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The '97 Golf Season (DC area) Finale Banquet was held at Reston's Hidden Creek CC on Sept 18th. Ray Hine (20) again orchestrated an outstanding affair and surpassed his previous performances as Emcee and Master Joke/Storyteller. He royally regaled all in attendance, who were: Diana & Steve Ruth (14), John Adams (12), Lucy & Hank Mustin (12), Susie & Geoff Gardner (13), Ursula & Tom Kiefaber (19), Martha & Tony Bracken (20), Joe Chmelik (22) & his son Eddie, Diane & Tom Schultz (24) & Denny Sullivan (13). Ray handed out awards to: John Adams - Most Courageous Golfer, Denny Sullivan - Most Consistent Golfer, Tony Bracken - Lowest Average over Season, Geoff Gardner - Most Determined, Dick Morgan - Most Improved, Lucy & Hank Mustin - Best Golf Couple, and Tony Bracken received the Ed Straub Memorial Trophy for Golf Excellence. (Ursula & I don't play golf, but we attended anyway).

Many photos of the '55 San Diego Reunion have poured in (I'll keep plugging them in to the column in coming months) and Kent Drummond (11) has weighed in with a great account of the festivities:

Hats off to Tom Boucher (7), Ned Floyd (18), and Tom Shine (21) who put together a great USNA 97 West for about 70 of our classmates who attended the weeklong celebration in San Diego, California, from September 1 to September 7. The Headquarters at the Hanalei Hotel was an outstanding choice even with ongoing remodeling of the restaurant. The hospitality of the Hanalei Hotel management was unforgettable. Pat O'Connor (8) lost his ring in his room early on Saturday. The hotel could not locate the maid who had cleaned the room the previous day, but when Pat returned from the Mexican Village dinner, the ring was in the middle of the coffee table in his room. Pat Drummond lost a keepsake ring and Carl Peterson (13) and the Hotel manager spent a lot of time searching for the ring in the Alumni suite, her room, and the dining room. Unfortunately, the ring wasn't found. Tom Boucher and Barbara and Will Fisher (17) made us all feel welcome in the '55 Alumni suite.

Classmates spent many enjoyable hours sharing stories, looking through the 1951 NAPS yearbook and the 1955 Lucky Bag, and listening to yarns about our tours of duty, current jobs, successes, and problems. Event highlights were:

- At a hot hors d'oeuvres dinner at the Submarine Base, one classmate remarked that he thought the periscope looked awfully high on the returning submarine until he was told it was a sailboat. Obviously, he must have served in the Air Force.

- A beach party where one of our sailors got lost but found another classmate with his grandson building sand castles. The lost sailor lost out on the food.

- A Mexican meal at the Mexican Village followed by fireworks blazing across the sky as we exited the restaurant. Thanks to all of the USNAAA members who made our week of camaraderie so enjoyable and memorable.

Dan Ebert (14) has sent in a poignant remembrance of Greg Black (18):

The September '97 issue of Shipmate carries the obituary of ADM Joseph Dean Black '31. There was a brief mention of his son, Gregory, but no reference that Greg was a USNA Class of '55 Classmate of ours. Greg was a good friend and a team-mate on the Plebe Crew that won the National Championship in 1952 (the same year the Varsity Eight won the Nationals and the Olympics) and on the JV Heavyweight Crew in 1955. Greg sat directly behind me on both boats as the bow oar. During CAMID summer at Little Creek, Greg took me along to visit his dad on his ship in Norfolk, the CURRITUCK (AVP-7). What an impression the Captain's Quarters made on this Mid, especially after our 5-high bunks on the "troop ships". Greg's dad was equally impressive but quite formal, unlike Greg. I left with quite a feeling of respect for the office and the man. Greg, on the other hand, was always ready with a laugh, even at the weakest of jokes. It could have been disastrous during practice, since Greg's oar could have easily speared me in the back if he lost timing. During 1/c year, Greg supplied the mascot for our eight, a small toy monkey, taped to the bow of the shell. We managed to push the monkey across the finish line first quite a few times, but we were only third at the Nationals that year. I can still see that monkey's grinning face. Of course, we commented more than once on the resemblance to it's sponsor. It's been nearly forty years since Greg and his F9 Cougar were lost. I often woke up dreaming that someone had told me that the report of his death was a mistake. As our own family grew, I thought of the pride Greg's dad must have felt to see him graduate and win his gold wings, and the ache he must have borne all these years after his loss. Greg often spoke of his Scottish heritage and had traced his roots to the famous "Black Watch". I'm sure they were proud of him. And I'm sure that Greg and his dad have been reunited wherever kilts, gold wings and laughter are assigned.

HEARD IT ON THE GRAPEVINE ('55 Net). From Carl Strang (16): Winter must be approaching, because Lucy & Dick Perkins (8) have come down from the mountains of Colorado to their home on the fairway at Imperial Lakes, FL.. Perk is promoting a '55 Florida winter golf tournament. Ringo Renard (5) and Joe Dunn (16) want to play, because their home course fairways at Wintergreen, VA, will soon be converted to ski runs. Any other takers? ....

Tony Hastoglis (8) sends: We ventured from our home port of Charlottesville, VA to our house in Sandbridge Beach in Virginia Beach for a few fall weeks to do a little upkeep and for Betty to enjoy the beach (I've seen enough ocean). We decided to muster the Tidewater area troops for a few libations, food, sea stories, etc. on Sunday 14 Sep. You know the old "When one or two shall meet and old tales be retold"...and retold...and retold. Nine answered the call, but more than made up for the weak of heart who didn't make it. The real warriors who showed up were Gwen & Frank Farino (10), Lauren Johnson (24) (surprise guest from Richmond), Sybil & Charley Plumly (16), Lynn & Dan Shields (16), Julia & Bill Stevens (10), Dolly & Brent Streit (10), Pat & Paul Sutherland, Karen & Pat Taylor (16), and, of course, Betty and I. Had a great time catching up. Frank Farino is enjoying semi-retired life sharing his time between golf and and mediation work for the local courts. Lauren Johnson, the surprise guest, is now near Richmond VA as an engineer at the Lake Anna nuclear power plant putting some of that submarine nuke training to work. Charley Plumly managed to keep us fired up and will soon start getting back in shape for his spring trek on the Appallachian Trail. Dan Shields, who recently moved to the Outer Banks, is having some back trouble but his spirits were high as usual. Bill Stevens just moved within Norfolk and he looks in superb shape . Brent Streit is now retired again from his high school teaching job (physics and chemistry). Paul Sutherland briefed us on his exuberent run for the town council with the top item on his agenda to bounce the mayor, an aged Woo Poo type (still playing Beat Army). Pat Taylor is the ex-officio head of the Tidewater area class group and we are all grateful to him for that. It was a great evening by the sea but not on the sea for a change. ....

Bobby Freeman (20) reported: Pat and I decided to take advantage of our daughter's assignment with the Agency for Int'l Development in Pretoria, South Africa. That's not to disregard a heavily discounted fare by South Africa Airlines. In all, we arrived in Johannasburg yesterday evening after a 17 hr. flight from JFK. The flight was tough on the body from a sleep deficit point and tougher yet on the buns. Notwithstanding, we were impressed by the size of the monster 747 and pleased with the service of SAA. For now we are repacking for a seven day car tour of the Capetown to Port Elizabeth area. We fly to Capetown on Saturday after a tour of Pretoria tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll file my next report about October 11 when we return to Pretoria from Port Elizabeth. ....

Flash from Bill Anders (22): Just returned from a lot of travel and found Jack Tallman's (5) email messages on the Reno National Championship Air Races. As it turned out, and much to everyone's surprise (including mine), I placed 3rd (silver class) in Sunday's big race. Not bad for a 64 year old "Rookie" with a stock airplane! The air was very rough (50 KT gusts) causing some of the younger pilots to fly "loose" but to me it was just another USAF low level delivery mission - but with rather short legs. It proves again that old age and treachery can win out over youth and enthusiasm. VAL-HALLA, named in honor of my wife Valerie and Viking heaven (I was stationed in Iceland in the 57th FIS), is an USAF F-51D Mustang (F-51's are P-51's that survived the Air Corps-to USAF transition). I'm thinking of going deeper in my roots and flying the race next year in an F9F Bearcat. Though VAL-HALLA ran several of the race laps at over 380 MPH, a Bear Cat is intrinsically faster. ....

Trip report from Gary Snyder (1): Margo and I have returned from our 9 week trip through the western states. It was an interesting trip and a good trip. It was not very relaxing, however. It should have been laid out as an 85 day trip, not 65. We had no significant problems with either the van or the 32 foot travel trailer. The most annoying thing was that the refrigerator in the trailer would occasionally go off line when operating on gas. It appears as if I will have to replace the computer. I wonder if there is anything made these days which does not have a computer in it. We did have a lot of tire punctures on our bicycles. I guess every low growing thing in the southwest has thorns on it. All punctures (as I recall) were from small thorns. Except for those at Reunion West in San Diego, the only other Classmate we came in contact with was Ray Anderson (1), in Richmond, Illinois. He and Nancy have quite a country estate, surrounded by thousands of Christmas trees which they sell. They have a camper on a pick-up truck and we tried to get them to load up and join us for a few days. Nancy was all for it but Ray couldn’t see bringing himself to do it. Pity. Would have been great fun. We were in 23 states and traveled a bit more than 10,000 miles. We stayed at lots of different facilities ranging from the very luxurious (Chula Vista) to Forest Service Campgrounds. We decided we want to get an inflatable boat and have looked at the Zodiac line. Anyone have any better ideas? One rated for five persons weighs in at only 70 pounds. In its bag it will easily fit in our van beside the mountain bikes.

The following Classmates have recently joined the '55 Listserv fold: Bob Boyd (21) - robertboyd@juno.com; Jack Adams (3) - SCLPMATE@aol.com; Fred McLaren (13) - amlaren@ix.netcom.com; Hugh Seborg (8) - seborg@erols.com; Harlin Smith (18) - jsmithvt@together.net; Donald McGonegal (19) - marktyler@RIVnet.net; Dick Knock (1) - RKnock@aol.com; Jack Morra (5) - Jamorra@efdswest.navfac.navy.mil; Jim Rothrock (15) - jrockaz@amug.org. Don Walter's (4) new email address is: DWW19@aol.com and correct Bob Strange's (24) email address to: RCS55Bo24@aol.com.

On September 16th, Denny Sullivan and Geoff Gardner presented Congressman Charlie Stenholm (17th District, Texas) with a certificate and a class hat commemorating his status as an Honorary Classmate. The presentation took place on the Capitol steps. When Charlie came to Washington 20 years ago, he did not have any military service in his background. Unlike many of his colleagues, he decided to learn all he could and he put special emphasis on the Naval Academy. He visited with the Superintendent - RADM Tom Lynch, reviewed a noon meal formation with the Commandant and ate in King Hall with the Midshipmen he appointed to the Academy. He attended an Air Force game in Annapolis and an Army  - Navy game in Philadelphia. On the day of our 40th reunion presentation of The Cold War Mural to the Academy, he placed the entire text describing the Mural in The Congressional Record.

POTPOURRI.

Paul Sutherland (7) sent in some pictures taken at the Tidewater/NC Outer Banks Luncheon (Sept 23rd). Paul is running for office there (more about this below). Jack Adams (3) reported that he is now fully retired after spending the last 35 years as a manufacturer's representative in the Carolinas. "My wife Jackie and I had planned on retiring in Beaufort, NC but changed our minds this spring and are now in Greensboro for the forseeable future. Any classmates coming thru are invited to a round of golf" at 5105 Laurinda Drive Greensboro, NC 27410, (910)-288-3846.

A brief note from Wes W. Saunders (23) enclosed some pics from his '97 Summerfest. Otto Zipf (15) came through with some pictures of his wedding in May to Peggy Yee and of his visit with the Sutherlands at their Outer Banks spread. As Otto says, "Paul is taking an active role in Southern Shores (NC) politics. The town has a mayor and council-type of governing body. Of the five council seats, two are up for reelection this Fall. There are three candidates running - Paul is one." Don Lovelace (4) hosted a Charleston SC get- together recently prompted by the visit of Dottie & Bernie White (5). Shown in the accompanying picture are the Whites, Jim Blandford (4), Nancy & Don Lovelace, Kathy & Pete Peterson (5), and Nancy & Ed Newbegin (12).

That's all!

Conceptual planning for the 45th Reunion has begun. Dates are October 18-22, 2000 and the Saturday football game is with Rutgers. We have over 100 rooms reserved at the Annapolis Marriott which is on the waterfront within walking distance of the Yard. We also have additional rooms reserved at the Days Inn on Route 50 (same as for the 40th). We still have a long way to go - if you have any ideas, put them on our Listserv or call me at (703) 759-7743 or another Washington area Classmate.

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