Good afternoon, and welcome to the concluding event of our 50th reunion celebration. We particularly appreciate the attendance of the families of our departed classmates here today.

Fifty years, three months, 19 days and about 22 hours ago, Admiral Arleigh A. Burke spoke to us – from that pulpit – on Baccalaureate Sunday. I don’t know just why I wrote a few brief notes on the back of this Baccalaureate program that day, but those notes are here and they’re germane today. One clipped entry (cake/icing) didn’t turn on my light until I read Admiral Burke’s autobiography and found the quote he used.

While he exhorted us to develop our basic values, the Admiral stated "that the Naval Academy provides the solid cake of necessary knowledge and information over which the icing of each individual’s personality is spread". He went on to tell us that classmates and shipmates were an integral part of our development as leaders.

In our history we of the class of ‘58 have indeed demonstrated concern for classmates and shipmates. It started early when Don Taylor jumped into the Severn River to save the life of a classmate during our plebe year. That concern was there when Dick Stannus lost his life in 1959 saving a Marine swept overboard from the USS Bexar, during a typhoon. There have been many other class heroes, some alive, some passed on, but maybe at the root of our class concern is the continuing, and possibly unique, class camaraderie we have developed which has been exhibited all over the globe.

Just think of where the "58 is great" flag has traveled.

This camaraderie was displayed when we offered assistance or opened our homes to friends traveling, assigned to new duty stations or on TAD/TDY assignments, or just on vacation and passing our way. It is evident when we visit ailing classmates or even when we call and send cards of encouragement to failing members of the class. Our concern is also demonstrated today as we gather here to remember the 217 classmates who have gone before us.

We are here to remember them AS CLASSMATES, to join in the fellowship which we have demonstrated for the past 50 years; and to say that we will remember them as long as two or three of us shall meet.

So, Admiral Burke, I submit that we of the class of 1958 heard you, and wehave put the icing on the cake you described. We appreciated your guidance and have embraced your concept of classmate loyalty.

Now, please join our classmate, the Reverend John Aubrey Chrisman, as heleads us in this tribute to our departed friends. Father Jack