Look alive with Seventy-Five!

Dear ’mates:  Ahhhh … Spring, and a young man’s thoughts turn to … umm … give me a minute … oh yeah … love.  Well, right now, this not-so-young man’s thoughts are on this month’s deadline.  I’m sure I’ll remember other seasonally-appropriate clichés later.

MGEN George Flynn has been chosen to be the deputy commanding general of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq.  George will help LGEN Lloyd Austin (USMA ’75) keep the pressure on al-Qaida and the terrorists.  We’re behind you George.  Let the troops know it!

RADM Dave Gove was the cover boy on the January issue of Sea Technology.  Dave’s pictured in his beautiful Naval Observatory office sitting at a suspiciously clean desk.  Someone did some house cleaning before the photographer showed up!

Bill Chimiak dropped a note from Greenbelt MD to let us know what kind of mischief he’s been up to since leaving the active Navy.  Bill was recently named a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).  [Glad to see that someone was paying attention in Wires.]  He was the IEEE Engineer of the Year for the southeastern U.S. in 2000 for bringing high speed, high performance networking to western North Carolina.  He was also a key member of the American College of Radiology / National Electrical Manufacturers Association group that created the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard.  Most hospitals use this standard, as it moved medical imaging from film-viewing into the computer networked and computer-assisted world.  [As one who has had to drag a suitcase full of X-ray and CT scan films to a distant hospital, your scribe greatly appreciate Bill’s contributions!]

<photo 75#1: “Upper Midwest Army-Navy party”>

From regular contributor Alex Plechash:

Hello from what is now - once again - the frozen tundra of Minnesota.  On the day of our big Army-Navy game party, we had the first major snowstorm of the season which apparently did not deter too many people from coming.  Our annual Army-Navy game party has turned into quite a large event from the time I had it at our home about 12 years ago.  When I took over as Chapter President a few years ago, the party started to grow dramatically; from 100 three years ago to 175 two years ago to around 250 both last year and again this year.  It is the premiere event in our Chapter.  I am happy to say that the Class of 1975 had the most number at the party with five.  Pictured from left to right are - Denise and Rick Udicious; Sally and John Ginn; Denise and Alex Plechash; Mike Stephenson and his wife Marina; Debbie and Neil Tollefsrud.  I should mention that Neil did most of the grunt work in planning the details of the Chapter party this year and he did a great job.  For once, I was mostly able to sit back and enjoy the event, though my arms are still a little sore from all the pushups that day.

In other news, I was privileged to have been the Guest of Honor for the University of Minnesota NROTC Battalion Dining In event on November 30.  The CO, XO and two of their staff are all USNA grads which is kind of interesting.  It made for a long evening followed by a short night since I had a prayer breakfast very early the next morning followed by a Navy League Board meeting which I was conducting which was immediately followed by the Army-Navy game party.  Whew!  The outcome of the game certainly made all the work worth it.  Earlier in the month, Rick Udicious and I represented the Class of 1975 at the local Navy Ball.  The picture shows Rick and me along with our wives flanking RDML Arnie Lotring and his wife.  RDML Lotring is the Commander of the Naval Service Training Command at Great Lakes.

<photo 75#2: “Navy Ball—Plechash, Lotring, and Udicious with their ladies”>

Tom Kelley is doing an outstanding job as the 25^th Company Rep.  Every member of 25^th is accounted for – with the exception of Doug Jackson.  No one in the company has heard from Doug since about 1978.  We know that he was on the USS PREBLE (DLG 15) and then was a Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer.  He was originally from Texas.  If anyone has a lead, pass it to Tom at tkelley53@msn.com.  Last year a good part of the 25^th company update didn’t make it into print.  Long story – but you can still read it on the class web page.  Go to 2006 Columns and click on Dec 2006, Part 2.  So I’m determined to get this year’s update into Shipmate, even though it will take a few columns to include everyone.  Plus, I still have most of Ken Hart’s 14^th Company update in ready standby.  Let’s see what’s up with our classmates from the 25^th.

Tom Kelley lives in Manassas, VA, where he has been for 12 years.  He retired from active duty (Naval Fight Officer, S-3A aircraft); most of his career was in San Diego.  Tom and Carole have been married for 24 years and have two daughters, Megan (22) and Molly (18).  Megan is a Nurse (Neo-natal Intensive Care); Molly is a senior in high school.  Tom is a political and history junkie.  He works for a small information technology firm in northern Virginia as a Project Manager; the more he works in private industry, the better the Navy looks (or looked)! 

Lunce Bass lives in Conover, NC with his wife (high school sweetheart), Diane. They have two sons.  Lunce, Jr. graduated from North Carolina State University and works for Bellamy Research in Winston Salem; DJ is a senior at Newton-Conver High School.  Lunce was an SH-3 pilot and retired as a member of the naval reserves.  He is a Director of Sales at Corning Cable Systems

Wynn Calland lives in Columbus, MS with his wife, Barbara.  Wynn retired from active duty as an Oceanographer (switched from surface line).  Wynn has three children: Christopher (26) is living in Seattle running an independent Internet/ebay software business; Lauren (23) is in her third year of veterinary medicine at Kansas State; and Patrick (21) is a senior at Saint Louis University majoring in the joint Law/MBA program. 

Bo Clark and his wife Dixie live in Florence, SC.  They have three children.  Bo was a submariner and now works for the nuclear power industry.  Bo’s son, Tyler is a Systems Engineer at the Air Force Academy (Class of ’09); he wants to be a pilot.  Their older daughter (Kindra) has been performing missionary work in the Andes Mountains of Argentina for the past year; the younger daughter (Mandy) lives in Raleigh. 

Steve Cole lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Carol.  Steve was an E-2 pilot and now flies for U.S. Airways.  He is also very active in his local church.  Steve has five children: Steve, Jr. (28), a Production Engineer in the music industry; Brad (27), a TV news reporter in Charlotte; Andy (26), a state wildlife management specialist for NC; Sara (24), works in marketing and design for an architecture firm; and Jennie (24), about to receive her Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

We’ll hear more from Tom and the 25^th next month.  If you want contact information for anyone from that company, send an e-mail to Tom.  Now let’s get back to the annual 14^th company update, courtesy of Ken Hart.

Karen and Paul Reardon send news from the far north.  As far as the kidney donations go, both of the recipients (Paul’s two nieces) continue to live normal lives, and he and his brother Bill continue to be amazed at the whole thing (and believe they got the better end of the deal, as they are in much better shape, have an abundance of energy and positive attitudes).  Paul and Karen’s youngest, Bridget, graduated from Clarkson (mechanical engineering), and is at BU for grad school.  Megan, the oldest, is in Gainesville Fla. working as a physical therapist while her boyfriend goes for his doctorate in pharmacology at the U of F.  Karen is still working at the University of Vermont, and I am still with IBM. 

Mary and Dan Vilotti report that not much has changed on the left coast.  Dan has taken a full‑time teaching position (8^th Grade) at the local Catholic school and continues to teach physics at the local college in the evenings while coaching high school boy's varsity basketball.  Mary's as busy as ever with not only working with her sister's company but has taken on all the accounting and administrative functions for one of Ukiah's top‑ tier restaurants.  We're busy, healthy and enjoying life.  Mary and Dan are taking his eighth grade class to Washington D.C. in 2009. 

Mo and Al Eaton are still loving life in upstate N.Y.  Al continues to find Lockheed Martin a new challenge each day.  They’re traveling quite a bit and a frequent destination is Boston.  That's because they now have three people to visit!  First granddaughter Megan Elizabeth Eaton arrived June 22^nd.  Let's just say we can put the car in "drive", and the next six hours to Boston are on autopilot.  She is a joy to behold, and this little girl has certainly added a whole new chapter to our lives!Matt and Jen just purchased a home in Marblehead MA, while "Uncle" Ryan is enjoying the bachelor life in Indiana.

Thanks to Tom, Ken, Alex, and Bill we now have a full column and a great start for the May issue.  Thanks, Classmates!    ---  ’75 Sir!  Larry

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Last modified: December 22, 2009