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                                                                  7206 Danford Lane; Springfield, VA 22152
                                                                   P: 703-569-1354        E: [email protected]
                                                     WEBMASTER: John Tsiknas
                                                                   15644 Caldas De Reyes, San Diego, CA 92128
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                                                     WEB SITE: usna.com/classes/1948

CLASS OF 1948 SHIPMATE COLUMN
                                             MARCH 2008                                                

The two articles “The Life And Death of the Log” caught many of us by surprise not having been aware that the Log was no longer regularly available at the Academy. It elicited many comments via email and this one by snail mail.

   Andy Frahler 13 th Co. and his wife Clair- -Clair writing. Husband Andy and I were surprised to read of the demise of The Log magazine. I’d written an article that was published in the April 1946 Femmes issue. Andy said he served as Sports Editor for the Log in his senior year. I dug out my issue and we also found the 1972 June Week issue which was when our son, Don, graduated. We are sending along a snapshot of us reading these issues from the past. (picture of two with Logs) Is anyone else a pack rat? I always said I left houses behind in the many years of traveling but I want to hold on to my “stuff.”

   I got a kick out of the advertisements in the 1946 Femmes issue. Calling cards were $3.95 per hundred. A vacation at Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains went

$125.00 rate for 2 persons for 2 weeks!

   We sure hope they reinstate The Log. I always enjoyed it, especially the issue the gals wrote!     

   Andy and Clair live at 2860 Harwick Dr., Atlanta, GA 30350. email [email protected]

 

   From Charlie Heid 17 th Co. via email on 18 Dec. Fred Lafferty 7 th Co. dropped in from his New Mexico ranch for a visit to show his grandson, Boomer Lafferty, the Naval Academy and to attend the Army-Navy football game. We hosted Fred and Boomer during their visit. Fred and I were classmates in hometown El Paso, TX high school and college prior to entering the Academy. Fred and Boomer brought our team good fortune, but blame the bitter cold on higher authority.

   Another Army-Navy game report, this one from Marie Chipman. The Class of ’48 was well represented at the Oceana O’Club to watch the A/N Game. We had two tables with 15 classmates. In attendance were Irene and Jim Hayes 19th Co., Marie and Bill Chipman 2 nd Co., Kitty Bacon, Jack Klinefelter 5 th Co., Jane Lane, Andy McIntyre 22 nd Co., Betty Edwards, Arden and Ben Pester 12 th Co., Mauline and Don Ross 15 th Co., Karl Thiele 21 st Co., and Audrey Kuffall. We found out that we were the oldest class attending. There’s a lot of life in the class of ’48. WE ARE PRETTY GREAT.

   Many of you were in Annapolis for the dedication of the Class of ’48 Memorial Gate which looked like this – (artist’s rendition)

 

                                                    

  When the Academy redid gate 1 our benches, plaques etc. were moved and now look like this, no shade, not inviting to a tired tourist as they were in their former configuration.


 

   Since that relocation Phil Rogers has been trying to get something done to rehab our gift to the Academy. Last month I sent the following from Phil by email so many of you have seen it. This is to fill in those not having email addresses.

   As of today, the Class of 1948 has received tentative approval to build within the new Gate One, 3 new plazas of the same design as those in the Memorial Gate we built and dedicated in 1986. In case you are not aware of it, our Gate was completely torn down last year and not replaced when the present (NEW) Gate One was built. The budget for this project will be sixty thousand dollars. No new fundraiser will be necessary however if you mark any contributions you make to the Alumni Association now or next year “For Class of ’48 Gate” we will simply be redirecting our contributions into funding the gate until it is completed. Any residual funds after the new ’48 project is finished will be put in AA’s general fund.

   We presently have two class funds that are managed by the Alumni Association. One is our operating fund for the 60 th reunion. The second one has $11,700 which could be applied to the new gate project if necessary but I would rather keep this fund intact as a backup fund in case class donations fall short of sixty thousand dollars.

   When you read this our 60 th reunion will only be a little more than two months away. You will be interested in the following data. We mailed 672 letters asking you to indicate if you were coming to the reunion plus we asked for information to go into a new class roster which is being put together. As of this writing (Dec. 31 st) we have received 333 responses or 50% which pollsters say is phenomenal. 210 responses said “no” they would not attend for a number of reasons. Some even delineated why, and the predominate reason was, as you would guess, health. 123 classmates have stated that they will be on board. Don Buhrer 5 th Co. is documenting the responses and says a few are still trickling in so that total people count of 220 may climb a bit yet. Regardless, we will go forward. All the plans are made and we are really looking forward to seeing people we only see at reunions plus we are drooling in anticipation of the picnic. CharlieHeid has made the arrangements for all of our reunion picnics and says the menu looks great.

   As mentioned above some classmates chose to tell us why they couldn’t come to the reunion. Here is an example, a note which shows how some people really maintain a positive outlook. This is from Ken Phillips—A couple of years ago Virginia had major back surgery to correct a Sciatica problem and a couple of metal rods were embedded in her spinal area. She no longer has that terrible Sciatic pain but has a lot of discomfort in moving about and tires easily. Riding in cars over rough road conditions and in airplanes on long flights due to the seat constraints have to be avoided if possible. Otherwise she is in very good health. She even does all the driving because of my problems. As for me, for the most part, I’m in good health and I have no life threatening maladies. However, I have leg and balance problems that the doctors haven’t found the cause even after all kinds of tests. I quit driving several months ago because I lost confidence that I could react fast enough to avoid accidents. We are now going through a life style change which means instead of living all year in single family homes we just moved into a resort facility for retired people called Touchmark located in Bend, OR. I am confident that the physical therapy that I am taking here will get me back to playing golf and driving our SUV. We still have a home in Sun city West, AZ which we will sell in the next year or two and stay year-round at Touchmark. All of our immediate family live nearby.

   The following from Bob Bonnell 11 th Co. could have been in the previous issue but the filing system in existence at that time didn’t work. It is now hopefully much better. Anyway, Bob’s note shows how many of the wives, like the men, are busily making large contributions to society. “Barbara was just honored by the Baltimore Junior League at their 95 th anniversary. She has been a member for 60 years and is the only Baltimore member to be president of the Association of Junior Leagues International. She was also “mother” of the Baltimore Renaissance , the renewal of our wonderful town over a 44 year period through the Baltimore Development Corporation where she served since it was formed and which won many awards world wide for architectural excellence.”

Bob also reports that he had an extraordinary six weeks in June-July on the golf course, having won 4 tournaments locally and having a hole in one in the process. “In view of 90,000 practice shots this year I probably should score better than somebody, but that was a pretty good run. We now have 5 children, 13 grandchildren, seven “greats” and thank heaven all are healthy.”

   Since the last column we have said goodbye to the following classmates and wives:

     J.R. Ahern (23 rd) 4/3/23-12/20/07

     W.F. Easterlin, Jr. (1 st) 4/12/26-12/5/07

     J.A. Holshouser, Jr. (12 th) 9/24/23-12/10/07

     J.L. Jensen (19 th) 7/3/24-12/19/07

     H.B. Rardin (22 nd) 5/18/23-12/8/07

     E.F. Welch (4 th) 11/13/24-1/2/08

   Wives

     Peggy Bartow, 12/21/07 wife of W.R. Bartow (4 th)

     Sally Harris, 12/?/07wife of R.B. Harris (1 st)

     Louise, Milholland, 9/8/07 wife of R.L. Milholland (21 st)

Our condolences to all of their families.

 

Note: Each of the deceased classmates had great lives. Ahern, Holshouser, Jensen and Welch have autobiographies in both the 30 and 50 year books. Easterlin has one in the 50 year book. If you have either or both books you’ll find a good read.

 

The deadline for the April issue is 11 February so keep me in mind.