Lt. Col. (Ret.)
Gregory J. Renko, Class of 1973,
died Jan. 15, 2006, in Sumter, SC.
Memorial: A memorial service was held at the Episcopal Church of the Holy
Comforter on Jan. 16, in Sumter, SC.
Funeral: A funeral service is scheduled for Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. at the
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel.
Donations: In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be
made to one of the following organizations: Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit,
MUSC, c/o Cathleen Walters, 169 Ashley Ave., P.O. Box 250347, Charleston, SC
29425; Life Point, 4200 Faber Place Dr., Charleston, SC 29405
Condolences: May be sent to his family, Mrs. Diane Renko, 2753 Powhatan
Dr., Sumter, SC.
INTRODUCTION: Thanks very much for the compliments on these Newsletters. My (much modified) goal is to provide updates on 2/3 of our classmates in my three year “tour”.
Dave Minto shows the professional intensity and athletic form that it takes to be successful, whatever the sport.
SQUADRON NOTES: Lead story out of Evil Eight has to be Dave Minto’s million dollar win for placing second (of 745) in the PartyPoker Million challenge. His mom taught him to play and wife Barbara urged him to enter this contest. Dave’s other job is Technical Director for the 846th Test Squadron hurling sleds supersonically down the Holloman test track. Al and Jody Dunlap stayed in Abilene after retirement to teach JROTC (“time off and working with kids are great!”) and raise their kids; when the last is through A&M they may consider another locale. Jim Iagulli is Anchorage International’s operations manager while Mary Jo is the Eagle River HS librarian; they have four children including one in medical school. Denny Merideth has left public service in the Missouri House of Representatives; he had been the first elected independent in well over a century. Four CS-08’rs fly commercially now. Ron and Pam Moran work out of DFW; he flies for Delta and she works for Hammer Down Delivery. Ron gives time to Boy Scouts and his church and loves to ski when able. I had a wide-ranging chat with Bill Naigle who flies for ABX (Airborne Express) Air out of Choctaw OK; wife Beth is a travel agent. Their daughter is married to an F-16 pilot at Aviano while their son is in community college intending transfer to OU. Larry Radov retired and started with Southwest flying out of Baltimore; he and Natalie and kids visited his old world relatives at the Croatian island of Olib in the Adriatic. JB VanCoevering is a USAIR captain while Debbie works retail for LaCoste in the Miami area; they’re family-oriented with two children in college and one in high school. Terry Powell is CEO of Property Management Systems, Incorporated, out of Yulee FL which functions as ‘city manager’ for 130 homeowner and condominium associations; co-owner and spouse Mary is a “civic warrior” district director for the Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs. Debbie was considerate enough to not wake Dick Schaller who was taking a break from managing Schaller Engineering contracts with Eglin Munitions Laboratory and SOCOM making bigger bangs and better electric vehicles. Dave Smith (Rhonda) retired early from Citibank to play golf, travel, work out, spend winter time at their Sarasota house and design/maintain golf websites. Alice Womack stayed in Carlisle after Ken’s War College schooling; when he came back he worked his way into the Assistant Borough Manager position, and for fun he still grades papers for Army officers taking the distance learning course. Terry Graybeal was last sighted in the commissary in Alaska and his phone listing is still in the Anchorage area.
CS-23 lads continue to strive and achieve after 30+ years. Bart Barton took law at night, while working for ACC Plans & Programs, and just passed the Virginia bar exam; wife Gail just degreed in Organizational Leadership and continues on her masters. Neurosurgeon Abe Abraham is a solo practitioner in Jonesboro Arkansas; he finally fulfilled a T-41 inspired dream: he got his private pilots license, bought a Cirrus, and now cruises the southeast US at 155 knots. Chuck Cornell was working late as an Aerospace Corp director near his Marina del Rey CA home; wife Barbara (information assurance at Boeing) told me they like to travel to Europe when they need to get away. I caught psychiatrist Dom Mazza at 9:30 after a long day with patients around Archbald PA. He and Elda take the kids in May to Gubbio, Italy; his family’s home for that town’s annual celebration. Dom is still a rabid Giants fan and still jams with friends on his guitar. Last active duty man standing is MajGen Quentin Peterson (Pamela) who recently became the AMC Director of Operations at Scott AFB. Rich Anselm is the Rosendin Electric (San Jose, CA) senior engineer responsible for putting proposals together and then managing those programs until construction is initiated. Wife Beth is a librarian for SAP software. Greg Krafft was in DC for MTC Technologies (on a holiday!) when I called; Debbie told me they grew to love Georgia and when Greg retired as C-141 SPO Director they elected to stay in the Marietta area. Al Saavedra bought and operated the domain Uruguay.com before selling profitably; he’s in Glendale CA with Systech Solutions putting together outsourcing support for US and international companies. Harris Corporation moved Bob Voigt from Melbourne FL to northern VA to do program management in support of the intel community. With two sons graduated from college he and Rose are considering a second retirement. Mark Witkowski teaches Econ/Finance at University of Arkansas Little Rock; he and Joetta have five children, one is a USAF 2Lt, one in junior college, and three being home-schooled. Jeff Blanchette is a solo consultant after working at Sandia Lab in Albuquerque; he plans to quit in six months and “then I’m dreaming”. Gordon and Kaia Schroeder live next to the Guadelupe River near San Antonio; he’s flown for Continental for 21 years, she’s a part-time ICU nurse, and they share six kids. Mike Young has been a check airman for American and teaches human factors. Carolyn manages their seven children and ran a home herbal products business until the house was paid off; they now have a 200 acre ranch and 36 head of cattle. Dan Romcevich, United pilot out of Denver, just came back from Saigon with a sterling silver ’73 class ring he found (see picture)…did you tell Gay it cost 500,000 dong?
MYSTERY:
Can anyone provide information on this sterling silver class ring found in
Saigon?
Dan Romcevich’s ring on left, mystery ring on right.
ODDS AND SODS: Paul Pitcovich is
a Unisys contractor working for DISA in Oklahoma City. Bruce Bennett
commutes from his Alexandria home to the DIA building at Bolling AFB. Dave
Aderhold is an employee of Orbital Sciences living in Leesburg VA. After
retiring and working for Batelle, Francis Veldman is a program manager
for Boeing in Wichita KS.
SMALL WORLD CASE #36544: Pam and I took a break while
biking rural Colorado to talk to a Marlboro-type man fixing a barbed wire
fence. Turned out it was Joe Walker up from the Dallas area to visit his
mother-in-law for the holidays and do a few chores. That wasn’t enough
coincidence; we both had to break the conversation to meet anniversary
reservations that evening.
’73 PASSING: Greg Renko passed away suddenly 14 January; our thoughts and prayers go to his wife Dee, children Kelly and Matthew, and sister Renee Harmon (Mike ’73). Greg was a multi-tour/multi-airframe fighter pilot, OV-10 FAC, sim instructor retiree, and had a great/droll sense of humor. We’ll miss him.
CLASS LEADERSHIP NEWS (Mitch Mitchell): The class leadership met this summer to discuss our continuing support of the National Character & Leadership Symposium (NCLS), which is attended by over 300 guests, students, and faculty from military academies and universities across the nation and around the world. We provided feedback on the 2005 NCLS, discussed the NCLS vision and budget for the 2006 Symposium, "Courage in the Face of Adversity," which was held 23 - 25 February 2006 at the Academy.
Colorado ‘73’rs get together for lunch: Back L-R: Mitch Mitchell, John Stefonik, Tom Mayberry, Johnny Whitaker. Middle L-R: Bob Munson, Mike Smith, Dennis Haugh, Al Maurer, Dick Fickes, AJ Briding. Sitting L-R: Ron Scott, Rowe Stayton, John Blecher, Gary Triplett, John Cotten.