Greetings 78ers… 

Can’t believe it’s spring already! Time has been flying by as of late especially with some of this fair state finally opening up. My wife and I actually were able to go to a real movie theater last week…it’s the little things in life.

Catching up from last quarter , I talked about a total chance meeting between Gordy Curphy and Bob Berger meeting in Sabino Canyon near Tucson. As promised here is the pic with Bob on the left and Gordy on the right. What were the chances…right? 

I have never and will never do Facebook (and have quite a few reasons why now) but have been a fairly avid LinkedIn user for several years. One of my connections is our own Livingston “Livie” Holder (Airborne classmates back in the day) who has been wildly successful in aerospace engineering. After graduation, he went into the space career field then applied and was accepted into the Space Shuttle program! He was training to be a payload specialist when the Challenger accident put his dreams on permanent hold. Undaunted he kept at the space and engineering biz even founding his own engineering consulting firm. During 2021 Black History Month Seattle PBS affiliate KCTS produced an outstanding spot highlighting Livie’s contribution to space while mentoring and inspiring a new generation of young engineers. The PBS link is: https://www.kcts9.org/show/environment/episode/i-am-stem-livingston-holder-jr-8dzpvw. Great shot of Livie below…way to go Classmate!

Bob Heim’s bride Tami (one of the 2%ers as high school sweethearts) sent a great note/pix of the family and shared about Bob’s final SWA flight September after nearly 21 years with the airline. Early in the month after the birth of their 11^th (!) grandchild, Bob flew 40 family members and friends on an SWA flight from Baltimore to Columbus OH. It was quite the affair with a banquet at the Dayton Holiday Inn with an AF Museum tour the day after. Tami also shared about Bob’s copilot for the fini flight (Bret Carter, USAFA ‘93) who was prior enlisted, and met Bob at KI Sawyer during Bob’s BUFF days. Bob encouraged/mentored (was actually his ALO) Bret to get into USAFA then go on to graduate at the top of his UPT class. Bob went on to fly fast movers for several years until Bob helped him get with SWA. Talk about paying it forward! The Heims have settled in the Lancaster PA area where they plan on spending time traveling, seeing all those grandchildren (2 more on the way) and focus on a marriage related ministry to help others. Below is a great shot of the Heim mob…thanks so much Tami and all the best on the next phase Bob. 

Speaking of airline retirements (which we’ve mentioned quite a bit of late) Neil Krause hung up the spurs after retiring from United (was with Continental prior) also this past September after 22 years. He and will stay in Spokane until he gets tired of shoveling snow. 

If you’re looking for an excellent historical flying book, our own Dan Simmons has written just the thing. After retiring from the AF, Dan became the wing historian at Fairchild (speaking of Spokane) in the 92^nd Air Refueling Wing (used to be the 92^nd Bomb Group in WWII). Dan writes about Lt. John “Red” Morgan who flew for the 92^nd and won the Medal of Honor flying B-17s. His story was told in the classic Gregory Peck film 12 O’Clock High which we all had to watch during BCT as I recall (I’ve seen it at least a dozen times…tremendous lessons ln leadership) as Lt Jesse Bishop who flew a B-17 mission while fighting off the pilot who had a severe head would and was fanatically struggling for control of the airplane for over two hours. Lt Morgan not only fought for control during the bomb run but all the way back to England. You can either buy it on Amazon or write to Dan at wendansim@gmail.com and he’ll mail a copy. Well worth the read…well done Dan!

Finally, Tom Keohane’s bride Amy continues to be a faithful contributor (sadly I ran out of space again for more pix). She sent a shot of Tom and Gary Hughes hanging out in Albuquerque while Tom was there visiting family. Gary retired from American and is recovering from Guillain-Barre syndrome. He is walking unassisted but still can’t use his left hand. Prayers would certainly be appreciated as Gary continues to recover. She also sent a shot of Tom in Minneapolis earlier this month (April) with classmates Jon Weissand Chuck Chuva. Jon is also with Southwest and retires in August (was in MSP on a layover) while Chuck still flies for Delta (originally with Northwest) and also retires in August. Sounds like the airlines will have to cope without ’78 aviation expertise very soon! I’ll endeavor to put in both pix for the next article…this is a tremendous problem to have and I very much appreciate everyone’s help with these submissions.

I’ve now officially hit the word limit so will sign off for this quarter. I cannot thank all of you enough for your faithfulness and hope everyone has a blessed Spring/Summer.

God Bless

78 is Great!