Fall 1998

Hi Redtags! Summer is starting to cool off and we should start launching the Shuttle again at the end of October. The fact that the Russians were unable to meet their launch date slowed down the launch activity here.

Got a change of address from Stan and Mary Anne PATRIE. They moved into an apartment in Charlotte while their new home was being constructed in the nearby mountains. That’s beautiful country up there. Coincidentally, Caroline and I were returning from California on USAir in July when I heard the flight crew announce that the aircraft commander was Stan Patrie. I sent my business card up to the cockpit and Stan came back to our seats for a few seconds to say hello. Later in the flight as we neared Orlando, Stan announced that the passenger in seat 17B (me) was an old space pioneer who had been at Kennedy Space Center since the Gemini days. He said I could answer any questions about the space program. Some of the nearby passengers thought I was an astronaut. You got me on that one, Stan. It was good seeing you again.

Tim Gilmartin sent me a Dilbert cartoon titled "The Importance of Donuts." One character says "Never call a meeting without donuts or all order will be lost." A member of the meeting says, "Is it just me or is there a definite lack of donuts in this meeting?"

Four more people in succession say, "I have an old one in my purse, but it’s only for emergencies." "I think you ate all the donuts yourself." "I smelled donut on his breath." "Lock the door..." Tim says, "This cartoon tells the whole story on how difficult it was to maintain some semblance of focus at the Reunion Committee meetings... Tim also sadly noted the passing of Tom Rhoades during this past summer. Those of us on the Redtag net got a copy of a newspaper article about Tom. I hope it appears somewhere in this issue.

Got an email update from Dave Fields. "Life is pretty good if not exciting. (Maybe that’s why.) Anmarie (wife), after many years of working (Nurse at Kodak), took a buyout and decided she had saved enough money so she could go to school. Sometimes in the royal tradition of RTBs, we do things backward. Anmarie has four kids and nine grandkids. Three of the kids and seven of the grandkids are in our area, keeping us a bit involved with that generation. They range in age from four to 20(she’s a junior at the U of Rochester.) I have been at Monroe County in the programming/design business for about a year and a half after a bunch of years contracting and before that, 17 years at Kodak. About all else I can report is that I am FOB (certainly not Friend of Bill) but Fatter, Older, Balder! Writing this day after the Starr Report was released; my opinion has not changed, only been reinforced. The amazing thing to me is the large number of people who still think he is a great /good president. (One of my relatives) says either he has a "disease" or he has been set up by the Republicans. She is probably not alone. Until something exciting happens, I send you one single thought written in snow from Buffalo to Syracuse, "There is no substitute for Honor." Thanks for the input Dave.

There has been a lot of hot mail flowing on the Redtag Net about the president’s problems. All of it was unsympathetic and unprintable.

My daughter, Lisa, was married on Labor Day Weekend to her high school sweetheart. She wanted a small wedding with family and close friends and it was performed in the backyard of our older daughter in nearby Melbourne. What a great ceremony and a fun time it was. I’ll have a picture for the next issue.

Tom Young drove over from Tampa for an afternoon and evening visit with Colin Richardson and me. The accompanying picture shows the three of us in Colin’s favorite haunt in Satellite Beach. We had an enjoyable afternoon and then Caroline and I had dinner with Tom at our favorite steak house.

Got a phone call from Willie Gray saying that he has fully retired to a new house across the river in a place called Suntree. Imagine that, no more reporting in to an office... in New Jersey, no less. That was a heck of a commute for you Willie. Glad you don’t have to do that anymore.

I didn’t get very much in the way of newsy news items for this month’s column. Therefore I will show some more 35^th Reunion photographs. I’m almost out of reunion pictures. So don’t forget to write something to me as soon as you receive this issue. Remember that I usually have two weeks after a Checkpoints issue is distributed before I have to send in my next column.

Did you Redtags remember that the April 1962 issue of the Talon had Bobby Felts’ picture on the cover doing the Twist with an equally young date? Did Bobby remember?

That’s it for now. Start the letters and emails coming again. Go Redtags!