Rocky Mountain High Mini-Reunion
& Ryder Cup
(Observations by Ian &
Helen Carter)
Located 8,200 feet above sea
level overlooking Edwards and the West Vail Valley, 2-1/2 hours west of Denver,
109 members of the Class of ‘64, including spouses and widows of classmates,
gathered for the Second ‘64 Mini-Reunion and Ryder Cup Competition’ at the
luxurious destination resort – the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera. From a lofty position atop its private
mountain the quintessential chateau-style Vail luxury hotel is an intimate
retreat that is honored as one of the top 25 ski resort accommodations in North
America by Conde Nast Traveler. It would not be an exaggeration to state
that the vista from the Lodge stretched twenty miles to the Rocky Mountain
peaks in the distance. For several days
this was our peaceful sanctuary. A more
picturesque location would be hard to find.
There was a reason this Lodge was chosen and we were reminded of it
every time we took in the vista, whether from our rooms, the outdoor pool and spa
area or the dining rooms. It was stunning.
We could spend hours searching
for words to describe what we all experienced, but perhaps the best choice is “inclusive”. The secret to the success of
this event was that everyone was included; there were no exceptions. It is no accident that this event has become
so popular. Bill Annan and Suzanne Thompson
(Annan) worked diligently for two years to make this event a resounding winner with
the goal of involving everyone who attended. An example of this inclusive nature – those
who chose not to play golf were deemed to be “Free Spirits” and their activities made some golfers jealous they
were playing golf instead joining in the fun with the Free Spirits.
As you can see from the following
list of Free Spirits they numbered
about the same as the golfers with several non-golfing couples in attendance: Janine Anderson, Ruth Baratto, Chris &
Harriett Bass, Jim & Marsha Bierschmidt, Doug Bennett, Doris Brewer, Pat
Broyles, Helen Carter, Dixie Chilcoat, Dorothy Deem, Paula Desjardins, Tom
& Nancy Dooley, Cynthia Evans, Patty Foster, Bob & Frankie Gesner, Judi
Giordano, Heike Gottler, Dottie Harman, Tony & Karen Hartle, Bud Henry, Syl
Coleman, Connie Hoover, Randy & Leslie Kunkel, Shari Lamkin, Boni
Leyerzaph, Angie Magruder, Peggy McCormack, Silvia McLaughlin, Jody Murphy,
Louise Murray, Pat Pope, Dick Plymale, Dick & Audrey Puckett, Judy Roberts,
Amy Robinson, Terry Rusnak (due to pending surgery he started as a Free Spirit, but because of another
golfer’s injury he was pressed into service as a West golfer on the last day),
Carol Scott, Bonnie Shoemaker, Mary Ann Trifiletti, Frank & Billie Watson,
Barbara Werner, Lee Wynn.
Bill and Suzanne made the initial
reservation at Cordillera two years ago.
They didn’t spend this much time planning a stupendous event for money
or glory; they generously put on this get-together out of love for the class. We are fortunate to have them as part of ‘64.
Our group pretty much took over
the lodge and spa for several days of glorious camaraderie and just plain old
fun. Over one-third of us arrived early on
Saturday, 28 July. That evening we
gathered downhill on site at the Grouse on the Green Irish Pub for drinks and
dinner. There were so many early
attendees that to accommodate our group the Pub had to set up tables and chairs
as we overflowed into the lobby. Some of
us lowlanders quickly realized we were at altitude as we walked out of breath up
the hill and steps from the Pub to the Lodge.
On Sunday, 29 July those who
arrived early could play a warm up round at Sonnenalp, the home course of Norm
and Sarah Smith, who live in Edward. Can
you imagine that – golf and winter skiing?
For the Free Spirits Suzanne
sponsored a trip into Vail Village to the Farmers’ Market and Art Show where
they were able to wander and enjoy the ambience of the friendly, European-like,
Alpine atmosphere. Some simply chose to
hang out at the Lodge and acclimatize in the indoor and outdoor pools and
jacuzzis. As the day progressed, the
balance of the group arrived and were welcomed by classmates from the Denver
area manning the ‘64 reception desk in the lobby. The opening reception that evening was a
buffet in the main living room area of the Lodge. Bill and Suzanne said a few words of welcome,
Randy Kunkel explained the Free Spirit activities
and Frank Giordano, the “Competitive Czar” explained that those golfers who had
signed up to compete would do so in the ‘64 Ryder Cup Competition and those
golfers who desired a laid back, non-competitive golf outing would do so in the
Fun Flight (Judy Lambert and Sue Chapman), again accommodating everyone. Frank promised cigars for everyone, ladies
included, based on the earlier discovery of a picture of him smoking a cigar in
the “Cigar Aficionado” magazine.
Bright and early on the morning
of Monday, 30 July the golfers readied themselves for the first glorious day of
Ryder Cup Competition. The East team was
captained by the stalwart Larry Brewer with Mike Conway as his assistant. The team members were Mike Amrine (Mike played
on the West in 2010 when they won and has now resolved the dilemma of being
traded to a losing team by moving to North Scottsdale, Arizona), Howie Bachman,
Dan Banovic, Dave Baratto, Ed Brinkman, Larry Bryan, Sam Burney, George
Cromartie, Pete Desjardins, Dan Evans, Kitty Fischer, Bruce Foster, Harvey
Fraser, Ed Haydash, JB Holeman, George Jacunski, Bob Magruder, Rusty McCormack,
Hugh Morton, John Murray, Al Russo, Lanny Scott, Jim Stapleton, and Bob
Wynn. The West team was captained by crippled
Terry Rusnak, assisted by Stan McLaughlin.
The team members were Norm Anderson, Bill Annan, Ian Carter, Frank
Giordano, Mike Goff, Lucy Gray, Tom Harman, Judy Higbee, Bill Hoover, Frank
Lambert, John Leyerzaph, Bill Murphy, Kevin Murphy, Greg Olson, Teddy Olson,
Fred Pope, John Rogers, Phil Shoemaker, Norman Smith, Sarah Smith, Suzanne
Thompson (Annan), Gordon Treweek, Tony Trifiletti, and Jerry Werner. Each previous evening prior to play the
captains, assistants, Frank and Bill met in the Golf Operations Room (GOR) to
determine the pairings (just like the U.S. versus Europe Ryder Cup) and
calculate the competitive handicaps for the day’s golf. Those who didn’t want to wait and be surprised
by the pairings were in attendance. Making
sure the pairings were fair and the handicaps were correct was a complex
process that worked flawlessly due to the detailed and tireless efforts of this
industrious group. As a retired head of the math department Frank didn’t dare
make a mistake, his reputation relied on the utmost accuracy. Anyone wanting to
review the results of the day’s golf need only visit the GOR where the results
of every match were posted.
This first day of golf was played
on the gorgeous Tom Fazio course at the Red Sky Golf Club. The course is voted 90 in the “Top 100
Courses You Can Play In The USA” by Golf Magazine. Needless to say, this was an awesome hillside
layout with generous fairways and greens laid out before the golfer. The beauty of the area was truly awesome (a
much used adjective that in this case may be an understatement). The difficulty on this course was the greens
– they were treacherous and extremely fast making it troublesome to hit and
stay on the green; three putts were the norm.
Shotgun starts were used for all competitive matches so everyone was
able to arrive and leave the course at essentially the same time which was
convenient for many reasons. The
hole-by-hole winner of the first day’s matches was determined by the net best
ball of partners. The first day’s play
was interrupted by late afternoon thunder and lightning forcing a delay in play
for some foursomes. Other than that
small interruption, the weather was beautiful throughout our visit.
Also on Monday, an adventurous
group of Free Spirits led by Randy
got “high” on Vail Mountain by taking the gondola to the top. After lunch and photos at 12,000 feet, some
returned by gondola while others descended the mountain on foot via “Berry
Picker Trail.” Like the golfers, they
got caught in the rain; unlike the
golfers they had nowhere to hide so drenched they were. The hardy hikers included Syl Coleman, Boni
Leyerzaph, Helen Carter, Peggy McCormack and, of course, Randy and Leslie
Kunkel. Some Free Spirits made up their own activity which was the case when
Frank Watson and Dick Plymale sought a place to go fishing – Frank for the “gazillionth” time, and Dick for
the first time. Imagine, Dick caught a
fish on his first outing.
That evening we enjoyed a
sit-down dinner in the Mirador Dining Room at the Lodge. Prior to dinner the Competitive Czar and his
group had already met to tally and post the scores for the first day and
prepare the pairings and tee box assignments for the second day which was posted outside the dining room for all to view
as they made their way into dinner. They
also placed tally sheets on each table just in case the postings at the door
were missed, again great attention to detail.
The meals were casual affairs with no seat assignments and were a great
time to meet with old friends or renew acquaintances. Whether you dined with someone you had a
close relationship with or someone you barely knew, the special bond we all
share was ever present throughout our visit together (it may be a clumsy way to
way it but if you were there you know what we mean). At the end of the first day of competition the
West was ahead 9 to 4 in matches won.
Frank awarded a ‘64 Ryder Cup ball marker to each of the match winners,
both East and West.
Tuesday, 31 July started once
again with a great breakfast at the Lodge.
Each morning the omelet chef was ready to make any omelet concoction we
chose with other great breakfast options offered as well. The golfers were headed for Red Sky Golf Club
again; this time, to the Greg Norman course, voted the 25th course
in the “Top 100 Courses You Can Play In The USA” by Golf Magazine. The Norman course was actually higher up the
mountain than the previous day’s Fazio course with equally expansive vistas from
all tee boxes, fairways and greens. The
course was beautifully set out before us with large, generous fairways. It was as if we were standing on top of the
world. Once again the greens proved to
be as difficult to read as those of the Fazio course. The course was made harder because now we had
a format of two net balls in each match.
We could no longer rely upon our partner to bail us out; both of our
balls counted. This always makes for a
difficult format for the average golfer, but it was fun nonetheless. It would be reasonable to conclude that it
would be difficult, maybe impossible, to find two courses the quality of the
Fazio Course and the Norman Course at the same club. When you combine that with the altitude and
the views from the Red Sky Golf Club then you have a very short list of
comparable venues.
The Free Spirits had several events from which to choose. The hardiest
group took a white water rafting trip on the Colorado River through Glenwood
Canyon, donning all the typical white water rafting gear including
helmets. Once more that group got soaked
riding the rapids, with blue skies above.
Other Free Spirits choose to do
some fun and scenic bicycling in Glenwood Canyon while many others attended the
superb “Cordillera Cooking on High”
class led by the Lodge’s chef.
Dinner that evening was catered
at the Singletree Community Center in Edwards, located down the long winding
road from the Lodge. Frank awarded a
handsome ‘64 Ryder Cup divot tool with a magnetic ball marker to all the match
winners. As promised, Frank handed out
cigars to anyone who wanted one. Karl
Robinson emceed a very funny stand-up comedy routine involving a trivia
questionnaire – you guessed it – the subject matter: cadet life. His funniest line drawing unanimous laughter
was “At the 2014 Reunion the class meeting will be scheduled at 3:30 a.m. Since everyone will be up taking a pee, we might
as well have the meeting.” This remark
might not have sounded so funny a few years back but at this point in our lives
many can appreciate the reality of Karl’s humor. In the second day’s play the West prevailed 7
to 6. After two days of play the West
led 16 to 10.
The last official day of the ‘64
Ryder Cup Competition was Wednesday, 1 August.
The format for the third day was singles matches. In this format we had no place to hide since
it was one player pitted against another, each playing their own ball. These matches were held at Lakota Canyon Ranch
Golf Club in New Castle, Colorado. The course
had 17 elevated tees (that’s correct 17, probably a record) with many blind
second shots. From many of the tee boxes
it was difficult to know in which direction the hole was going to go. It was the ultimate in target golf with
several severe doglegs, if you missed the fairway you were usually in deep
trouble – like lost ball trouble. The
difficulty of the course was softened by greens that were more like most of us
typically play and could be two putted.
The views were forever and the weather and nature was at their finest.
Randy had again done a superb job
providing options for the Free Spirits. Some went on a scenic Camp Hale jeep tour
with lunch. Others headed to a culture
and nature tour of Vail and some chose the pool and spa to simply enjoy the
views and one another’s company.
Prior to the evening meal we all
gathered at the pool area for group pictures that took advantage of the
infinite views. The plan had been to eat
dinner by the pool; however, with signs of inclement weather the venue was moved
inside to the third floor dining room. A wonderful sit down dinner was served by the
staff at the Lodge. Throughout our
entire visit the Lodge staff was extremely service-oriented, courteous and as
friendly a group of young people as you could ever hope to meet. Several
residents from the area who were members of the Lodge went out of their way to
welcome us. One gentleman thanked many
of us for our service and talked of his ties to West Point. The warm spirit of the staff and the locals made
our visit even more special.
At dinner prizes and mementos
were awarded. Out of the 26 individual
matches on the final day of play the West prevailed 19 to 7; the final tally
for all three days was West 35 and East 17.
Frank awarded golf towels to the both East and West winners, golf shoe
bags (both with the ‘64 Ryder Cup logo) to the winning West team members and a
doggie bag with milk duds (probably should have been doggie treats) to the
losing East team. You can’t say everyone
didn’t win something! Randy, assisted by
Syl Coleman and Helen Carter, awarded theme-oriented bags to many of the Free Spirits denoting their
participation in the various events. At
each place setting was a keepsake of a grand time had by all: a mini-brandy snifter
complete with our Class Crest and ‘64 Mini-Reunion and Ryder Cup 2012’ inscription;
tucked inside each was a mini-liqueur. That
evening after dinner Helen and I sat by the fire-pit while I smoked a cigar and
we sipped our liqueurs. As we sat there
a beautiful healthy fox casually walked within 15 feet of us looking for food
simply ignored our presence. The next
morning Helen took pictures of a large black bear just outside the room where
we enjoyed dinner the previous evening.
It just goes to show that these other friends were sharing their retreat
with us.
On the morning of Thursday, 2
August many met for our final breakfast to say goodbyes. Some stayed on for optional golf while others
headed toward other destinations or toward home. The heartfelt comments of Bill, Suzanne and
Randy at the final dinner epitomized the meaning of “classmate” that everyone felt
and enjoyed at this gathering. Bill and
Suzanne worked tirelessly to make this much more than a golf outing and they succeeded
beyond our wildest dreams to make us feel welcome and special and to provide
enjoyment for all.
This has become a “must attend”
for many of us in ‘64. God willing, the Free Spirits and the golfers will gather
once again in 2015 to enjoy each other’s company at 5,200 feet or higher
(sounds like the Olympics, don’t it? – well this is more special than the
Olympics, at least to us).