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Since November we have experienced the passing of three more of our classmates: Wes White, Cal Nay and George Byron. In late November the AOG notified us of the passing of Wesley E. White, CS-03, who died on November 26th. A memorial service was held in Arlington, Texas on the 29th at the Pleasantview Baptist Church in Arlington. Condolences can be sent to son, Brian and daughter, Sherry. Address is Ms. Sherry White Moore 3807 Julianas Way Round Rock, TX 78664. In December the AOG informed us that Calvin F. "Floyd" Nay, CS-22, passed away December 11, 2006. A funeral service was held on December 18th at the USAFA Cadet Protestant Chapel with a graveside service immediately following at the USAFA Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to his family in care of his wife, Rosemary: Mrs. Rosemary Nay 3616 6th Ave. Parkersburg, WV 26101. In early January we were notified that George Byron had passed away on December 28th. The first indication of George’s passing was a note from classmate Jerry Adinolfi. A memorial service for George was held at the Academy Chapel and Cemetery on Friday, January 12, 2007 with Jerry officiating along with the USAFA Catholic Chaplain Father Efren Adversario. Prior to the service at the Academy a funeral was conducted in San Francisco at St. Dominic's Church on Jan 8th. Despite the cold and snow on the day of the ceremony at the Academy the USAFA Honor Guard did their usual impressive job.
Jerry Adinolfi officiating at George Byron’s Funeral
The good news about funerals and memorial ceremonies at the Academy is how thorough and professional the Academy Mortuary Affairs Office and the Academy Honor Guard are in making the arrangements and carrying out the event. If your wish or the wish of a classmate is to be buried/memorialized at the Academy notification of a classmate’s passing to the Academy’s Mortuary Affairs Office is the first and by far the most important step. Experience tells me you could find yourself involved in this step! As you are aware, a number of our classmates are not connected with the Air Force or the Academy and their wives, children or friends don’t always know who to contact for making the arrangements. If ever faced with this issue you need to have the necessary contact information. Calling the AOG will get you started. Also, the AOG web site is an excellent source of information on the subject. Link to “Gone but not Forgotten.” I have the greatest admiration for our C-Springs area classmates who have made a tradition of rallying around to honor a classmate who has passed away. We heard from many, including notes from Jim Winzell, Pat Caruana, and Bud Gilligan, telling how much they appreciate those who represent us on these important occasions.
1963 Representation at Cal Nay’s Funeral
Many of us would like to personally honor a classmate by attending the funeral/memorial service but it is hard to be at the appropriate place with the usual short notice. The AOG does have a notification system in place to let us know a classmate has passed away and sometimes it also tells us of funeral or memorial service arrangements. Unfortunately, the AOG’s system only covers a few people in the class. Bob Hayes does a great job getting info out to his e-mail list but those are mostly local classmates. Quickly getting word on this and other similar subjects to the rest of us might need some thought—maybe an e-mail and telephone process modeled after those old Air Force recall rosters. Are there any ideas or suggestions? The ‘63 website is an excellent source of information but it is by nature a “pull system” and not very useful when time constraints exist for such things as funeral or memorial service arrangements. Speaking of the website, Gil Merkle has done a great deal of work on the site. He sent me the following: “ the class website has been modified (http://www.usafa63.org). The look has changed a little but the significant change is a new section: 'Gone, but not Forgotten'. In this section, we will include some information on the death of classmates. It is still a work in progress and is not complete. Those gone will be listed by name along with a copy of a notice that informed of the death. If classmates have information they would like to include in this section, please send to me (merkleg@texas.net), Jimmie Butler (jimmieb@earthlink.net), or Bob Hayes (bcahayes@comcast.net).” Many thanks to Gil for all his work on the web site. Can you imagine The Venk back in uniform? Well it is/was true. Bob wrote that “My top thrill in '06 was my daughter's wedding, but my best moment in uniform -- perhaps in my LIFETIME – was a ceremony in Belgium six days later. The picture is of Ernie Warsaw, the last surviving crewman, and me at the monument we dedicated outside Montzen, Belgium on May 26, 2006. It honors the loss of the 100th Bomb Group's B-17F "Picklepuss" and its crew, including my uncle, SSgt Frank Tychewicz. He and five of the others died there that day, August 17, 1943. I considered it a great honor to assist Ernie in unveiling the monument in a driving rainstorm that did not deter over 600 Belgians from attending!
Cut Line: “Picklepuss” Monument By the time this issue of Checkpoints gets to your mailbox elections for the AOG Board will be in full swing. Two of our classmates are running for Board positions: Mike Christy and Steve Dotson. You can find more about their candidacy in the December issue of Checkpoints or you can look them up at the Zoomie Nation website: log onto http://www.zoomienation.com. You might also check out the USAFA Today website where you will also find some spirited discussions of the newly proposed USAFA Foundation. Chuck Bush sent an e-mail announcing his support for Rodney Bullard from the Class of ’96. Reunion planning is underway for this year’s mini-reunion and in addition Bob Hayes volunteered to Chair the committee planning our 45th Reunion in 2008. Bob says preliminary plans are for the 45th to take place during the 2008 Navy football game in late September or early October. Mark your calendars now! That’s it for this time. Thanks all for the great inputs and if your input didn’t get in this time I will work hard at getting it into the next issue. Take care,
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