Greetings 78ers…

By the time you see this, we all should be in the throes of summer…which we don’t necessarily look forward to in the CA high desert.

Right out of the chute is a great shot of six classmates at the 36TFW (Bitburg) reunion in San Antonio back in October of last year courtesy of Deon “Tank” Gieg. Tank (retired from Delta) said that it was great to see so many classmates there as quite a few flew the F-15 at Bitburg…many of them going to and instructing at the Eagle Fighter Weapons School. He’s living in New Orleans, but he and his bride Arlene spend 5 months of the year at the lake in AL. He’s “…busier now than when I was working. Doing kitchen and bath remodels, fences, a little of everything to help out friends and of course my kids. Otherwise having fun with my 2 grandsons (4 1/2 and 1 1/2).” From L to R are Herb “Hawk” Carlisle, Tim “Wolf” Wolters, Greg “Magic” Kennedy, Ted “Ank” Ankenbauer, Mike “Fenn” Fennessy and Tank. Everyone but Hawk (whom I’ve written about the exceptional things he’s done/doing in this space before) flew for the airlines and is now retired. Thanks for the great pic and update Tank.

Glenn Spears and his bride Kimberly are living the good life in Central VA. He is a “one-dude consultant”, and volunteers with local veterans’ organizations and his church. That and chasing five grandkids! Speaking of grandkids, Mike Ausserer happily reports that his and Paula’s 4 are only a mile and a half away in Beavercreek OH (Dayton suburb). His AF son moving back to Wright Pat air patch as well. He’s going to an 80% work schedule in May setting the stage for retirement.

Dan Garner made the big move from C Springs to Hixson TN (a suburb of Chattanooa). He earned his CFI the hard way (not mil equivalency) while still living in the Springs and is currently an active instructor at the local flying club. He finds himself teaching nearly full time having essentially retired from medical practice and totally enjoys it. He has a daughter living locally and is expecting her second child, so Dan is now practicing being a grandpa (which seems to be a common thread among us for some reason!). His other two daughters live in Austin and Richardson TX and each has a boy and a girl. 

BD Dunton reports some great visits with several classmates…will let him pick up the narrative: 

“I can report nice visits the past six months with fellow CS-21 Blackjacks John Murtari, Scott Yeakel, Tom Owen, Mark Swigonski, and Kevin Hayes. My wife, Terri, and I visited John Murtari on a Western NY vacation in early October. John was a great tour guide and host. We did a wine tour, Corning glass museum, apple orchards, glider rides, and the highlight was a visit to Niagara Falls. Scott Yeakel came to COS for a business meeting, and we had dinner with him at the Viewhouse. He’s doing great, and we had a nice evening to catch up. We now snowbird from COS to PHX and enjoy the AZ winter much more that the CO winters these days. In early Feb, we attended the wedding of Tom & MaryBeth Owen’s son T.Jeff. All went well, and Tom has settled in Niceville, FL after spending some time in San Antonio and Ft. Worth, TX. We hosted a party in Feb, and Mark & Sandy Swigonski along with Kevin Hayes were able to stop by for a nice visit. Both Mark and Kevin are retired SWA pilots.”

Great info BD, thanks so much! Below is a great shot of (L to R) Swig, BD, and Kevin in BD’s very nice backyard:

He also included a very nice pic of Tom and MaryBeth as the mother and father of the groom at their son’s wedding:

There were several more shots severe space limits prevented me from posting them. Will hold in reserve for when I don’t have much but you guys have rocked sending me stuff!

As I mentioned last quarter, my bride Ellie, myself, Fred Zeitz and his bride Cheryl spent over two incredible weeks in Israel. We went up north looking at the Lebanon border/Golan Heights to the southern Negev desert. Also ate lunch at an Israeli kubutz next to the Gaza Strip just to name a few activities…it was truly life-changing and highly recommend it to you. Several classmates contacted me and Fred about it already and we provided info on how to contact my son-in-law for tours (full disclosure). I’m certainly not advocating their tour group only but we certainly recommend them. Again, due to space limits, I can’t post a pic but will stash it in the aforementioned reserve. 

Finally, on the reunion, all of you should have received at least one (there are a couple of updates as I write this on 19 Apr) CAS blast from Wayne Hermandorfer as well as info from the AOG reunion folks. If not, please let him know at whermand@gmail.com. John Paterson (genpaterson@comcast.net) and Blake Linder(budaenid@yahoo.com) are doing incredible work if you want to reach out to them directly. This promises to be a great time (slipped to Nov but we don’t get to attend a service academy game for reunions normally). Until next quarter…

God Bless

78 is Great!