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CCQ Responsibilities
 19 April 2022

General: 

You are the glue that helps keep our classmates informed and participating in Class activities; and, you are especially important in coordinating the writing of Memorial Articles for your company mates.

Specific: 
 Be the principal point of contact with your company mates and widows while passing on appropriate information to and from the Class and to the Class Scribe [Pete Penczer].  Some CCQ's do periodic communications with their company mates; others do not.

Support Class activities [reunions, projects, etc.] and urge company mates and widows to support them, too.  If possible, have a Classmate or Widow living in the DC area attend Class functions.

Ensure all of your company mates are listed on the Class email list and address rosters. See Class Info on the website. To add or change an email address, contact Pete Trainor; for address rosters contact George Lawton or John Nun, info Pete. For those not wanting to be on these lists, devise some means of passing info to and from them. Each company has an email list in the format: usma1958-CR@westpoint.org where C = company and R = regiment. If you have not already done so and want to establish a company website, contact Pete for help.

Death of Classmate or Spouse/widow: 

If you learn of a death and have not already been notified by AOG or the Class, inform "Death Notifications" (Terry Connell-First Regiment or Paul Ruud-Second Regiment) with as much information as you have:

Date of Death 

Cause and location of death, 

Any planned services, 

Plans for interment,

Obituary availability; and,

ESPECIALLY, a contact email or phone # for the NOK or person reporting the death. 

Do the Following four items even if you are not the first to learn of the death:

  Contact the Class Treasurer [Lee Miller] to be sure he has a way to contact the NOK to arrange for a charitable donation from the Class.  Formerly, the Class offered either flowers for Services or a donation to a charity of the NOK's choosing; we now offer only the donation.

  Arrange for the Class flag to be sent to the funeral/memorial service IF IT IS DESIRED BY THE NOK and returned after the services. Finding a Classmate who is attending the services to receive and return the flag works best. Contact the Keeper of the Class flag, Otto Thamasett, to have the flag sent to your contact.

  Assist the Death Notification Team in gathering the information needed to make their announcements

   Find a company mate, classmate or family member to write the Memorial Article (MA). The AOG rules and format for MA's are easily reached through the Class website [access to the site is found in Pete Trainor"s monthly email address update; at the top of the update is a link to the Class Website; on the first page is "Be Thou at Peace" in upper left -- this sends you to a second page which, on the right, has (1) a link to the AOG page where you can access the list of Classmates who have died and if an MA has been published, a copy of the MA and (2) the AOG guidance and rules for preparing an MA.  Possible other sources of information about deceased graduates are the AOG, itself, which may have records the classmate has provided, the National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/personnel-recordscenter/military-personnel) (NOK have access to more info than others would have), Ancestry .com, and The Mormon Church Genealogy files.  Also, WP.ORG's Ward Book (Living History Project) at https://wardbook.west-point.org/ contains individual classmate data prepared for our 50th reunion yearbook, "50 Years of Service," some with updated entries.  

  As we are now all in our late 80's we need to convince as many of our company mates as possible to write their own Living MA"s and submit them to the AOG. We have a lot of living classmates who will pass in the next several years.  Because we are nearly all 25 or 30 years beyond our active duty or active employment careers, some of the most important things to us individually may no longer be fixed in the minds of our classmates and families.  Thus, in fairness to our families and classmates, it behooves each of us who wants an MA published to write as much of our own MA as we can.  If a company mate does NOT want an MA published, please ask them to inform you and, in turn, me and I will keep a record of their wishes.

Some Guidance on Writing your "Living MA"

   Follow the previous guidance, above, to find the AOG website dealing with MA's. Look at the rules and format provided there. The individual may write a document that exactly follows the format and length specified or write what is considered a draft that may be shorter/longer or not in the correct format. If the former, the writer has the choice of submitting the document to AOG with or without the completed Inventory Sheet.  If submitted without the Inventory Sheet, whether the format is valid or not, it will be treated as a Draft by AOG and filed awaiting the writer's death when it will be sent to the NOK. If a complete Inventory Sheet is submitted, the AOG will review the documents; if it meets their criteria it will be filed and, when you die, sent to your NOK for a final review asking them if they wish to make changes or accept as is. If the draft does not meet AOG criteria, after death AOG will ask the NOK to revise the MA and to submit or resubmit the Inventory sheet. 

   If you are unable to or are tired of doing the CCQ job, try to find a replacement in your Company and inform the CCQ Coordinator [Bob Hayden].  If you need help with some aspect of the job, let Bob know.