Greetings 78ers…

Sadly, we had another rough quarter losing two classmates. Yet further reminders of our mortality. Paul L. Beck passed last September in Topeka, KS of unknown causes. He was very active in his church and the Topeka community up until his death. An excellent obit is at: https://angelsabovecs.com/obituaries/187-paul-lamar-beck and even though it’s been a few months Lynette would no doubt appreciate hearing from us at 2408 SW Duncan Dr. Topeka, KS 66614-1121.

Mike Heggen also passed in December while living in Tampa. A nice obit can be found here: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituaries/tampa-fl/michael-heggen-10482425 . Mike flew for Republic, Northwest and Delta airlines until he recently retired. You can reach Carmen at 6213 Chauncy St. Tampa, FL 33647-1103…am sure she would appreciate condolences. 

“Former” fellow CA dweller Dennis Park sent a great shot of himself and Lt Gen Steve Kwast (‘86 grad) taken during a talk Gen Kwast gave in Naples FL back in Nov. Dennis said the talk was on the importance of U.S. Space Command as well what the China threat looks like and that it was rather eye opening to say the very least. He escaped this lovely state last year and is loving life in Naples doing financial planning & consulting with clientele he says he’s had for years. They are more like friends at this point than clients but if he finds the right person, he would consider turning his clients over…but he hasn’t found that person yet. He also has an older grad (even older than us!) who is his partner in the business. 

While we’re on the month of Nov 21 Ellie and I had the absolute delight to join several folks from CS-35 at the Army v AF game in Ft Worth. Wayne  Hermandorfer (retired former Lockheed Martin VP of Government Relations) put the event together and rented out two suites complete with prime seats, beer and appropriate game food for very reasonable prices. He was kind enough to let us, our three mil sons and two wives crash the event. The AOG also put on some outstanding events the night before as well as before the game. Would have been just perfect if we had won but our Army grad son was most delighted. We took an IPhone shot below that isn’t the greatest but you can see most of us. 

From L to R: Keith Heise, Scribe, Bruce Conard (in front of me), Fred Zeitz, Todd Carrillo, Rich Shook, Wayne, Craig Baltmiskis, Wayne Ford , Mike Williams, Winston Churchill, Frank Cantrell

Received a tremendous message from Bill Woody who recently retired after 33 years at Delta Air Lines. Not one to rest on his aviation laurels, he decided to set out and hike the COMPLETE Appalachian Trail (all 2193 miles) from Georgia to Maine. The hike took him seven months which he felt was “a little slower than the pace set by the 20-somethings on the Trail.” He felt that indeed his (and our) age took a toll, especially in the mountains of New Hampshire. As Bill passed through Connecticut, he was able to take couple of days off and visit P.J. and Joan Vergaro. It was a most welcome respite due to not only being able to rest up but also considering all the rain that fell in August in the northeast. Bill isn’t sure if he’ll tackle any more long-distance hikes, but some discussion has been heard about the Colorado Trail. What an amazing feat Bill…a hearty congratulations. The pic below is Bill at Mt. Katahdin which is the highest elevation in Maine at 5287’ (per the sign he’s standing on). 

I also heard from Doolie squadron mate Jeff Kindschuh who is still at it in Oak City at Tinker air patch as a civil engineering program manager. He and his son attended the Air Force v. Louisville game in Dallas during the Servepro First Responder bowl late in December. While there he ran into two Eagle Eight classmates who were also at the game. Bill Schuffert (retired American pilot and retired ANG 2 star) along with Tim Wolters (also retired American pilot) both live in the DFW area and are full time retired from what Jeff said. Due to space limitations (post pix in the order I receive them) I regrettably cannot post the shot of them in this article but will be sure to put it in next quarter’s installment. 

Finally, for those of you who are not AOG members and reading this on the class website (thanks Cliff Huff!) all grads can now opt in for AOG membership at no cost. Either go to the AOG website at https://www.usafa.org or directly to the membership page at https://membership4grads.usafa.org/ for info and instructions. Either way it’s an outstanding opportunity to get involved with the Association and make your voice heard. The aforementioned Winston Churchill is the ’78 rep in the CAS (Class Advisory Senate) and sent a message out to all current members. If you received that, please take a look and consider opting in.

I’m out of space so we’ll call that a wrap for this quarter. My continued thanks to you guys that have contributed by sending in fascinating info about what you’ve been doing. For those who have still been quiet, please consider contacting me. Thanks in advance!

God Bless

78 is Great!