Terrell, North Carolina 28682
828-478-9813
gerardd@charter.net
www.west-point.org/class/usma/1968
After the Easter Sunrise Service at Arlington National Cemetery, an old friend of Jon & AJ Dodson reminisced about an old Army buddy named Benny Robinson. Jon bragged that our class was so close that we all know where each other is. I polled H1, Benny’s old company and came up with zero. After a few days of sleuthing, Jon came up with the answer. While at West Point for Dan Kaufman’s retirement review, Jon’s cell phone erupted on the way to the Officers’ Club – it was Benny calling from Los Angeles.
Info on Benny’s whereabouts prompted Tony Ambrose to give us an update. This year, he decided to take seriously his training for the Plebe March Back – i.e., it should be more than tanking up on Sam Adams' All-Sports Drink at the Kaufmans’ on the day before. Instead, he decided to climb part of the way up the north wall (the dreaded NordWand) of the Eiger in Switzerland. Actually, he only wandered a few meters off the trail at its base, but we’re past quibbling now, aren’t we? What really happened is that Tony & Linda broke away from Penn State College of Medicine to vacation in Switzerland and Italy in late spring. During their sojourn, they bumped into Grace and Don Jenis (USMA '57) who educated them on how the “Corps had” by 1964 – some folks will never get over Christmas Leave.
Tony
was one of six stalwarts who made the actual march back, which Dutch Hostler
continues to use as a class fund raiser for our portion to the new Jefferson
Library. Besides Tony and Dutch, the remaining actual marchers were
Dale Hansen,
Tom Jewell,
Pres Miller,
and Gary Roberson.
Dale Hansen
was the first to check in after the last set of notes were set in concrete with
the joyful news that he and Joyce are ecstatic over the birth of their
first grandson, Finn, on 22 May in Boston to Dale’s daughter, Michelle, and her
husband, Tom Snow. The week after the
march back, Pres Miller participated in a real triathlon.
[Photo #1 – “Joyce & Dale Hansen with grandson Finn”]
Dave
Martin was supposed to be one of the
marchers, but a business duties took priority.
Notwithstanding his recent picture with Saudis,
Dave has left his international consulting gig to join DataPath Inc, the
Georgia-based manufacturer of transportable satellite communications equipment
that Art Ackerman recently joined. Dave is going to be their rep at Fort
Monmouth – at least until Monmouth gets BRACed out of existence.
[Photo #2 – “Dave & Suzanne Martin and Sun Cha & Art Ackerman with a DataPath HUMVEE mounted sat comm dish”]
The
annual West Point Alumni Golf Tournament was held a couple of months prior to
the march back. Joe Guignion drove up from Fairfax, where (since he has
been retired for over five years) he’s waiting for Maureen to stop
teaching at George Mason U so they can move away from Northern Virginia.
Earl Newsome flew up from Houston, Chuck Jones flew in from Denver,
and Joe Creeden came down from Upstate New York with his son, Dan.
Although the weather was perfect, the golf was iffy – but they had fun. We
should take notice that only classmates from E-3 have represented the class for
the past few years. Earl had his game on for the weekend, as he recorded
several 300 yard drives. Chuck burned up the putting surface with some
35 foot putts that dropped in like honey...SWEET...for birdies no less. Joe
Creeden was the consistent one who showed everyone up with his solid game,
while Dan was the joy to watch as he demonstrated his flexibility – which
underscored how STIFF with pain our classmates were. All Joe Guignion
would say about his game is that he did complete every hole that he started…
[Photo #3 – “Joe Guignion, Chuck Jones, Earl Newsome, Joe Creeden, and Dan Creeden at the 2005 USMA Alumni Golf Tourney”]
Ross
Irvin checked in with another
Chuck Jones sighting. This time, Chuck & Gayle joined Ross &
Margaret at the Paradisus Playa Conchal Hotel in Costa Rica. Besides all
inclusive amenities, which kept them in a semi conscious state by the beach or
the pool, the group made trips to the rain forest, a volcanic spa (bathed in a
108o mountain stream while an active volcano smokes overhead), and a
(clay) pot factory.
[Photo #4 – “Margaret & Ross Irvin with Chuck & Gayle Jones in Costa Rica”]
To date, there’s not much news on the Kaufman watch. He stuck around for graduation so the cadets would have a Dean’s signature on their diplomas, and Juliana Bodenhamer would have a member of the class in uniform when she received her class gift at her graduation. Besides Jim & Julia, Juliana’s brother, Jon (’00) also attended and administered her commissioning oath. Prior to Graduation, Jim & Julia attended Jon’s change of command ceremony at Ft Hood, where he took command of A troop, 1/10 armored cavalry, 4th ID. By current schedule, his unit will have already deployed to Iraq, and there is a good chance that Juliana, a new Engineer, will be in Iraq next year after she joins here unit at Ft Hood. As for Dan & Kathleen Kaufman, as one of his final duties as Dean, Dan participated in the June 24 ground-breaking ceremony for the new library – and then, they went to the beach.
[Photo #5 – “Bill Schutsky, John Calabro, Dan Kaufman, Juliana & Jim Bodenhamer, and Dutch Hostler at Juliana’s class gift presentation”]
There’s not much on the Pete & Barbara Wallace watch either. The last we heard, they were in Tampa, where Pete was playing with his granddaughter, Alexandra, and Barbara was out with Pete’s daughter, Gwen, supporting the local economy. Then, on to Hawaii and Fiji. After “retirement,” they’re still undecided about the long term – so they’ll continue to travel until Christmas, when they’ll return to Tampa and stay until maybe January. Then, they may return to the UK where they may qualify for British passports, which will permit them to live and work anywhere in the EU – a assuming there will be an EU by then. We may get a second chance to visit them in London.
Jim Craig dropped a note to express his understanding about settling down with some comfort. He finally got tired of traveling to the "garden spots" of the world (Algeria, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Egypt, Qatar, India, UAE, Kuwait, etc.) every week, so he left KBR to join Jacobs Engineering. The change required a re-location from Houston to St Louis. They are in transition, awaiting the right buyer (one who can pay) in Houston and the completion of their "new" house in Kirkwood, MO. Even after 37 years of marriage, Jim has discovered new things about his bride during their continuing evolution – like "downsizing" means moving from 4700 square feet to 4900 square feet, and the "ideal new house" is on the historic register but brand new inside, and in small town America. The move places Jim & Linda closer to their youngest daughter who lives in Overland Park, Kansas. In the last four years, the Craigs have gone from zero to four grandchildren – each daughter (Overland Park, Kansas and Colorado Springs) now has a son and a daughter.
Jim
Swinney sent Independence Day
greetings from his home at Lake Anna, VA, where he commutes when he has to, and
fishes any time he can. He assures us that he follows NYC and Washington, DC
police rules when fishing – catch and release.
[Photo #6 – “Jim Swinney celebrating the 4th at Lake Anna”]
To underscore Jon Dodson’s versatility and care for classmates, he has also volunteered to help Pete Paulson maneuver the triple canopy bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs in search of disability compensation. You may remember that Pete had a heart attack while on active duty in 87 – and things have gotten worse. Additionally, he was diagnosed with lung cancer (caught early) in July 2003 and underwent successful surgery and chemotherapy. In 2004, he suffered another heart attack and he had to undergo surgery tat included having a defibrillator installed. Last May, he suffered heart failure and the defibrillator brought him back. Needless to say, Pete has retired from UNISYS, Kathy is doing all the driving, and he can use more than just Jon Dodson’s support.
Leave it to Chuck Hawkins to expose how vulnerable we are on this
planet. In an article he wrote about Major General
Zhu Chenghu, a dean at the National Defense University in Beijing, who coolly
stated that, if it had to, China would use of nuclear weapons in a war with the
United States over Taiwan. His article evoked responses from China supporting
the General. So much for the peaceful rise of China and the waning need for our
Alma Matre. To the contrary, our sons and daughters – and grandsons and
granddaughters will continue to need a Military Academy that continues to need
our help. Construction of the new library is under way and we need to
continue to dig deep to fulfill our obligation and ensure that we continue to
provide what our country needs because YOU’RE ALL WE’VE GOT. BEAT NAVY! 