WELCOME
Another summer gone. The trees will be turning their bright colors here shortly and Army football is on the way to beating Navy. Must have been a quiet summer for I have not gotten much news from you.
WE ARE INTO OUR NINETIES
In August to celebrate his ninetieth birthday Dick Trefry had a big bash at his home in Burke, VA. There must have been a hundred people, including a number of classmates and wives, milling about on their lawn or sitting on their porches. A lot of familiar faces from years in the Military.
Then in September Joy Viskochil had her ninetieth birthday party at Virginia Beach including all her family, plus Tilllie Smithers, Lou Lunn, and Wendy Phillips, from the DC area.
AND OTHER BIRTHDAYS
Morris & Faith Herbert are enjoying their new home at Knollwood, a retirement community near Rock Creek Park in DC. One big draw is the closeness of the place to their two daughters and their families. That made it easy to celebrate Faith's birthday by having Caroline & Joe and Faith & Alan at the Knollwood Sunday brunch.
BUSY TIMES IN AUBURN
With the football season underway Fran Pick Dillard will be very active, rooting for Auburn U. The Pick family has been very involved with the University for generations.
In October Fran always plans a big football party for the Auburn-LSU game. In addition she and her husband Bill often are on the road with friends to go to away games. It is hard to believe Fran and Bill will celebrate their 20th anniversary in January.
If that is not enough, add in her 24th annual lunch for the local members of her sorority Alpha Alpha Pi, guiding tours at the Cary Center (Grannie's lovely old home, now donated to Auburn), choir practice, concerts. and playing piano for the Sunday School.
By the way after eight years of study Fran's granddaughter Cary Frances will graduate with her DVM in May from the Vet school that her great great grandfather founded.
ALSO BUSY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Eddie Ramos never seems to stop. He was at West Point for President Obama's foreign policy speech. The picture, is rather blurred but shows the two presidents together.
He also had been back for Alumni Day in March, so he and Ming had been busy traveling. That is in addition to the meetings he has in Southeast Asia. He also writes a number of newspaper columns and several books. In one of his recent columns were data on Filipino West Point graduates. The first one was BG Lim, 1914, who was a division commander on Bataan. Altogether there were 19 graduates who fought along side the US in WWII. All told there were 267 USMA grads in the Islands when the war broke out. 173 died there. It is interesting to note that the Philippine Military Academy was founded in 1905 and patterned after West Point and its systems.
IN EUROPE
Clyde Spence decided, after eight years of duty in Europe, that it was time to be a tourist, so he took Mary over for a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam along the Rhine and Danube Rivers. He noted that there were 68 locks, most requiring one boat at a time and an hour each for passage.
AND IN NORWAY
In August, Jake Jacobson, with 14 family members, visited Norway for the fourth time. All of Jake's and Ann's grandparents emigrated from Norway between 1853 and 1880. After assembling in Oslo, the caravan visited five ancestral farms where Jake had identified family members. In the cemetery at AD1250 Reinli Stave Church in Valdres, Jake found the grave of his maternal grandfather's brother that closed a gap in the family genealogy. A highlight was three nights on a lake in Lodalen in Nordfjord, Jake's paternal grandfather's birthplace on a AD1340 farm.
AND THEN THERE IS DICK NEWTON
Got a lovely picture, taken in April, of Dick and his family in the Cadet Chapel shortly after the burial of Dick's wife Ruth in the West Point cemetery.
Then back at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Dick met with Emmett & Rowland Lee to continue their traditional celebration of their weddings: 25 June for the Newtons and 26 June for the Lees.
OFF TO CHINA
This is Jack Wagner at the farewell Party for grandson, James Clinton Billings, LT, USN, who has an Olmstead Foundation Fellowship at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
FUN IN CALIFORNIA
In Fountain Valley, California, John & Ann Streit, cheered on daughter Kim and granddaughter Grace in the national tournament for Traveling Softball Teams. The team did its best but though it didn't win the championship, it did win a number of games. Quite an experience for all. Wait till next year!
ALSO IN CALIFORNIA
June Elliott, has attended some of the meetings of the Korean War Memorial Foundation, which is building a memorial at the Presidio San Francisco. Some West Pointers are working to have a section devoted to graduates who died in that war.
AND SOME UNKNOWN
Got a fine picture of Hale & Jo Ann Hubbard in the reunion mail. I have no idea what the occasion was, but thought you would enjoy seeing the happy pair.
BE THOU AT PEACE
Jim Kelly died 16 July in Charlotte, NC. He is survived by his wife Patti, who lives in Charlotte, NC.
Rita White died in Naples, Italy, on 27 July. She is survived by her husband Bob.
Bob Erhlich died 30 July in Teaneck, NJ. He is survived by his wife Sheila. She resides in Teaneck, NJ.
Denny Roush died 30 July in Steilacoom, WA. He is survived by his wife Ruth, who lives in Steilacoom, WA.
Gloria Jones died 18 September in Williamsburg, VA. She is survived by her husband Mark of Williamsburg, VA.
Our sympathies go out to all these families.
Be sure to send me your news and that of your families. The Notes are only as good as the input. BEAT NAVY!!!