'65 Classmates:

Sunday, Jan 31, 2021: Jay's email asking me to call him arrived. (Jay Stewart and I were A-2 plebe/yearling roomies.) On the phone, Jay related that class leadership was looking for a secretary/scribe to replace Step who suddenly could not continue. Jay thought of me because together we enjoyed managing parts of our 50th Reunion. We joked about it, but Jay was serious. Pat Kenny and I had a conversation. So . . . here I was, at the end of January bored out of my mind because of C-19. By Valentine’s Day, as Step's replacement, I was busier than a one-legged man in a butt kickin' contest.

With changing of '65 Scribes, and before I offer some biography, I thought it would be interesting to look back at our succession of Scribes since graduation.

'65 Scribes Through the Years
1. Jim Hennessee	1965-1968	7. Jack Lyons	1978-1980
2. Grant Fredricks	1968-1969	8. John Higley	1980-1981
3. Mert Munson	1969-1970	9. Denny Coll	1981-2011
4. Bob Frank	1970-1974	10. Rick Bunn	2011-2016
5. John Swensson	1974-1975	11. Step Tyner	2016-2021
6. Bud Fish	1975-1978	12. Gerry Buckosky	2021-

Note: Before getting this historical account from Chuck Nichols, Denny Coll's name came to mind first. Now I understand why. Wowser! Denny was our 9th scribe, but what a term of service! He shall be henceforth known as: “3 Decades Denny.”

I cannot try to match Step's mastery of the English language or wit, but I will continue with his “despatches” moniker to preserve our memory of him. His last was #70; my first is #71.

I went into the AF after graduation. Got stationed in San Bernardino on the Minuteman Missile program. Got selected for an AFSC special graduate degree program and went to UCLA, then USC where I got my Master's in Systems Engineering in 1968. I lived in Manhattan Beach (later Playa del Rey) in LA and roomed with Chuck Shaw and Denny Sellers.

I remained in LA working at USAF Space & Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) on such missiles as Atlas, Thor and Saturn, plus Saturn (Apollo Spacecraft) Engines at Rocketdyne. Working in the early space program was really fantastic, going to launches, etc. we were called the US Aerospace Force then, basically what is now the redundant Space Force.

When Chuck and Denny went to Stanford, I replaced them in the Engineering section at AFPRO Hughes Aircraft, Culver City. I was there until 1972 when I was transferred to Hughes Aircraft, Tucson AZ, to manage the production of three missile programs, Army TOW, Air Force Maverick and Navy Phoenix.

I was “transferred” to Dallas in 1974 to manage overhauling Engines on the KC-135 tanker, then to Texas Instruments as a government GS civilian after being "asked" to leave the USAF in 1980. Then Rockwell International, Richardson TX, in 1993, where I spent the remainder of my 37 years of military and government service as a civilian engineer and Corporate Contracting Officer until I retired in 1998 at age 55.

My wife Penny (#3) and I were married in 1978 at Reunion Tower in Dallas. She is from Fort Worth. We started coming to the islands on 2-3 week vacations in 1983. We bought our townhouse in Princeville, Kaua’i in 1997, moved here in Aug 1998. We live between two golf courses, and up until I had the THR, my handicap was in the single or low double digits. That, plus age, and now I can't break 100. Very disappointing. I quit this last summer, but will retry in October after some PT. I got inducted into the PA Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, mainly for high school stuff, certainly not golf.

Got many aches and pains. My wife has Alzheimer’s and is in a foster home. This was a couple weeks ago after several years of decline.

T²ommy Thompson

For those who do not know me from cadet daze, plebe year, to distinguish my name from that of Tom Borkowski, and to make sure which one of us was being called out, upperclassmen placed emphasis on the first part of my name by saying Boo, when “Buck” was appropriate.

In those days, as plebes, we took what upperclassmen said, only to reply: “Yes Sir!” So, I dare not raise a question. In A-2, I became known as "Boo," as it was incorrectly phonetically pronounced “Boo-cow-ski.” For the record, there is no "cow" in Buckosky, (“Buck-oz-key”), though Jay suggests there is plenty of “bull!” Jay and I joke about the advertisement for the B.D.O. British accounting firm slogan: “People who know, know B.D.O.” Our version is: “People who know, know B.O.O.”

I grew up in Riverview, Michigan, south of Detroit. My first company affiliation was A-2, then K-2. Upon graduation, I was commissioned in the U.S Air Force as a management engineering officer stationed at Beale AFB, California, north of Sacramento. After 4 years of mandatory service, relying on GI Bill benefits, I left to study law at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. For extra income, I rejoined the Air Force as a Reserve (AFRES) Civil Engineering Officer stationed northwest of Detroit at what was then Selfridge AFB where I spent one weekend a month and two weeks each summer deployed to other stateside installations with a civil engineering emergency response team.

After 3 years, and upon receiving a  (J.D.) from U. of M., I returned to Northern California settling in the San Jose area. By serendipity, I was offered and accepted an opportunity from AFRES to spend a year in Europe installing microwave antennae to support broadcast of Armed Forces Network television to our forces in the European Theater. I continued my reserve participation until the late 1980s, retiring as an AFRES Lt. Col.

Upon return from Europe, I passed the licensing examination and became #59189, a member of the California Bar. (Bar is short for “barristers”). I started practice with a small San Francisco maritime law firm and federal court complex litigation involving a fleet of barge carrying ocean-going cargo ships ported in San Francisco and constructed in New Orleans. I then moved on to do insurance defense, before closing out my career as a sole practitioner.

Since 1980, I lived in Marin County (Novato) California. However, by 2006 the Bay Area changed so much, and for other reasons, I decided to move to San Diego County (Carlsbad) California where I now reside. My daughter lives in Oakland, CA. She is an entertainer, so her mother’s last name works best as her stage name, Lilan Kane. I am proud to say that, as her part-time marketing agent, she has a number of YouTube videos.

In 1965, from across the United States and elsewhere, we received appointments to the United States Military Academy. As classmates we bonded as part of the “Corps of Cadets.” After graduation, we went separate ways. Our esteemed colleague and classmate, Robert “Bob” Doughty, who eventually became USMA History Department Head, recorded and published our history, Strength & Drive: The West Point Class of 1965. We have enjoyed reunions every 5 years and our class recreation sport is golf. Regrettably, C-19 has largely immobilized our country's social interaction for a year now. Hopefully, with vaccines and survivor immunity, our country's population may soon reach “herd-immunity.” The good news is that the class will celebrate 55th +1.

In closing, I am honored to be the 12th '65 Scribe. I want to be a worthy, if not an outstanding, Scribe. However, I can only report what information I am given by each of you. I need your help and I encourage classmates to send what news you each may have, any time, to me via email. My email address of record at USMA was gbucklaw@yahoo.com. I continue to receive mail there. However, I am using a fresh account for '65 business. Please correspond with me at gerrybuckosky@gmail.com. I communicate best using email, but can be reached by phone @760-828-8721. May I hear from you?

A few weeks ago, after my Scribe appointment, Mike called. It's weird, when he introduced himself and upon hearing his voice, my mind imagined him as Mike Hudson A-2 doolie and yearling. In our brief conversation, he spoke of writing his "memoirs." I thought . . . few people write memories, what was Mike up to all these years that could warrant memoirs?

Filled with fascinating vignettes, there is a theme of humility that runs through all 87 pages of Mike's bio-sketch. After Army active duty, he entered and graduated from UTexas law school. He chose public advocacy as a career path. Thereafter, he had exciting experiences, including a foray into Hollywood. This MUST READ is about politics, a subject about which we all claim some expertise. It can be quickly read in less than an hour; but take time and slow read.

BTW, Mike offered this brief introduction to help me out: "Our classmate, Mike Hudson [G-2] has just published his Memoir, My Life: The Unlikely Journey of a Good Ole Boy From Texas. It is now available on his website, www.michaelhudson.net. Comments and your thoughts can be added onto the site as well. Enjoy the read! And Mike can be reached at mehud@aol.com."

READ IT! You can make site comments as requested; but better yet, write to Mike at mehud@aol.com. Make some small talk with our good ole boy from Texas.

Could Dennis R. Coll (Denny) be a generation unto himself? Thirty years ... three decades ... in excess of 120 Assembly Columns. Where to start?

Scribe Higley covered the 15th Reunion. For his part, Denny volunteered to organize a "class roster," though. It was the year 1980 and Denny, a Pittsburgh area native having separated from the service and living in Chicago, was in the insurance business. He had secretarial support. He was a rabble-rouser. He was involved with AOG and was active with Founders Day. He worked politics a little bit with Chicago Mayor Jane ... what's-her-name, Denny?o, we had this classmate who, not a sociopath, was making his own s-o-c-i-a-l p-a-t-h.

With that, Denny stepped in and with Big Energy submitted his first column: 1981v40n2Sep. He likely barely remembers writing . . .

It is my intent to periodically contact a group of our classmates from whom we have heard little or nothing in an attempt to find out what everybody is doing. Each of you can help in this endeavor by sending along whatever bits of information you may hear. We will keep a master roster at my office that will be updated each time new information is obtained.

In the early '80s, the IBM personal computer was introduced. Using a desktop computer with "office software," including spreadsheets and database applications would come. However, tracking classmates when Denny started was not computer assisted. Also, when, in '81 Denny became Scribe, our class's mean age of '43 babies was then 38 years. Classmates who separated early were well into civilian careers, as was Denny. In '85 we organized our 20th reunion. '65 was 42 yrs old. By our 25th, 47 yrs old. There was plenty of data to track. Many had children that could attend West Point. Denny and his wife raised a daughter who became a cadet. Military careers were ending. So much history recorded by Scribe Coll.

Our 30th and 40th passed as fast as the others. By 2010, our 45th Reunion and Denny's last year, our class mean age was 67!! During these 3 decades our class's admirable accomplishments were now history. Today, we find ourselves looking back, offering information about families and retirement and relishing memories.

Not to be forgotten also, in the early '90s, Scribes were still submitting their columns on paper with grainy black and white photos. Email was realized in the mid-90s and with it communication was easier. Volume increased. There was more to manage. We then had a website. By 2007, Apple would introduce the iPhone with its high resolution camera. Scribe Bunn would be the first to get inundated with email messages featuring high resolution photos and to submit Class Notes online. The era of Scribe Coll was now history.

So, 30 years, 3 decades and over 120 Assembly Columns later, from me personally and on behalf of all classmates, a BIG THANK YOU. Guys out there, it is ok to respond with shoutouts or better yet, communicate 2G directly.

P.S. There is a Dennis Cole in Wikipedia, but no Dennis Coll. Denny you may want to create your own.

JoAnne Tyner brings us up to date on how uniforms are made at the alma mater today. I remember processing plebe year and getting measured One style for everyone. At W.P., clothes did not make the man . . . "civies" made the man. For me the smell of damp wool in the fabric weave is unforgettable. I can still smell the odor of damp wool. Wool was ok for the snow, but not the rain or sweat. The bottoms legs of "trou" would swell up and need pressing. And, the overcoats ... bulk and weight. From the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hi8aseBFs8) we cannot tell, but it would seem a lighter, less wool content and somewhat more water repellent fabric is used today.

Comment from Gene Parker, A-1. My wife and I visited what I think was part of the uniform shop in the basement of the mess hall several years ago when we were trying to purchase dress stripes for a display. We were successful but in the process noted that Cadets were able to rent the overcoats and then turn them in prior to graduation. I still have mine but am not sure why!

I have unpleasant memories of going to an away football game against Boston College and wearing dress gray uniforms with overcoat and raincoat because of rain/sleet. Of course we had on low quarter shoes so our feet were soaked and frozen! The good news was that it was character building. Thanks for taking on the role of scribe!

Unlike prior Scribes, for Rick there were few limits on the length of any of his editions of Class Notes. Moreover, with mobile phones having cameras and proliferation of “pics,” Rick asked for and received many pictures. Like Scribe Coll, Rick was a social butterfly. He made it a point of opening a running dialog with some of the groups, one of which was his Arizona boys. In addition, he had an RV which he took on the road from time to time. He seemed to cherish renewing friendships and meeting classmates he had not previously met. For every picture received, there was something to be told. He amassed a numerous anecdotal stories within each edition of Class Notes.

Then as suddenly as he arrived, he suddenly sent his last Bunnogram. He said, in part:

My dear friends, I’m so sorry to be sending this email but I am fairly certain it is my last one. I am currently in Madigan Hospital in Washington state and have been diagnosed with a terminal respiratory illness which they cannot identify. . . . Six and one half years ago as we were approaching our 50th reunion John Mogan and Fred Laughlin approached me on numerous occasions to take on the job of Scribe for this amazing Class. I fought them tooth and nail and they knew it wasn’t me. Wrong! I have loved this job from the outset and it has been a huge support to me and the highlight of my time with this amazing Class. I’m sorry that I will probably not be able to respond to the many messages of support that I have received. I love you all as brothers and friends and could not have asked for a better connection with the Class at this time in my life. I am so proud and humbled by your acceptance of me as one of the band of brothers and hopefully a contributing part of it.

Click HERE to see Larry Neal farewell poem to our good friend. Be thou at peace Rick.