Dave Gerard

Dave Gerard

DAVE GERARD

8822 Harbor Circle

Terrell, North Carolina 28682

828-478-9813

gerardd@charter.net

www.west-point.org/class/usma/1968

I’m compiling these Notes between the Memorial gathering at The Wall in DC in June and our official 40^th Reunion gathering in September knowing there’s no hope to lose weight in time for the Reunion. Classmates from most companies and states in the US were represented in DC in June, as well as a foreign country. Manny Diamante came the farthest – from his home in the Philippines – with male members of his family. The gathering prodded Manny to coordinate with Ray Rhodes to sponsor Bob Dance, a Poopschool Classmate selected to attend the Philippine Military Academy as an exchange student, to become an Honorary Classmate. Bob was commissioned in the US Army in Armor, taught in the English Dept, and retired. Dutch Hostler, in his normal swift and efficient manner, gathered the required essentials and quorum to ensure Bob’s induction at our reunion in September. The old E1 and H2 guys matched E3’s attendance. Joe Fowler reminded us that the familiar wet feeling we experienced was just another Shower Formation. Fred & Sally Shahid not only escaped from Georgia for a while to attend the memorial and brunch but to visit with their daughter, Kathleen, who has been in DC for 2 years working for Condaleesa Rice and has moved to the Embassy in Paris. Again, kudos to Gordie Tillery, Ralph Tildon, and the entire classmate crew – the escorts, coordinators, bearers, and other participants – for putting on a magnificent event that meant so much to all who attended.

[Photo #1 – “Dick McClelland after playing Taps at the Memorial”]

[Photo #2 “Manny Diamante and his family with Joyce Hansen at the Memorial Brunch”]

[Photo #3 – “The old E1 crowd (minus Tony Ambros) – Mike Hart, Gordon Zophy, Bill McCauley, Fred Hoblit, Bob Sweeney, Rand Allen, and Chuck Hawkins at the Memorial”]

[Photo #4 – “George & Julie Heckman at the Memorial”]

[Photo #5 – “Kathleen, Sally & Fred Shahid, Gordie & Elsie Tillery, Cathy & Jerry Cobb, Craig O’Connor, and Henry Riser at the Memorial Brunch”]

[Photo #6 – “Ed Thal, Chuck Witchonke, and Ross Nagy at the Memorial Brunch”]

[Photo #7 – “Dick Shipley Loaded for Bear in Alaska”]

While Kathy Shipley managed a lay-over in DC for the Memorial, Dick was roughing it in Alaska, bear hunting (The consensus among the guys at the table was that we’d rather see Kathy hunting bare). Also not present because they were out of country were Andy & Betty Shaffer who were busy distributing AOG’s inheritance to the needy folks of the British Isles.

[Photo #9 – “Andy & Betty Shaffer on the Thames by Tower Bridge in June”]

Just after the Memorial gathering at The Wall, Rob & Becky Broderick took off on an AOG sponsored tour and cruise from Milan, through Switzerland, up the Rhine from Strasbourg to Rodesheim, and through the Lorelei Passage – with all of the splendid castles along the way. Rob has volunteered to coordinate and write Jess Nickols’ Memorial Article. Jim & Kaew Carman departed for Cambodia to visit Kaew’s family about a month after the Memorial gathering at The Wall. This was their first visit in about 10 years and Jim found his Thai language skills – especially speed reading road and other detailed signs – pretty rusty.

[Photo #10 – “Becky & Rob Broderick cruising the Rhine – Photo courtesy of Dennis Coll, the 65 Scribe”]

[Photo #11 – “Kaew’s sister and nephew with Kaew & Jim Carman at the Temple of Dawn in Bangkok”]

Prior to the gathering at the Wall, Fred & Nancy Hoblit joined Fred’s brother and sister-in-law, Jerry (58)& Rosalie, for the WPSof DC annual golf outing. The Hoblit brothers and their brides (AKA the Dedicated USAF Foursome) won the mixed year division and Fred won the Long Drive Contest (for the over 60 set).

[Photo #7 – “Jerry, Rosalie, Nancy, & Fred Hoblit doing what the USAF does best – cool their heels after golf”]

As part of their retirement tour Frank & Michele Lynch drove out to DC for the Memorial gathering from Las Vegas and continued down along the east coast. While Michele retired earlier, Frank punched out of a Bechtel SAIC venture and is enjoying golf in the morning and Black Jack when it heats up during the day. After their tour, Frank returned to the West and went bonkers trying to accommodate all the last minute, late, and resubmitting reunion Bio Book participants.

[Photo #12 – “Michel & Frank Lynch in NC during a retirement victory lap”]

Since the Colorado contingent couldn’t make it to the DC gathering, Chuck Jones reported that many of them congregated at Joe & Carla Henry’s mountain cabin. It's obvious they enjoyed the beautiful summer weather in the mountains with great fishing close by. You can bet we’ll see more of them at the reunion.

[Photo #13 – “Larry & Cheryl Stevenson, Becky Fellows, Gayle Jones, Joe Henry, Chuck Jones, and Mike Fellows at Joe’s & Carla’s cabin near Grand Lake, CO”]

As a reminder that some of us are still contributing to national defense and the economy, Chuck Vehlow dropped a note to report that he and Pete Swan have served on the Army Science Board for a number of years, and they ended up on the same study team this year. After two grueling weeks in Newport Beach, CA, they completed their study, conducted an outbriefing and celebrated with a final study dinner.

[Photo #14 – “Pete & Cathy Swan with Katy & Chuck Vehlow after wrapping up their ASB task”]

While we were giddily preparing for our reunion, Ralph Tildon forwarded the sad news that Fred (Chuck) Parker called from Brussels to report that his bride, Linda, died on August 4. Chuck related that he went to work in the morning, shared endearments with Linda via phone in the afternoon, played a league baseball game, and return home to find her on the floor. She suffered from asthma. Our prayers and thoughts go out to Chuck and his family at this time.

Apologies for the dearth of text, but I figured you’d like to see classmates before they went on their crash diets rather than wade through ponderous prose. If you want to know what these folks are doing when they’re not mugging for Assembly, more and more are retiring or cutting back on work – and they’ll tell you that they are enjoying life and classmates. I’m not sure I can guarantee much text next time either. I feel like a little kid anticipating Christmas as embark for our reunion. With certain dreadful exceptions, this has been a good year for the class with meeting gift goals, mini-reunions, the Memorial gathering at The Wall, and a spectacular Reunion in New York. Live the dream, savor your $22 continental breakfast, and participate because YOU’RE ALL WE’VE GOT.