Did you miss last month's issue?  June Issue

Harry Schrader was the first classmate I met at the Naval Academy. We had both bilged our blood pressure exams at Great Lakes, so we reported in for reexams in early July '51. We met lying prone on side-by-side bunks in Misery Hall with BP cuffs strapped to our arms and scared out of our wits - not a good state of mind when you're trying to get your systolic under control. Two 18-year olds, one from Chicago (Harry) and me from Minneapolis. I remember meeting Harry's father once at the Willard on some kind of leave, or maybe it was after an Army game in Philadelphia. Harry's dad was what you'd expect - a big man, full of the joy of life and very successful - just what his son became!

In 1978 I was the EA in OP-03 as a Captain when Harry came to Washington to OP-37 (New construction, amphibs, mine warfare) in his first flag assignment. I remember Harry telling me as soon as he saw me - "Do you know I got chewed out by BuPers 'cause I didn't advise them of my ITINERARY? How hard is it to figure out how to get from San Diego to Washington?" I told him, "Well, Harry, you're a very important guy now that you're a flag officer, so we're all concerned about your whereabouts." Harry wasted no time telling me where I could put that thought.

Harry was my boss at SURFPAC when I came to San Diego in '85 for my CRUDESGRU assignment. He was relieved by George Davis (24), so it was just a long class reunion with those two.

In retirement, Harry was as successful as he'd been on active duty, and we spent many happy hours when I was OP-03 in the Pentagon and Harry would visit to let me know what his latest venture was. Yes, Harry could actually make you laugh even in the Pentagon.

When I retired and Penny and I came to San Diego, Harry and Carol were their wonderful selves, active in the community and supportive of truly good causes, among them the chapel at the Amphibious Base in Coronado where Harry's funeral mass will be held this Saturday.

Bruce Newell mentioned a class get-together here awhile ago. Penny and I were fortunate to attend. It was in early February at the home of Peggy and Hugh Webster. Lucy and Hank Mustin and Gale and Tom Emery came out from the East Coast and Connie and Smoke Wilson bolstered the West Coast contingent. Even though Harry had lost his diaphragm, he was his old, positive self and we had a wonderful time. We both laughed about our respective blood pressures having made a steady downward descent over the past 40 years. In talking to Carol last night, she recalled how much Harry enjoyed that evening.

I apologize for the rambling, but remembering Harry cannot be accomplished in a sentence or two. Harry was a character in the finest sense of that over-used word. You never had to guess where he stood on an issue and they must have invented the phrase, "tell it like it is" just for Harry. I love that guy and I'll miss him very much, but I know we'll all meet again. God bless Harry Schrader and all of you and yours.

The '55 golf season opened on April 21st with Ray Hine (20) hosting three foursomes at Reston International. Joe Chmelik (22) was low man - as usual. The second outing was at Army-Navy Arlington on May 19th. The group was small - Martha and Tony Bracken (20), Steve Ruth (14), Denny Sullivan (13) and Dick Morgan (03). But the event was historic!. Dick hit a hole-in-one on the sixth hole, a tough 178 yd uphill par 3 (such a shame to be wasted on a duffer!). This was Dick's first hole-in-one and the first registered in the many years of '55 golf competition. The golf outings continue throughout the summer and culminate in a competition with the Class of '57 on October 22nd. For that event, we will try to muster some of our golf greats - John Weaver (04), Don Walter (04), Ken Highfill (03) and Jim DeGroff (23).

It was a pure delight (hint! hint!) to receive this travel saga from Richard T. Nelson (09):

At the reunion in October 1995, I was regaling everyone with my accomplishments of the previous 3 weeks: 1) bought a 50' Chris Craft motor yacht, 2) got married, and 3) retired from the Department of Energy with 30 years of federal service (4 at USNA; 4 on active duty; 10 on Capitol Hill as Administrative Assistant and Chief of Staff to Congressman Skip Bafalis, R-FL; 7 years with Reagan/Bush administrations; and 5 years in career slot at DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management). Following the reunion, we sold our home in Lake Bancroft - and everything in it - moved aboard the boat - renamed THE KENTUCKY LADY - and headed for Florida.

We left James Creek Marina in Washington DC at the end of December, and 11 days and 1244 miles later arrived in Fort Myers for the winter. My four years at Mother Bancroft and four years aboard a variety of aircraft carriers had prepared me for living in close quarters. Not so for my wife, Helen (Sissy) or her sister, Betty Carole, who joined us in April. But when all you're going to wear is shorts, tee-shirts and deck shoes, how much storage space do you need? We left Fort Myers on 2/29/96 heading for New Orleans. We stayed on the Intracoastal Waterways (ICW) whenever we could but from Tarpon Springs to Carrabelle we had 95 miles of open Gulf to cross. 6 hours of 6-8 foot seas made us wonder if we had retired too early. All but the captain spent the day talking on the big porcelain telephone. A week later we arrived in Biloxi where a nor'easter blew up and kept us from going any further. So we docked the boat at Point Cadet Marina and drove back and forth to the Superdome (Southeastern Conference basketball tournament) for four days (all being avid Kentucky Wildcat fans).

We finally got away from Biloxi in early April and, after a week in Mobile enjoying the Azalea Trail Festival, headed up the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Two weeks and 690 miles later we reached Elizabethtown IL, on the Ohio River. The Tenn-Tom has 8 locks - 5 of which we traversed in one day - and one (Bay Springs) that is 84' deep. When the gates closed behind us on that one, we again wondered if we had retired early. Heavy spring rains put the Ohio 35 feet above flood stage and dangerously full of debris so we tied up in Evansville IN and drove to Lexington for a several day visit. It took a month for the river to settle down and by then we were behind schedule to get to Green Bay WI for my Nelson family reunion.

So, down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi River, up the Illinois River, and into Lake Michigan we went. Stops in Waukegan, Milwaukee, and Manitowoc broke up the trip to Green Bay - where we wound up spending three weeks. Leaving Green Bay on 7/20/96, we stopped in Escanaba, Beaver Island, St. Ignace, Presque Isle, Harbor Beach, St. Clair Shores (all in Michigan), Sandusky and Cleveland OH, Erie PA, and arrived at Buffalo two weeks and 826 miles later. In spite of all the jokes about Buffalo, it is really a lovely city and we enjoyed a whole week there. We also visited Niagara Falls.

A one day trip through the Welland Canal with stops in Port Colbourne and Port Weller, Ontario led us to Rochester and Oswego NY. We did the 8 locks on the Oswego Canal in one day and stopped at Brewerton NY. From Brewerton, the Erie Canal is a beautiful, scenic cruise to Schenectady - even though we did have to go through 11 locks in one day. Coming down the Hudson River from Albany to New York is also a beautiful trip - even passing by that "other place" at West Point. The only place on the east coast where we had to run in the exposed waters of the Atlantic Ocean was from New York to Cape May NJ; there is no ICW up there. Up Delaware Bay, down Chesapeake Bay, and back into the ICW at Norfolk and south to Fort Myers for another winter. We were underway 9 months, and covered 5411 miles and stayed in 72 marinas in 20 states and Canada. Quite an experience - one we'll never forget. After another winter in Fort Myers, we headed north up the ICW for New England - spending most of the month of July in Boston. By a stroke of luck and coincidence, as we were leaving Boston harbor to head south, we found ourselves in the company of "Old Ironsides" (and 2000 other private yachts) being towed from Constitution Marina to Marblehead for its first trip under sail in over 100 years. With a huge Coast Guard and Boston fireboat escort, it was quite a sight - and quite a thrill. On our way home we enjoyed stopovers at Martha's Vineyard and Block Island - although our visit to MV was marred by Hurricane Danny. Speaking of hurricanes, we were lucky in being able to hide from 3 of them in Staten Island, Washington DC and Deltaville VA, on our return trip south from the Great Circle Waterway in the fall of 1996.

When we got back to Fort Myers again last November, who did we find waiting for us but Carrie and Mike Bishop (09) - on their sailing yacht, the TUUGAALIK. We knew the Bishops had retired, built their own boat, lived aboard it and cruised up and down the east coast - but we had never crossed paths with them. I hadn't seen my old roomie since 1973 so we had much catching up to do. Ever the iconoclast, Mike sports a full-face beard that would make George Bernard Shaw jealous. Mike and Carrie left Fort Myers around 4/1 heading for Key West. They may wind up in the Chesapeake Bay this summer so we expect to see them again before too long.

We will be leaving Fort Myers 5/7 with 12 other boats - all members of the Royal Palm Yacht Club here - heading for the Bahamas and Exumas for five weeks. We have wanted to do this for some time but didn't want to venture out there by ourselves - so this pre-scheduled trip was perfect for us. When the Bahamas cruise is over 6/5, we'll head back up the east coast for another summer in New England. This time we will spend about 6 weeks touring New Hampshire, Maine and Cape Cod before returning to Fort Myers for our 4th winter there.

It's a really tough lifestyle but we are happy we were picked for this duty assignment. Haven't bumped into many classmates although I tried to call Spider Thearle (09) three times when passing through Norfolk - but all I ever get is his answering machine. Joel Jacobs, one of the USNA sailing coaches, and his lovely wife, Julie, live on their motor yacht, the MARY B, a few slips away from us here in Fort Myers.

Well, this got longer than I expected; I leave the editing job to you. I promise not to wait three years to update you again.

John DeZell (13) celebrated his 65th birthday with Bobbie and Bill McCarron (13) at their home in Austin TX. John happened to be down from his home state of Oregon, working in San Antonio enrolling Hispanic employees for a hotel chain. He called Jerry Dantzler who came by his hotel where they had a warm reunion after 46 years (17 years since seeing Bill McCarron). Bill's career continues in the practice of cardiology. John is looking forward to attending the 45th Reunion where he hopes to see former 13th Company mates Pete Odgers, Ted Hyman and Fred McLaren. Although he didn't graduate, John is very proud to have been a member of the Class with so many outstanding people in it.

Tom Shine (21) expressed sentiments on the '55 Listserv that are surely shared by the vast majority of Classmates:

I have been a, somewhat, passive observer of the "exchanges" or "correspondence" or "notices" of our adventures, opinions, humor, attitudes and, from time to time, reports of our diminishing ability to function in this physical world, and, more significantly, the demise of some of our classmates. Of those that have seen that last, glorious sunset, some I knew by only a face. Others were a face, a name and/or cruise or other shared experience - then there were (and still are) those of our class that, it seemed everyone knew and loved! Pete Blair, Geoff Gardner, Don Bourke, and now Eddie Turner (Harry Schrader died after this original note) are among those that reside in our special time and memory. It is because of and for them and others we, individually and collectively hold in this category, that I am moved to write.

It is perhaps trite to say that we are a "Band of Brothers" but there is no denying that we shared a unique and forming experience in the early part of our lives that shaped the image that we see in ourselves today! For most, if not all, it is an image in which we can take just pride. I have found, in the reunions that I have attended. not only have I seen some of my "old" dear friends, I have made some new "old" dear friends!

John Donne said, in part, that "no man is an island entire unto himself, each is part of the whole, part of the main .... the death of any man diminishes me some, for I am involved in mankind .... therefore send not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

If there is a message here, for me, it has its origins in two messages NOT DELIVERED. Through the medium of the internet, I learned of Geoff's and, later Eddie's worsening condition as reported by our responsible and worthy classmates on the scene. After a few days or more, I finally got around to sending letters - NONE OF WHICH WERE RECEIVED BEFORE THEY DIED! We are in a time of our lives when it is important to share how much we cherish the friendships we have and have had and the stories about each other that only we or a few of us remember.

My mother said "send me flowers while I'm here, not after I'm gone." I wish I had always followed that advice!

Welcome to new '55 listserv members: Ray Anderson (01), AndersonRJ@rsg.org; Jim Gussett (15), TheGussetts@hovac.com; Jim Brownlow (20), JHBrownlow@aol.com, and Pete Odgers (13), Pecaro@aol.com.

POTPOURRI. Dick O'Neil (12) checked in from Orlando the other day. He reports that he is recovering gradually from open-heart surgery. He says his doctor has cleared him for putting and chipping, but won't let him swing Big Bertha yet. Gary Snyder's (01) first step into the political arena occurred in May when he was elected as the Chester County Republican Committeeman from East Nantmeal Township PA. He claims to have no political aspirations but one never knows. Carl Strang (16) has taken off from his '55 Listserv duties to tour China and other exotic corners of the Far East. We hope for a full report for the column when he returns instead of the little snippets he's been sending by email (listen to me! I'm grateful for every little bit of information I receive). By the way, Jim Carr (16) stepped out of his role as Florida's most eligible bachelor to help his old roommate on the campaign trail when Carl ran for the state senate. Included are some more "sofa" pictures from Paul Sutherland's (07) pad on the Outer Banks. "Genie and Joe Walter (07) stayed with us for a few days .... and were so impressed with our area that they asked me to put them in touch with a good realtor". One shot shows Lyn Shields (Dan), Joan Hamilton (Dave), BJ Straub (Ed) with Paul behind the sofa. Incidently, I've included a shot of the turn-over boys - Class Treasurer duties from Paul to Don Conner (08). Dan Shields (16) is recovering nicely at home from a broken leg following his hip replacement surgery. Received a pic of Sue and Bill Rentz (09) taken at their wedding on March 30, 1997.

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.

Go to top of this page