond 15,000.00 15,000.00 T.Rowe Price Equity 500 Index Fund 22,068.51 0.00 Total Assets $52,096.67 $48,684.01  LIABILITIES 0.00 0.00  NET WORTH $52,096.67 $48,684.01 

Gerald C. Mitchell Chairman Communications Committee Excom