Shipmate Column
CLASS OF 1963
Pres: Stephen M. Duncan
Sec'y: Michael H. Shelley
25 Sweetwater Lane, Pisgah Forest, NC
28768
h: 828-862-4245 e: Class.Secretary@USNA63.org
Web site: www.USNA63.org
As I prepare this report, I'm cocooned at home on Super Bowl Sunday by the second snow and ice storm to hit our Carolina mountains within a week. The isolation is not compete, though, because I still have my trusty PC and direct e-mail contact with a wealth of classmates, family and friends. The Class of 1963 e-mail directory now lists 425 of our classmates. Are you among them? If not, please send me your e-mail address without further delay! I'll send you a copy of the directory immediately.
Most of you remember hearing about a party held in Bancroft Hall by some of our classmates during First Class year. An unexpected visitor was the OOD, who fried everyone in sight. The legend is that one clean-sleever went out for ice and when he came back he was the new Company Commander. The facts have now been fully documented. To read all about the party, go to our web site (www.USNA63.org). From the Wardroom page, go to Classmates -- Company Pages -- 18th Company. You'll enjoy the true story.
In late May, Jackie and Rick Scott came to San Francisco for a visit and we enjoyed a fine lunch at the Palace Hotel. They have retired to some acreage in Sulpher Springs, Texas, and are enjoying the country life. In late August, John Peterson arranged an invitation for me to join his hiking group in the High Sierra. This group has been backpacking for 35 years although John has only been in it for six years. This year's outing was at Mineral King at the south edge of Sequoia. We encountered a mama bear and cub the first five minutes on the trail but there were no animal encounters after that -- except for trout. The last pass at 11,760 feet was a worthy test but fortunately the packs were empty of food by then.
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I met John Dolby at a recent alumni function and we have played golf several times since -- neither of us is a threat to win any trophies. Here is a photo from late December of the two of us flanking John's son, John Jr. (USNA '99), after a round in Vallejo. |
Any '63 golfers visiting the Bay area are welcome to join us. Are any other classmates interested in a class golf outing at Pebble Beach or Monterey in September or October of 2001? Reservations at Pebble Beach are needed about 18 months in advance. There is plenty for non-golfers to do also. If you're interested, contact me by e-mail at DBAmoore63@aol.com or regular mail at P.O. Box 20, Sonoma, CA 95476. Any skiers ready to hit the northern California slopes should drop me a line also.
My wife, Chris, our 11 year old daughter Whitney, and I live in Tiburon, California, where we've gotten pretty settled over the past 14 years. My work is fighting Lou Gherig's disease, also known as ALS, the disease that killed Morrie Swarz in "Tuesdays with Morrie" - a must read if you haven't already done so. My job is taking care of people who get the disease, testing new candidate drugs to find an effective treatment, and directing a program of basic neuroscience trying to find the cure. It is enormously challenging and gratifying, although progress has been frustratingly slow.Sonny Glassner told me that Dud Hendrick had spent three weeks in Vietnam as part of an effort to bring together disabled athletes. Dud is now developing, through the major non-profit that sponsored the Vietnam trip, a speakers bureau of disabled athletes to lecture our youth on diversity and tolerance. Bill Hollenack joined Raytheon in early January and is working out of Houston on a new plant design and build project. Dick Augur reports that Rick Kleinfeldt is now retired from NCR/ATT. He was their Chief Financial Officer when he retired to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Rick's address is PO Box 9901, St John, USVI 00830; phone 304 693-5116
In the last year or two, I have discovered that I can have a life outside of work--what a pleasant surprise (duh!)! Being soccer coach, chief of the dad and daughter Indian Trailblazer tribe, and regular bay kayaking with Chris has opened up a whole new dimension to our lives. We became grandparents last September and I don't have to tell most of you what a thrill that is. Daughter Abby, wonderful son in law Rob, and Sophie live in Seattle. We see 63ers Phil Rooney (master flyfisherman) for fishing -- not often enough, Roger Tetrault -- we got lost together in a redwood forest of northern California last summer (great navigating, guys!), Jim Oakes -- my Bohemian classmate, Craig Barton -- high school math teacher extraordinaire, Johnny Ryan (here come da judge) and Bob Forster (at our recent 40th high school reunion at Wellesley, Massachusetts). We would love to see other classmates coming through SF. Our address: 2236 Vistazo East, Tiburon, CA 94920. Phone 415-435-2223. email: rmiller@cooper.cpmc.org
I guess I have gone full circle in my relationship with the sea. Unfortunately, we will not be converting the SeaRiver markings to Navy gray! Sorry I can't supply a photo; those are in the sea shipment now on its way from Japan to Houston.Here's an extract from Paul's bio:
After graduation from USNA and four years of USN active duty, he joined Exxon Company, U.S.A. at the Baton Rouge Refinery, holding a series of engineering, supervisory, and coordination positions. In 1981, Paul joined Exxon Shipping Company and held management positions with responsibility for engineering, commercial and operational activities. In 1986, he became a Director of Esso Singapore Private Limited and Manager of that company's refinery in Singapore.Larry Marsh has sent pictures taken at the annual 20th Company Christmas dinner in Washington, DC. He reports that Navy's great 19-9 gridiron victory over Army earlier in the month helped everyone's mood and added to the festivities.
In 1990, Paul returned to Exxon Shipping Company as Vice President, Operations. In 1995, he joined Exxon Company International's headquarters, where he had operational oversight responsibility for Exxon's refining interests in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Argentina. In 1997, he transferred to General Sekiyu, K.K. in Tokyo, where he was Project Executive for that company's Independent Power Producer business venture and Representative Managing Director for the company. Paul returned to SeaRiver Maritime and was elected President and Director in 1999.
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From left to right in the photo are Pat Smith (Charlie Robbins' fiancée), Barb Marsh, Larry Marsh, Dan Koczur, Karen Koczur, and Charlie Robbins. |
| Dan Koczur was the big winner in the gift exchange. Larry sent a photo of Dan with his musical Christmas moose. I didn't have space for the photo [in the print Shipmate], but you can see it in the April column in the Shipmate section of our web site. | 
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Ben Cole has been named a senior vice president at the South Carolina state-owned utility, Santee Cooper. He will be in charge of economic development, corporate communications and community relations. Earlier, Ben had been president of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which helped the area overcome the closure of the Charleston Naval Base in 1995.
Here are some snaps from the San Diego Army/Navy game festivities at June and Chuck Stone's fabulous hilltop home. It was a gorgeous, sunny day brightened even more by the inspired play from the Navy team.
San Diego '63 gathers for the Army game This photo of the large group shows nearly everyone who attended.
Focusing on the game |
Relaxing with victory in sight |
The first of
the photos taken during the game shows (in the rear) J.J.
Hogan, Mike Rubel, Roy Warren, and Charlie
Helsper; in the foreground are Jim
and Pat Fontana, Dave
Meyers, and Win Orgera.
The second photo has (in the rear) Don Jacobs,
Steve Hoy, Grant Telfer, and Ron Wills;
in front are Edith and Max Ricketts
and Vern Von Sydow. Present but
not previously named were June and Chuck Stone,
Gail Von Sydow, Vicki Warren, Nancy Helsper, Karen Hoy, Sally Orgera, Sandi
Thornton, and Patti Meyers.
A great time
was had by all, although you can see by the pictures that it was a tense
affair all the way to the end.
| Phil also submitted a picture of Jack Almond and his "date," which you can see only in [this]April column in the Shipmate section of our web site. | 
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Beth, my wife of three years, and I sold our house and most of its contents and moved to Costa Rica two years ago. But to say we live in a "rural" area is a tremendous understatement. We built a small house on the edge of the jungle in Pavones, a picturesque fishing/farming community in the southwest corner of the country at the mouth of Golfo Dulce. A guide book describes it as "the end of the world - well, as far south as you can reasonably go in Costa Rica." We are an hour's drive from the nearest paved road, there are no land-line telephones, and when asked for my e-mail address, I explain that we must first get e-lectricity. Once a week we drive two hours to town for supplies and our mail which is forwarded by plane and bus from Miami.I shared Dave's letter with our companymates by e-mail and received this quick reply from Ken Sanger:
Beth is an artist and has had some success selling her drawings of local butterflies. I keep busy maintaining the house and some property we bought for future, eco-conscious development. We welcome visitors. The pop-up trailer, which we towed down from the States and lived in for nine months while we built the house, is still in pretty good shape. It is currently displaying a vacancy sign. Just drop me a line and I'll get back to you with details. Our address is SBO 950, P.O. Box 025292, Miami, FL 33102-5292.
The time since graduation is a bit of a blur, but I'll try to hit the highlights. I spent six years on active duty mostly on destroyers out of Pearl Harbor and San Diego. As a civilian, I had tours-of-duty with IBM, UNISYS, and several smaller companies engaged in marketing computer hardware and software. When my children, Andrew and Sarah, had completed college, I once again changed career paths and became a teacher, something I had always thought I would enjoy. I taught physics and computer science at Valley Forge Military Academy just outside of Philadelphia. I also helped coach their lacrosse team. While many of the staff were retired Army, the USNA was well represented. RADM Virgil Hill '61 is the President and BG Joe Frazar '65 (4th Company) is the Commandant of Cadets. Teaching there was a great experience but the lure of Costa Rica and adventure were too strong.
Sometime in the middle of all this, I was diagnosed as dyslexic. At that point, very little could be done to improve my reading skills as I had already developed some fairly successful "coping strategies" on my own. It did, however, explain the large disparity in my math/science vs. English/French grades. I thought that my long-time roommates Ken Sanger and Bill Graham would find this particularly interesting.
I will write to Dave to see if we can make contact in March/April. We are really excited about visiting Costa Rica. My wife, Doris, a lifelong civilian not well versed in the Navy way, is quite impressed by the far flung contacts we have thanks to USNA and later service. Dave takes the cake in the great escape but Doris and I are of a similar bent. We are selling our Colorado properties and moving to Sandpoint, Idaho. The move will take place in June. We bought property and are working with an architect as we design our new lakefront home on Lake Pend Oreille (1200 feet deep) where, we learned, the Navy had a secret training base for submariners during WWII. (Up to 300,000 sailors were in residence at the height of training - there's a question for the plebes.) No, my passion for skiing has not gone away -- Schweitzer Mountain is 12 miles away. It is a large ski area with no crowds and lots of snow.John Kelly returned home in December after four months as radio officer for the USNS Fisher, a new Navy RO-RO ship that went to Egypt to pick up Army tanks, jeeps and personnel, returning them to Newport News. Now that's interesting work for a former Marine Corps officer!
Dee and I had lunch with Julie and Tom Robertson in Fernandina Beach, FL, on 24 January while on our way back from a Western Caribbean Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. We represented the Class of 63 on a Centennial Submarine Cruise with 20 other mostly older submariners. Anyway, Tom talked of working on the big brother program with Jack Reed, and with Andy Curtain on the Amelia Island, FL, planning commission.
Linda and I had a cool trip into Yellowstone Park on Christmas Eve on a Snow Coach (for you Easterners, that's a Suburban body mounted on large snowmobile tracks). Turns out that geysers -- steam flowing into the rivers -- provide neat winter nesting for the trumpeter swans. We took a hike around Old Faithful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning amongst the buffalo and elk. Stayed in the new Snow Lodge at Old Faithful. Then we took the Snow Coach out (the roads are closed to vehicles in the winter -- there were 16 inches of snow on the ground, and the geysers put icicles in all the trees and bushes -- one of those winter wonderlands.
We flew back to North Carolina after New Years to see our 3-month old granddaughter a second time (Linda and I were there for the birth), and our 6-year old grandson; he's a trip! (Oh, we also saw the parents!) I'm doing some consulting for DOE out here at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Lab (about 8000 employees). Just finished a three-month assessment of their Configuration Management Program.
QUALITY - '63
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