Greetings 78ers…

As I sit here it’s 102 deg outside (yeah, it’s a “dry heat” here in lovely Palmdale CA) and I’m most thankful for air conditioning! Those of you in AZ probably don’t have much empathy and I get that. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who have sent such great inputs…so many in fact (and I am NOT complaining) that I have a bit of a picture backlog. Due to more and more classes, we’re restricted to 900 words/three pix per article and I’ve been receiving more that that…yessss! So, my point is to please forgive the often times dated info but please don’t stop sending stuff! 

Tom Keohane’s bride and ever faithful contributor Amy sent the great shot below of a mini CS-23 reunion back in April with (L to R) Gary Hughes, Tom and Mike Catlin. They were in Albuquerque for Tom’s younger brother’s celebration of life (our condolences Tom). Gary (retired from American) and Linda live in Placitas (NE of Albuquerque) where Gary has sadly been suffering from Guillain Barres syndrome. Amy reports that he’s thankfully doing better and along with the Keohane’s plans on being at the reunion in Nov. Mike and Sharon live in The Springs where he is doing policy/ops analysis at NORAD/USNORTHCOM. As Amy has shared in the past, Tom retired from Delta (originally hired on with Northwest) and they reside in MN. Ken Baier (he and Karla are in Loveland CO where Ken was with Lockheed Martin as a senior engineer) also visited with Gary and Tom in Albuquerque earlier in the year. Thanks again for all the news Amy!

Also heard from Mark Schuler’s bride Tricia with a great shot of Mark (on the left in his Seahawks shirt) and John Winkopp below as they waited to watch the Falcon 9 launch in Cocoa Beach FL recently. Both guys retired from American and were O-6s in the Reserves/Guard (where both served as USAFA Admissions Liaison Officers among other duties). Mark and Tricia split their time between Jupiter and Babcock Ranch FL. John and Heather are full time in Cocoa Beach. Thanks so much Tricia!

Final shot is from Steve “Burner” Sargeant showing he and Leo “Lucky” Kowatch in Lucky’s Ramstein Village GE digs back in April. Burner was in the area for a USAFE conference on (among other things) Agile Combat Employment. He and Vivie reside in Tustin CA where he is the CEO for Marvin Test Solutions which is “a provider of globally-deployed innovative test solutions for military, aerospace, and manufacturing organizations.” Lucky (who was recovering from sinus surgery early in the week which explains the bandage) and Tammi have been in Germany for several years where he is a Senior Strategy Analyst in USAFE A-5…not sure how much longer they’ll be there. Lucky mentioned that it was fairly significant for two 78’ers to be at USAFE on the same day as SECDEF was meeting with all NATO defense ministers over Ukraine even though he said it was just a coincidence. The good news is that ‘78 still out in the space making contributions. 

Sadly I’ve run out of picture space however still have info to share…will catch up with the pix next quarter…honest! Given that, Nick Lynn’s bride Angela shared about Nick’s American retirement party In Philly back in June. Nick stated flying with American in ’85 retiring as an international 767 captain. They’ve been married since 1979 with 5 kids/6 grandkids and currently living in Seattle. Two of their kids are AF pilots with their son flying C-130s. Angela is Pat Marckesano’s sister and caught us up with Pat. He and Kathryn live in Ft Walton Beach FL, retired from Delta in 2021 and is currently flying privately. They tragically lost their Army Special Forces son Andrew recently but Nick and Angela’s son was able to do a C-130 flyover at Arlington during the funeral. Andrew is buried near Angela’s dad at Arlington and Pat is able to visit both…am so very sorry for this tragic loss Pat. 

Mark Richardson shared about a mini Stalag 17 reunion in Panama City FL (there seems to be a trend of living locations here!) back in late May with Dave Busheme and Dave Mintz. Mark and Cynthia retired in Pensacola a few years back and are loving the beach life. Dave (retired Delta) and Jan are the ones in Panama City. As an aside, it came to my senile mind the amazing spirit posters Dave used to draw and hang up in Mitch’s…am guessing most of us remember those! Dave M. and Julie are in The Springs and was visiting Mark as they took a day trip to see Dave B. 

Finally, Bill Hoferer shared about Mach 1 squadron mate Dean Proffitt’s recently published book Glory to Heroes. It’s available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. Timely set in Ukraine, it’s in the military/intel/espionage genre and Bill found it to be a great “great summer read.” Bill and Catherine are living in Erie CO (close to Denver) enjoying a well-earned retirement from Sun Microsystems IT. Dean and Jackie are in Seattle where Dean worked for Boeing.

That’s a wrap for this quarter. The reunion planning is still in full swing and hopefully you’ve heard from your squadron rep. Please contact John or Blake (info last quarter) if you don’t know who that is. See you next quarter and hopefully at the reunion!

God Bless

78 is Great!