The other note Zimm passed along originated with Len Eaton:

    My wife and I have lived in the same home here in West Chester, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia, for the past 22 years. About four years ago, I took a new job with a metals processing and distribution company as their VP of Operations. Their corporate office is only 30 minutes from my home but we have 28 warehouses around the country where we inventory and process stainless, aluminum, brass, and copper in various forms from tube and pipe to sheet and plate. I travel a lot every week to deal with the issues at those locations. We built a new facility in Wichita this past year and are currently getting ready to build a new facility in Orlando. A couple of years ago, I was flying US Airways and the pilot was our own Bill Bradford. I had a good chat with him and he even told the flight attendants to take good care of me.

I know a lot of our classmates are retired now but as long as I enjoy good health, I intend to keep working. My son and daughter both live and work in the San Francisco area and with warehouses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, I get to see them every few months. I stay in contact with Dick Elsworth and he informed me of Fish Almond's death. I know at our 35th reunion, we were told that Fish was in poor health. He was a guy who really enjoyed living life and it's a shame that he wasn't able to bounce back.

I was one of the youngest in our class, so I am not 60 yet so I have to remember that a lot of our classmates are 62 and 63 years of age. We have our 40th reunion coming up in 2003. I remember those Old Grads coming back to the Naval Academy when we were there. Now we are them. However, I do think we look younger than they looked. At least I feel that way. My e-mail address is leonard.eaton@twmetals.com. My office phone is 610-458-1316

        I enjoyed an exchange of e-mail messages with Ron Wills in February. Here's an excerpt:

    For the past nine years, I have been working as the Controller for the International Rectifier (power semi-conductors) operation in Tijuana, Mexico. I commute every day from San Diego. My experience here working with the Mexicans has been very rewarding. We have 2,500 employees in Tijuana, and do the packaging for wafers that are manufactured by other plants in the U.S. and Italy. Bill Witcraft, John Truesdell, and I attended the Army-Navy game in December. We had a group of 14, including wives, brothers and sisters, and two of my high school buddies and their wives. What a great time! We were in a group of 63ers. I sat next to Fran and Tom Reemelin, and in front of several 13th company guys who were there as a group. As members of the 12th company and guys who roomed together over 38 years ago, Bill, John and I try to meet once a year. We are still pretty close after all the years. We are attempting to gin up a year 2001 12th company reunion at the Army-Navy game.

        The current biography portion of the Electronic Lucky Bag is growing steadily as our classmates input their own information directly onto the Class of 1963 web site. For your enjoyment, I have copied portions of some recent submissions below. The first selection is from Erwin Storz:

    After graduation I stayed back at USNA and coached the 150 FB team. Attended Supply School in Athens, GA, and received orders as Asst Supply Officer in LUCE (DLG-7) out of Mayport, FL. Completed a Med Cruise. In 1966, after two years aboard LUCE, received orders as Petroleum Procurement Inspector, Bangkok, Thailand, and than as petroleum inspector, Saigon, RVN. Released from active duty in 1967 but stayed affiliated with the Naval Reserves retiring as Captain in 1990. In civilian life, in 1971 received an MBA, major in Accounting, from Rutgers. Worked for Arthur Andersen, LLC as an auditor and while there received a CPA certificate. Subsequently worked for various companies in financial management positions. In 1989 acquired a small family HVAC business with a partner. Merged with another company in 1997. In 1998 decided a change was needed, so I resigned. Presently I am working in financial management for AEP Industries, an international manufacturer and marketer of plastic film products used in the packaging industry.

I was married in 1970 to Kathleen Mulhern from Wilkes-Barre, PA. We met while skiing in Vermont. Kathy is a registered nurse and we have four children. Megan is 26 and a Boston College graduate. She is a CPA and is controller of Aluminium.com, a B2B for Aluminum products. Erik is 25 and also a BC graduate. He is married and is a linebacker with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fred is 23 and a senior at Williams College. He is a tailback on the football team and set various school rushing records. Fred will graduate in June with a Political Science degree. Kristin is 18 and graduates from high school this June. She is a soccer player and also wants to attend BC.

The USNA years were the best. Life is great, and it would be nice to hear from any classmates. Our mailing address is 114 Andrea Drive, Rockaway, New Jersey 07866. The telephones are (973) 366-4633 (H) and (201) 931-7418 (W); e-mail is EFStorz63@aol.com.

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        This updated biographical information for the Electronic Lucky Bag comes from Bill Ellison:

    As of December 2000, I am still working for a living and with a four year old at home it looks like I'll be at it for awhile. A brief early history: J.K. TAUSSIG (DE 1030) for two years (ASW Officer), MIT for the ED Masters program plus a little longer for a Doctorate in Engineering Acoustics, followed by duty as an ED in DC as TD for PMS 387 (surface ship sonars) and one year as EA for COMNAVSEA, and then on to SUPSHIP Groton for a waterfront QA and steel-kicking job. Left active duty in 1974(the reasons get murkier as I get older!) but stayed in the reserves and retired as CAPT, USNR in 1984.

After active duty I went to work in underwater sound research as a partner at Cambridge Acoustical Associates. Stayed there for eight years and then started my own company, Marine Acoustics, Inc. in 1983 and am still there. Clay Spikes '66 is my partner and does all the hard stuff while I sit in Connecticut and think up new ideas. Our classmate Bernie Patterson is CFO and also co-partner with me, Clay, and Ace Sarich '66 in a new spin-off company, VOXTEC Inc., involved in hand-held automatic voice translation devices. We also have a small computer services company, PCPRO, which services the computer needs of the small business community in Rhode Island. I spent many years (1978 to 1988) in the Alaskan Arctic studying the bowhead whale and inventing new ways to record their sounds and track them, work that ultimately had payoffs for Navy systems I have worked on. More recently, I have been involved with designing and testing a variety of new sonar systems for the Navy, as well as training the current generation in their application and use.

Annelise, little Katerina, and I would love to have any and all visit us in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. It's a four season resort area, and the best bass-fishing in New England is off our dock. Our address is PO Box 340, Litchfield CT 06759; phone 860-567-5491; e-mail wemai@aol.com.

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        Minutes after receiving news of the 28 February earthquake near Seattle, Steve Coester fired off an e-mail to our classmates living in that area, expressing concern for their well-being. He received several quick responses, some of which I am copying below.

    Bill Hahn: I haven't heard of any significant damage here in Kitsap County (Subase Bangor and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard). It was quite a ride! Dave Anderson: We're about 60 miles south of the epicenter here in Longview, but it was pretty wild for a while. We had some stuff jump off the shelf, and my dogs got pretty excited, but nothing serious. I was asleep in the BOQ at NAS Sangley Point when the big quake hit Manila in '68 but don't remember it being as violent as what we felt here this morning. However, I was undoubtedly in better shape this morning than I was that day in the Philippines. Dave Durfee: Thanks for the concern. Basically we're fine -- some models fell off a shelf in the RR room but survived the impact. House really shook way out here. Jerry Carpenter: I am talking to my wife by Instant Messenger as I write this, and she says that in our Bonney Lake home, which is 40 miles from either Olympia or Seattle and about 15 miles east of the sound, there was no damage except for falling pictures. I lived in Northern California for many years and was there for a couple of other quakes including Loma Prieta so am pretty used to the brief but vivid sensations of a 6-7 Richter quake. The reason for my IM talk with my wife is that I am in Yerevan, Armenia, on a consulting assignment, so the technology of being able to converse with her "live" as I write this is pretty impressive. Mal Wright: Many thanks for inquiring. Here in Eastern Washington we hardly felt it. In fact, I was the only one in a meeting that didn't feel it at all. Must be getting old.

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        No doubt you noticed that this month's news exchange is shorter than usual, and without photographs. Know why? One big reason is that you didn't communicate with me. Please don't keep leaving it to The Other Guys. Make your mark by sending me an e-mail or a letter, or by using your special cheap phone rate to call me. My addresses and phone number are at the head of this column. Please use them soon.

  QUALITY - '63

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This page is  Shipmate:     May 2001  posted on:  10 March 2001

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