Bob Ross sent a brief Myrtle Beach recap:
Just to provide you a quick update on this year’s Myrtle Beach golf trip. We had a new record of 3 deckies this year with Brian Foy and James Carbone joining us. James is John’s brother and earlier than us…1978??

Also In attendance was: John Rhatigan, Jim Quern, Mickey C, Guy Wilson, Del Lewis, Kent Morton, Mike Keane, and a special appearance by CEO Jim Goulden. I apologize if I left someone out. It’s amazing that we all are not on the tour. Birdies, Eagles, the occasional PAR. If you don’t believe us just listen to our stories and review our score cards. I should have prefaced this with the familiar “This is no sh-t.”.

We continued the tradition we started last year when most turned the big 50 by going to Greg Norman’s restaurant which Mr. Lewis was kind enough to coordinate. Mr. Quern and Eliot Bloom, Esq. (Mr. Keane’s neighbor) provided some impromptu entertainment that kept us all in stitches.

Here is the picture of John, Kent, Brian and me on the first tee on opening day. We also had the usual contingent from New Orleans and Cumberland. Bottom line, a good time was had by all.

On another note, I had the opportunity to visit with Rex (SWR) Gundle when he was passing through Washington, D.C. Last month. We walked around the various memorials and caught up on the past 20 something years and then grabbed dinner and some local brew at a local tavern. Always nice to catch up with an old shipmate!

Pete Lafontaine writes:

The picture shows wife Judi and me with our oldest son Trevor at the West Point Plebe Parents weekend that we attended in March. Trevor has almost completed his plebe year at West Point (3.85 GPA) and is looking forward to his ‘Yearling’ year when he can enjoy a little more sleep (we all remember that feeling!). He’s pretty certain that he is going to pursue a civil engineering degree.

Trevor had been recruited to run track and cross country for Army. Unfortunately, he got injured and missed the second half of his plebe cross country season. He’s now back running indoor track, and in his first meet he ran 9:03 for the 3000, but he still has a way to get back into top racing form.

Our younger son Connor, who is currently a sophomore in high school, caught the eye of the KP Track coach last summer when he finished 6th place (18:11) out of 530 finishers in the KP Alumni-Midshipmen 5K race. Connor had just come off a great freshman track season running a personal best 4:42 mile. He also helped his cross country team win its fourth straight Connecticut state championship this past fall. For colleges, he’s thinking about applying to Kings Point, West Point and the Coast Guard Academy.

As for myself, I finished 10th (18:39) in the Alumni Midshipmen race in July’11 and was the first alumnus. I was actually looking forward to turning 50 years old so I could dominate my age division, but I quickly learned that there are a lot of fast 50+ runners out there. I think that I’ve won my age division only once or twice in a number of races that I’ve run since I turned the big 5-0.

Finally, just to show that running is a way of life in our family, my wife Judi has been the girls varsity cross country coach at our local high school for the past four years. Last fall, her girls won their first ever state championship. She has a strong team returning next year and will be shooting for a second straight state title.

Jackson Chandler sent a travel tip:
Hi to all. Hope everyone is well. Just a quick bit of info for you and for you to pass along to those you know that may be planning travel this summer. Hopefully United Airlines’ management will get off the dime and do what they told Congress and stockholders they said they would do last year. If not, could be an interesting summer for travel. Bookmark it if you are planning travel on UAL this summer. Information/knowledge is power. http://theunfriendlyskies.org/?page_id=69 Make it a great day!!

Rick Boudiette dropped a quick line that he was “Heading to New Orleans this week for JazzFest”.

Ray’s update: I exchanged some emails with Brian Foy & Chris Cioni during the Rangers-Ottawa NHL playoff series. I don’t travel much, but got down to Memphis in April for Road Runners Club of America convention, since I’m the Delaware State Rep. If you don’t get my “send news” emails, please get me your email address. I won’t ask you for money.
—– Ray Christensen

2012 Myrtle Beach crew

John Rhatigan, Kent Morton, Brian Foy, Bob Ross

 
Pete & Judi LaFontaine with son Trevor at West Point

Pete LaFontaine with son Connor after KP Alumni-Midshipman 5K July 2011

A.J. Murphy writes:

At the beginning of SEP, I took another Greek Island sailing adventure. Last year’s crew was my wife, Gretchen, but now that she is back at work, took my brother-in-law and a buddy of his and we chartered a 36’ sailboat out of Athens/Piraeus to cruise the islands for a week. The trip was great, with lots of wind and noteworthy port of call. We did spend a couple of evenings on the hook at remote uninhabited islands, but also hit some big name islands as well, including Siros (Finekas west side & Ermoupolis on the east) and Mykonos. Mykonos is very large, has a big airport as well as many cruise ship arrivals, but it also has a small city feel along with ancient ruins, multiple resorts and many beaches and coves.

Everyone enjoyed the fun, food, sun and perfect temperatures. Even had to repair a torn sail, a first for me. Did it underway so we did not have to stop. Each day was good for 6-10 hours of underway time, with schedule being flexible as we depended on mother nature for moving us from one island to another. Wind could be quite blustery, where at one point we were just over 7 knots on only a genoa. One approach into port brought a head on wind with 10-12 foot seas. That slowed the transit time for sure. Would recommend this to anyone looking at sailing adventures. Always have the USMMA hat on for the nautical adventures!

John Burns sent an awesome photo of the late Vivan Ragusa and himself atop the highest mountain in the continental USA – Mt Whitney.

Bruce Garrott writes:
Hello from Djibouti. I have now been at Camp Lemonnier for 6 weeks and time is starting to move quickly. Thanksgiving was a feast here. There was way too much food to eat and the chow hall was full as everyone wanted to stay, enjoy the company of their friends and socialize longer than a normal meal. The weekend after Thanksgiving, Natalie Stovall performed for two nights on the camp. She is quite talented as a country musician, who can sing, and play the violin and guitar.

I spent the first full week of December in Stuttgart, meeting our higher headquarters (US Africa Command) and those to whom I report to for many matters. Very interesting meetings. It was nice to put a face to a name on an email. There was quite a difference in weather (about 50 degree temperature change) and it snowed one night. It was nice to see green again. The German’s decorate for Christmas and it was nice to see decorations and lights for the holiday season. Stuttgart’s Christmas Market was worth seeing too.

This week, the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, visited the camp on Tuesday. He gave a very good speech and then shook the hand of the 500 soldiers and sailors who assembled to meet him. Here is the link or http://www.hoa.africom.mil/getArticleFresh.asp?art=7497 The weather here is now pleasant. Highs in the low 80’s and lows in the 70’s. I even saw someone wearing a sweatshirt tonight, outside.

Dan Rohde writes:
I have a case of Bud’s (I enjoy drinking not gambling) on Tebow (I mean Denver) over New England. I’m not a Gator fan or overly religious, but this guy’s work ethic is unbelievable and he knows how to win. I’m also a good New Yorker who will pull for anybody playing a team from the Boston area.

On a serious note, Carrie and I spent the week in-between Christmas and New Years in Miami working with the Race Committee that ran the Laser course (one of 3 courses) at the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta. Tom Lihan (82) was the Principal Race Officer (PRO) and George Winslow (82) and David Sloane (82) were also part of the Race Committee. The five of us spent a lot of time together during our 3 years we were all on the Kings Point Sailing Team, and it was great to be back on the water participating in the sport we all enjoy so much.

Our youngest daughter was on the water competing and both of Tom’s daughters ware on the water coaching. Tom’s oldest daughter Sarah (2010 Yale grad.) had recently earned a position on the US Olympic Sailing Team and will represent the US in the Woman’s double handed dinghy (the “470”) in England later this year. As you can imagine, all the young competitors (and parents) were very interested in talking with her, and Tom (and his wife Dana) are extremely proud of her accomplishments.

The Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta is an annual event that attracts 500-600 youth sailors (560 this year) from the Americas and Europe.

Ray’s update: Last 2 times that I saw my old navy shipmate Brian Foy were to visit his family at their Pawling, NY home – this year to watch NFC Championship Game and last year to watch AFC Championship Game. He’s Executive Director of the Westchester County Medical Society as well as a similar position with a national medical organization. He also got me a gig putting together a website for his KP Alumni Chapter: www.KPMidHudson.org

At our site are past columns, photos, & a link to our Facebook Group. We’re all 50+ now. Stay healthy…and email me with exciting or boring news.

—– Ray Christensen

John Burns & Vivan Ragusa

AJ Murphy sails Greek Islands

AJ Murphy sails Greek Islands

Bruce Garrott w/ Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

Dan & Carrie Rohde w/KP’82 friends

Chris Thayer writes:
Classmates, on 7/28 we had a Memorial Service for Michael Alston at MSC. I thought it was very nicely done. In attendance from the Class of 1983 were Erin Gantt, Bob Ross, Rudy Lupton, Dave Ferchau, Steve Keating, Glenn Gardner and myself. Bob Ross adds, “Erin’s voice is as beautiful as ever.”

Mark Smith writes (via FB): Attended Oct 12 KP Club of Washington DC luncheon where our own Sean Connaughton was the guest speaker. Sean is currently the Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sean provided insight into the transportation issues facing our area.
Also in attendance from KP ’83 – Ed Fairbarn, D. Lee Forsgren, Erin Gantt and Chris Thayer.

Rick Boudiette writes:
Greetings from sunny Northern California. I’m still with Chevron Shipping and am currently busy managing several newbuild LNG Carrier projects. First one delivered from Daewoo last week and the two sisters deliver 1 Nov and 1 Dec, respectively. The next project starts up in January of 2012 in Samsung. While in Korea, I’ve been able to connect with Kerry O’Neill, who is working for Teekay on another LNG project that Chevron has an interest in. Mickey C passed through the SF Bay Area a few weeks back just to have some pizza and beer with me; he seems to travel as much as I do, but all domestic and, from what I can tell, primarily for random golf outings.

While in Houston recently, I took the oppportunity to drive over to New Orleans and hook up with the Liantonios and the Querns. Both families are doing well, and Frank & Kim’s dog was extremely generous in allowing me to sleep in the guest room where he normally hides out. It was a tame weekend compared to some of the weekends we used to have in New Orleans, but thoroughly enjoyable and exactly what I needed. I also spoke with Steve Nicholson recently; he and the family have settled in back at Bath Iron Works in Maine after a few years down under in Adelaide.

Rev. Tony Hartman writes:
The days of the US military presence in Iraq are almost over. The violence is not, but many are praying that God willing Iraq still has a better future. They still have a lot of work to do. The eerie red photo [below] during a sandstorm is not photo-shopped!

Mark Faller writes:
Attached is a photo of me and my daughter, Dr. Caitlyn (Faller) Rerucha, MD. Caitlyn recently graduated from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) and is currently doing her residency in Family Medicine at Fort Bragg, NC. She is married to John Rerucha, also a Captain in the Army who is serving as an Intel officer. Otherwise, all is well in Fredericksburg, VA where I’m keeping a Human Performance Solutions company afloat with 4 other retired Coast Guard officers.

Ray’s update: Training for my 20th marathon (Nov). I coordinated both a 5K and 15K race this fall, each with over 300 finishers. Big job w/ no pay – like planning for a big wedding and you don’t know how many guests are coming.

Please notify me if your email address changes. There’s a link at our site to our Facebook Group.
Stay healthy.
—– Ray Christensen

Mark Faller with daughter

Rev. Tony Hartman in Iraq

Tony’s sand storm photo