This is the one I really thought I’d be able to attend, cockeyed optimist that I used to be. I did not, but a number of folks from out of the area did, as John Swensson explains below:

“Following a festive Thursday lunch at the Saratoga Country club, replete with a banner that said
‘Welcome USMA Class of 1965’ on the wall, the golfers attacked the golf course and the ladies and some non-golfing gentlemen took a wine tasting tour of Saratoga and then a tour of downtown Los Gatos with a stop at The Butter Paddle, a charity store that sells new goods and is run by volunteers. Thank you, Susan, for leading that outing.

Photo Right: L-R, John Howell, Lenore Garman, Larry Neal

“Thursday afternoon, the Hospitality Suite opened at the Clariana Hotel and classmates gathered to imbibe and tell stories before adjourning to a local restaurant for dinner. The hotel, run by Vietnamese refugees, provided inexpensive rooms and wonderful service all weekend. Bob and Faye took advantage of the rates to stay six days and Bob was made an honorary Assistant Manager (and desk clerk).

“Friday the golfers repaired to Moffett Field golf course, joined by Donna and Matt (John’s son) Seymour. Matt has now joined Dave Kuhn in Proshot Golf, taking his father’s place. It was wonderful being with them. The non-golfers went to Stanford University, where Kathy Adams led a tour of the Anderson Art Collection at the Stanford Museum. Thank you, Kathy.

Photo: Left: L-R, Harley Moore, Myrna Valdez, Myrita Pindar, Ross Wollen

“Friday evening we held a class dinner at the Silicon Valley Capital Club. We started with a briefing by Mr. Erik Oines ‘15 of the AOG Development Office -- Erik is a member of our affiliate class and he gave a presentation on future projects and vision at West Point. Joe De Francisco, you should be proud of this lad. We continued with dinner toasts led by Bruce Clark, Ralph Adams, and Russ Campbell. Following a wonderful meal, former Secretary of the Army Fran Harvey gave remarks, thanking the class for its sacrifices and service.. Russ and Ross Wollen presented Secretary Harvey and his wife Mary with a copy of the Paul Martin painting of the Arvin gymnasium, noting Fran’s lifesaving up-armoring of HUMVs for Iraq and Afghanistan .

“Saturday saw a lively USMA tailgate of perhaps 600 souls with visits by the Cadet Rally band and the new Superintendent, LTG Williams. Todd Browne, AOG President, spent some time with the class and after a photo with the Supe, we adjourned to cheer on Army in its 51-3 drubbing of San Jose State.”

L-R, Secretary Harvey, Jeff Radcliffe, Bob Radcliffe, Faye Hayes | L-R, Erik Oines (’15) and Swensson | Ralph Adams | L-R, Bud & Judy Fish, Bob & Michele Axley
| Susan Swensson

Here’s hoping that West Coast mini-reunions become a tradition – quickly, before everything burns down!

No, not a Classmate, but, rather, someone who coached our Classmates. Bob Radcliffe explains on the next page.

L-R, Jack Thomasson, Betty Adams, Coach Jim “Ace” Adams, Bob Radcliffe (photo by Larry Neal)

Gene Parker writes to tell about a fundraiser for veterans with which he was recently involved:

Without even the requirement of a subpoena, Barry Zais (last seen on these pages molesting a bass) has spilt the frijoles on the recent gathering of some of our most distinguished alleged perpetrators.

“Ten Classmates met recently at Steve Darrah’s club in Powhatan, VA, for their annual bash consisting of golf, poker, food, and drinks. As one can imagine, a lot of wild stories were recounted.”

Seated, L-R: Sandy Hallenbeck, Bob Harter, Fred Grates, Steve Darrah
Standing, L-R: Pat Kenny, Bob Radcliffe, Jack Thomasson, Chris Needels, Steve Ammon, Barrie Zais

As I understand it, positions at the table were dictated by who felt okay on his feet versus who wanted to sit until the room quit spinning. What Virginia moonshine lacks in flavor and finesse it makes up for in purity of ethanol, or so an anonymous source has informed me.

Jim Harvey (last seen on these pages as a small craft skipper) decided to celebrate his 75th birthday in style … free-fall style, that is.

As light as Jim is, I have some doubts as to whether he’s landed yet. Also, I forgive him for making a tandem jump; the alternative would have been to attend jump refresher at Bragg, I guess. And finally, pretty good hair line for a 75-year-old, Jim!

Plus Ça Change …. Bob Woolf’s eagle eye has detected an upcoming Army uniform change – back to greens, but not AG44, the genuine olive green of WWII! See https://webmail.networksolutionsemail.com/appsuite/#!!&app=io.ox/mail/detail&folder=default0/INBOX&id=6624166547822769192

comes an amusing set of quotations relating to college football, a game that Army has become quite adept at of late.
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football"

John Heisman
"I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game."

Bear Bryant / Alabama
"It isn't necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!”

Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat. That costs money, and we don't have any."

Erik Russell / Georgia Southern
"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."

Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Notre Dame
"When you win, nothing hurts."

Joe Namath / Alabama
"A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall."

Frank Leahy / Notre Dame
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the s**t kicked out of you."

Woody Hayes / Ohio State
"I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation."

Bob Devaney / Nebraska
"In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant."

Wally Butts / Georgia
"I never graduated from Iowa. But I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's."

– Alex Karras / Iowa
"My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball, and arrive in a bad humor.”

Erik Russell / Georgia Southern
"I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades."

Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
"Always remember Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David."

Shug Jordan / Auburn
"I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me .” He said, ‘Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good.’"

Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State/Dallas Cowboys
"Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel."

Bobby Bowden / Florida State
"Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport."

Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his post-game message to his team was, "All those who need showers, take them."

John McKay / USC
"If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.”

Murray Warmath / Minnesota
"The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb."

Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches."

Darrell Royal / Texas
"We didn't tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking."

John McKay / USC
"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

Ohio State 's Urban Meyer on one of his players:
"He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades and he doesn’t know the meaning of a lot of words.”

And now, some team jokes!

Why do Auburn fans wear orange? So they can dress that way for the game on Saturday, go hunting on Sunday, and pick up trash on Monday.

What does the average Alabama player get on his SATs? Drool.

How many Michigan State freshmen football players does it take to change a light bulb? None. That's a sophomore course.

How did the Auburn football player die from drinking milk? The cow fell on him.

Two Texas A&M football players were walking in the woods. One of them said, "Look, a dead bird.” The other looked up in the sky and said, "Where?"

What do you say to a Florida State University football player dressed in a three-piece suit? "Will the defendant please rise.”

If three Rutgers football players are in the same car, who is driving? The police officer.

How can you tell if a Clemson football player has a girlfriend? There's tobacco juice on both sides of the pickup truck.

What do you get when you put 32 Arkansas cheerleaders in one room? A full set of teeth.

After a player showed him his semester report with four F's and one D, coach Bowden said, "Son, it looks to me like you've spent too much time on just one subject."

University of Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh is only going to dress half of his players for the game this week; the other half are able to dress themselves.

And on that note, Beat Navy!!! Step

I'd first like to reiterate to Dick Williams his Classmates' condolences with regard to the passing of his beloved wife. Dick himself reports,

John Bell represented the Class of 1965 at the September 8 Memorial Service for my wife of 44 years, Joan Maree Porter Emmack Williams. I greatly appreciated the support.

Photo: L-R, John Bell and Dick Williams at Joan Maree's memorial service, 180908

The Chicago group enjoyed another lunch get together at an Italian restaurant, minus Ron Layer who was in Florida. Each of us gave a short summary of family member status. Although our group has several middle aged USMA male graduates, there is so far only one granddaughter attending USMA. Hopefully, there will be a few more. We failed to make accurate head count, but there are more than 20 grandchildren from our group.

Our group has been very busy travelling all over the world, and we will be again busy travelling to all corners of the world in 2019. We expect interesting reports at our next luncheon.

We were very happy to have Dave & Patty Jones back with the Chicago group. They lived in Chicagoland some 15 or 20 years ago, and apparently began to miss the frigid Chicago winter after they moved to Florida. They will also be very close to their growing family.

Attached is the best that our designated photographer can manage. Unfortunately, the photo had to be taken at a stair, and some of us do not appear clearly. Front row from left are Bridget Eckstein, Jill Seaworth, Anna Croak, Izumi Yoshitani, and Denny Coll. Second row from left are Norm Eckstein,George Seaworth, Tom Croak, Patty Jones, and Ken Yoshitani. Third row from left are Chuck Shaw, Carol Roseberg, Don Shutters, and Dave Jones. Finally, at the top is John Roseberg. We will make an effort to send you a better photo the next time.

Strength and Drive!

For caption, please see text.

Ken also made a daring prognostication regarding the current World Series, which with benefit of hindsight I have chosen to omit. As the fan of a team whose last two Series appearances resulted in a loss in extra innings of the 7th game, I am accustomed to drought; the Tribe's last successful World Series appearance was back when Bob Feller and Larry Doby and Bob Lemon and Lou Boudreau were burning it up, and I was in kindergarten. Not to fret, Ken; the Cubs will be back … and maybe they'll lose the Series to the Indians!

Skip O'Donnell sent a brief account and a few snaps (some, regrettably, unusable) of his and Marilyn's recent trip to South Africa:

Marilyn and I had a great trip to Cape Town and safari in Pilanesburg Game reserve, South Africa, last month

Photo Left: L-R, Marilyn and Skip. The sign is self-explanatory

Pachyderm not yet poached

Photo Right: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to ME?

Looks like a great trip, Skip. Who knows how soon seeing such creatures in their natural habitat will be impossible?

Jim Helberg reports on the latest in the periodic gatherings of Classmates in that region.

Photo Left: L-R, Jim & Lynne Helberg, Jim Harvey, Dave & Darlene Hopkins

As you may know there is a group of 65ers who meet occasionally for lunch and fellowship in Central Virginia. Our numbers have grown from an original four couples to ten couples and one single guy (widower) - we are always looking for additional 65ers to add to the group. With that number we rarely are able to get everyone together at the same time, but usually do quite well. September was to be our next gathering and we tried hard to get everyone together but we are a busy bunch and could not make it happen. But in the spirit of press on regardless we decided to get together anyway - on 28 September (hey, it was still September) - all six of us. Jim & June Harvey graciously hosted us for appetizers at their lovely waterside home in Chesapeake, VA, followed by lunch at a local spot, then back to their home for a boat ride conducted by Captain Jim, and desert.

Photo Right: Making absolutely zero wake in the estuary

June Harvey at the Leica

Thanks, Jim. It's good to see a portion of the Mid-Atlantic Littoral looking relatively normal after all the weather horror stories this year!

George Ruggles sent the photo atop the next page, uncaptioned (though he seems to be the fellow in the middle on the left, if the Clark Kent glasses are any giveaway). It looks like it was taken in a US government facility somewhere in Southeast Asia with something resembling a pinhole camera. Evocative of a time long ago and place far away, isn't it? Thanks, Geo.

Tim (Fred, to those who didn't know him way back when) Timmerman contacted me recently with encouraging news about Lou Csoka, who you'll recall has faced some serious health problems in recent years.

Regarding Louis, a number a classmates asked about him on the recently completed Ireland gambit. On our return [from Ireland] we took him to our local Oktoberfest. If anyone wants an update, with all his challenges he is hanging in there. I do believe a German beer or two brings out the best in everyone!

Photo: Front – Lou and Judy Csoka. Rear – Tim and son Eric ('91)