2023 was an eventful year for Kitty and me, with international travel to the Caribbean with our grandchildren and to England, the British Isles, and Iceland; John’s publishing with Virginia Living Magazine and Army magazine; our grandchildren’s school, academic, and athletic activities.



Our grandchildren are 13 and 11. Sam, an 8th grader, plays club lacrosse with the Maryland Athletic League. He plans to attend DeMatha High School and the US Coast Guard Academy
Lisa has a green belt in Tae Kwan Do. Gifted in visual arts, she has a YouTube channel.



We enjoy their games, often take them to practice, and host them after school most days.

At Saint Marys’ Parish, we are 20-year plus members of Perpetual Adoration and support the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.

For the Bay Ridge Civic Association, John engages in strategic planning with Anne Arundel County for traffic safety on a hazardous local roadway, protecting community forests from adverse zoning changes, and designing county parks to benefit all ages.

He writes for Virginia Living Magazine and Army Magazine. In March, his article “Secret Letters” about Maxwell Perkins, F Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe was published. In July, he interviewed New York Times Best Selling Author Mark Helprin for a story on his latest novel “The Sea and the Stars,” a Sea Story, a War Story, and a love Story. Army Magazine published his account of how Lieutenant George S Marshall made soldiers out of rich San Franciscans who came to Del Monte to play golf. He is a member of the George S Marshall International Society and has chaired a monthly book club on “Between Silk and Cyanide,” by British Special Operations Executive’s codemaster Leo Marks.

John gave the invocation on Veterans Day at a wreath laying for Annapolis World War 1 Veteran, 28 year old Private Emil Julius Snyder, of Company C, 307th Signal Field Batallion, 82nd Division, the “All American Division, who died of his wounds splicing communications cable during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France against an important German Army supply line.

We look forward to activities at our parish, with our family, and international travel in 2024. John is fluent in Spanish and French, now is learning Italian. "Buon Natale!"

John and Kitty Van de Kamp
December 20, 2023