Leo Carling has tracked down a classmate:
“After many years of on-again / off-again searching, I finally located Dave Carlson. The last I saw him was at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey CA in 1988. He was heading off to Department Head school before taking over as Chief Engineer on an FFG (sorry…I can’t recall the name of the ship). After 12 years of service to his country, Dave headed into the civilian workforce. In 1995, he joined VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula MS and has worked on a number of their ship design efforts since then.

In his free time, Dave performs with a Jazz band, a community band and pit bands for local shows in the Pascagoula area. The funny thing is, I’ve been to VTHM numerous times starting in 1996, but never stumbled across him. Small world.

I’m still working for BMT Designers & Planners, supporting NOAA’s shipbuilding efforts and working on long-range plans to replace the entire NOAA fleet. Andrea and I recently purchased an 11 acre parcle of land near Front Royal VA with views of the Blue Ridge; we’re in the process of designing our retirement home and plan to start construction later this year.”
— Leo

The attached photo was submitted by Mickey Cunningham. Kent Morton joined him at an Eagles game in the fall.

Read about Sean Connaughton’s new position as Corporate Vice President for Government Affairs at ABS at our class site. I haven’t heard from too many people directly, so I had to grab some items from our profiles page:

Chris D’Angelo is “still with Proto-Power although we were purchased by Zachry out of San Antonio, TX. We are in the middle of what appears to be a Nuclear Power Renaissance. Anyone looking for a job?…”

Rex Gundle is “Currently living in Holland after living 12 years in the tropics (Asia / Central America) with my family. My eldest Sarah is off on her own working in the industry for Maersk, while Tom (17) and Katie (14) attend high school here…”

John Kimmerlein says “It was great to see so many people at the 25th. Married to Jennifer since ’92. Have two boys, David (11) and Evan (8). Came ashore for law school after active duty Navy and then sailing up to relief master. We spend our time with school, little league, soccer, and sailing on Puget Sound, whenever we get the chance. Drop me a line if you are visiting the Seattle area.”

Jim Quern says “Great time visiting with all at the 25 year reunion. In case I didn’t share with you, I have been in the New Orleans area since 1986 and have been working for the Dept of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve since 1991…”

Read the rest of the above comments online (and update yours at the same time!) Be safe.
—– Ray Christensen

Mickey Cunningham & Kent Morton

Chris Thayer and his assistants did a splendid job on our successful Homecoming weekend and Scott O’Connor coordinated a noteworthy fundraising campaign for our class gift to the Academy. Many other classmates contributed to the events, and I’ll mention just a few…

Eric Wallischeck played host to our tailgating party in his perfectly located backyard.Erin Gantt’s singing of the National Anthem before dinner was inspiring. Lynn Craddock-Melin traveled from Alaska, but Kurt Larsen came all the way from China!
Big thanks to those whose companies donated to either our class gift or our homecoming party fund. A special shout out to my old roommate Matt Bucherati for Pepsi’s contribution. I had to sneak in a Diet Pepsi between beers in Eric’s yard. I was lucky enough most other of my best buddies in attendance too, including Brian Foy, Mickey Cunningham and Maureen McKeever. Besides his wife, Chris Cioni brought his sister, who often drove him back and forth from home to the Academy way back when.

If you haven’t already, view pages of photos and the list of attendees at http://www.StillConnected.com/kp83 It’s all there—Dave & Buster’s, tailgating, football game march-on, dinner. (Our class has many wonderful photographers.) Then see the Classmate Info page for fresh comments. If your buddies aren’t listed, encourage them to drop by. I didn’t take notes for a detailed account of the reunion festivities, but more comments are at the site (and are always welcome). Around 100 of us ignored some raindrops during the day and even several minutes of a blackout in the evening to spend plenty of quality time with old pals.

From Scott O’Connor:
“…I want to extend my special thanks to each of you who volunteered to be on our Class gift Committee and worked toward gaining a huge amount of financial support for the Academy.
And the number is…..(drum roll)… $74,816 !
This [was] announced as the the second highest amount for any reunion class this year at the Beat Retreat…
We would have been highest except one person in some nondescript class did a dollar for dollar matching with his entire class, on a dare, to the tune of about $40k! We did good….”

In other news:
On June 5, 2008, Roger Foster was one of three BIW engineers who were honored with “Engineering Excellence and Innovation” awards.
Rex Gundle recently relocated from Panama: “I have moved again and now freezing my tires off in Holland.”
Tom Lightsey writes: “Sorry I missed the festivities.”
Yvette (Smith) Pigott writes: “Wish I had made it but I’ll try next time.”

Ray’s bragging:
In October, I ran my 14th marathon (in Newport, RI) and am training for the “Goofy Challenge” at DisneyWorld in January. I’ll run a half marathon on Saturday, followed by a full 26.2 on Sunday. On Monday, I’ll do lots of sitting on any ride with a seat.
Keep writing!
—– Ray Christensen

Sue Pawlukiewicz, Lisa Barcus Fields, Cathy Giguere Coseno, Maureen McKeever,
Kevin Brofford, Mike Safina, Bill Rupy, Bill Higgins, Bruce Garrott

Fifth Company

Sean Connaughton, Bill Sliker, Eric Wallischeck

Spring 2008

Our website includes 25th class reunion plans and class gift info. Add or update your personal info while you’re visiting!

From John Prien:
The most significant news for us is that Cindy and I are expecting our fourth child (another boy – name TBD) any day between now December 28, 2007 and January 12, 2008 (his due date). The other three kids (Madison – 7, Benjamin – 5 and Zachary – 2) are already a handful and a lot of fun so adding our fourth should be quite interesting…
We had a great 2007! Hope yours was great too.
— John

From John Rhatigan:
Just a quick note on some upcoming events in my life. Might be a little late getting you this but wanted to let everyone know that the Gulf Coast is still a mess and still needs lots of help after Hurricane Katrina. I am heading down to New Orleans in Feb(16-23) with my teenage daughter Molly to work for Habitat for Humanity. Hopefully I will have a chance to see some of the gang Jim Q, Skip M and Frank L while I am down there(I am supposed to be a chaperone on a school trip, my wife wonders who will be chaperoning me).
Also looking forward to the annual Myrtle Beach Golf outing with some very special KP’ers. Some of the fun bunch that have attended in the past are Kent Morton (not since tying the not though), Jim Quern, Jim Goulden, Guy Wilson, Mickey Cunningham, Del Lewis, Jeff Coons(has been missing for the past two years, not sure if he still fits on commercial aircraft) and of course our Barrister of note Mike Keane. Golf is not always the highest caliber(due to bottle flu) but the fun never stops.
— John

From Ronda Cobb:
On December 15th, at the National Cemetery in Kent, WA, I was honored to lay the memorial wreath for the US Merchant Marine. I was joined by Chuck O-Hara (’55 I think); and we were accompanied by Connie Buhl ’81 (President of the Puget Sound Chapter). It was a wonderful ceremony followed by wreath-laying on about 130 graves of veterans of every branch of the service. Visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information on the program. The wreath was so beautiful, it had a US flag and a US Merchant Marine flag on it.
I have attached a picture of us, taken prior to the official ceremony.
— Ronda

From Rod Knecht:
Bob Grimaldi’s family and mine are going on a cruise to celebrate our 20 year wedding anniversaries. This is the reuniting of the KP sea partners, and our partners and our kids. The accommodations will be nicer than we had at KP. We will each have two rooms. Maybe we can get a tour of the Bridge and Engine room. If I get Bob down in the engine room it will be a first. It should be a great time. This “Sea Year” cruise will be a little different than our last when be were on the LNG Leo traveling from Indonesia to Japan. 😉
— Rod

— Thanks for the news! Speaking of KP sea partners, I recently had a couple beers with Mickey Cunningham.
He never got me to the engine room either.
Stay healthy, and plan on Homecoming!

—– Ray Christensen

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Summer 2008

Our website shows updated Homecoming plans (including hotel info) and class gift status. Add or update your personal info while you’re visiting!

From Jim Storey:
I’m living in Bremerton, WA working at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & IMF as the Deputy Chief Engineer overseeing all the private sector contractor work. Been here since 1984….feels like an awful long time. I have 5 boys….
2 out of the house and 3 to go. The youngest is 3 so I’ve got a long way to go. I’m in contact with Steve Kimmel often. He lives in Seattle, still works for FOSS Maritime and spends weekends at “Ponderosa”, his house up in the mountains of Eastern Washington. We are thinking a summer “party” at his place is in order with any Kpers is the area that we can round up. Ronda Cobb finally got a hold of me about a year and a half ago and lives in the Seattle area.

Talked with Bob Seif a couple of days ago. He’s working for TRANE in Seattle and busy trying to “get rid” of his kids. Chris Foss and I talk at least once a month. He purchased a new building that houses his comic book store in Columbia, SC and making more money than he’ll tell me…who thought his childhood passion would support him??!! He’s not married (but living in sin) and no biological kids so I’m trying to get him to adopt one or two of mine. I corresponded by e-mail with Paul Zubaly a while back.
He is living in the Philippines with his wife and 2 kids. He is working on a pre-prep ship that was stationed in Guam last I heard. Four on, four off and loving it. Jackson Chandler and I talked a couple of months ago. He is flying for United Airlines to and from Japan and starting an internet business with his wife so he can “settle down”. Mark Allen was at an Alumni dinner that I went to in Seattle to listen to Shaun Connaughton talk about the industry. Mark works for Underwater Admiralty Services…translation is that he gets to run around finding and diving on really cool historically significant finds like WWII airplanes, etc.
Why can’t I get a job like that??
I do plan on being at the 25th reunion
— Jim

Scott O’Connor was happy to report that the annual KP Crew Team trip hosted by his Jacksonville Alumni Chapter went smoothly. Visit their site at www.KPJAX.org Thanks to Lisa (Barcus) Fields for spearheading arrangements for a plaque in the Memorial Arbors to honor Milton Moore. She hopes to have it in place for our reunion. See our site for details.
Stay healthy, and see you in September!

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Fall 2008

Our website shows updates from many classmates. Add your latest personal info while you’re visiting and feel free to email me Homecoming photos to post there! Contributions toward our class gift are still being accepted.

Bruce Garrott writes:
“I saw Bill Higgins in Washington while our Navy Reserve Annual Training overlapped for a week in May. I routinely see Jim Goulden and family in church. Jim’s twins are in same grade level as my youngest daughter, Mikaela. I am presently the Commanding Officer of NR DIAHQ 0366, a reserve unit that drills at Bolling AFB, Washington, DC. I was selected for Captain on the latest promotion-selection board and will be promoted in either November or December.”

John Prien writes:
Here is a photo of my kids including our latest addition – Grayson Alexander Prien, 8 lbs 5 oz, 20-1/2 inches long, born 1/5/08. From left to right – Zachary (2), Madison (7), Grayson, and Ben (6). Needless to we have our hands full!
-John and Cindy Prien

Ray’s bragging: In May, I placed 2nd in my age group (out of 138) at New Jersey Marathon. Ran Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY and am training to run Rhode Island Marathon 3 weeks after Homecoming. Support our class site by booking travel at ww.TravelUSAandWorld.com
Stay healthy!

John & Cindy Prien new addition.