A victory was surely cheered long and hard at June and Chuck Stone's home where the San Diego contingent gathered to watch the Army-Navy game. We had quite a turn-out and naturally there was too much food. Chuck and June supplied drinks and chili while the rest of the group brought something to complement. In addition to the chili, we had salad, chicken pate, lox, bagels, cookies, Grant Telfer's hand-made pastry with sausage and cheese, cheeses, muffins, and quite a bit more.
   In attendance were Layne and Fish Almond, Sally and Win Orgera, Gayle and Vern Von Sydow, Karen and Steve Hoy, Bob Easton and daughter Laura, Edith and Max Ricketts, Nancy and Charles Helsper, Jay Roberts, Phil Marsden, Sandy and Jim Thornton, David Lake, Don Jacobs, and myself.
    Steve Hoy turned into quite a prophet when early in the fourth quarter he said Navy needs two good drives in order to preserve this margin, thus victory. Lo and behold, we never knew at the time how wise he was. Our coach, Vern Von Sydow , had his assistant Bob Easton , at his side and they along with Steve were excellent critics and color announcers. It was quite an insight for those of us who only watch football and don't do the coaching or ever did the real thing on the big field.
   A wonderful time was had by all. We thank Chuck and June for opening their home every year. For those of you in San Diego the first Saturday of December 2001, give either Chuck or me a call and join us.

        Here are three photos from the party submitted by Phil Marsden. The first shows Jack Almond, Win Orgera, and someone else. The second pictures Jay Roberts, Vern Von Sydow, Bob Easton, Phil Marsden, and Charlie Helsper. Shown in the front row in the third photo are Messrs. Almond, Stone, White, ?, Hoy, and Von Sydow; in the second row are Roberts, Thornton, Easton, and Warren; in the third row are Orgera, Telfer, Marsden, and Helsper. The lower six photos were taken by Chet White for your information and enjoyment. Attendees shown in the group photos are Layne and Fish Almond, Chuck Stone, Chet White, David Lake, Gayle and Vern VonSydow, Jay Roberts, Win Orgera, Sandy and Jim Thornton, Bob Eastman, Roy Warren, Sally Orgera, Grant Telfer, Phil Marsden, Charles and Nancy Helsper. Take a look and be sure to click on the thumbnail for a larger version!

Partying to Beat Army	'63 Sez Beat Army	Classmates at Chuck Stone's home

June Stone and Sally Orgera	Layne and Fish Almond, Jay-Ned Cassady (band member in band Fish played in)	Vern VonSydow and Steve Hoy

Edith and Max Ricketts	Phil Marsden, Roy Warren, Grant Telfer	See above text

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       While the party was going on in Southern California, another group of Navy fans was watching the game in coastal South Carolina. Denny Tomlin sent three photos and this note:

    Here are three snapshots taken at the Hilton Head Island alumni gathering this year. One shows Rich Weidman me as we share a victory hug. The second pictures my wife Cindy, Rich and his wife Doo, and Mack McDonald '46 cheering on the big blue team. (I think the score was 27 to 7 at this time.) The last photo shows Cindy and me basking in the Navy victory. Semper Fi!
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version. .

Rich Weidman and Denny Tomlin	Rooting for Navy in Hilton Head	Cindy and Denny Tomlin

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   The week before the Army game, Bob Harper was in San Diego for the wedding of Trina Smith, daughter of Riitta and Mike Smith, both of whom are deceased. He saw Midge and Clay Morse at the rehearsal dinner, where Clay offered the toast on Mike's behalf. Also at the wedding were Marie and Duke Hyland, Kathy and Jim McClure, and Anna Riley. (Dave was in Italy.)

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   Thanks go to Mario Fiori for bringing us this news of Bill Pawlyk:

   I correspond, talk, and visit Bill frequently. For the past six months my consulting work has brought me to Richland, WA, and I visited Bill in Monroe Penitentiary three times, the last visit being on 18 December. He is very fit and his spirits are optimistic. He works 6-8 hour days and also teaches GED type courses. In my last visit he asked me to forward to you the following letter.

"Happy Holidays! Well, we survived another year. I trust that it's been a good one for you.
   "For me things haven't changed much. As of January 4, I'll be in the third year of waiting for a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A three judge panel had had the briefs and heard the oral arguments way back in January '99. A dramatic contrast in speed of decision from the recent rulings in the election cases. That's the way it goes. Actually the lengthy consideration is encouraging -- it certainly indicates some meaty issues -- and a greater possibility of a "recount" of some sort in my case. As we've seen, it's foolhardy to predict what an appellate court may rule. However, it is likely that a decision on my case will be handed down in 2001.
   "Hope springs eternal -- I'm thankful for the support of family and friends through all these years. And I wish you a happy and healthy 2001. "

   I know that Bill thinks a lot of all his classmates and friends and would very much enjoy hearing from them. His address is: W. J. Pawlyk, 982921 C3-32, POB 777, Monroe, WA 98272-0777.

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Mike Corgan went to Iceland in January to teach for a semester in the Government Department at the University of Iceland. He promised to send us a report once he's settled there. In real life, Mike is Associate Professor of International Relations at Boston University and the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies.

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Bill Hillgaertner checked in with us in December, providing this account of his activities since June 1963:

   As many of you know, and no surprise, at graduation I returned to the ranks of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children -- USMC. I served two tours in RVN (where I spoke Hanoi dialect Vietnamese for a good part of the time) and a brief episode in the Dominican Republic (where?) before parting from the service.
   Upon joining Civvie Land, I turned down two offers from a federal agency that wanted me to return to Vietnam, or other hotbeds of the world, and decided to rejoin the ranks of firefighting as a paid professional. Fate got in the way, and I spent the next 24 years as a fireman in a police uniform. I advanced rapidly in the department I first entered, leaving to work on my Master's in Public Administration, as second in command of Detectives after 10 years. I next spent a little over a year putting together a program for a Prosecuting/District Attorney's office, then being hired by a medium sized city as their Chief of Police. I spent 12 years there, including three years as Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Medical Services. I left in 1992, found retirement to be boring, and have done a couple of "make work" things since then (including a little over a year in the Pathology Department of a major hospital system in the area).
   Mary and I have been married for over 30 years. We have a daughter and an adopted son. My daughter left the USMC after 10 years (like father, like daughter) to buy a business with her husband (also a Marine) in Vancouver, WA. They own Archery World, a professional archery shop.
   We are in the process of selling one house and buying another, which is why my email is sporadic. I only get to see the computer once every couple of weeks. Mary is living at the house in LaCenter, WA, close to our daughter and son-in-law, and I am preparing the house in Portland, OR, for sale this spring.

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    The ever-busy Norm Shackelton sent this report shortly before his departure for a very attractive overseas assignment:

   Well, it's finally time for us to pick up and move to the UK. I have been transferred by Lockheed Martin to Bristol, UK, to work on a Lockheed and Thales (formerly Thomson CSF) team to perform studies, design, and build a new aircraft carrier (CVF) for the Royal Navy. I will be based in Stoke Gifford near the new Ministry of Defense procurement activity, Abbey Wood. This is a three-year assignment and we are looking forward to it. Judy and I will be living in Thornbury, a medium size market village that has a green grocer, butcher, supermarket, three pubs, three Indian restaurants, etc. All the amenities required in an English village. We have rented a two-year-old home that is just off the High Street. We can walk to shop, pub crawl, church, etc. Thornbury is a very old village and the garden (back yard) of our house is bounded by an ancient (11th-12th century) wall. A blend of old and new. Work will be about 20 minutes away by car. Our address in Thornbury will be 21 Stafford Crescent, Thornbury, Bristol, UK BS35 1DH. My phone number at work will be +44 (0)117 931 2223.
   We are flying from New York on 17 January. Just one short week later, Judy and I will make a whirlwind flight from Bristol to Pensacola and return. Our son Cory '98 will receive his wings and will go off to fly helicopters in the Marines. I will be pinning his wings on him on 26 January. He doesn't yet know where he will be stationed.
   Our son-in-law John Leskovich '93 has decided to stay in the Navy so he, our daughter Holly, and our grandchildren JP and Sarah will be headed to Surface Warfare Department Head School in Newport in January 2002. He looks on track to get a Combat Systems Officer job on an Aegis Destroyer. It'd be nice if he wound up serving in FITZGERALD. John is currently a Company Officer at USNA as well as the O Rep and Offensive Coordinator for the Sprint Football Team (150's).

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   This month's Class of 1940 column contains a very interesting Midshipmen-versus-Executive-Department story from our days at USNA. Why the Class of 1940? Because one of its prominent members was a senior officer in the Exec Dept in the early 60's. The story involves The Log, WRNV, a tapped phone, and a female Navy Junior. Check it out!

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Daryl Rabert checked in to say that he and Bonnie have relocated to the Georgia coast.

    I will be working from our house on St. Simons Island starting January 1, 2001. I will continue to work for the Options Clearing Corporation in a limited capacity and at the same time will be able to work on lowering my golf handicap. We are looking forward to the move and warmer weather. I've had enough of the cold Chicago climate. Our address will be 702 Hamilton Landing Dr., St. Simons Island, GA 31522; phone 912-638-6121.

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    Long-time Guam resident Dick Wyttenbach-Santos has sent an account that should interest all of us who did hands-on navigation in the pre-GPS era.

    Bernice and I traveled to the tiny atoll of Pullap recently for a rare ceremony inducting five men into the traditional navigation master navigator rank. This three-day ceremony has only been held one other time in the past thirty years in all of Micronesia. I went to Pullap by myself three years ago and stayed ten days in the men's house. I wanted to experience what life was like on Guam before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. This year, Bernice and I were invited to visit for this rare ceremony. Pullap is about half way between Yap and Chuuk (Truk) in the Caroline Islands, several hundred miles south of Guam. There are about 400 islanders living on the tiny spot in the ocean, still in the traditional culture. I've seen enough topless women to last me a lifetime! The island has no electricity, vehicles, roads, telephones, computers, radios, TV's, or any other modern conveniences. The islanders cook on open fires on the ground. Considering that I have diabetes and have had three instances of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), it's kind of interesting to be on an isolated island with no medical personnel and all sorts of ways to get cut feet on the coral.
To get to the island we had to fly from Guam to Chuuk and then take a small boat for 20 hours to get to the island. I got to sail on one of the traditional canoes (monohull with outrigger, all made locally of natural materials). These navigators memorize the star paths of more than 150 stars and more than eight ocean currents. No navigational instruments are used. One traditional canoe just sailed this year from Hawaii through the Micronesian Islands to Guam and Saipan using only traditional navigation methods. I have a 20 foot motor boat and a 26 foot sailboat here at Guam, and I love my SATNAV GPS gizmo for navigating. What a difference from our old days with the nautical almanac and sextant. My best to all classmates!
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

Dick Wyttenbach-Santos in the Caroline Islands	Dick draws a crowd

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   Here's a note sent from Hong Kong by temporary expatriate Tom Meyer:

    The USS BLUE RIDGE, flagship of the Seventh Fleet, came into Hong Kong in early December. Claire and I had the privilege of attending a reception aboard, hosted by Vice Admiral James Metzger, Commander Seventh Fleet, USNA 71. He was a Nuc Submariner, as I was for my brief tour of seven years. I got a kick out of exchanging the names of classmates that we both knew and remembered including Karl Kaup, Tom Robertson, and Denny Conley. He also knew Vice Admiral Smiles Bucchi, Third Fleet, whom I worked with on my last assignment in Corpus Christi on the Naval Aviation Production Process Improvement Program. They were promoted about the same time. I keep being reminded what a small world it is, particularly with the people that I run into here in Hong Kong.

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    To close out this month's news exchange, here's a brief note from Dave Moore , who seems to be methodically making the rounds of all the nifty places in the San Francisco Bay area:

    In November, Ed Hartford hosted John Dolby and me for a day at his country club next to Stanford University. Ed has been working for Amdahl Corporation in Silicon Valley for many years, while John and I are just a couple of loose cannons bouncing around the Bay Area golf links.
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

Dolby, Hartford, and Moore in Palo Alto

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   That empties the contents of the mail buoy, so you folks need to get busy and send more news to be shared with our classmates. We're depending on you; don't let us down!

 QUALITY - '63

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This page is  Shipmate:     March 2001  posted on:  17 January 2000

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