Class of ’73, news clips in this hard copy Checkpoints have been abbreviated, but your complete inputs are here on our web site. vr/Joe Kahoe, CS-07.
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| Nov 5th, 2011 at Steve Harman’s 60th birthday party, L to R standing: Tom Grayson, Ted Munsch, Stalker Reed, Jay Jabour, Steve Harman, Jimmy Amos, Ed Whitt, Adrian Moroles. (Kneeling l to r): Mike Davenport, Al Nacke, Glen Johnston. Two weeks later, Steve lost his battle with cancer. (See Checkpoints’ GBNF Section for a tribute to Steve). |
From Paul Freund: John Pretz passed away unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm on Oct 15 with his family at his bedside and many friends nearby. His funeral mass was last Friday, 21 Oct. Spence Way, Gene Cuomo, George Tota, Sam Torrey, Bob Frasier, and Paul Freund were at the wake. Norty and Suzy Schwartz came to the hospital before John passed. John was interned at Arlington Cemetery on Jan 25th. Paul and Jane Freund attended and John reports: “As always, the Air Force Honor Guard and Army Old Guard did a great job of performing the military honors. The AF band also did a nice job with music, which John would have appreciated. All of John's immediate family was present, as well as much of his extended family. There was a great turnout from many of his former co-workers and friends, and a lot of classmates as well. Dave Ochmanek, Craig Lady, Ken Bonn, Gene Cuomo, Dennis Rensel, Vance Lineberger, Bob Fraser, George and Jackie Tota, and Steve Kuprel. Norty couldn't make it due to his travel commitments. George, Jackie, Jane, myself, Craig and Ken had lunch at the Ft Myer O Club after. Hope there won't be any more funerals for a long while.” Watch a great video of John at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10150513713280734. 
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| Photos received from John Pretz’s daughter Katie, taken this summer at a family gathering in Michigan where Joanne's parents live. | |
Mike Nishimuta reports a serious threat to his golf game in Italy… “I have been hired as the site manager for Embry-Riddle at Aviano, which includes the remote campus at Incirlik. Feel free to get another Master's Degree with us online!” Director of Academic Support, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Aviano AB, Italy, and USAFA/AFROTC Admissions Liaison Officer.
Bob (BG) Gilbert CS 20 – “Living in Orlando, an officer for an aviation planning firm, Landrum and Brown. Current assignment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Never married, but have a son who lives in London and is an actor. Cheers, BG”
Bob Munson wrote: By the time you read our Checkpoints, the National Character and Leadership Symposium 2012 will have taken place. Barring an unforeseen calamity, the NCLS will again have been another great success. Our class is the "Flagship Sponsor" for this event, and with our annual funding NCLS has grown in size, quality, and quantity. The entire cadet Wing, along with some 500 college students, visiting faculty, and graduates will have dropped academics and intramurals for two days to listen and discuss the messages from almost 40 speakers. The theme for this NCLS is "Walk the Walk: Ethics in Action." Your class officers will send a hotwash e-report on this NCLS, and other class matters, just a few weeks after it's over...right around the time you read this article. Cheers, Bob MUNSON.
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Caption: Roy Hart reports: Al Phillips' son graduated from UPT at Enid, OK and taking away all the honors, as well as just getting married in Tucson, AZ. Here’s a picture of Al with Justine at his UPT graduation, but look for a high res pic in the June hard copy of Checkpoints. |
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| Joe Kahoe pinned navigator Wings on his son Joey on Dec 2nd at Pensacola upon graduation from the AF Combat Systems Officer (CSO) program. The wings were handed down by Joey’s mentor, Luke Coker (Class of ’73 and retired Nav from the 302 AW), who flew with Joe when he was a Flight Engineer in the 302 AW at Peterson AFB. | |
Dan O'Hollaren: “Not much new here. Retired one year now and lowering my golf handicap! Diane & I try and get to our beach house on the Oregon coast often, have been on a couple of Caribbean cruises, plan to spend some time in Palm Desert in April then off on a 3 week European tour in September. I am still on the Board of Directors for the National Guard Association of the United States. That gets me back to DC 3-4 times a year.”
Mark Stuckley reports: My oldest son was married on 10-01-2011 he (Mark-same as me) & his wife Kristen honeymooned in Hawaii and loved it. My other son Matthew is getting married 5-12-2012 to his co-worker Maria and they too are going to Hawaii- must be something is the air there. My father will be 92 on February 13, 2012 and he like my son Matthew are Friday the 13th babies. Should have seen him on the dance floor at Mark's wedding could not get him off and he was dancing with all the young ladies- Maria etc. I just hope to be around and able to walk let alone dance- will advise how he does at Matt's wedding. I am still out of work and the outlook is not good.” (Note from Scribe: Class of ’73 … Mark has been an Insurance Executive for over 20 years and was very good at it. If you have any ideas for him, please contact Mark at mstuckley@comcast.net and ask him for his resume and circulate it.)
Don Rightmyer (Kentucky) finished his fourth year at the editor's desk of Kentucky Ancestors. Last year (2011) was a busy one with his magazine publication work, numerous articles written, and several presentations on various Kentucky genealogical and historical subjects. He broke into the national-level genealogical speaking scene with "Migration Routes into Kentucky" at the National Genealogical Society conference in Charleston, SC. This year he's to speak on "Researching Kentucky Records" at the national NGS meeting in Cincinnati. One of his other big talks this year will be "Kentucky's Bookends to the Civil War: Major Robert Anderson and Ft. Sumter." Anderson was a native of Kentucky, son of a Revolutionary War veteran, and a West Point graduate. Don has found that the experience of being a USAFA grad brings an interesting perspective to the story of those USMA grads, who fought against former classmates during the Civil War. One of Robert Anderson's cadets when he taught artillery at West Point was P.G.T. Beauregard. Don says anyone interested in Kentucky Ancestors can contact him at don.rightmyer@ky.gov and he'll shoot a copy to you. The board of advisors at the University of Tennessee Press is also reviewing my Kentucky Civil War manuscript this month to give it a "green light" for final publication (finally). But, I thought I'd wait and comment on that for the next quarter when they've said "cleared for takeoff" rather than make another preliminary comment.
Grim Reapers report from Tom Kennedy: 
Don Sloan continues to be active in the world of aviation. He flies he flies his Stearman up and down the East Coast where he is friends with many of the “old-timers” of aviation. In the photo to the left, Don shares stories with a former WASP, Betty Strohfus while in the photo to the right, he and his friend, Terri, spend a holiday moment with his Stearman, number 747. When not flying, you might find him crusin’ on his bike.
In November, Tom Kennedy and his wife, Betty, were able to host Bob Errickson and his wife, Sandy, and son, Jeff, for dinner and an afternoon visit. Remember Bob? You should. He was with us for the first 3 years, and while he had to leave due to a shoulder injury as we began our firstie year, he’ll always be a Grim Reaper. Anyway, he’s tried to keep up with some of us over the years, and in November, he, Sandy and Jeff stopped by to visit the Kennedy family in Richmond VA as they traveled up I-95 to their home in New Jersey. While the visit was far too short, it was really great to see him once again.
As for Tom and Betty Kennedy, their son, TJ has been selected for the spring semester Regimental Staff at the US Coast Guard Academy. Expect to see some photos after his upcoming May 2012 graduation.
The Yestness family went on a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Disney Wonder for Christmas. We wanted to all be together on the second anniversary of losing Dad, December 22nd. It was important for us to be together as a family. We spent a day at Disneyland and then 8 nights aboard the Disney Wonder, including Christmas. I'm not sure how high resolution this picture is. It is from the character breakfast. In the picture from L to R are: Brenda Yestness (wife), Dylan McGill (son-in-law), Astrid Yestness McGill (daughter), Shaun Yestness (son-in-law), and Nissa Yestness (daughter) and Goofy behind us.”
Tim Long: “I'm getting to upgrade again to Captain at UPS. I got pushed back to the right seat in 2009 and will finish upgrade training in the 757/767 by mid-February. It will be nice to get back to the left seat before I hang it up for good. I've seen George Rampulla (not much) and a lot of Ken Volkman. Ken and I have collaborated on some training curriculum. Cindi and I are planning to move to Charlottesvile, VA for retirement, which will be sometime in the next few years. We have been there numerous times and been looking at houses for sale to get an idea of where we'd like to live when the time comes. Why Charlottesvile? We both liked Virginia when I was in the DCANG, but we can't afford our old house in Alexandria. It's about 3x what we sold it for back in 1996! Our daughter, Nicole is in her 2nd year of a 5 year program for PhD at UPenn in cognitive neuroscience. She's getting to TA (along with research and taking classes) this year and she's surprised that she actually likes it.