November 1999
Submitted 8/25/99
John Paul Porter, our Air Force
file from B-1 whom we called “JP”,
died of lung cancer in University Place, WA, on 18 Aug. His ashes were interred at Arlington on 26
Aug very privately. The class offers its
sincere condolences to his wife, Billie,
to his daughter, Beth, and to all of his family and friends. Beth Porter, who is married and kept her
maiden name, is at 1329½ 4th Ave., Puyallup, WA 98371. Contributions in John’s name may be made to
Good Samaritan Hospice, P.O. Box 1247, Puyallup, WA 98371-0192.
O.K. Lewis’s wife, Kay, died on 17 July after a 12-year struggle with cancer. O.K. still resides at the Fair Oaks Ranch,
TX, address given in the Register, and the class offers its heartfelt sympathy
to him and to all of Kay’s family and friends.
O.K.’s e-mail address is okaylew@gvtc.com.
Harry Fletcher’s
ashes were interred at WP on 14 July. Tom Russell was able to attend the
graveside service and represented the class and the AOG. As reported earlier, Harry had died in
Chamblee, GA, on 22 Sep 98.
At our 40th Reunion, John Wilson did a great job of guiding
us toward an appropriate class gift, and we settled upon endowing the new
strength development center in the Michie Stadium complex. We pledged $1.5 million to augment donations
of $2 million by Bill & Joyce
O’Meara, $1 million by Pete &
Judi Dawkins, and $1 million by Fred
& Marlene Malek. Upgrade of the
athletic facilities has been the Supe’s top-priority fundraising effort, and
O’Meara and Malek have each pledged an additional $2.5 million to the complex.
I suspected that Jim Walsh might protest last time’s
assertion by Charlie Tennant that
his 8 grandchildren could be a class record.
Walsh notes that he has 9, and that Ted
Colby has claimed 13!
Johnny Cox attended the 12 Jul ceremony
in Sarasota, FL, in which the Special Forces presented to Rocky Versace’s mother a Special Forces tab and a certificate of
induction into the First Special Forces Regiment. MG Kenneth R. Bowra, who heads the John F. Kennedy Special
Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg, made the presentation.
The bottom line, he said, “is that the VC could not break
his will. You can do no more than he
did.” Johnny, who represented the class
and USSOCOM, reported that about 80 people attended, including Bill Luther’s daughter, Leslie, and Dick Hotchkiss’s son, Mark, and Rocky’s
brothers, Steve and Dick. Also present
were Medal of Honor recipient Franklin D. Miller, a Vietnam vet who lives in
St. Petersburg Beach; and retired army LTG Howard Crowell, a resident of
Sarasota County, who was Rocky’s hootchmate when they were serving in Camau,
Vietnam. Crowell, then a captain, was
one of the many soldiers who searched for Rocky by helicopter after he was
captured. The Friends of Rocky Versace
group in Northern Virginia were represented by Mike Faber and Mike Kentes, who
continue to lead the effort to have a new school in Alexandria named for Rocky,
and to have him awarded the Medal of Honor.
John Gurr, who is our point
of contact with the group, sent the enclosed picture of the occasion, which he
called a real class act, and reported regretfully that Mrs. Versace is
suffering from terminal lung cancer.
Tom & Marty Roberts rented a house
with Art & Babs Bair, in Nags
Head, NC, for the 30 May wedding of Jack
& Barbara O’Brien’s son, Mark, at the Sanderling Inn up-island in
Duck. Donna, the bride, was attended by
her sisters, and Jack served as Mark’s best man. Joining the Robertses and the Bairs in the house were Pris &
Ron Howard. Pris is the sister of our
classmate, Bob Edwards, who died in
an automobile accident during the Armor basic course at Ft. Knox in 1959. Other 59ers at the wedding were Jay & Kathy Madden, Bob & Barbara
Novogratz, and Terry Enright. Roberts said that O’Brien accepted
responsibility for the absolutely beautiful weather. Tom & Marty got home in time to get the news of the birth of
their grandson Samuel, to Tom III and his wife Pamela in Richmond, VA, on 5
June. Ain’t life grand?
Joe Shea’s
daughter, Amy, who received our class scholarship in 1983, wrote a charming
letter to give an example of how our small award “is working for the Army
families.” “Currently my husband and
family are stationed at Ft. Polk, LA,” she says, “where he works at fire
support in JRTC Opns Gp, and I am a representative for the National Military
Family Association (NMFA), the only organization that is dedicated to informing
and lobbying Congress on issues that deal with military family members of all
the services. Because of the support of
the NMFA I was able recently to start supplying diabetic necessities to the
military hospital again after a lapse of three years.
“In February
2000 my husband will be taking command of the 3-319th FA Airborne in
the 82nd. I plan to continue
to work for the military families both in our unit and throughout the
Army. After all, with the high
operations tempo that units are experiencing, if the soldiers know that their
families are being taken care of they are more able to focus on their
jobs. Please thank the class for the
scholarship so many years ago. I am
trying to pay you all back by working for the Army families.” And we certainly thank you, Amy.
Don Eckelbarger, who was kind enough to
send a photo from the 40th, lives in Houston and is COO of the
United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, a job in which he works with a team of 150
professionals with a goal of raising $70 million this year. An article in Officers’ Call, the monthly
publication of the National Officers Association, features Don as an exemplum
of the transition from long military service into the civilian world.
Bill Fitzgerald, who lives in Fairfax
Station, VA, also sent photos from the 40th, and the one printed
this time is of the ’58 and ’59 National
Championship Lacrosse Team. The
other one, of the M-1 group at the dinner dance in Washington Hall, may see the
light of day in a future issue and perhaps in the class notes section of our
website.
Dave
Roush was inspired to send his first letter in 40 years. He didn’t say what inspired him. His letter, 11 pages long, is an itemized
autobiography that I may be able to get on the website once I master my new
scanner. But for now, in brief summary,
his career spanned 37 years in Infantry, Armor and Ordnance; and his civilian
life has found expression with positions at Prudential Insurance, John Hancock,
General Dynamics, Loral, Lockheed Martin, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Gulfstream
Aerospace. He has four master’s
degrees, four well-earned pensions, and he has recently celebrated the 21st
anniversary of his divorce. He lives in
Englewood, FL, and his broker is Ron
Salter in Thomasville, GA.
Dave walks five miles a day, went to John Grinalds’s installation at the Citadel in Charleston, and has
three children. Son David is a manager
with Smith-Kline Beecham in Atlanta; Daughter Roxsanna is in computer graphics
in Macon, GA; and daughter Sherri is a nurse in Warner Robins, GA. Among them, in unspecified particularity,
they have produced four grandchildren.
Dave’s house and car are debt free, and he has traveled to Africa,
China, Argentina and Antarctica, all in the last two years. Yet, he says he’s as poor as a titmouse. I think he means churchmouse.