Hi Redtags! It’s the day after Christmas and I have a few family updates from the class. Got a card from Charlie and Mary Jo PRICE with a picture of their dog, Maxine. I can’t put it in the column because Maxine isn’t a grad. Too bad Maxine. Mary Jo had her second career hole-in-one while Charlie continues to travel and skip his golf game. No Justice is there, Charlie? Thanks..

Got a card from Mary Kay and Don EGAN with the family picture. (See photo.) Erin will finish med school in June and plans to do a residency in family practice in Chicago. Becky graduated from college in June ‘96 and is working in NYC. Todd is still in Denver, has bought a house and has a significant other, with no immediate marriage plans. And Don and Mary Kay are considering building a new house. Looking forward to seeing you at the reunion.

Got a card, newsletter and family picture from Connie and Owen HAWKINS. (See photo.) Owen is still hacking on his computers, running his BBS and surfing the web. Connie is still riding her horse and bringing home the ribbons. They are planning a trip around the country by RV. They may pop in on you. Colin is graduating from U of Washington with a statistics degree. Cory is a senior at UC Davis and will graduate next fall with a degree in English. Chris is starting his own graphics company in San Francisco. Kim is working for a production company and doing documentaries for the Discovery Channel. Greg has moved to Seattle to get a masters in English and teach. Thanks , Owen. Will be talking to you by e-mail which is owenh@spacebbs.com.

Got a card and newsletter from Nancy and Willie GRAY. Willie is still working for Lockheed Martin and has a proposal office in nearby Melbourne. His home office is in New Jersey but he lives a mile up the road from me. So he gets to go home at night for now. Nancy is still teaching at a Montessori school and singing in the church choir. Larry is still in Atlanta in a management training program for a restaurant while his band waits to be discovered. Christine and John are still in Gainesville where she pursues a PhD in Psychology and he works for the U of Florida. Nancy and Willie went back to Hawaii for a unit reunion last summer ( see photo) and are planning a trip to England this June to keep a 20 year old promise that Willie made.

Gail & Peggy PECK sent a Christmas update. Jenny graduated from Valley High School No. 8 or 9 in her class with a semester of college out of the way and is now in a dorm at UNLV. Elizabeth had to change high schools (sophomore) and is back with old friends from middle school. As for the bigger kids, Scott is in San Antonio with two grandkids. Jack is in London with three grandkids. And Kayte is engaged. She is also the only woman in a new AT&T Internet commercial who is surfing the net; look for her. Gail arranged a Tailgate for the USAFA vs UNLV game. PERLOTTOS, DEBERRY’S AND P K ROBINSONS were there with three ‘60 grads: PUPICH, JOLLY AND D K JOHNSON. Rick Perlotto is still driving MD-80s for American, Bob Deberry is into computer security and PK is a rising star with Wells Fargo Bank. Gail continues to struggle with commercial airplane parts business (Great Western Aircraft Parts) and is semi-hooked on Chuck CHEESEMAN’S Ximango motorized gliders. . E-mail is Gtwestern@aol.com.

While I was doing this column, the mail came with more Redtag news. Greetings from Chuck and Debbie Cheeseman. Chuck’s Dad passed away in June. Emmy, 6 1/2, is in first grade now and developing into a top student. Charlie,III, is now 3 and exploding verbally. Chuck flew his Ximango glider to the Oshkosh Convention in July. Debbie is marketing individual quilt patterns to retailers-Keepsake Quilting’s catalog will feature one in the Spring issue. Ralph CONLAN hosted the Thunderbirds and other military aircrews for the Daytona Skyfest airshow in October. Chuck helped.

Also in the mail was news from Larry and Penny GOOCH. Both of them are supporting Habitat for Humanity about a dozen times per year. They inspected Jennifer and Jeff’s new house in Denver. Then they went to Redding, CA, to marry off Laura to David Faudree. Winnie placed her designer jewelry in several local galleries and then went to New York with Penny to open up more venues. Look for Eccentric Designs by Winifred. Larry said that Penny invented an augmentation device for bras call BooBeez. She was advised that the cost of a patent and production was too prohibitive. As an alternative, Penny took up piano and is doing quite well now. See you in Nov if Penny forgives you.

Got an e-mail from George THOMPSON in Sept. He and son flew in son’s Cessna 172 from Idaho to Texas for an overnight with Bob STAIB and phone conversation with Jerry SMITH. On to New York to visit oldest daughter where her cardiologist husband had set up practice. Then back to Idaho. George also flew to Seattle to stay with Warren ROBBINS and to get his new FAA physical and meet his son who flew down from Alaska where he had spent two months fighting fires. Anyone who wants to visit St Petersburg or Pskov should make arrangements and contact George well in advance so he can adjust his schedule and help you. George’s e-mail is EvaWebbies@aol.com. He’s going to send me his Pskov e-mail when he gets back to Russia in January. He’s also planning to be at the 35th.

Got a Christmas letter from Dave and Fran LEE. Dave was honored as Faculty Advisor for U of Dayton Rowing Club. The team named their new 8-person boat the David R Lee. Fran worked at H&R Block again during tax season and hopes to do her 18th season in ‘97. Son, John, took Fran on a trip to Coronado, CA, and Dave on a trip to Myrtle Beach, part of his reward for being in the Millionaire’s Club and being in the top sales office. Kelly is expanding her teaching duties and a variety of after-school activities. David II returned from N Ireland after 4 months of beautiful scenery but lots of political strife. He married Kimberly in Feb and took a job with The Bartlett Tree Expert Co in Ft Wayne. John moved to Cincinnati to take a new job with Banc One Corp and was promoted to a higher position in Phoenix.

Got an e-mail from John FLANAGAN. Tom KEANEY and he attended the History Symposium at USAFA in November. They hadn’t seen each other since graduation. Tom teaches at the National War College as does Roy STAFFORD. John said, "Yes I remember the Cadet Club and packing a combo with a bass and drums into my car for an appearance at the Antlers. It snowed like crazy that night and I was concerned about making it back for sign in." John’s stepson graduates in May from USAFA; are there any other Redtags with sons or daughters in the class of 97? If so, drop John an e-mail at JFFLAN@aol.com. Got an update from Tuck and Ann McATEE. Tuck has been on a new program to develop a new version of the F-16 for the United Arab Emirates. Ann is still teaching 18 kindergarten children. As I write this they should both be at Misawa AB visiting son, Patrick, and Kelly with two grandkids. Molly and Cathy were also expected to make the trip to Japan. Molly graduated from Harvard Business School and is working for Mackenzie in New York, a consulting firm. Cathy landed a job with Intrav, a travel company that caters to professionals and sponsors first class tours around the world. She leads groups through the finest hotels and restaurants in the world.

Got some news from Allen and Alfie JACKSON. This year they have concentrated on fixing up the house they took repossession of last year after their return from Saudi. It survived the hurricanes of this summer and is ready for them. Got an e-mail from Peter BOBKO. "Glad to see you’re online. Once again the Redtags lead the way." E-mail is bronco15@gnn.com From Steve METTLER: " I like your internet communications network so here’s my address. As you build up a list I would like to have access to it. We’ll find out how computer literate our class is. We were all engineers at one point right? So this should be easy. Smettler@lucent.com " From Dave FIELDS: "Just wanted to check in and add my e-mail address to your files. Dfields999@aol.com" From Hesh ALTMAN: "Just a note to inform you of my new e-mail address- haltman@highfiber.com Don’t ask. Hesh Altman." Got a call from Art FARRINGTON telling me about his new venture called QIQ Connections. For businesses with big phone bills, he can get low phone rates of 9.2 cents a minute 24 hours a day. Give him a call. Got a card from Tim GILMARTIN in Nov. There was a reunion committee (See photo) meeting at Jim MACK’S house just before the CSU-AFA game. They planned activities, looked at merchandise and decided on a class gift. At the suggestion of Don Egan and after much discussion, it was decided to establish a Class of 1962 Endowment Fund which could be used to support the Academy, AOG, Athletic Asso or anything we wanted. All donations would be tax deductible. Jack SWONSON and Jerry Smith will do the leg work on the fund.

Now for some sad news. Fred HENDRYX’ wife, Arlene, has colon cancer and has been placed in a hospice in Cincinnati. She is being made as comfortable as possible. Fred would certainly like to hear from classmates. Also Colin RICHARDSON has bladder cancer. He has had surgery and is undergoing chemotherapy. I just talked to him a few minutes ago. His e-mail is CRich713@aol.com. He lives at 305 Norwood Ave, Satellite Beach, FL 32937. Phone is 407-777-2117. I’m sure any contact would be appreciated. Call or write.

Last item is the E-mail network and home page. I haven’t had time to work it but will do so during this holiday break. Those of you who gave me e-mail addresses will have heard from me by the time you read this column. I’ll report progress in the next column. Cheers. Go REDTAGS!!