Text Box:

 

Dave Gerard

 

DAVE GERARD

8822 Harbor Circle

Terrell, North Carolina 28682

828-478-9813

gerardd@charter.net

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

 

The last Founders Day photo for the 2008 season came from Ft Leavenworth and showed Dave & Irene Drummond.  After 42 years of federal service, Dave is now retired and devoting his time to their Kansas horse ranch, fox hunting with the Ft Leavenworth Hunt Club, and doting over their six grandchildren.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #1 – “FD at Ft Leavenworth with Irene & Dave Drummond”]

 

Nellie Laughton forwarded the news that his son, Kevin, and his wife, Jen, had their first addition to the family last March.  Nathan is grandson number three and grandchild number four for Nellie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #2 – “Three generations of Laughton: Uncle Jeff, Kevin holding Nathan, and Nellie”]

 

While Nellie admits that he can’t keep up with the Cobeys, Jim & Kaew Carman’s kids are popping out grandkids at an alarming rate.  Son Sean and daughter-in-law Tifney have just presented Jim & Kaew with grandson number five and grandchild number ten.

In May, Vic & Pat Hiatt, Dutch & Megan Hostler (along with sons David and Christopher), and Henry & Karen Riser converged from Florida, Connecticut, and Maryland on Lake Norman to join John & Margie Hedley and Barbara and I for a SMSS meeting.  This was the last time the Hostlers had for a break before they had to set to work shipping David to Hawaii (his first assignment after graduating from Duke Medical), participating in the class gathering in DC at the Vietnam Memorial, further coordinating our September reunion, going to Hawaii to close on David’s condo, prepare it for household goods, oversee inside out construction and redecoration of the condo, consign for the shipment, and help with condo set-up.  If you wonder why the Hostlers are doing all this, they figure that David & his bride Kim (when she returns from Afghanistan) will live there for the three or four years of his internship and residency and Dutch & Megan will keep the condo as a family vacation home once the kids have moved on to the next Army posting.  As for the rest of us, it was just another day in paradise and an effort to save Scotland from financial collapse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #3 – “Margie Hedley, Barbara Gerard, Karen & Henry Riser, Vic & Pat Hiatt, Megan Hostler, David Hostler, Orca the Shrinking Whale, John Hedley, and Dutch Hostler sipping at Lake Norman, NC”]

 

Memorial Day weekend at the Rocky Versace Memorial Plaza in Alexandria, VA brought a prelude to our June 8 gathering at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.  Among the 64 Alexadrians who where KIA/MIA in Vietnam and are remembered at the Plaza is classmate Henry Spengler.  As fate would have it, Bette, Hank’s widow was scheduled to be in the Washington, DC area at that time, and was able to attend, along with her son and his family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #4 – “Bette Spengler, her son, family and friends – including Jim Locher, John Keane, and Bob Balog – at the Alexandria, VA Memorial Day Ceremony”]

 

The Colorado Springs and Denver gang assembled at a local watering hole for lunch to wish itself happy 40th.  The venue consisted of Invocation, lunch, singing of the Alma Mater, and a cake baked by Paul Baerman himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #5 – “Happy 40th from Colorado: Marv & Ann Wooten, Larry & Cheryl Stevenson, Chuck & Gayle Jones, Gary & Patti Halstead, Jay & Lyn Francis, Nick & Barbara Dienes, Chuck Cannella, Paul & Kerry Baerman, Les & Cindy Krohnfelt, Steve & Ellie Williams, Bob & Anneliese Clarke”]

 

In early June, while we were pulling in to visit the Risers in Annapolis, Joe & Maureen Guignon hosted a dinner party for 34 – E-3 classmates, their brides, Jeff Riek’s family of 15, and the Cummings' family next of kin – Franki Bennett (Ken’s widow) and the Page entourage.  Jeff's sister, Natalie, and his brother, Justus, with their supporting crew showed up for some story telling and memories.  The story of Jeff's famous ATLAS, the parachuting turtle, was retold with laughs.  The Riek contingency was the largest grouping of Next of Kin for the June 8th memorial.  In addition to the six E-3 classmates to attend, eight others from the company sent in stories and notes that were relayed to the family during the evening.  The captain handing out the roses to the next of kin during the Sunday morning Ceremony was Jeff's niece, Natalie Hoffman. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #6 – “Tom Vollrath, Bob Stroud, Ken Nicholson, Ross Irvin, Jess Gatlin, and Joe Guignon with Jeff Riek’s family the night before our Gathering at the wall”]

 

Simultaneously, Rand & Anne Allen hosted a cocktail party for the class at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda.  Rand is a partner with K Street giant Wiley, Rein LLP, recognized as one of the top government contract lawyers in America, and was instrumental in getting Boing reinstated as a Defense contractor after it had been suspended for over four years, and getting the AF Tanker contract awarded to a foreign/domestic team overturned by the GAO. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Strategic Infrastructure) and National Museum of the U.S. Army Project Executive Officer Jerry Hansen noted that the May-June 2008 Military Review contained an article entitled:  “THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: Legislative Reform of the National Security System,” by Jim Locher.  Jim is “currently the Executive Director of the Project on National Security Reform, a nonpartisan initiative sponsored by the nonprofit Center for the Study of the Presidency.  His piece pointed out that the national security system created by the National Security Act of 1947 is in need of enterprise-level transformation to provide the responsiveness, flexibility, and interagency coordination required by current threats.  Both Jerry and Jim attended the gathering at the Wall in June; however, Jerry missed the brunch because he took Bill Reichert’s brother back to his hotel so he could catch a flight back to FL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #7 – “260 Attendees at our gathering by the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC”]

 

The class gathering at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC was one of the most memorable, professionally orchestrated, and tender events I have ever attended.  As the focal point for the class in the DC area, Gordon Tillery assembled a team that spared no amount of care and energy to create this magnificent event.  Ralph Tildon, with the help of classmates throughout the US, managed to locate next of kin for most classmates killed in Vietnam and arranged for next of kin of 14 of our departed classmates to attend.  It was all spectacular and made ever so personal – from the yellow roses for each of our fallen classmates, the beautiful wreath, the moving words by Dave Ohle, Jerry Hansen, Chuck Hawkins, Dutch Hostler, Joe Fowler, and John Keane, the photographic rendering by David Taylor, to the emotional rendering of Taps by Dick McClelland.  It was a loving team effort, the perfect prelude to September in New York, and underscores the heartrending truth – YOU’RE ALL WE’VE GOT. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Photo #8 – “Johnnie & Sharon Miller during their last cruise together”]

 

While we were remembering, others were fighting.  John Frinak wrote to warn us that Johnnie Miller was slipping away from us due to his fight with cancer.  It is my sad duty to inform you that Sharon, Johnnie’s bride of 40 years, called to inform us of the passing of our dear classmate on Saturday, 21 June 2008.  Sharon said that Johnnie should have been a bird because he loved to be in the air so much.  He had been on the West Point Parachute Team and an aviator for 38 years.  He flew helicopters in Vietnam and to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until he was grounded about two years ago when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.  John Frinak is coordinating Johnnie’s Memorial Article. – WE ARE ONE LESS.