NOVEMBER
2003
Lew
Ranch died on June 29 at the VA Hospice in
Palo Alto, CA, after a long and difficult battle with leukemia. The class mourns his loss and extends its heartfelt
condolences to Margery; to his sons,
Jeffrey, Christopher and David; and
to all of Lew’s family and many friends.
Warren Smith, Lew’s rifle
teammate, gave what everyone says was a great eulogy at the memorial service on
July 8. Other classmates attending
were John & Elaine Guthrie, John
Meyer, and Bill & Norma Mullen. Bill
Schwartz, who did so much for the family and in keeping us informed, by one
of life’s quirks, was on the East Coast at the time and missed the service.
And Jim Hahn was taken from us by liver failure on July 8 in the hospice
care unit at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Evansville, which is just west of the
Hahn home in Newburgh, IN. His
condition had deteriorated rapidly during the several months before his death,
and Sandy Beach and Lou
Schroeder shared with us, with Jim’s permission, an e-mail in which Jim
expressed his pride in being associated with our class.
We will indeed miss him, and our utmost condolences are extended to Donna;
to his children, Jim Jr., David and Mary Katherine; and to all of his family and
friends. Funeral services and
burial were in Newburgh on July 12. Classmates
in attendance were Jim & Jaynelle
Miller, Ollie & Diane Langford, Ron
Templeton, Lee and Kathy Moraski, Jack & Roselyn Stanley, Dave & Lois Gray, Tony Pokorny, Monk & Betsy
Hilliard, and Rush & Annie Yelverton.
Faber, Gurr, Breen, Novogratz, Robinson, Russell and Kleb just before tee off at the 1st Annual Rocky Versace Memorial Golf Tournament at Andrews AFB on June 2.
I think it appropriate here to laud the efforts of our Band of Brothers,
so ably led by Sandy Beach, that brings us together for our families in times of
distress. Bill Schwartz, John Guthrie
and Bill Mullen kept us informed and
in sympathy with the Ranches, and Rush
Yelverton was the man at hand for the Hahns. The way this is working truly conveys the greatness of our
class and should be relayed to those who follow us.
Ed Burba and Pete Dawkins
at class reception at Herbert Hall following Ed’s Distinguished Graduate Award
ceremony on May 27.
John Gurr reports that May,
June and July were big months for remembering Rocky
Versace. There was the May 26
Memorial Day celebration at the Versace statue in Alexandria; the 1st
Annual Rocky Versace Golf Tournament at Andrews AFB on June 2 (reported last
issue) and the presentation of the $6,500 net proceeds of the tournament for
the Mount Vernon Recreation Center, where the Rocky Versace and Vietnam
Veterans Memorial is located; Bruce
Williams’s handing Versace MOH videos to a librarian in Alexandria; and
word from Tom Leo and Joe Hurst
that Rocky was honored among Military Intelligence professionals in ceremonies
held at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. He was
inducted into the Hall of Fame and also named recipient of the Knowlton Award.
Classmates privileged to attend were Jay
Franz, Joe Hurst, Ollie Langford, and
Paul Tomiczek.
Russ
& Connie Street
are in Anderson, SC, where Russ continues in the practice (they never learn, he
says) of orthodontics with his son, Keith.
There are now six grandchildren, four boys and two girls.
They haven’t seen any classmates for awhile, so they look forward to
the reunion in 2004.
Day, Stiles and Gillette with
Kremlin in background.
Ted & Eleanore Wells are
in Grosse Point, MI, where Ted is an engineer/systems analyst at the U.S. Army
Tank – Auto – Armaments Command, from which he hopes to retire in 2007.
His interests, he says, are in eschatology, or biblical end-time events,
the “Left Behind” book series, and conservative politics.
Powell Hutton reports that the
Class Scholarship Committee, this year consisting of Frank
Besson, Tom Boyle and Powell, met
on June 17 to consider the two applications received this year. One was from Christopher Gurr, John’s son, and the other from Karyn Sper, Paul’s daughter. Chris
is headed for Stanford for graduate work in civil and environmental engineering.
Karen has completed the first of two years at Penn’s Wharton School of
Business. The committee reported
that both were such stellar candidates that, on a one time basis, they
recommended the $2,000 be awarded to each of them.
At Jim Hahn's funeral: Front row: Langford, Stanley,
Moraski, Templeton.Back row: Yelverton, Hilliard, Pokorny, J. Miller, Gray.
Will
Weber,
of “Webstyles” and “Road Warrior” fame, keeps busy in Northampton, MA,
running a real estate portfolio of nine rental properties.
Like monopoly, only these are real, he says. He is a lay Eucharistic minister at the local Episcopal
church, and he maintains his great interest in bicycling and physical fitness.
He sees his cycling bud, Larry
Palmer, once or twice a year; and they have biked most of the Northeast,
Sardinia, and the Italian Alps, including Lakes Como and Garda.
Last year they did Barcelona to Geneva and this year they were planning
to bike the Pyrenees to Biarritz on the Atlantic and back.
They are again planning to cross the USA for our 45th Reunion
next year, probably from Oregon or Washington this time.
Phew.
Faber, Bert David (’71), Steve Versace, LTC Bob Friend (chaplain),
and Alexandria City Councilman David Speck at the Rocky
Versace statue.
Carl Weaver & Liz Gordon
are in Colorado Springs where Liz busies herself as a dog breeder.
Carl says he still works, too, but not for long.
He mainly helps show the dogs, paying the fees, driving the stuff to the
show and setting it up, he says. His
real interest is in live steam locomotives, of which he owns three with another
on the way. He operates them at the
Colorado Railroad Museum where there is a garden railway.
He ran into Hugh Servis and
his daughter on one of his fly fishing trips, and Bill Zierdt and his wife spent a week with them recently.
Carl and Bill, whom you have seen as kids and then again as grownups in
the last two issues, have known each other since they were eleven.
Bruce Williams,
with Gurr and Faber,
presenting Versace MOH videos to
Alexandria librarian.
Bill Luther sends the picture
of Burba and Dawkins
from the Distinguished Graduate Award ceremony on May 27.
He also sent a photo of Bill
Wheeler and himself taken on April 27 at Wheeler’s home at Holmes Beach,
FL, but since we have had a similar one recently, I will show it on the web
site. Bill & Carol Luther had been visiting their daughter in Sarasota and drove
up to spend the afternoon. Joe
Shea, says Bill, spent most of the winter there.
Mike Faber presenting
the golf tournament check to the director of the Mount Vernon Recreation Center.
Howard & Eileen Stiles,
along with George & Pat Day,
recently took a two-week barge trip between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
By chance they ran into Mike &
Felicity Gillette in Moscow, and the six of them enjoyed the day
with Mike, who was there on business, serving as tour guide and Moscow expert.
Howard sends along the reminder that the 2004 ski mini will be at Beaver
Creek, CO, the week of Feb 21-28. For
details contact Howard at hstiles1@maine.rr.com
or at (207) 655-4193.