JULY 2009

 

Since my copy of Fifty Years in Review arrived on Thursday, 16 April, it has been hard to find time to sleep.  It is truly a monumental work and greatly credits Jerry Jervell and his editorial staff:  Court Prisk, Dave Roush, Ed Robinson, Jack Neal, Bob Crawford, Bill Breen, John Corby, John Eberhard, Don Gruschow, Joe Hurst, Hi Markham, Tom McMorrow, Bill Murry, Kevin O’Neill, Bill Pollock, Bob Roth, Don Smart, Paul Sper, Ron Templeton, Sandy Beach, Lenny Einbinder, John Gurr, Len Katsarsky, and Rex Rhein.  Congratulations and thanks to them all for magnificent work

 

 

Brunch at Rosner’s on 15 March:  Rosner, Joh, Luther, Reinhard, Burba, and Douglas Campbell. 

Bob Weekley has announced his emergence as a “road warrior” with his intention to bicycle from the northern neck of Virginia to our 50th Reunion.  His effort is in support of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Neck and he invited us to support it with donations.  His intention was to arrive at Washington Gate on 29 April, hopefully in the alive state.  By the time you read this, we will know.

 

 

Bob Weekley with members of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Neck of Virginia.

 

Bob says he got his inspiration from Dick & Susan Rogers taking on the awesome challenge of riding from California.  They were still at it at the time of this writing, a sign of a rock solid marriage, said Tom Russell with whom they stayed in Richmond on 17 April and with the Irv Brookeses the next night.  They surfaced again in Alexandria on 21 April after cycling about 85 miles from Fredericksburg, encountering heavy rain along the way, to see Johnny Wilson, who quoted Don Gruschow saying they looked like Olympians.

 

 

Atlanta Founders Day:  Douglas Campbell, Burba, and Rosner.

 

Dick & Sandy Toye now have a primary residence on the Tubac Golf Resort in southern Arizona, but keep their Alexandria, VA, digs for sojourns in the Spring and Fall.  They play a lot of golf, hike, bicycle and put their Spanish to use for their church’s outreach to the Spanish population in Arizona.  Dick has long been bitten by the astronomy bug and volunteers as a docent at the Smithsonian’s Whipple Astronomical Observatory located very near Tubac atop an 8,400 mountain in the Santa Ritas.  His other and related interest is in making sundials that actually work.  He and Sandy continue to take opportunities to work on and use their Spanish, having spent Christmas in Oaxaca and studied Spanish at a university in Cuernavaca.  But they travel in other places also.  This summer they celebrate their 50th and will travel the Baltic countries.

 

 

Sandy & Dick Toye atop Argentine Pass, near Breckenridge, CO. 

 

Rudy & Magda Letona maintain our outpost in Guatemala where they have had eight children, four boys and two girls.  They lost their eldent son in a crash accident in 1978 when he was 13, but the rest have gone on to graduate from college and have produced seven grandchildren.  Rudy says he is almost retired but still does some work in the construction field for friends.  Since 1969 he has been working for a Catholic Church worldwide lay movement, Cursillos de Cristiandad, for which he does some writing.  His other great interest is in business administration and he has been asked to lecture on the subject once in a while.  Great to hear from you, Rudy!

Our skiers held the ninth 59 Ski Mini at Jackson Hole, WY, on 22-29 February and the intrepid attendees were Gary & Nadine Beech, Lee Bell and his sister Flo, Bob & Karen Croteau, Mike Gillette, Stan & Madelene Kanarowski, John McNerney, John & Karla Moellering, Paul & Cindy Sper, and Howard & Eileen Stiles.  The Kanarowskis have a second home there and their generosity in having everyone over on two separate nights made the week special, says Gary.  Next year the Ski Mini will be at Snowmass.

 

 

Jackson Hole ski mini: Front: Gary Beech, Madelene Kanarowski, Nadine Beech, Cindy Sper, Flo Bell (Lee’s sister), Eileen Stiles, Karen Croteau,  Howard Stiles.  Back:  Stan Kanarowski, Paul Sper, Mike Gillette, John McNerney, Bob Croteau, Lee Bell. 

 

Howard Stiles reminds that the Summer Maine Gathering, which by repetition has become “Venerable,” this year will be on 5 August.  Year-round residents, the Stiles, the Conways, and of late the Otie Tibbetts, have been joined by “summer people” DeMonts and Fitzgeralds, and word-of-mouth has increased the gathering to mammoth proportions (for Maine).  Howard thinks the ice will have cleared from the lakes and the swimming will be great.  Warn him if you plan to show up at popsicle@maine.rr.com.

Funeral services for Hugh Socks were held in the old chapel at Ft. Myer on 1 April.  Hugh’s widow, Joyce, was there along with their sons Jay and Mark.  Nineteen classmates, five wives and a son were there:  Art & Babs Bair, Lou Beard, Tom Boyle, Bill & Sue Breen, Ted & Mary Colby, Mike Duggan, Phil Gibbs and son Sebastian, Art Griffin, Powell Hutton, Dick & Bucky Maglin, Don Morgan, Bob Novogratz, Hugh O’Connor, Tom & Ann Russell, Skip Schow, Don Tillar, Bill & Linda Toskey, Jim & Phyllis Walsh, and Bruce Williams.

DC Founders Day:  Bruce & Domenica Williams, Tom Boyle, Skip Schow. 

Paul & Nancie Weber write from Canyon City, CA, that they spent some time in October with Dennis & Yvette Walter at their home in Sun City near Georgetown, TX. Nancie says that the Walters are golf crazy and play every chance they get.  Dennis is treasurer of something or other at the Sun City complex, and Yvette’s golf game may be improved by a spinal cord stimulation implant in late April.  Nancie & Paul, at the time of their visit, were completing a 7,000+ mile road trip by way of Nancie’s high school reunion in Nashville, a family do near Orlando, and get togethers with family and friends from Tucson to Dallas to Georgia and Florida and back through Texas.  Whew!

Powell Hutton writes that this year’s scholarship was awarded to Jennifer Sundt, Dick & Nete’s daughter, who lives in NYC.  It was a close call between Jennifer and Richard Meyer’s daughter, Patti Bruce, who lives in Hawaii.  Both are single parents concurrently working, raising kids, and going to school.  Jennifer has a history degree from Baylor and an MBA from Baruch.  Last fall she entered New York Law School and hopes to become a law guardian for children and a mediator in family court.  We wish her and Patti both the greatest of success.

 

Founders Day in Cary, NC:  DeMont and Gruschow holding Howitzer pics so we might recognize them. 

 

Tom Russell writes that he and Ann attended their son, Sam’s change of command ceremony on 3 April at Ft. Polk.  He brought almost all of his troopers safely home from Iraq from their deployment in support of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.  The waiting wives suffered some severe casualties, though, two children died in the brigade and two in Sam’s battalion.  They also serve who only stand and wait.

Our prayers at this writing in the days before our 50th Reunion are with John Cox, Paul Elias, Caroline Turner, Jerry Fogel, and for the others whose sickness we do not know about.  May God be with them all, and with us.