USMA Class of 1959
Minutes of Class Committee
6 July 2002

1.  The Class Committee met following The Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans' Memorial dedication at 3 PM in Alexandria, VA at the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) on July 6, 2002.  Members of the Class Committee present were: Pete Dawkins, Tom Boyle, Frank Campbell, Joe Coreth,  Art Griffin, John Gurr, Mary Clare Haskin,  Powell Hutton, George Kleb, Nick Krawciw, John McNerney, Tom Russell,  Skip Schow, Jim Walsh & John Wilson.  Numerous other classmates and guest were also there: Lou Beard,  Frank Besson, Sue & Bill Breen, Ed Burba,  Fitz Chandler, Jean & Jack Farrell, Sharon & Mike Faber, Ray Fisher, Bobbie & Bill Fitzgerald, Jerry Fogel, Duane Frederick,  Mary & Brian Gurr, John Guthrie, Al Hew, Bob Holman, Mike Isacco, Pete Keogh, Carol & Bill Luther, Mary Ann & Al Phillips, Rex Rhein, Norm Rosner, Ann Russell, Bob Shapiro, Stephen Versace, Dick Welch, Steve Werbel, and Tom Carhart - ! Class of '66.

2.  Opening Remarks: Pete Dawkins called the meeting to order. An agenda was not handed out but one had been sent via E-mail on 6/24/02. (Incl. 1).  Pete commented on the excellent dedication ceremony conducted for our classmate "Rocky" Versace this morning and expressed hope to see many of us at the White House on Monday.  Steve Versace was presented a letter of congratulations from the Commandant of the Marines, GEN. Jones.  Steve Versace thanked the class for all it's support in gaining the proper recognition for his brother, "Rocky."

3. Induction Ceremony:  Thanks to the previous work of John Gurr in developing a vehicle to recognize those who have made major contributions to the class, there was a brief induction ceremony in which Mike Faber and Duane Frederick were made honorary members of the Class of 1959.  John Gurr, who had done the work and prepared the nomination for Mike Faber, gave a brief review of why Mike should receive this honor.  A plaque with appropriate citation was then presented to Mike by Pete Dawkins.  Bill Luther, who had accomplished the research and prepared Duane Frederick's nomination, briefly described the major contributions Duane had made and then Pete presented Duane a plaque with appropriate citation.  Both Mike and Duane were major forces in the actions developed which resulted in the award of the MOH to our classmate "Rocky" Versace.

4. Approve Past Minutes: Minutes of the 21 April 2002 meeting which had been sent to everyone on e-mail were approved.

5. It was mentioned that Maddy Davis had thanked the class for their support and the contribution made in Don's memory.

6. COMMITTEE REPORTS

A.  Treasurer's Report - Art Griffin presented the current report (Inclosure 2), which was approved. 

B.  Fund Raising - John Wilson provided the current status of our fund raising campaign, status by cadet Company (Incl. 3) and individual status (Incl. 4).  He commented that our overall contribution rate of 71% was outstanding and the class was to be congratulated on their effort.

C. Class Scholarship Fund - Powell Hutton announced that we had awarded this year's scholarship in the amount of $2000.00 to Katherine S. McNerney, daughter of John McNerney.  May 21, 2002 letter of award is at Inclosure 5.  Powell requested that the deadline for next years application - March 15, be placed on the Class Calendar.

D. Future Memorial Ceremonies:  John McNerney discussed the ways in which future Memorial Ceremonies at the Wall should be scheduled to shorten the overall calendar so the final ceremony could be conducted before we are too old to attend same.  A motion was made, seconded and approved that future memorial ceremonies would be held on the 40th Anniversary Date of Death of those to be honored.

Note:  After some post meeting consideration and discussion, this decision was confirmed.  (See message at Incl. 6).

7.  45th Reunion: We had a brief meeting and discussion of aspects of the 45th reunion.

A.  Jim Walsh mentioned we need to get started on and develop a good outline for development of our class history. (50 Year Book).   Tom Carhart - Class of '66 and author of just published West Point Warriors, (See Incl. 7) volunteered that our class was unique and he would be happy to author our history for a fee of $15,000.  We said we would take his offer into consideration and get back to him.

B.  The question of a uniform for the 45th was discussed.  It was felt that the Class of 1949 had made such a good impression at the last every 5th year reunion, that we should seriously consider having a uniform for our 45th.  Bob Shapiro volunteered to do some research and come up with a uniform proposal for us to consider and approve for our 45th reunion.

C.  Some class members had mentioned that they would like to play golf at our 45th reunion.  Bill Breen volunteered to canvas the class for interest and if sufficient, make the necessary arrangements for a golf outing at the West Point golf course.  Tentatively Thursday, at the start of the reunion weekend, was assumed to be the best day.

8. Award Nominees:  At our last meeting it was it was mentioned that Ed Burba should be considered for the Distinguished Graduate Award.  Ed was present and after a brief discussion, the Class Committee approved Ed's nomination. Bill Luther volunteered to take the lead on drafting up Ed's nomination.
Note: There was some discussion about various individuals who might be good nominees for the Thayer Award.  No decision was made at this time, but after a lot of post meeting e-mails and dialogue in which the following six individuals were proposed as nominees:  Honorable John O. Marsh, Jr., GEN. Gordon Sullivan, Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO), President Jimmy Carter, Senator George Mitchell, Mayor Rudolph Guilianni, and Milton Friedman, a final decision will be made at our next Class Committee meeting on who the class will endorse or nominate.

9.  Memento for Widows:  Fitz Chandler, who had recently represented the Class at the funeral of Al Houltry, felt it would be nice if some memento, from the class could be presented to the widow at the funeral ceremony.
Note:  A post meeting discussion developed the recommendation that a flag case in which the American flag could be displayed, would be an appropriate memento.  This will be discussed at future Class Committee meetings.

10.  Next Meeting:  Pete announced that the next Class Committee meeting would be held  in conjunction with the Malek Class Dinner.

Note: Subsequent events determined that the Malek dinner would be on October 5th. The next Class Committee meeting was then scheduled for 1500 hours on Saturday 5 October at IDA in Alexandria, VA.

                            Jim Walsh

                                                                             
                                                                 JAMES E. WALSH, JR.
                                                                                       Secretary