JULY 2006
Bob Letchworth lost his wife, Pat, to cancer in Yorktown, VA, on 2 April. Bob was with her, as was their daughter, Karen, and their grandson, Joshua. They have three sons, a daughter, 11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. The memorial service at their church on 6 April was well attended and included Bill & Marlene Burleson, Don & Hazel Tillar, Pat & Regina Passarella, and Skip Tyler. The sincere condolences of the class are tendered to Bob, their children, and all their family and friends.
Jan & Andy Kuschner
George & Beth Kleb live in Mount Dora, FL, during the fall and winter, and in Northern VA in the summer. They play a lot of golf in both places, and they involve themselves in their Methodist church, Beth with the choir, and George doing maintenance around the church and helping to deliver communion during the services. He has the misfortune, he says, of being president of their condo association; and it takes as much leadership effort as being a company commander without a first sergeant. He takes great satisfaction in being a member of the Lake County Honor Guard, an organization of retired veterans who provide military honors at veterans’ funerals when the family requests it. George is a member of the firing party and after 43 years is carrying an M-1 again. If I have counted right, George & Beth have eleven grandchildren.
Hank & Brenda Larsen moved to Norman, OK seven years ago, built a house (the second in their marriage), and moved in last February. They chose Norman because Brenda and both their sons are graduates of OU, and they enjoy attending lots of OU stuff, especially sports. They met when Hank was a 2LT at Ft. Sill on a blind date, and two months later they were married. Aside from his family, Hank’s passion is the US Army, and when he retired he said he would love to do those 30 years again. Their oldest son is on his second tour in Iraq, and one of their grandsons has enlisted to become a combat medic. The Larsens play golf, work out, attend OU events, party, and lead a full life. Hank’s ambition is to become the oldest living graduate. We’re rooting for you, Hank.
Nancy Neal, Diana Colvin (daughter of Ray Colvin), and Jack Neal at the WP Society of North Texas Founders Day dinner.
Wayne & Pee Wee Lambert are in Bainbridge, GA, where they live in a large home on 106 acres overlooking a large natural pond, and where Wayne shoots to an eight handicap. He also works in his 2,400 sf woodworking shop and has custom built most of the furniture in their home. He fishes for bass and perch, and hunts deer, quail, dove, pheasant and turkey. He was Ed Burba’s house guest for the Atlanta Founders’ Day, along with Ron Salter. They were joined for golf the next day by Bill Barry and Douglas Campbell. A brunch afterward at the home of Norm Rosner for the golfers added Spence Maddux, John Joh, George Harrison, Mike Gable, Duke Gerhardt, Bill Luther and all their spouses.
The Lamberts have two sons: Wayne, Jr. ’84, who married Dorinda Smith ’84; and Shane ’86, who married Tess Sobiesk ’89. Wayne and Dorinda have three children, and Shane and Tess have four. Wayne married Peewee, the girl he met at West Point, and her father was USMA’25.
Other FD reports came from Don Tillar and the Williamsburg event, attended by Tex Turner, Paul & Pat Tomiczek, Bill & Marlene Burleson, Skip Tyler, Pat & Regina Passarella, Bill Zaldo, and Tom & Marty Roberts. The group picture was blurry, probably attesting to the good time had by all. Bill Callaghan reports that he and Mary, along with Jack & Nancy Neal, attended the North Texas Society’s function in Dallas on 18 March; and that Jack was presented with the society’s Ray Colvin award for “selfless attitude, devotion to the society, friend to all members and constant mentoring.” Our admiration and congrats to Jack.
Not an FD event, but classmate full, was a dinner in San Diego on 12 March with visitors Bill & Sue Breen, Darwin & Ann Boyd (who live in Oceanside), Don & Margie Fitchitt (who live in El Cajon), and John Seely ‘60 (who came in from Hawaii to visit his son in LA and was on his way to a golf outing at Palm Desert). All are from I-1, and all are planning on the Hawaii mini. Thanks to the Breens for the e-mail.
Andy Kuschner thinks that working keeps the brain tuned up, so he and Jan are in Leavenworth, KS, where Andy is a Special Operations Forces instructor for Northrop Grumman supporting the Army’s Battle Command Training Program. They at BCTP are confident that their efforts supporting training of commanders and staffs from battalion to Corps and Joint Task Force level will contribute to ultimate mission accomplishment on Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and in this process saving lives of our men and women serving in those areas. He lives to work, he says, and at 70 stays heavily engaged for a variety of reasons: his brain, their five grandchildren, who may need some help in college or other endeavors, and the avoidance of “honey-do” jobs, for which he urges Jan to hire a contractor. Andy sees Ed Burba and Fred Wilmoth frequently, because they also work for Northrop Grumman, Ed as a Senior Mentor and Fred in the Command Information Center. He also keeps in contact with Hugh & Jackie O’Connor and with the newlywed Weislers. Have we heard about that?
Steve & Christa Klein, Howard & Eileen Stiles, at Cape St. Vincent, the southwestern most point of Decadent Old Europe
Steve Klein writes that he and Christa flew from frigid Munich to the warm and sunny Algarve in Portugal to spend almost a week at the end of March with Howard & Eileen Stiles at a swanky golf resort called Quinta do Lago, with a seaside golf course rivaling the beauty of Pebble Beach. Steve obviously fell in love with the Algarve where, he notes, the houses are all whitewashed, olive and cork trees abound, orange and lemon trees were blossoming and the fields were green. They ate, drank and laughed a lot, and drove around the beautiful countryside. Steve and Howard were pleased to find their favorite single malt Scotch, Cardhu, no longer distributed in North America or Germany, but on every supermarket shelf in Portugal. At the end of three days, Howard & Eileen drove north to begin a month-long auto trip through Portugal, and Steve & Christa stayed on a few extra days. When they got back to Munich, it was sleeting.
As ever, our thoughts and prayers are with our children and grandchildren who are in harm’s way.