That’s a wrap for this quarter. Keep those cards and letters coming. Take care and God bless! –Paul W. Tibbets IV, 509 Earhart Circle, Whiteman AFB, MO 65303; (660) 233-8333; Email p2a2@ me.com or p2a2tibbets@gmail.com; Class Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/ groups/43101356987 Greetings MGC! So it’s truly the dark ages as I write this—the sun has been blocked by the “atmospheric river” here in SoCal—the news media needed something to describe three big storms in a row! At any rate, I’m enjoying a relaxing weekend inside watching football and checking in on our class. I finally opened a few Christmas cards (by the way, I’m happy to get on your regular Christmas mailing list and am always willing to reciprocate!). John Shaw is still busy with STRATCOM at Offutt AFB, NE where he is with Tonia, daughter Rachel and son Tim. The Kriss family as settled back in our old stomping grounds of Colorado Springs. Dan and Esme Daetz are also in the Springs where they are devoted leaders in Members The Navigators, and Chris48% topher Padbury is back at the Zoo serving at the Center for Character Leadership and Development. Marcus Schulthess retired after 26 years of service and is working at Ball Aerospace and living in Sabre Society (you guessed it) Colorado just Donors outside of Denver where they 9 are closer to family and the ski slopes. Mike Contratto surprised me with the announcement he is engaged to Tanja in Florida outside of Eglin. His daughters continue to impress—Liza was a singer in the allstate chorus and Sophia marched in the Rose Bowl parade to ring in the New Year! There were a few other notes to report on. Lee Armstrong dropped me a line: “Caught up with Tom Engle in Phoenix in January. He’s working on his Masters in Education and student teaching in high school! He is with the National Geospatial-
Intelligence Agency in St Louis. Tom’s sons are protecting our country in the Marines and the Army, and his wife, Courtney, takes care of vets as a VA dietician! My wife, Danna, is a vet tech. All good!” Derek Sodon has been jet setting around the country with Southwest. He was recently paired with Garth Tarlizzi.
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Lee Armstrong (left) and Tom Engle are now bearded hipsters.
Derek Sodon (left) and Garth Terlizzi flying with Southwest He also had a chance to visit with fellow Southwest pilot and classmate Curtis Stauffer and his bride, Jenny. When Curtis isn’t flying with Southwest he is splitting his time with the Charleston ANG. Finally, Derek and his wife, Michele, and Vince Schons were able to attend Derek’s former roommate Brian Smith’s wedding to Carrie Lane. Brian is also an airline pilot but with American Airlines. Tom McCarthy sent in a quick update: “Mike, I turned over command of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS) on Maxwell AFB in June and PCSed to Connecticut and have now taken command of the USAF ROTC Detachment at Yale University. The detachment has only been open for 4 1/2 years and already has more than 60 cadets. We receive amazing support from the university; they’re very welcoming and extremely proud of the fact that ROTC is back on campus. If anyone is interested in visiting the detachment and meeting with the cadet wing, the door is open; they love the interaction.” By the time you read this we’ll have elected a new AOG board. One of the candidates is our very own Sam Svitenko: “As you may have seen, I’m on the ballot for the AOG Board of Directors election in Feb. I threw my hat in the ring because I want to steer the AOG to drive more local activities and grassroots involvement with our grads. We need more good old-fashioned awareness out there of the Air Force Academy and how it is different from West Point and Annapolis! Outside of the election, I had a great time flying over to Arizona to meet up with Mark Weatherington, my roommate from CS-13 to watch AF beat South Alabama. Mark is stationed in the Springs and now leading cyber efforts for NorthCom, so our infrastructure is in good hands! I am working at Nimble Storage in Channel Sales and Strategy, running our partner programs, strategy and execution worldwide, which keeps me busy. I’m still married to Laurie (Maher) Svitenko from the Class of 1991 and we have two amazing daughters, who, at 12 and 7, keep us jumping! We live in San Clemente, CA, so if anyone is in the area, give us a shout!” I saved the best update for last! Kim (Scott) Ford had the following: “Hey Mike, here is my update. Just landed, so sorry it took so long! -- I had my fini
flight in the C-17 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, in June 2015, and I retired from the USAFR in Jan 2016. I love retirement! I returned back to Alaska Airlines and am flying the 737 based out of Seattle, WA. Over the holidays I had the honor of flying our classmate Ted Grady from Portland, OR to Seattle. I was recently married to the love of my life, Col. (Ret) Edward Ford, in April 2016 at the Seattle Museum of Flight. It was an amazing day, with seven members of Mighty ’90 in attendance!” In the photo from right to left are Kevin Hoppin, Dawn (Molzen) Ehresman, Cathy (Morgan) Kleifges, Kim (Scott) Ford, Shannon (Gregory) Yenchesky, Jacqui Marty, Som Chai Odom, and Steve Scott—nice to see Checkpoints in lieu of a bouquet at the wedding!
Kim Scott Edwards wedding party with seven other Mighty ’90ers at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Thanks again for all the updates and congratulations to our Falcons on a bowl victory to go with the CinC trophy! Mighty ’90—Flash. –Mike Shepherd, 3801 Derby Circle, Quartz Hill, CA 93536; michael.j.shepherd@hotmail.com At the time of this writing, I am about to depart for a several-day journey back to D.C. in association with the timing of the National Prayer Breakfast. I have had to keep an open schedule, therefore have not planned anything in the way of gatherings with many of you there; I hope that we will nevertheless have connected in some way. One exception: by getting reminded by the Facebook algorithms, I wrote to Troy Thomas and discovered that he has been at (and is now leaving) the White House. Troy, you’ve been at the White House and never wrote me a postcard! Members Hopefully we will be able to 53% meet next week. Just before our reunion Lynn “Jinx” (Gawell) Freeborn shared the following news and photos, including quite a few rendezvous opportunities with classmates. “I ran into David Sabre Society Donors Wright (’93) and Todd Erickson at the most recent Society 7 of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) annual banquet in September. Dave is still
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Checkpoints · March 2017