Greetings 78ers…

I have the very sad duty to report the passing of Don Avery a couple of days ago on Thursday, 23 Jan in Dublin GA. Although at the time I’m writing this on 27 Jan the AOG hasn’t sent the notice out yet but sure it’ll be out by March when this is published. I was given the news by both Kip Warton and Bob McMahon. Don was having shoulder surgery when he unexpectedly passed which was a supreme shock to those of us who knew him. He had been the CEO of Fairview Park Hospital for 17 years and had just announced his retirement in July of this year. Don had totally rejuvenated the hospital culture as well as volunteer in the community. I did a search on his obit and saw stories from the local TV stations and several local publications…Don was very well loved and respected. He’ll be truly missed.

Just after the December issue of Checkpoints I received a great update from Art Harrison. After retiring from Delta Airlines, he and Polly settled in Lake Lanier GA. He’s a proud member of a local ski group called The ROMEOS (Retired Old Men Eating Out) while learning to wake surf, hunting (ample proof below), fishing, and traveling with his bride. He had a close call on the first day of the 45^th reunion when he rolled his truck at night (4 to 5 revolutions) down a hill enroute. Polly had already flown out and was picked up at COS by RD Johnson then got Art later. Thankfully he emerged OK but said it was quite the experience and he is MOST happy to still be around. The shot below shows how successful his elk hunt was before his accident. Thanks for the great news Art and sure glad you’re OK.

Also heard from Duce Rice who bought a place in the Yosemite mountains in CA. He retired a couple years back after being a prosecutor in Fresno for 31 years. Duce shared a great shot of the proud dad at his son Jack’s USAF BMT graduation (after Jack’s Sonoma State University graduation) as the honor grad and currently is an A1C at Shepperd air patch for tech training. Duce has three other kids (two are lawyers in DC and the youngest a college sophomore) as well and a 6 year old granddaughter. He agrees that being a grandpa is a most special privilege. Great info Duce…many thanks.

Jack Anthony who has been a tremendous contributor over the years and has become a renown (if not the most renown) historian specializing in “USAFA before it was USAFA.” He has an incredible in-depth knowledge of the area picked for USAFA through the years. He was also quite the Space Ops Officer and made some lasting contributions. He shared about last October when he and Margo were special guests of Space Delta 9’s 3^rd Space Ops Squadron at Schriever SFB east of Peterson SFB (it’ll always be Pete Field to me personally). As Jack describes it: “They dedicated their state-of-the-art orbital warfare training room in honor of me in a very special ceremony. We were so honored and touched by these space patriots who serve our nation as Guardians in the Space Force. Seven years ago, I was fortunate to have an amazing team develop a space simulator prototype that helped teach the skills and develop intuitive knowhow to do spacecraft maneuvering. The capability underwent constant improvements thanks to great and caring Guardians and contractors who kept it improving. This effort and others are underway to give these Guardians the simulator and training tools to learn and home their skills.” The shot below is Jack cutting the ribbon to his dedicated training center!

Jack has also taken his aforementioned and outstanding “USAFA before it was USAFA” program to the class of ‘75’s website. If you’re reading this on-line this link (https://75bestalive.org/history%20pages/history_beforeusafa/history_beforeusafa.html) should work highlighting Jack’s outstanding work but if reading the actual mag it’s worth fat-fingering on your computer. He’s working on getting on our site as well and will let us know when it’s complete. Well done Jack and thanks for being an example of ’78 being great!

Finally, please note that my address has changed if anyone desires to send something via snail mail…or if you’re in the Oklahoma City area please lemme know! We escaped CA right in the middle of the raging and tragic wildfires of early January. Thankfully they weren’t a threat in lovely Palmdale this time although we were packed to evacuate in the past for a fire. Our primary relocation reason was to be near 3 or our 13 grandkids and it’s been a tremendous experience so far. Secondary of course was to get away from the CA craziness! I do have to admit that we lost the moving edge that we had in our AF days by staying in the same hours for 21 years. My e-mail and cell have stayed the same of course.

My sincere thanks to the contributors this quarter and my annual reminder (maybe a bit more than that) to please send stuff letting us know how you are and what you and your family have been up to.

God Bless

78 is Great!