Greetings 78ers…

It’s with a sad and very heavy heart that we suffered the death of three of our classmates…an incredibly tragic quarter. Mike Mangold perished in his L-39 aircraft in early December during takeoff at Antelope Valley Airport here in CA. The accident is being investigated by the NTSB but will be some time until the results are released. Mike was an exceptionally accomplished pilot as this bio attests: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Mangold. Julie would appreciate any condolences at the following e-mail address: juliemangold@chalk2.com.

Sadly, Mike Adams also passed in early December in Arapahoe NE of unknown causes. He had his own construction/civil engineering company that he had run for many years. Melody’s address is P.O. Box 480, Arapahoe, NE 68922-0480.

Finally, Vince Wilcox succumbed to ulcerative colitis and live failure in late December. Vince had been with Lockheed Martin in Ft Worth for several years as well as the ANG at Carswell. Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with their families during this tragic time.

Bo Marlin sent a photo of his cadet car (a 1970 Corvette Stingray T-top coupe) that he immaculately restored recently after being in storage for over 28 years. He mentioned that there's a black and white photo of it in front of the auto hobby shop in our yearbook on page 263. Bo is still slugging it out as the Tech Advisor to the AF A2 (ISR) when he isn’t driving his Vette. His question for us is how many actually have their cadet cars in running condition? I know we have a few…please shoot a picture and info if you have yours!

Scott Lawrence’s bride Starla sent the following picture and info on what Scott is up to these days. They were married right after graduation in June. Scott flew F-16s for several years taking an early retirement in '95 to enter medical school in Texas. They had 3 kids at that time and added a “surprise” during medical school with both of them in their 40’s! Their “baby” is now a high school senior as they prepare for the empty nest in Tyler, Texas. Their older three daughters are all married giving them five grandkids ages 5 months to seven years. Scott just opened a Neighbor's Emergency Center in Tyler with four other ER docs and is the medical director. Great news Scott and Starla…thanks so much for the update.

Bart Wohl had some tremendous personal news. He’s still working at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque as the lead engineer for a Navy weapons system. More importantly however, he married Judith Brillman this past June in a traditional Jewish wedding. She is an emergency medicine physician, retired from the faculty at UNM Health Sciences Center (as an associate dean), and currently pulls ER shifts in their local hospital system. At the wedding, our own Larry Krauser attended with bride Julia. Bart shared what a welcome help Larry and Julia were to he and Judith by among other things, providing transportation to the ceremony. Larry also ensured that the Jewish marriage contract on display didn’t blow off the roof of the somewhat windy 9th floor rooftop where the ceremony and festivities occurred. Bart sent the great photo below of he Larry (in hat) dancing a Hora. A hearty congrats Bart and thanks for letting us know.

Heard from Dan Mesnard who has been keeping very busy flying at Delta for many years (currently on the 777). In fact, he is the senior ‘78er at Delta (and there are a LOT of our classmates there) with a seniority number of 211 out of 12000+! He plans on staying to the end at 65 in five more years (I’ll let that sink in a bit since it pretty much applies to all of us) and will finally hang up his spurs. Dan also mentioned that Rich Terry is the Chief Pilot in New York and he flew with Doug Hagedorn on his last trip. His three children are all doing well with his oldest son, Javan, in his third term in the AZ House of Representatives as well as teaching government at local colleges. His bride Holly is a nurse. Dan’s daughter, Juel had her first child (and Dan’s first granddaughter) this past December. Youngest daughter Elise is in Portland where she works as a fine arts painter. Dan’s other great news was his recent engagement and pending marriage to Linda in February. He also mentioned that he, Linda, Jose Bravo (FedEx MD-11 captain) and bride Jancie had dinner in Melbourne FL just before Christmsa. Jose and Jancie are in the process of relocation to Melbourne. Great to hear from you Dan…safe flying.

Brian Livie also had some cool news that his son Vince Livie, who Brian says was the first child born to a '78er, was the first child of a '78er to graduate from USAFA (Vince is a 2001 USAFA alum), just became the first child of a '78er to pin on Lt Col (1 year early). Sounds pretty legit to me!

Brian and bride Roberta were able to join Vince and his family near Scott AFB for his pin-on effective 1 Jan 2016. Brian officiated the ceremony and observed as Vince’s wife Colleen, and his three children (Hunter - 12, Skyler -10 and Parker - 7) pinned Vince with a pair of Brian’s own Lt Col rank from the 90's. Vince follows his Grandfather, George, and Brian as the 3rd Lt Col Livie Air Force pilot. Now that’s a legacy! Vince just finished the AMC Joint Mobility Fellowship program last summer and is now assigned to USTRANSCOM HQ.

Brian and Roberta still reside in the Springs with frequent sightings of Greg and Sherry Hollister and Mike and Mary Couillard. After being retired for 6 years Brian became the Director of Facilities at his church in Black Forest. He says It’s the ideal part-time retirement job.....keeps him busy with church improvements (currently managing a parking lot expansion) yet still allows them to travel and see the kids and grandkids whenever they want. Brian sent a great shot of him and Vince after the pin on but space limitations is going to prevent me posting it in this issue. Will make sure to show it in June’s edition.

Finally, our own Paul Madera was just selected as one of two AOG Distinguished Graduates for 2016! He’s been on the USAFA Endowment Board since 2007 serving as the chair from 2012-2015. While he was the chairman, the Endowment raised $100 million in private support. Paul is the managing director of Meritech Capital Partners (which he co-founded) in Palo Alto. He will be honored at the Founders Day Dinner on 1 April. Well done Paul!

My thanks to everyone who sent in information and pictures…it is much appreciated. I hope you all have a great Spring.

God Bless

´78 is Great!