L-R: Paul
Ruud & Fred Pirkey ’55Pictures at end of column
126th Column. 29 Oct 01. I
am at Pax River for meetings with NAVAIR tomorrow. This
is due today. And on Thurs we fly to Santa
Fe. Moral equivalent of between a rock and a
hard place.
Bad news first
provided by Harry
Hubbard. Mike Ramsden, son of Jim & Rae died on 5 Oct. Those wired via email know that Mike’s
memorial service was on 10 Oct. Quoting from
Harry’s email, “Mike, who was 39, apparently had several health issues. It isn't supposed to work this way - parents
shouldn't have to say goodbye to their kids.” You
may remember my reporting a few years ago that Rae donated a kidney to son Mike. More from Bob
Shellenberger, “John Galen and I and
our wives attended Mike Ramsden's funeral service yesterday in St Augustine. It was a beautiful service. Rae and her remaining children demonstrated their
usual strong faith under adverse circumstances. Rae,
Jimmy, and Linda all made very touching remarks. We
had a chance to chat after the service. I
think Rae is still planning to attend the reunion. We're
certainly pushing for her to do that, and the kids think it would be good for her too.” Scribe’s PS.
Please say a prayer for Rae, Jim (died 13 Aug 98) and Mike. We all hope to see Rae in Santa Fe later this
week.
Obviously, I cannot say much about
Santa Fe yet other than express our thanks to the Seis Amigos for all their work on our
behalf: Tom Claffey K2, Neil Mathis K2, Bob McCann D2, Gerry Schurtz E2, Mark Sigurski C1 and John Sutherland K2.
Those on email have heard from John, CINC PR.
He has provided information about the “Reunion Different in the City
Different” ranging from early Nov weather to places to eat to things to do to myriad
“roll calls” of those signed up to attend.
I especially enjoyed John’s math expose of classmates who cannot add
two plus two to get four. Reminded me of
Garry Roosma’s secretary at the time of our 30th. The myriad mistakes on our sign-up forms for the
total sum of registration fee and various activities destroyed her faith in our West Point
education.
Good news. Tony
Forster married Anne Kirby on 18 August at
Ranch House Chapel, Rancho Santa Margarita Y Las Flores, Camp Pendleton, CA. Karl Oelke
sent the promised service bulletin (forwarded on to AOG for Tony’s file). However, if the photos promised by Dick Schonberger arrived, I have lost them. Dick, please try again. Talk about courage, the newlyweds will be in Santa
Fe with over 300 of their closest friends!
25th
Aviation Reunion attracted such veterans of their first assignment as Chuck Densford, Norm Gustitis and Tom Sands. Meeting
in Hawaii, scene of their early exploits as Army Aviators, had nothing to do with their
desire to relive their misspent youth. Nat
Crow, Mel Santos and Dave Swanson joined them for a class lunch. Dave sent digital photos and then followed up
with hard copies. More misplace photos. Sorry. Next
time along with Roster’s wedding!
Photos not lost. Great letter from Paul Ruud about his & Patty’s trip to Egypt in Oct. No terrorist threat would deter them from the
Nile, pyramids, etc. The photo was taken in
Cairo at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, also the location of President Sadat’s
grave. Sadat is buried across the street from
the reviewing stand where he as assassinated in 1981.
Four more photos
courtesy of Jerry Lewis. These are of our 12 classmates who participated
the Plebe Marchback promoted so effectively by Ed
Weckel. Ed will talk or walk anywhere,
anytime to drum up support for our 1958 Class Perpetual Endowment Fund. Kidding aside, your Exec Cmte recently made the
commitment to use the Perpetual Endowment Fund as our vehicle for class donations between
now and our 50th in 2008. The
goals set by the EC are 100% participation and $500K in the fund by June 2007. We have a ways to go, therefore, stop reading
this, grab your checkbooks and pens and get started.
Think of numbers ending in eight or including 58 such as $19.58 (perhaps per
month for a year of so) or $580 or, for those with deeper pockets, $1,958.
The idea for our 50th is to
ensure the First Class Club is in “first class” shape and beef up the Class
Perpetual Endowment Fund. The Class Memorial
Funds at AOG should be sufficient for whatever capital improvements the FCC might need
circa 2008. In fact, the EC is working with
Cadet Activities Officer, Post Engineer and others to install air conditioning in the club
ASAP. Again, we should have enough in the
Class Memorial account at AOG to handle this. Therefore,
additional giving in connection with our 50th Reunion is solicited for the
Class Perpetual Endowment Fund. This fund
will permit our Endowment Fund Board to make a major donation to USMA on the occasion of
our 100th in 2058. This is a
“twofer”: helps our Alma Mater and memorializes ’58. Your attendance at this affair will be the seating
section reserved for the Ghostly Assemblage.
For the record as of 27 Sep, our class
giving recorded at AOG includes $344,665 for the Class Memorial project and $797,275 other
giving to AOG/AAA for USMA. The total, not
including our Class Perpetual Endowment Fund (not held by AOG) is $1,141,040. Not bad, but not great either. A class from early 50s has donated $1,972,379 for
its class project plus another $912,903 for a total of $2,885,282. And a class about ten years behind us in the 60s
has donated $838,425 for its class project and another $3,024,129 for AOG/USMA for a total
of $3,862,554. The real points for ’58
are the quality of the First Class Club, our gift to the Corps of Cadets, and the plan for
a major donation at our 100th.
Another legacy directly related to the FCC
is early giving by classes ’94 through ’01.
You may remember that ’94 was the first class to use the renovated FCC
after the turnover at our 35th in 1993. ’94
challenged its members to pledge $10 per month for the first five years of service via
allotment. Subsequent classes have followed
suit. The lieutenants from ’01 have 47%
participation for the class pledge of $292,856 (pg 21, Sep/Oct Assembly). Think
of what that will be worth come time for their 30th or 50th! The FCC and the annual turnover ceremony
orchestrated by Bob Pointer are the impetus for
this early giving begun by ’94.
Phone call from Alex DeLucia, a wayward son of ’58 who
resigned the first semester Plebe Year. He
sold his data processing company a couple of years ago.
Sold equals retirement here. He
& Pat have six children and 11 grandchildren. Three
of their kids live within three miles of them in Portland area. Their youngest, AFA ’88, is a major stationed
at Langley AFB. He remembers fondly his Beast
roommates Bob Rhodes and Dan Charlton.
Bill Graf recently visited Alex. My contacting former classmates on our snail mail
roster prompted his call. Now I need to hear
from a few others!
My similar letter to John Andrusko was
returned to sender. I have passed it along to
our finder of lost classmates, George Lawton. Out of time and space. Next time a longer account of Jack May’s
“pedal-to-the-metal dash from Manhattan, NY to Redondo Beach, CA in the Cannonball
Run. In 1975 Jack and his partner Rick Cline
covered 2,951 miles in 35 hours and 53 minutes. Their
record still stands. Jack says they should
have done it in 29 hours and might have… saving that for another column. After Santa Fe you have 2002 activities including
Pensacola, Adriatic Cruise, skiing in Whistler, company micros, etc. You have no excuse for staying home.
Photos
(mailed on 29 October):
1.
L-R: Paul
Ruud & Fred Pirkey ’55
2. 
Buchly,
Kubiak, Collett & Weckel at rest stop
3.
4. 
B1 Hikers:
Wayne Nicoll ’57, Jerry Lewis & Bob Hull ’56
5. 
Will
Collett & Bill Buchly – all downhill from here