Look alive with Seventy-Five!
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Look alive with Seventy-Five!
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Dear ’mates: Our classmates continue to achieve great things – both in and out of uniform. RADM David “D.A.” Gove has been assigned by the CNO to be the next Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy. D.A.’s new headquarters are at the Naval Observatory, off Massachusetts Avenue in northwest D.C. The Vice President’s mansion (not to mention Jon Greenert’s quarters) is also in the Observatory Circle. Dave will bring a breath of fresh air as the new advocate for Navy’s Oceanography and Meteorology program. <Was it really 17 years ago that I reported to the Oceanographer’s staff as an O-5? Time flies …> <photo 75#1: “Ted Spilman”>
A couple of notable appointments—both datelined San Diego:
-- On 13 February, BAE Systems named Ted Spilman vice president of business development for its National Security Solutions business.
-- At the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in San Diego, Zack Wilhoit was elected to serve as a lay member of the Academy’s Board of Directors. Zack’s day job is CEO of Ethnic Technologies <photo 75#2: “Zack Wilhoit”>
Here’s a nice story about Angela and Pat Connally’s son, Corporal Luke Connally, USMC. Luke enlisted in the Marine Reserve while still in high school. He was a student in the OCS program at Texas A&M when his battalion was activated for deployment to Iraq. On 1 December 2004 Luke was on HUMVEE patrol when a suicide bomber blew up his car, killing Luke’s vehicle commander and maiming Luke. He had a broken left leg, massive wounds to the foot and ankle, shrapnel in the calf, kneecap, and buttocks, and nearly had his right thumb severed. After multiple operations and two months of rehab at Balboa Naval Hospital, he returned to Texas in February 2005. Luke was married to Mary on 29 July 2005. He’s currently undergoing physical therapy, taking classes, and awaiting medical board action <photo 75#3: “The Conallys. Luke is on the right, with younger brother Lance Corporal Daniel on the left.”>
Check out the good work Andy Howard has done on our class web page at usna.com/Classes/1975/. Bookmark it, add it to your favorites, and send some things to Andy at the webmaster’s address. With our Shipmate print column restricted in length, the web page is a great place to share photos and news. Andy can also put up a link to your website if you have too much information to transfer by e-mail. Company reps—please check your e-mail addresses for accuracy. Notice that we still need volunteers for several company rep slots Well, it took four issues, but here’s the last of the 14th Company summary Ken Hart put together at the end of 2006. Deb and Jim Gabor and family had a very busy 2006. Jim works in Newport and commutes to Maine on the weekends when he isn't traveling. Lots of frequent flyer miles! Son Brett and daughter-in-law Vicki bought a house in Portland ME. Brett is in his last year of Law School. They like living in the city with all its opportunities and not having to commute much. Kris is in her last year at Maine Maritime Academy. We cannot believe that the four years have gone by so quickly. We will miss the drive to Castine and all the soccer trips to watch her play, but maybe we can now make a Navy football game instead? Deb is at LL Bean, but they’re not sure for how long since Jim's job might be moving to Norfolk—depending on BRAC decisions. If so, we temporarily close up the house and move to Norfolk for awhile, with the intent to eventually return to Maine. Sandy and Ken Hart had some good reasons for celebration last year. Chip was married on 2 July to Alissa Whalen of Pittsburgh. On 10 May their second granddaughter, Grace Elizabeth Williams, joined older sister Emily. In early November, Susan returned after her 2½ year tour in the Kingdom of Tonga with the Peace Corps. Sandy remains working as a Clinical Social Worker in a nursing a rehabilitation facility and Ken is with the NRC. Ken did manage to get involved in several mission trips with his church. We spent a week in Biloxi, MS working on Katrina recovery, a week with Habitat in western Maryland, and ten days in Montevideo, Uruguay repairing a church. The work is hard, but extremely rewarding and worthwhile. Recall that I had an extra column’s worth of material in the December time frame? Well this looks like a good spot to put in some of the well-aged news. <photo 75#4: “Alex and Denise Plechash with Rick and Denise Udicious”> Alex Plechash linked up with Rick Udicious at a Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Minnesota event in September. We were there to hear a presentation on the state of the Marine Corps by LtGen John Bergman, USMC - Commanding General of Marine Forces Reserve/Marine Forces North. Rick moved to Minnesota as the Top Dog for Lockheed Martin out here. He is the Vice President and General Manager of their Tactical Systems Division which is located in Eagan. As for me, I am getting increasingly involved in the USNAAA as Chapter President, doing a lot to crank up the Chapter's participation and events, working closely with our sister alumni organizations for USMA and USAFA. As a Blue & Gold Officer, things are picking up again for the season. The numbers have dropped off, it seems, but the quality of applicants is as good as ever. I've also recently gotten swept up into Republican politics. I am a State Delegate and I've been actively campaigning for a few candidates out here. Believe it or not, I am debating whether or not to run for office at some point myself. Time will tell. In the meantime, I continue to work as the VP of Sales for FOLIOfn Investments. Since it is headquartered in Vienna, VA I get a chance to head out to the DC/Annapolis area every so often and I look forward to every visit. My daughter Amy is still at American University in D.C. and my daughter Anne is seriously dating a first classman, Mike Humara '07, who picked Nuclear Subs as his first choice of service selection. And no, I did not try to get him to consider the Marine Corps ... although I was tempted to do so. Mike and the rest of his class hits the fleet this month, and ’11 comes aboard before we know it. --- ’75 Sir! Larry |
Send mail to ach33ooo (at) 1975 (dot) usna (dot) com with questions or
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