Greetings 78ers…

Sadly, as I’ve had to do on far too many occasions we lead off with the tragic loss of Paul Williams back in January. He had retired as an American pilot (flew for them over 30 years) and was living in Flour Mound TX (DFW suburb). An excellent obit is published here (https://www.daltonandson.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obId=23976178&source=SmsSh), even talks about his 45 year old record touchdown reception (89 yards). He was interned at the Dallas Ft Worth National Cemetery the day after Easter (18 Apr). Cindy would very much appreciate any condolences at 2020 Reserve Ct, Flower Mound TX 75028-8315. 

Last quarter I relayed some info of fellow Doolie squadron (Fun One) classmate Jeff Kindschuh (I mentioned that he is still actively working at Tinker air patch as an Air Force civilian engineering program manager). I need to correct a couple of things I said unfortunately. Jeff and his son did in fact attend the Servpro First Responder Bowl in Dallas on 28 Dec to see AF beat Louisville 31-28. However, they did notrun into Bill Schauffert and Tim Wolters (also in CS-01 with us) there…they met up at the 6 Nov Commanders Classic at Tim’s tailgate (also in the DFW area) as Army won 21-14 in overtime. After Doolie year, Jeff and Tim shuffled to Eagle Eight and joined up with Bill there (Bill and I were in UPT and initial F-4 training together later on). Tim and Bill do both reside in the DFW area after long careers with the airlines however Bill retired from Delta (not American as I said) while Tim was with American. Further, Bill retired from the AF Reserve (not the ANG) as a two star. Now that I cleared that up, below is the promised picture of the three. Jeff was most proud (as he should be) that he fit in his 1974 issued A-jacket! From L to R (with nobody looking their age) is Bill, Jeff and Tim. Great shot gents and thanks for sending Jeff…apologies for my buffoonery.

George Kailiwai is still loving life as the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) J-8 showing no sign of hanging it up. He linked up with Hawk Carlisle and Dave Scott during the Pacific Operational Science & Technology Conference this past March at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The conference is annually sponsored jointly by the US Indo-Pacific Command and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA of which Hawk was the President at the time of the conference recently retiring from the organization). Dave is a Raytheon VP as well. Always great to hear from you George.

Despite having 10 local grandkids in the greater Denver area, Ron Magnus stays intensely busy! We had a great shot of the gang a couple of articles ago. He shared recently on being asked to be board chair for Verdant Ventures – a real estate development company in Africa whose goal to create 100,000 jobs on the Africa continent. They just completed a ribbon cutting on two buildings in Kenya and Ethiopia pricing out at about $60 million each (good summary of the company and effort at https://www.verdantfrontiers.com/). He’s also been a partner at the international consulting firm FMI for many years and says he’ll stay there another year or so. All told he serves on 9 corporate boards (2 being non-profits) and chairs 4 of them. Whew…got tired just typing all that! To say he's finishing well is certainly an understatement. Great update Ron and enjoy those grandkids brother!

Also heard from Kevin Hammond about what he and his family have been up to. He also recently retired from American after 34 years. He arrived there by way of USAirways hiring on in ’87. His 20 yr. AF/Reserve career consisted of T-38 instructor at Willy then C-5's both active and reserve at Dover. He finished up his reserve portion as a USAFA Liaison Officer in the Charlotte NC area. He and Deb (married 37 years) recently relocated to Travelers Rest, SC in 2018 where he’s focusing on a well earned retirement. He’s doing his best to stay healthy with regular outings of tennis, golf, cycling and hiking. Kevin included a great shot of the family from L to R daughter Cori’s boyfriend Brennan, Cori, Deb, and daughter Hayley. Very much appreciate the update Kevin…enjoy retirement!

I was reading through the Academy Foundation web site and saw a very cool piece on the front page highlighting a recent significant gift Larry Romo made to the Hispanic/Latino Club Endowment. In the article, Larry discusses the support he received as a struggling cadet and how he now wants to pay it forward with his contribution. Well done Larry and thanks for your generosity! He currently lives in San Antonio and has been active in several nationally sanctioned/sponsored organizations that also provide services to the military and veterans. Below is a great shot of Larry and Brig Gen Linell Letendre the current Dean. 

Further, in the current issue (March) of Checkpoints there is a great feature on Fred and Cheryl Zeitz and how they set up sizable deferred charitable annuities at USAFA. Fred was the Chief Scientist for BAE Systems until recently when he and Cheryl moved to Council Bluffs IA to begin the next phase. Way to go ZZ!

That’s it for this quarter gents. My thanks to the contributors and see you next time…may everyone have a blessed summer. 

God Bless

78 is Great!