| Walt (Wade) Adams ("No Regrets")
My long-time goal of flying was crushed by a medical
issue that was not waived, so I went to my second choice of graduate
school - Vanderbilt University for a MS in Health Physics on an Atomic
Energy Fellowship. That ultimately led to an assignment to the USAF's
last research reactor at Wright-Patt AFB in Dayton OH, only 100 miles
from my wife's home in Findlay OH - Mert thought she married an AF guy
to see the world, but we stayed my whole 32 year career at WPAFB! Four
months after I checked in at the Nuclear Engineering Center, the reactor
was shut down, so I quickly found a job in the Materials Lab to avoid
going to missile silo duty.
I spent two years working on rare earth-cobalt magnet
materials, then was pulled by Col Dick Saxer (later three star) to staff
duty as they shut down the electromagnetic materials branch. I spent
two years on staff computerizing the lab's budget system, and after
that we never again knew exactly how much money the lab had to operate
on! Col Saxer made a deal with me and let me convert to civil service
to do research, and I joined the Polymer Branch as a GS-11 the same
week that the lab RIF'd 10 civilians - I never asked how the Commander
pulled that off! I spent 16 years working on rigid-rod polymers and
we developed what is still the strongest organic fiber made for use
in light-weight composites. I also picked up a Ph.D. at UMass Amherst
- Thank You, Air Force for paying for all of my education!
In 1990 I moved to the Physics Division where I spent
six years leading a research team to develop eye and sensor protection
materials against lasers, a really tough problem that is still an issue
as the bad guys keep developing new lasers. I was promoted to ST during
that job, which is the Senior Executive level for scientists, equivalent
to a General Officer. That enabled me to move in 1996 to the job of
Chief Scientist of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the
Air Force Research Lab, where I led some 1000 scientists and engineers
in 200 laboratories - my dream job for sure. In 1998 I also retired
from the AF Reserves as a Colonel, having been a victim of Senator Hatch's
holding up all AF military promotions that year in some petty dispute
- I was screened forward in the Reserve for BGen but timed out before
the promotion could take effect!
I retired from the USAF in 2002 and moved to Houston
- I was privileged to work with Rick Smalley (Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 1996) at Rice University on a new material that after 16 years of
research, we are now close to making work - a new carbon nanotube fiber
that is strong and can conduct much more electrical current than copper.
This is a "Save the World" material that will allow us to
send electricity from wherever it is produced to wherever it is needed
cheaply and in vast amounts.
I have semi-retired now, diagnosed with Parkinson's
disease two years ago, and Mert (50 years+) and I moved to Nashville
TN in July to be close to both daughters and three amazing granddaughters.
But I am still employed by Rice University 2 days a week and work on
the project by teleconferencing and spending a week every other month
or so in Houston.
Nothing in my career ever went the way I planned, but
it has been a great and fulfilling life - my motto is now NO REGRETS!
Thanks to all my classmates at USAFA (especially that first year in
Evil Eight) who helped us all to cooperate and graduate, and special
thanks to the professors who worked us too hard on top of all the other
stuff that was raining down on us at the Blue Zoo.
Fred Bassett
I was lucky to fly five airplanes in my 20 year career. After pilot
training at Moody, I flew A-37s in Special Ops at Hurlburt Field, FL.
The pipeline to SEA for A-37s was crowded, so I checked out in the OV-10
and went to Da Nang as a FAC. Thank goodness I was young and bulletproof
working as a Felix FAC in Viet Nam and as a Covey on the trail in Laos.
I went back to Moody as a T-38 IP until the base transitioned to the
F-4. I was lucky to switch and fly the F-4 there a couple of years.
Then I went to RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge, England flying F-4s. The base
transitioned aircraft and I chose to check out in the A-10 and stay
there for the rest of my tour.
I went through ACSC at Maxwell in Montgomery and stayed on the faculty
for three years. Then I returned to flying the A-10 at Bentwaters for
my last flying tour. I finished my 20 years back on the ACSC faculty
and retired in Montgomery.
I flew for a timber company and did some woodworking until I got interested
in working with birds. I banded all types of birds for a few years until
working with hummingbirds took over my life. Now I travel most of the
time studying hummers and writing about them. I have a non-profit called
Hummingbird Research, Inc. The web site is Hummingbirdresearch.net if
you are interested.
Fifty years! What the hell happened? I'm not near that old until I look
in the mirror.
Jim Bjork
After graduation from pilot training at Craig AFB, AL, I upgraded to
the C-130E at Little Rock AFB, AR, and spent a short time as a copilot
at Pope AFB, NC. I then deployed in support of the Vietnam War to Ching
Chuan Kang AB, Taiwan, for three years flying primarily in Vietnam,
Thailand, and Cambodia.
After that time, I departed the Regular AF and began working in the
oil industry out of Singapore, and Houston, TX, accomplishing oil surveys
in Indonesia, the Philippines, the Celebes, Cambodia, Belise and Central
America among others. These surveys were accomplished on small oil exploration
ships, so when the Air Force asked me if I wanted to return to flying,
I jumped at the chance.
My first assignment was back to the Orient flying out of Clark AB in
the Philippines followed by three years in north Florida doing flight
test on refurbished C-130s (models A-K). That was my last flying assignment
as I moved into positions of greater responsibility. Those assignments
in order were Chief of Plans and Programs, AF Geophysical Directorate
at the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), Melbourne, FL;
Commander Air Force Forces, Soto Cano AB, Honduras; Chief of the Military
Liaison Office (MLO), Brasilia, Brazil; Secretary General of the System
of Cooperation Among the American Air Forces (SICOFFA), Headquartered
at Andrews AFB, MD; and finally, USSOUTHAF Liaison Officer to USSOUTHCOM
in Miami, FL, where I retired after 30 years of service.
Following retirement I attended the Florida Atlantic University working
toward a Master's Degree in remote sensing and Geospatial Information
Systems (GIS). Before completing my Master's, the National Geospatial
Intelligence Agency (NGA) picked me up and I spent the next eight years
as an analyst and Team Lead. I retired into northern Virginia from NGA
where my wife and I live close to our daughter with our two dogs. A
great deal of my time is currently concentrated on studying the nutritional
aspects of curing and preventing disease.
It's great to be a part of this reunion and to reconnect with friends
from 8th Squadron and our dooley year. All the best to you all.
Tom Dreier
After the Zoo, I went to pilot training at Reese AFB class of 7001 with
a bunch of other Zoomies, There I met the joy of my life, Gemma Joy.(Kuhnley),
and we were soon married. Charlie Kolenberg took the only fighter for
our UPT class I selected a tour in the O-!-E, hoping to get a fighter
on the return assignment. I soon found myself FACing out of Song Be
City (Phuoc Binh).supporting the 5th ARVN and Special Forces as a ROD
FAC in country and a SUNDOG FAC in Cambodia. While swapping planes out
of DEPOT at Bien Hoa some Col (we didn't have Cols at Song Be) handed
me a form and said I had to fill it out I grabbed my trusty pencil and
listed every single engine fighter in the inventory, mentioned I really
didn't want SAC in red pencil, and said if not possible T-41's at USAFA
would be good. I got back in plane and returned to the real war. I soon
learned that AFMPC can't read and began my long career in MAC as a C-141
pilot, McGuire AFB. I also flew T-29's and C-131's at McGuire when working
at 21AF Current Ops. During the pilot surplus I got a personnel officer
job at AFMPC and flew T-39's at Randolph. From 1978 until I retired
in 1991 I flew C-141A/B's out of Travis with the exception of a three
year stint at Hq MAC. After retirement we got Gemma a job and I played
Mr. Mom, getting to know my four teenagers and doing all the needed
free help at school. In 1993 someone from the C-141 simulator at Travis
asked me to join them as a pilot instructor. I worked as a contract
instructor until the C-141 retired. I then got a job as a contract pilot
instructor in the KC-10 simulator. Gemma and I are both retired and
empty nesters now and spend most of our time with the grand kids or
going to doctor's appointments I have Parkinson's so my keyboarding
skills are shaky. We are very proud of our four children, ten grandchildren
and one great grandchild. All in all its been a great journey. I've
been to many places, seen a lot of things, and met some super people.
None are better than my fellow Zoomies especially the dumb squats class
of 68, 8th Sq doolies.
David Driggers
I have been blessed during the 50 years since our graduation. Susan
and I were married June 29, 1968 and we recently celebrated our 50th
anniversary with our son Darin (Colonel USAF), daughter Dori (Physical
Therapist), her husband Jeff, and our two grandsons Colton and Liam.
They have played an integral part in our journey, but Susan is the one
who has had to put up with me!
Fortunate to go to the Medical College of Georgia immediately after
graduation, I then completed family medicine and pediatric residencies
and a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship. David Grant Medical
Center, Travis AFB allowed me to practice medicine and teach residents
how to care for their patients with knowledge and compassion. Those
four years set the stage for my future career in medicine and teaching.
After 13 years of active duty, we moved to Casper, Wyoming where I eventually
became Program Director and Associate Dean of the University of Wyoming
Family Practice Residency. I was also a weekend warrior (USAF Reserves)
at FE Warren AFB, Wy hospital for 8 years, retiring in 1989. Job opportunities
led us to Ft Worth, Texas and Anchorage, Alaska as a clinical professor
at Southwestern and University of Washington medical schools. My final
challenge was as Director of Medical Education, University of Wyoming.
I fully retired in 2012 and we moved back to Casper.
Susan and I are still very active thanks to good health, friends, and
a desire to give back to the community where we live. We have been on
multiple Community Boards including the Natrona County School Board,
but these are slowly winding down. Our mutual interests include cycling
trips in faraway lands, bridge tournaments, hiking in the mountains,
dining out, playing in the snow, and wine. I still have a passion for
fly fishing, bow hunting elk with Darin, and bird hunting. Civil War
history and genealogy are also a part of what I do.
John Dunham
After UPT at Moody, I went to Webb as a T-38 IP, after a few years I
moved to stan/eval and finally became a T-38 PIT instructor. In 73'
the war was winding down and there were no flying assignments available
when I was due to rotate out of Webb. So, I chose to get out and try
Delta. About the time I separated the Arab oil embargo started, and
the airlines stopped hiring.
I went to work for a family owned Atlanta department store (Rich's)
while I planned to wait out the Arab oil embargo or alternatively figure
out plan C. Fortunately I made a lot of friends there, moved through
a variety of management jobs, and met my wife (Jane Beadles) over the
next few years at Rich's.
I was recruited by May Department Stores in 1976. What followed was
an interesting and unexpected career spanning seven cities, nine jobs
and thirty years. In 1983 May sent me to the Stanford Executive Program
then I served as chairman of two of May's department store divisions
and the chairman of the international product development and sourcing
division. I joined the corporate staff first as the CFO, then the president
and finally president, chairman and CEO. I retired in 2006. May's annual
sales exceeded $14B and operated under 12 regional department store
trade names across the country including Lord & Taylor, Filene's,
Marshall Field's, and Robinsons-May. May merged with Macy's and it makes
up about half of the modern Macy's stores.
Jane and I split our time between Sea Island on the coast of Georgia
and Asheville in the mountains of western North Carolina. Throughout
the years I never lost my interest in flying. I owned three aerobatic
airplanes. I built three homebuilt airplanes - the last one of which
we still fly. (I have the perfect wife - she is fearless. She was a
skydiver before I met her.) For the past twelve years we have owned
and I have flown a Pilatus PC12 for our traveling airplane.
It has been an unanticipated and great 50 years.
Warren Douglas Everett
After a career as an AF flight surgeon and family practitioner, I retired
to academics as a Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville,
Alabama. I was able to work on the water recovery system fht Space Station
on contract with Boeing during this period.. I had spent most of my
time in TAC, from T-28s, C123, 0-1s at Udorn, to F-4s at Homestead,
F-15/16 at Luke, a tour at Incirlik and the bombing of the marine barracks
in Beirut, Then to SAC at Barksdale, and finally a teaching job at Offutt.
After 9/11, I retired from the University and took a job with the USA
at Redstone Arsenal and that morphed into about a decade with the Veterans
Administration, and I am now working in Emergency Rooms locally after
and adventure as a doctor in Nome, Alaska with the native Americans
and an assignment at Ft Irwin, Calif.
I haven't figured out retirement yet. I still compete in running races,
triathlons, and an annual ski trip or 2 out west.
Ken Farino
When I left the Academy I went to UNC Law School and upon graduation
got a position in Richmond, Virginia with a large law firm. The firm
now has over 800 lawyers. Did business and litigation but gravitated
toward business. Left the firm and started my own firm. Was fortunate
enough to get into sports and entertainment and had some of the top
basketball announcers, number one draft choice in the NBA, French Ski
Team, Tour of China etc. Along with that I started managing assets for
players and eventually got into development for myself.
Got married in 1988 for the second time and Kim and I have three children.
Two are lawyers in a firm with me and the third will be soon. Along
the way we lived in the Bahamas for six years and I have done a lot
of international law. I am owner of a large resort in Williamsburg,
Va. in addition to my law practice and generally do not take clients
unless I have an interest in the business. I have three current projects
on the drawing board. I have been approved by Caesars as one of their
developers and am working on several hotel/casino projects, I am working
with a crypto currency company from Israel and one of the leading hemp
manufacturers from Canada. All of those businesses will hopefully wind
up in the Bahamas.
My wife Kim and I will celebrate our 30th this year and we normally
split our time between Virginia, the Bahamas and West Palm Beach. I
can say without hesitation that my success, if you consider it that,
is in large part due to the lessons I learned at the Academy and the
experiences I had there. Sorry I could not be there but shit happens.
Clark Gerhardt
I separated from the USAF(last assignment was flying C-141s out of McChord
AFB) in August 1973. I was then living near Seattle, where I started
a mountaineering equipment retail store with one of my climbing partners.
The store became a legend in the climbing world and facilitated my climbing
passion. I sold my interest in 1978 and went to the UW Business School
for my MBA (Finance) graduating in 1980. That summer, I led the first
trek into Tibet and thru one of it's participants, was introduced to
the founding partner of Montgomery Securities, a small investment bank
in San Francisco. I went to work there in 1981 in the Corporate Finance
Department. The firm had 60 employees. I focused on funding technology
companies primarily in Silicon Valley, eventually became a Partner/Senior
Managing Director running Montgomery's Tech Group. We sold the firm
in 1997 to Bank America, at which time we had over 2,200 employees.
I was persuaded to stick around for two years, but retired in 1999 and
moved to Sun Valley Idaho with my wife and two young boys. Since that
time I have spent time raising the boys, climbing, skiing, cycling and
working on a number of non-profit and for-profit Boards, most recently
as Vice President of the American Alpine Club Board. My wife and I are
empty nesters now and have begun to go on long trips mostly to mountain
regions around the world or the Philippines where Maria is from. Maria
is an avid Half-Marathon runner and has run on every continent including
Antarctica, as well as the Everest half-marathon. Looking forward to
the next 50!
Ragin Hause
After graduation it was pilot training at Moody AFB.
Our class had an average of 3.52 engines per man when the final assignments
came out. I was above average with a 4 engine C-141A at Charleston AFB.
I suffered there for two years, miserable. The silver lining was marriage
to Jo Ann.
Then the sun came through the clouds and I scored an F-4 assignment.
A year followed at Ubon RTAFB flying night missions in the F-4D. My
first son, Jeff, was born while I was bombing Hanoi.
I was worried about being sent back to MAC so I volunteered to stay
overseas and was sent to Okinawa as an F-4C Wild Weasel. My daughter,
Heather, was born there and I got to be the last Wild Weasel in SEA
as I played with an SA-2 site next to the embassy during the evacuation
in 1975.
The next two assignments were as an instructor pilot; first at Homestead
AFB in the F-4E, then at Luke AFB in the F-15A. My youngest son, Ben,
was born at Luke.
Desperate to stay in the cockpit after Pentagon threats from MPC, I
volunteered as the fighter liaison to AWACS and spent two years at Tinker
AFB - but I got to stay current in the F-15. Then came the best assignment
of my career - 1st TFW at Langley AFB. I was the operations officer
of the 71st TFS then the commander of the 94th TFS. Happy, happy, happy.
Then the axe fell and I got promoted early and had to give up my command.
My last eight months at Langley were as the assistant Resource Manager
learning about supply, transportation, etc. Air War College at Maxwell
AFB was next. Not my favorite year. It was back to Langley AFB after
AWC, moving back into our home that we had rented while in Montgomery.
The family was ecstatic! I was the Director of Assignments for TAC personnel.
Staff work was not my favorite way to spend time so they pushed me out
after two years and sent me to be the DO of the 33TFW at Eglin AFB.
My Air Force career ended at Eglin as the Vice Commander of the F-15C
wing. It was retirement or the AF Inspector General team at Norton AFB
and the family had been through enough. We stayed at Eglin for a year
to let my daughter finish high school. Then we moved to Gainesville,
GA. It's close to family and was a good school choice for my youngest,
Ben.
I enrolled in graduate school at the University of Georgia and completed
a Masters and Doctorate in Applied Psychology. I worked for about a
year post graduation then saw that I didn't need the hassle or money
and retired. We moved to Dawsonville, GA; renovated a family home built
in 1837 and enjoy life on a farm that has been active since the 1800s.
Life is Good with six grandchildren!
Charlie Jackson
Headed back to Kankakee, IL following graduation and married my high
school girl. I have been fortunate in that she stuck with me until now.
After six weeks at WPAFB Civil Engineering School headed to Germany
and spent the next four years in Berlin at Tempelhof AB. Still some
exciting times there shortly after the wall went up. Worked for the
Airlift candy bomber, Gail Halvorsen. Stayed in the CE field throughout
the years.
Missed out on VN but went remote Alaska at Sparrevohn AFS. Had no fun
there. Came back to WP for masters at AFIT with follow-on to HQ ATC
staff and IG. Almost five years there and then to Williams, AZ.
Left Williams and headed back to Europe with assignment to SHAPE Headquarters,
Air and Naval Cell, Infrastructure Branch. Oversaw NATO construction
in Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany. We were putting in a lot of
aircraft shelters at the time.
Back to the States to Offutt AFB, HQ SAC, programming construction and
keeping wing kings out of jail. On to Carswell AFB as BCE and 7th CES/CC.
Left Carswell as announcement was made that bombers were leaving and
headed to Japan as 5th AF Civil Engineer. TDYs to Hawaii for PACAF and
PACCOM, not a bad deal.
Closed out AF career at Peterson AFB as Deputy CE at Space Commend.
Ran into a lot of the old SAC bunch. Retired in1998.
After a couple of years moved to Denton, TX and worked in the Facilities
department at University of North Texas. Al Hurley former head of USAFA
History Dept was Chancellor and President. Retired in2013 as the Asst
VP for Facilities.
Living in Denton and enjoying being close to our three children and
eight granddaughters.
Seth Jensen
After graduation I went home to Utah and married my long-distance sweetheart,
Jean Andersen, a high school classmate. Then we were off to UPT at Vance
AFB, OK. I loved flying and did well, but not well enough to get the
fighter assignment I had hoped for (3 fighters for our class), so I
took what I felt was next best - a T-38 IP assignment right there at
Vance. This led me to an unusual career for a pilot. After a couple
of years, feeling I was missing part of my duty, I volunteered for SEA,
but was never sent. By then they were taking primarily returnees who
were already fighter qualified. So I never went to Vietnam (and my wife
never complained about that.)
Having an engineering degree, the war winding down, I was sent to Hill
AFB to work on the guidance system of the laser guided bomb. After that
assignment, having ATC stamped on my forehead and unable to get assigned
to a weapon system, I went to OTS teaching flying academics and instructing
both US and foreign students in the T-41. In fact I was there when the
Shaw of Iran was deposed and all of our Iranian student pilots were
immediately sent home.
My next assignment was to USAFA working for the commandant in the Airmanship
Division as well as in cadet programs. I instructed in gliders as well
as being the T-41 course director, then helped acquire the first powered
sailplanes for the Academy, which were intended to make soaring available
to all cadets. After working toward a master's degree at night for a
few years, I went to AFIT and finished a degree in Systems and Engineering
Management, which led me back to Hill AFB working in the Utah Test and
Training Range (UTTR), both in engineering and operations. I was the
ops officer for the range squadron when our classmate, Brian O'Hara
was commander. The Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (predecessor
to START) was implemented and I was commander of the team receiving
the Soviet inspectors for the first inspections of the Ground Launched
Cruise Missile sites under that treaty. My last duty was chief of engineering
for the UTTR.
I retired as a Lt. Col. in 1990 in Roy, Utah, where I spent my last
six years on active duty, and took a job with TRW working engineering
on the Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles. After 13 years there I went
to civil service, working again on the Minuteman guidance system. After
failing retirement twice, I retired a third time in 2010 and actually
quit working for a living. We've lived in Roy for 35 years now; we'll
probably stay.
Now to some really important matters: Jean and I have seven children,
four sons and three daughters, and 18 grandchildren. Our older four,
having been raised in the Air Force and accustomed to moving, live in
North Carolina, Minnesota, and two in Montana. Our youngest daughter
and her family actually live in Utah just a few miles away, and what
a blessing it is to see four of our grandchildren once or twice every
week. Now we know what we've missed with others who live so far away.
Like some of you, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June.
All of our family were with us for a week long reunion -- all but two
granddaughters who couldn't get off work in Washington and Idaho. Jean
and I were married in the Logan Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints. We have always been actively involved in our church
and had many opportunities to serve in teaching and leadership callings,
often in youth leadership. I have also served in scouting for many years,
as an explorer advisor, venturer advisor and scoutmaster, and am currently
district chairman. While at OTS I was president of the Lackland Branch
of the church which provided Sunday services for the LDS basic trainees
and others who wanted to attend. I have served as a bishop of a ward
and president of a stake. Jean and I have also served in a youth correctional
facility providing religious services for youth of all religions as
well as teaching life skills to help them get their lives on a better
path. I keep busy serving in the church as well as in scouting. We grow
a large garden of vegetables and fruit - enough to share with family
and neighbors. And since retirement I've built a wood shop and enjoy
making furniture, toys, and other useful items for family and friends.
And we have time to travel more and see our children and grandchildren.
Even though I missed flying jets most of my career, and never did get
into fighters, our Air Force career was good to us. I consider it a
blessing and a great honor to have been able to serve the country that
I love! Despite the ills we often see around us, still we are greatly
blessed as a nation! I am grateful for the hand of God that I recognize,
as did the founding fathers, in the establishment and preservation of
this land of liberty.
Henry (H.T.) Johnson
Following graduation, I picked up an MA degree in Econ at UCLA and then
on to pilot training at Randolph. The next 24 years found me rotating
between flying and staff assignments, though a couple of the staff jobs
included good flying as a pastime-T-39s out of the MAC Det at Pete Field
when I was teaching Econ at the Academy (78-82) and T-39s and T-38s
when I was commander of the USAF Instrument Flight Center at Randolph
(89-91). I loved Randolph-I made my first jet solo in the T-37 on Runway
15R there in 1969 and my last jet landing on the same runway in 1991,
leading a T-38 two-ship formation landing (turned out that was a no-no
for pilots "attached" to the host Wing, but I got away with
it). Same number of takeoffs and full stop landings over 22 years-proud
of that. My other operational flying was in both the T-38 (IP at Reese
AFB, TX) and the RF-4C--first at Udorn AB, Thailand, during the wind-down
of the Vietnam debacle; followed by Shaw AFB as an IP; Kadena AB, Japan;
and Osan AB, ROK, as commander of Det 1, 18th TFW (deployed F-15s and
RF-4s out of Kadena). I finished My AF career at VA Tech as the AFROTC
honcho and retired as a Colonel. The Air Force was great to me-I loved
it, will never regret it, and will always revere my service.
My personal life bloomed late but was another great phase. A bachelor
for 20 years after USAFA, in 1988 as I was leaving the Pentagon and
starting a year as a student at the National War College in D.C., I
met a wonderful lady on a blind date at a member-guest golf outing in
Hendersonville, NC. Fair and I were about the same age with similar
backgrounds, and were thrown together by our respective siblings, who
were good friends there. It turned out to be a lucky, wonderful match
made in heaven, and we married six weeks after meeting. Fair had a 3-yo
daughter and a menagerie of dogs, cats, et al., and we started our marriage
with my last three USAF assignments and, upon retirement, settled near
Hendersonville where her parents and siblings, as well as my brother
and family, lived. We had a wonderful 25 years, but the last few were
marred when she came down with an atypical and aggressive form of Parkinson's
disease. I became her primary caregiver and took care of her at home
for three years until a few days before her death under hospice care
in 2013. Daughter Caroline married in 2010 and lives nearby in Asheville
with her husband and their delightful 3-yo daughter, Maya.
My 24 years of retirement are best characterized by very little paid
employment but a ton of rewarding volunteer service and many fun hours.
My pension and SS, supplemented by a healthy retirement investment portfolio
I built during my bachelor days, have seen us/me through a very comfortable,
though not extravagant, lifestyle. Right off the bat, I spent 1½
years as a carpenter's helper renovating the 100+ yo house we bought.
I got involved in Rotary early and was recruited by a few members to
run the 1997 United Way campaign. I spent four+ years as a UW board
officer and almost six as the paid executive director (only real money
I made after USAF). In '97, I was elected mayor of the Town of Laurel
Park, a residential mountain village on the west side of Hendersonville,
and served three 4-yr terms (very small stipend). In 2006, classmate
John Dunham encouraged me to get back into flying so he would have a
flying pal, and I flew little planes for the next nine or so years until
aches and pains caught up (negative cash flow). I joined the WNC Pilots
Assoc., and I became president of that board and helped form a charitable
foundation to raise money to assist aspiring pilots learning to fly.
I dropped out of most of this stuff around 2010 (except flying), as
Fair was getting very sick. In late 2015, our great hospice formed a
foundation to raise charitable gifts to help offset growing unreimbursed
expenses. Guess who's now chair of that very active and involved board.
Fair gave me a pillow cushion one Christmas that said, " Just Say
No." That should be tattooed on my forehead.
Health's been good except for a couple of shoulder surgeries (rotator
cuff) and uncooperative knees on occasion. I had an unexpected, and
unexplained, ischemic (clots) stroke in mid-April confirmed by a brain
MRI. No evident permanent damage, and I played golf several days later.
On some new meds, and all's been good since-makes one wonder, though.
Playing a lot of golf and a little bluegrass on the bass (was in a fair
old-timers BG band for a while). All is good. Looking forward to our
reunion!
Mike Kimmel
After the Academy, I went to Williams for pilot training, and, after
getting my wings, I flew C-141's out of Charleston, S.C. I up graded
to aircraft commander as a lieutenant, which lead to interesting interactions
with many officers with more rank. I then was assigned to fly the AC-119K,
Stinger gunship in Viet Nam. I was there when the cease fire took place,
and trained the Vietnamese, who took the planes after we left Viet Nam.
I was the last American pilot to land an AC-199K in Viet Nam, and that
ended my Air Force flying.
I went to law school at the University of Illinois, practiced in a family
law firm until 2008, when I became the City Attorney for my home town
of Carbondale, Illinois. I had cases before both the Illinois and United
States Supreme Courts and retired in 2017. I married a wonderful woman
from my home town, Mary Alice, and we have two children. My son has
a masters in education, but his true passion is in writing and he has
another masters in creative writing. My daughter is a Doctor with the
University of North Carolina medical school and heads a clinic on psychiatric
issues for women connected with child birth. My wife and I hope to travel
now that we are both retired.
Howard Kyle
After USAFA graduation, I was assigned to Randolph AFB
for pilot training. Next assignment was as a UPT T-38 instructor at
Randolph. Next assignment was as PIT T-38 instructor--again at Randolph.
Certainly no complaints about being at Randolph, but I was beginning
to think that if I was going to see the world, it would be from the
cockpit of an airliner. I left active duty in '73, but remained in the
AF Reserve as an aeronautical engineer based at Wright Patterson but
our monthly drills were in a detachment that met in Houston, and had
an additional duty as USAFA Admissions Liaison Officer in southeast
Texas. I retired as O-6 in '98.
• After I left active duty and was looking for an airline job,
the oil embargo caused the airlines that had been hiring pilots to furlough--bad
timing for me. So I moved up the highway from San Antonio to Austin
to get an MS in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas. Then
went to work as an engineer for McDonnell Douglas Corp., a NASA contractor
in Houston supporting the Space Shuttle flight planning development
at the Johnson Space Center. Worked there on the early Shuttle descent
flight design for four years while continuing to submit applications
still hoping for an airline pilot job.
•In 1978, I was hired as a DC-9 co-pilot for Texas
International Airlines. By then I was a couple of years over the 30-years
age ceiling that was generally considered to be the upper limit to be
hired by the airlines in those days, and I hadn't done any significant
flying for five years. After training, I was assigned to the crew base
in Houston, so I didn't even have to move my family from the small town
southeast of Houston where I had finished high school. I considered
myself very lucky. And even better, while working for Texas International
(later Continental Airlines), I was able to continue working part-time
as an engineer for McDonnell Douglas, later Rockwell Corporation, and
later United Space Alliance, all the time working in the Shuttle descent
design group.
For a change of scenery, we moved our family to a beautiful
ranch in Washington County, Texas, near Brenham, in 1993. I commuted
to work in Houston until retiring from United Space Alliance in 2003,
and from Continental Airlines in 2006.
I have been fortunate to have been married to Alice
for 50 years. After talking to fellow USAFA graduates at the 50-year
reunion last weekend, I think that I might even hold a record for having
to re-locate the least throughout an entire career. We still live near
Brenham (between Houston and Austin), have raised five children, and
have three beautiful and talented grandchildren who we are able to visit
occasionally in Southern California.
Compared to some of our '68 classmates' stories, I guess
I have had a boring career. I'm mighty glad to be a part of this accomplished
group.
Mike Morrison
After pilot training at Reese, I flew C-7's in various
locations in VN, became an IP in 6 mos. and flew with Jim Alexander,
John Watkins and Marty Eggert (God rest their souls).
I used the G.I. Bill to go to law school at the University of the Pacific-McGeorge
School of Law, and on the first day of class, out of the roughly 120
students, I saw that Bill Sasz and Michael Moss were in my class.
My first job out of law school was clerking for the
Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court, where I stayed to serve as
clerk to the succeeding Chief Justice and then stayed on as head of
the legal staff for a while.
I then went into private practice and have been there
ever since, interrupted by some health speed bumps and 2 attempted retirements
which both resulted in me getting bored and cranky and going back to
work.
I have worked over the decades in the business, securities
and corporate world, with an emphasis on mining and start-up businesses,
which were my passion. Well over half my career has been spent in international
business and I have, over the years, had offices in four separate countries,
and have had wonderfully interesting clients and projects in 30+ countries
of the world.
I love to travel and have had the opportunity to do so with Ranger Gerhardt
over the years, flyfishing in Patagonia and other exciting places. I
have also had the honor of serving as the Godfather for one of Ranger's
2 sons.
And the foundation for all these activities was laid
in 8th Sq. Thanks.
Steve Packard
Started Ranger School. Everything was easy after that. One year teaching
air base defense at Ft. Campbell, KY then a year of nights or perimeters
of Binh Thuy, Phan Rang and Phu Cat - driving a jeep around in the dark,
pouring the scotch out of troops' canteens.
Then off to Oklahoma State for MS in Computer Science. Developed flight
planning software at Hq TAC. Managed C3I programs at Hq USAFE, ESD and
CENTCOM. Retired and did the same kind of work as Department of Energy
contractor in beautiful Oak Ridge, TN. Retired again and worked as a
contractor for FBI (Clarksburg, WV).
Retired again and worked since then in IT departments at University
of Florida and Stetson University. Living now in a retiree community
DeLand, Florida with a lap pool and gym. Spend the days traveling with
wife (Amelia) and volunteering for county sheriff victims' aide program.
Have two sons: one Finance Manager for City of Philadelphia and the
other Staff Attorney with Florida Appellate Court.
Dick Perry
I started off at Randolph AFB for UPT then moved to Williams AFB as
a T-37 IP, then T-41, then AF Human Resources Lab before heading to
AFIT for a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering at Wright-Patt. I lobbied
successfully to stay at Wright-Patt and went into Rated Sup as a Soviet
fighter analyst at the Foreign Technology Division - which was more
fun than anyone deserves! I was there when Victor B. flew his MiG-25
to Japan, which added to the excitement, and I got to see most of the
Pacific while briefing the results.
I next visited Seymour Johnson AFB in Buffs and ended up commanding
the Buff squadron while our classmate Charlie Coolidge was downstairs
as the CC of the tanker squadron (in the 68th Bomb Wing, no less). I
expanded my horizons (and my backside) behind a desk once again as a
long range planner on the Air Staff, escaping after three years to go
to ICAF across the Potomac.
I went back to SAC as ADO and DO for the 28th Bomb Wing putting the
B-1 into Ellsworth AFB and commanding the deployed KC-135 and EC-135
operations at Malmstrom AFB while the Ellsworth runway got an additional
two feet of concrete. Then it was back to Buffs and off to Rome, NY
and Griffiss AFB as the CV for a year before my parole was revoked and
I was sentenced back to the Air Staff. This time I was Director of Special
Projects working Black World issues for DCS Plans and Ops that, at the
time, included the F-117, B-2, and some other programs we didn't acknowledge.
With SAC gone, I could read the writing on the wall and got my ATP rating
to prepare for an airline job.
Fortunately, I was able to connect with the new AF Chief of Safety and
became the Director of System Safety and Engineering at the Air Force
Safety Center at Norton AFB and then Kirtland AFB, retiring after four
years in 1996.
After two months as an airport bum, I was drafted by Sandia National
Laboratories when they were seeking to expand their work with the FAA
and needed somebody who smelled like jet fuel. I ran the FAA's Airworthiness
Assurance NDI Validation Center at Sandia and got to work with NTSB,
airlines, US Forest Service, and university research programs on some
interesting projects for 12 years.
Susan and I are still in Albuquerque where I own a small business providing
flight instruction and aviation safety consulting. Part of the business
is a 1953 Cessna 170 which keeps me off the streets at night and gets
me out into the back country occasionally.
Jim Thompson
Upon Graduation, I spent the summer recuperating in my hometown of Birmingham,
Alabama. In September, I attended pilot training at Williams AFB, Arizona.
Upon graduation, I was assigned the B-52 at McCoy AFB, Orlando, Florida.
During the next three plus years, I participated in a rotation of 6
months in Guam or Utapao Thailand, followed by 21 days at home, followed
by another 6 months in-theater.
In September,1973, I separated from the Air Force and matriculated at
the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, FL. During
my senior year, I spent the summer studying at Escuela Libre de Derecho
in Mexico City. Upon graduation in December,1975, I received a one year
clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans.
At the end of the clerkship, in 1976, I moved to Denver and took a position
as Assistant Attorney General for Natural Resources with the Colorado
Attorney General's office. In 1979, I joined the law firm of Kutak,
Rock and Campbell, specializing in Water and Water rights. In 1984,
I was made a partner in that Firm. In 1987, I left and co-founded the
firm of Watrous Ehlers and Thompson.
In September,1990, I joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee
as an Associate Professor of Law. During that tenure, I traveled to
Iraq with a Harvard Investigative team and co-published a report respecting
the impact of the Iraq War on the non-combatants. The report was published
in the New England Journal of Medicine. During my time at the law school,
I joined the Air National Guard in Knoxville, and served as the base
JAG.
In September,1993, I was requested to take a Title 10 position on active
guard status at the National Guard Bureau in DC as an environmental
specialist to the Chief of the Guard Bureau. After several years, I
become Deputy Chief Counsel of the National Guard Bureau. While serving
in that capacity, I competed for and was appointed Deputy Commander
of the Air National Guard Readiness Center and Commander of the 201st
Mission Support Squadron.
In December 2002, I retired at the rank of Colonel. In retirement, I
received a Master of Law in Estate Planning and Elder Law from Western
New England University School of Law. In retirement, I keep busy drafting
trusts and estates.
I am married to Brinda Copeland, a scientist and business owner. We
have three children and four grandchildren. We live in the small college
town of Cookeville, Tennessee, an hour east of Nashville.
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