Class Notes mountain. Greg had consumed his ration of water, and Peter had given him what remained of his. Finally, after six-and-a-quarter hours of total hiking with an elevation differential of 1,900 feet, they reached the starting point. Greg came out of this with two distinguishing thoughts. 1) He felt an absolute joy of accomplishing this challenge in the company of his wonderful son and fellow VMI alumnus, Peter, and 2) that he will never climb House Mountain again. This is an abridged version of what Greg sent to me, and if you would like the full epic version, let me know and I will email it to you. Thanks, Greg, for sharing a wonderful story. It seems others in our class have climbed the mountain. Al Morgan reported that he and Sandy climbed the mountain in March with Tom and Judy Baur. Al passed on that what we see from VMI is really Little House Mountain, and that House Mountain is on the back side (west) of Little House Mountain. They are contemplating an attempt on House Mountain next spring. Not long after their climb, Greg Diamontopulos proudly reported that his son, Peter Diamontopulos ’13, was officially selected for the U.S. Coast Guard Officer Candidates School and was slated to begin that effort in January 2016. Needless to say, Greg and Melody are ecstatic for this opportunity for their son, Peter. Congratulations to all. Charlie Hoon has had a busy summer and wrote to tell me that Mike Garten visited for a couple of weeks at Hoon Haven in Huson, Montana. In Charlie’s words, Mike is quite an avid rock hound, and they spent the better part of 10 days prospecting for gems and fossils. They dug for arrowheads at a bison jump on Charlie’s brother’s ranch on the Dearborn River and then traveled to Great Falls to visit the Lewis and Clarke Center and the Russell Musuem. After that, they visited the First People’s Bison
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Class of 1975: Peter Diamontopulos ’13 and father Greg Diamontopulos commemorated their rat climbs up House Mountain during VMI matriculation weekend, Aug. 22, 2015.
Class of 1975: Greg Diamontopulos planting the flag to commemorate his climb up House Mountain with his son, Peter Diamontopulos ’13, Aug. 22, 2015.
Class of 1975: At Blue Jewel Sapphire Mine in the Eldorado Bar area north of Helena, Montana, in mid-August 2015 were, from left, unknown, Mike Garten and Charlie Hoon. Mike and Charlie were prospecting for sapphires during Mike’s visit to Charlie in Montana.
Jump Park, which is located in Ulm, Montana. Finally they hunted for smoky quartz in the Lolo National Forest and mined for sapphires in Phillipsburg, a noted locale for such activities. Charlie said that when it was all over, Mike’s backpack had another 20 pounds added in the form of rocks. Mike stated that Charlie is a gracious host and that he had a great trip. If that wasn’t enough, Charlie and Ranae were headed to Cape Cod for a week in mid-September. Jerry DeWaters sent a note telling me that all is well in New York City and that he is looking forward to entering his fourth year of retirement. He also stated that he wants a drier winter than last year, as he figures he shoveled enough snow to easily offset any coal that will need to be shoveled if and when we all visit the eternal inferno. J.J. extended an open invitation for any BRs visiting the metro New York City area to give him a call. He is available for BRC, DRC, SRC and golf or hockey depending on the season. I received some exciting news from Bill Overton. Their son and daughterin-law are expecting a child in April. This will be OV’s and Dolores’ fourth grandchild. OV has also decided to retire after 38 years of public service as a judge and a prosecutor in Pinellas County, Florida. With four grandchildren, I don’t think you will have any trouble finding things to do. After having retired myself this last year, I often wonder how I had time to work a job and get everything else done. Enjoy, brother rat; you have earned it. Mike Horan sent me a great email and filled me in on what’s been going on in his life. He now lives in Acworth, Georgia, which is a bedroom community just north of Atlanta. Mike says that his wife Annie chose this location from watching shows on HGTV and seeing that it was both a desirable location and a good value. He is currently working part time in the insurance business
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