From Frank Oehrelein

Emery Pylant welcomed Walt into their elegant home within the Houston city limits. Walt maintains a ‘modest’ Racquets room in Michigan; he says avid hunter/marksman Emery revealed a MOST impressive ‘Game-Room’ and gifted him one of his ‘self-assembled’ hunting knives. Any ‘65 hunting types are encouraged to reach out to Emery for First-Rate guidance. As always…..’the Bond’ is forever.

Go ARMY!
S&D

All,

Last year during Founder’s Day, the West Point Society of New York honored the POW Service of Bob Jones and in particular the extraordinary moment as Bob was returning from the screaming Corps in the TV corner of Michie Stadium to our seats, Cadet Tyrell Robinson returned a punt 85 yards and right into Bob's embrace. They chest bumped and saluted but Tyrell didn't think to give Bob the Football. That was taken care of at Founder’s Day at the Union League Club where a short documentary about the event was shown. The football should end up in the WPS Hall of Fame.

A day to be remembered!

AOG has made available on line a recording of the Ring Melt for the Class of 2025.

Steve Darrah's and Don Nowland’s Class ring were added along with over 80 other rings that will become part of the gold for the Class of 2025 and all subsequent Class rings. Steve’s two sons Clarke and Craig participated in the Ring Melt.

Don Nowland’s ring was placed in the crucible by the mother of Codi Butt ’23, whom Don mentored from candidate through most of her cadet journey. Don entrusted his wife Davita to give his ring to his mentee to be with her, serving as an inspiration throughout her cadet years. This year, Don’s ring became part of gold for the Class of 2025 and beyond.

By clicking on the picture, one can view these two donations, starting at 1 hour, 7 minutes into the program and lasting 10 seconds.

Bob Frank ‘65
Class Historian
STRENGTH AND DRIVE

I attended Tom Ridenour's memorial service today. I did not go to the reception. Tom's wife,Peggy, and his family were pleased that we were represented. I have attached a picture of his memorial table highlighting his time at WP. Attendance was 80-90 people and the focus of the family and friends' comments, as well as the sermon, was his attendance at WP. At one point, the preacher asked me to share our class motto with the mourners which I was happy to do from my seat in the back of the chapel.

Although I recognized him, I did not know Tom personally but I informed his family that it didn't matter since we are all brothers. I informed them that a eulogy page had been established and shared my contact information with them.

Tim Simmons

All,

Here is a photo of a lunch-time gathering at Applebee's in Henderson, NV on March 6, 2024.

In the center of the photo are Radu and Valeria, a young couple from the country of Moldova, and their host in the United States, Gene Parker. On the right are Skip and Marilyn O'Donnell of Las Vegas. On the left are Tom and Marilyn Kovach of Henderson. In front of Marilyn K. is the young couple's daughter Leya who is a member of the COVID Generation having been born on March 15, 2020.

Background. Moldova, a landlocked country bordered on the north, east, and south by Ukraine and on the west by Romania, is a former republic of the Soviet Union. Some time after the Soviet Union dissolved, the U.S. State Department assigned a number of states to mentor, initially in the military sector but now expanded to other sectors, some of the former Soviet Union republics. North Carolina was assigned to Moldova.

Gene and Margaret Parker live in Greensboro NC, and Gene is a member of the Greensboro Rotary Club. Gene's Rotary Club decided to become involved in this program with Moldova - specifically to assist in the upgrade of the country's nursing services. One of the Club's latest efforts was to sponsor a scholarship for a Moldovan medical professional to complete a masters degree in nutrition and to do research at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for two semesters. The medical professional would then return to Moldova to teach nutrition to nurses. Radu, who is an MD and a professor at the Moldovan medical school, was the recipient of that scholarship.

Housing the Family. Prior to the Moldovan family's arrival in the U.S. last August, Gene and Margaret, along with others in their community, found an apartment for the family, furnished it, and then provided an initial supply of food and other necessities.

Seeing the U.S. Since then as time has permitted, Gene and Margaret have taken the family on excursions to experience other parts of the U.S. During this spring break at UNC-Greensboro, Gene has taken them to the southwest. They flew into Phoenix, and then drove to see Sedona and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Zion Canyon in Utah, and now they are in the Las Vegas area. Thus, an opportunity for the lunch-time gathering. They will finish this journey in Los Angeles to see the Pacific Ocean (they have already seen the Atlantic Ocean from the NC seashore), and then fly back to Greensboro.

The Parker Family. Among other activities, Leya has been participating in the opening and closing portions of Gene's Rotary Club meetings. Gene and son Paul have been teaching the finer arts of pickleball to Radu and Valeria who, upon their return home, will probably be the best pickleball players in Moldova. Many kudos to Gene and Margaret, along with other members of their family and their community, for hosting Radu, Valeria, and Leya during their stay in the United States!

Cheers to all!
By Tom Kovach

The following report is from Tim Simmons:

I attended Tom Ridenour's memorial service today. I did not go to the reception. Tom's wife,Peggy, and his family were pleased that we were represented. I have attached a picture of his memorial table highlighting his time at WP.

Attendance was 80-90 people and the focus of the family and friends' comments, as well as the sermon, was his attendance at WP. At one point, the preacher asked me to share our class motto with the mourners, which I was happy to do from my seat in the back of the chapel.

Although I recognized him, I did not know Tom personally. I informed his family that it didn't matter since we are all brothers. I also informed them that a eulogy page had been established and shared my contact information with them.

By Tim Simmons

Click here for Tom's obituary.

Denny and Catherine took another road trip. Highlights:

From Chuck Nichols,

The Heritage Hunt Community again hosted a Founders Day dinner on March 10, 2024. The festivities started with a Benny Haven's happy hour with the singing of Benny Haven's Oh by the West Point Alumni Glee Club followed the singing of Parting Glass, featuring soloist Pete Linn, in honor of recent fallen Glee Club members and their spouses. After dinner the Alumni Glee Club gave a sterling performance of World War II related songs in anticipation of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 7th. The West Point Alumni Glee Club will be performing in concert at 7:30 PM on the evening of June 7th, 2024 at the National D Day Memorial in Bedford, VA as part of a concert and light show. You are encouraged to attend.

The class of '65 was well represented at the Heritage Hunt festivities. The names of classmates and significant others in the picture are as follows.

Front Row (L-R); Ann Adams, Ellen Ziegler, Nancy Ryan, Diane Maddra (Guest of Chuck Nichols), Linda Concannon, June Fergusson, Martha Birdseye, Mary Harter, Karen Ferguson, Nancy Riley (Artistic Director, West Point Alumni Glee Club).

Back Row (L-R); Curt Adams, Bernie Ziegler (Founders Day Organizer), Terry Ryan, Chuck Nichols, Tom Fergusson, Bill Birdseye, Bob Harter, Jim Ferguson, Peter Linn.

Not Shown: Larry Bennett and son Chris Bennett USAFA ‘93

Beat Navy!

Jim and June Harvey (visited with Roxy and John Vann recently on their way back from Florida to Virginia Beach. Great time catching up on fellow M-1 classmates and friends, and the upcoming large golf/camaraderie outing Bob Radcliffe has organized at Greenbrier.