CLASS NOTES later became a long time corporate pilot for CSX in Jacksonville, Florida. You tend to think guys like Al and Bob – those who survived truly bullet riddled combat aviation – would never need to worry about ‘normal’ flying. Sadly, Bob Mills and Irv Grodsky are two great BRs that we seem to have lost touch with. Hope to see them at a future reunion.” Ken Pennington (Amelia Island, Florida): “A few notes about Barb and me. We took our daughters on a Silver Sea cruise in March. It was a great opportunity to spend time together as a family, and it was made even better by five-star amenities. Barb and I are planning a trip to New England in September to visit one of my Amelia neighbors who is a ’67 Citadel grad. I obtained an Inspired Cycle Engineering trike from the VA this year and spend a lot of time riding here on the island. Other than my gait issues, I’m in great health and we continue to enjoy family and friends.” Wayne Spruel (Ashburn, Virginia): “Lan and I are still exercising regularly and traveling when we can: Hawaii; Branson, Missouri; and Virginia Beach this year. We also know it is time to begin looking for a future retirement community. We enjoyed the reunion last year. I was sorry to hear about John Chapla. We worked together quite often on legislation when he was on Capitol Hill and I was at the Pentagon. Our daughter, Stacy, got married last October in a big bash at St. Michaels, Maryland. They bought a house in Great Falls, not too far from us. Our two grandsons from our oldest son, Lee, are now eight and almost two. Have been enjoying some Washington Nationals games with my youngest son, Nathan, when they play the way they are supposed to.” Les Martin (Hanover, Pennsylvania): “Bill Bragg (Mercerville, New Jersey) and I celebrated our 50th Reunion from Fork Union Military Academy last May at the Boars Head Inn, in Charlottesville, Virginia, with almost 80 other alumni. A little too close to the University of Virginia for my taste.” Joe Petitta (Safety Harbor, Florida): “I am now finally synced up – Class of ’68 and 68 years old.” Mike Smythers (Chesapeake, Virginia): “Just got back from Sorrento, Italy, where we met our younger son, Jim ’97, and his wife, Sarah, with our 15-month-old grandson, Julian. He’s the only boy, and we have three charming granddaughters. Jim and Sarah are on a two-year assignment in Saudi Arabia, so we treasure our time with them. Italy is not a bad place to be while doing it. Great weather, and of course, the food and drink are hard to beat. Second time in the last seven months to be in Europe. Went to Germany and Poland just before Christmas and had a delightful trip. It snowed one night at the Christkindlesmarkt in Nurnberg – made for an
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almost fairy tale Christmas experience. My sister was on the trip, as well, and we went into Poland near Tychowo, where our father had been held in Stalag Luft IV as a prisoner of war. Some years ago, President Lech Walesa had caused a memorial to be erected there (it’s out in the middle of nowhere Poland!). Polish people could not have been nicer to us. Got to use the Zloty before the euro takes over. Other than a hiking trip to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks a few months ago, I’ve stayed busy fixing things; old things, you know, need a lot of TLC. Just like ‘This Old House!’” Dana Duthie (Broomfield, Colorado): “Candy and I moved up to Broomfield (near Boulder) from Colorado Springs into a Del Webb (over
Class of 1968: The ‘Iolani School dedicated their 2013-2014 edition of their yearbook, Ka Mo‘olelo O ‘Iolani, to Dick Rankin. 55) community a year ago when I finally hung up the water business. It’s close to our daughter and her kids, but that’s about all we can say for it. We are thinking of moving to Steamboat. We’ve always liked Steamboat, used to have a ‘fixer upper’ cabin up there for a while, and we’re looking around for something we can afford. Up there, that translates into an oversized closet and maybe a parking spot. I’m doing a lot of biking and golfing, and we hike with the dog.” Gary Klemas (San Antonio, Texas): “Mollie and I are doing well. After 20 years living on the coast in northwest Florida, we sold the house and the sailboat in April and moved to San Antonio, Texas. We bought a house in an active adult
community called Hill Country Retreat. While we’re still getting settled, we are enjoying the amenities and activities the community has to offer. Of course, the biggest amenities for us are our grandsons, Alex (who is 8) and Jacob (who is 4), our daughter, Deb, and her husband, Ben, who live here in San Antonio. In the future, we’ll be making trips to Nashville, Tennessee, to see our daughter, Marcie, and hope to make it to the Institute when we do.” I want to list some of the BRs for whom I have no contact information. I hope to find them to ensure they get information on our 50th Reunion in the spring of 2018. They are as follows: graduates, Bob Duckwall and Bob Wilson; with us into our 2nd Class year, Ken Constantine and Jack Wycoff; with us through or into our 3rd Class year, Jack Cranford, Benjamin Harley Guess and Richard George Knox; completed our 4th Class year, David LaVern Andrews, William Hale Colmer, Steven Lee Counts, Donald Ryan Harris, William Conrad Kerber, Daniel Morris McKee, John Tilden Plummer, Robert Younder Thompson, Francis Thornton West and Sheldon A. Williams; and made it through cadre but left before the end of our 4th Class year, James Richard Acomb, Allen Burnette Clark, James Noel Collie, Walter Scott Evans, William McClellan Fallin, Richard Joseph Herbster, Kim Douglas Hunsaker, Thomas George LaBoda, Steven Hawkins Love, Norman Very McElroy, John Wightman Nash, James David Prinz, Nathaniel Hathaway Sanderson, Richard Lee Skaggs, Ronald Lee Taylor and Harvey Robert Wendorf. There are an additional 12 who left during cadre, but I’ll leave those for another time. If anyone has any information about any of these BRs, please let me know. As I close out this edition, I’m thinking of when our time together started 50 years ago Sept. 10, 1964, when 368 4th Class cadets matriculated. The VMI Cadet welcomed us with these words, “The Cadet takes this opportunity to welcome the rats into the clutches of the Virginia Military Institute and hopes that they reward VMI as much as they will have benefited from the coming months.” This caused me to examine if VMI has benefited from VMI ’68. Off the top of my head, and with a lot of help from some of those I mention, I put together the following, and I apologize if I’ve left anyone out! Bob McDowell (Friday Harbor, Washington) has been on the VMI Board of Visitors as well as the VMI Foundation board of trustees. Bob Philpott and Walt Jeffress (Fairfax, Virginia) were on the board of trustees and were, in fact, presidents of the VMI Foundation. As of August 2014, Bryan Barton (Oakton, Virginia), Dave Gibbons (Washington, D.C.), and Tom Boyd (Washington, D.C.) are
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