HEARTS of ‘58

The West Point Class of 1958 celebrates The true romantics of this day and age from cadet days to the present. These are your stories …………. “the ones you love to tell” .

May you all share the joy

of lives well‐lived and loved and

May your families celebrate you and your life.

Austin “Heart of Texas” Reunion October 18‐22, 2015

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Fred and Pattie Mayer

"A long long time ago there lived a fairy princess and her friendly troll"

Fifty seven years and loving every minute.. What else is there to say?

Fred Mayer

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Ceda McGrew Ceda was with me, at least on weekends, from September of ‘54 through graduation and then forever. Since plebe year it seemed that everyone hated you and thought you were pretty much useless, having someone demonstrate that she loved and appreciated me made all the difference. I give her credit for my making it through the four years, especially the first one.

Palmer McGrew

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Love at First Sight I was a Company Commander in the 82ND Airborne Division. One evening I went to the Officers Club at Ft. Bragg, feeling like hot stuff...young Captain drawing jump pay. I saw Patty sitting at a table with a lieutenant, who was a former USMA football player. I asked a young woman if she knew Patty's name. She said she was a - friend of hers. So, I humbly asked her to ask Patty if I could meet her. Patty told her "No" because she was with a date. I found out where she worked and the next day brought a dozen roses to her office. After a few days of receiving roses, she finally agreed to a date. After pursuing her like a typical Airborne/Ranger guy, we were married at the Ft. Bragg Chapel. It seems like yesterday, but it's been 51+ years. Frankly, I've never admitted this, but I knew the moment I saw her that I was going to marry her. That's the truth. She's my best friend and I love her as much as I did when we just started out back in 1964. '58 IS GREAT!

Chuck and Patty Toftoy

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Irish Smile! The year 1960, September 13th, I arrived by train from La Jolla, California. My Samoyed, “Tzar”, traveled with me for my first time out of state. I was eighteen. My dad worked for the government allowing him privileges at the Officers Club. It was there, on the day I arrived at Schilling Air Force, Salina, Kansas, that I met Dan. The Club manager knew my dad and arranged a table and a time when Dan would be coming in from a flight. Dan sat across from me, and all I knew deep within my core of unknowing came this certainty, I was going to marry this handsome, Irish grin of a man with twinkling blue eyes, full of life and purpose. My Irish love married me on June 24,1961. WOW! Thank you Dan, I love you!

Roxie Yarr ******************************************************************

Dave and Valerie Turner

I left the Air Force in January 1966 (from Griffiss AFB in Rome, NY where I was a B-52 copilot on nuclear alert) and drove to Kansas City, Missouri to start training as a 707 first officer for TWA. After getting a rating, I was assigned to Kennedy as an international relief officer. On my second flight I had to deadhead to Rome, Italy, to work a cargo flight back to JFK. To my surprise I was placed in First Class and leaned back to enjoy the elegant experience. Shortly after level off, a very pretty blonde flight attendant came to my seat and said in a quiet voice; “Could you please help us? We have a brand new purser who is Indonesian, and he is getting drink orders all mixed up. He just served a scotch and coke to a passenger who ordered a scotch and soda. He has no idea what a whiskey sour is – could you help us bartend?” With sixteen passengers and a complex service, she had her hands full, and I jumped up to help. The next day at the layover hotel, the five star Cavileri Hilton, we met at the beautiful pool, lounged, played gin rummy and got to know each other. By the end of a fine dinner there was no doubt where this was headed, and Valerie and I were married in less than a year. I never knew bartending could be so rewarding!

Dave Turner

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Arlene It was Hundredth Night, 10 March 1956. Lee Wilson (’57) had a blind date for me. I didn’t know it at the time; but I was the third Jack selected to meet this young lady. First, there was Jack Lynne. Then, there was supposed to be Jack Solomon (’57). I was also unaware that my blind date had visited West Point when she was about four years old, and that her mother thought it would be nice for her to have a cadet friend. Her return to West Point was brought about by the fact that she had a Buick, and that Lee Wilson’s drag needed a ride from New Jersey. My drag picked us up in front of Grant Hall, and introduced herself: “I’m Arlene Eifried.” Things went smoothly throughout the Hundredth Night Show, but got more “interesting” at the hop. That is where I introduced her as Marlene. It is not unusual for my spouse to suggest I need a hearing aid. Perhaps, I needed one then. Arlene is still getting even. On the June 4th, 2015 we celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary. On March 10th, 2015, we celebrated the 59th anniversary of our first date. I finally stopped calling her Marlene on March 10th 2006, the fiftieth anniversary of our first date.

Jack Halsey ******************************************************************

Susan Patterson

On a Glee Club trip to Chappaqua, New York, late in our senior year, I met Susan at a dinner party hosted by one of the families keeping cadets overnight. Susan was assigned to Jack Veidt as a dinner partner, but he was a second classman. So when we left for the evening, since by then I was driving my own car, I pushed Susan into the front seat of my car. And that was the end of the story. She had just turned seventeen and was a senior in High School, but that made no difference. She was for me. Her parents insisted she finish college first which meant a four year delay. We were married five days after she graduated from Mt. Holyoke College. Most unfortunately Susan fought cancer for twenty two years and died at age

sixty seven. Walt Patterson

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Jim and Dottie Castle

During the first class tour at Fort Knox, Jim attended a YMCA dance in Louisville, KY where he met Dottie. Jim asked Dottie to visit him and his

parents in Fort Lauderdale, FL three days after he met her.

On the third date in Florida one evening on the beach, Jim asked Dottie to be his wife to which she replied, “Yes!”. The next morning his father advised him to not become serious as he didn’t know Dottie very well. Jim told him, “You are too late, I asked her to marry me at the beach last night, and she

said yes.” Needless to say his parents were quite surprised.

They tried to be together at West Point as often as possible. Dottie attended the Ring Hop where Jim gave her a miniature. They enjoyed the Army/Navy game and spent the holidays together in Louisville and Ft. Lauderdale. Jim met Dottie parents, and their attitude was, “ if the romance lasted until June everything was fine.”

On June 7th, 1958 they were married at St. John’s Evangelical Church which

she attended in Louisville.

Their honeymoon was spent driving in Jim’s new white Impala Chevrolet to

Estes Park, Colorado. They also visited Dottie’s family and Jim’s family.

After attending EOBC at Fort Belvoir, VA, they went by ship to Hoechst,

Germany which was his first duty station.

They made the right decision on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Jim Castle ******************************************************************

Tom and Sylvia Claffey In the early 1980s, when my mother’s health was in decline, I returned home to Santa Fe to assist in her care. One day, during a business lunch at La Posada Restaurant, I looked across the dining room and saw Sylvia – my crush from elementary school. Gorgeous as ever! I walked over and said, “Hi.” Turns out we were both single. We were later married twelve miles from Mt. Everest. That was thirty years ago. Tom Claffee

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The Catch I had just purchased an absolutely beautiful ’53 Ariel 4 cylinder motorcycle through the USAF BX system, when the fun and exciting life of this nineteen year old running around merry ‘ol England was suddenly cut short. My Squadron Commander (a West Point graduate) had arranged for my transfer to the United States Military Academy Prep School in Stewart AFB just 75 miles upriver from New York City. But the seriously heavy British export taxes could only be avoided if I stayed in country six months after taking delivery, so the sudden transfer killed bringing my “dream” back stateside with me. Shortly after arriving at Stewart, I turned the (return) payment on the Ariel into a (not exactly a limousine) Crosley station wagon. On my first trip into Newburgh, I found that “Texas Hotdogs” had some tasty cuisine. The hotdog hole-in-the-wall was located next to Fishman’s Department store, so one evening I popped into the store to look around. I spotted a cute chick tending to the towel counter in the middle the store. Now I had no need for another towel, but I purchased one anyway - of course starting up a conversation with the pretty clerk. I found out that she was a Cornwall High School junior working part time towards her hopes of going to college. Well, she’s a bit young, but still a pretty package to get to know. One thing led to another, so I cautiously asked if I could take her home after work. “No”, she quickly replied, “my mother works here too, and I wait for her so we can take the bus home together.” Well that surprising excuse caught me off guard, but that bump in the road didn’t stop me. “Okay”, I countered her challenge with my own bluff, “Where does your mother work in the store? I’ll go ask her.” After making my way to the target location, I spied a rather prim and stern looking older lady - that I quickly decided not to accost. I retreated back to the towel counter, and cheerfully addressed the little cutie with “Your mom said it was okay. Where can I meet you after work?” After work, she unhesitatingly stepped into my (glaringly tiny) Crosley and gave me directions how to take her home. Along the way, she encouraged me to talk all about my ‘vast worldly overseas’ experiences. Okay, that was going well, but I wisely decided to not await her mother’s return home some unknown time later that evening. Upon arriving at her home, we strolled over to the nearby pond and talked awhile. After arriving back to her house, she firmly said good night outside the front door. She never told me how (or if) she explained to her mother about how an Airman from the Air Base happened to drive her young daughter home that night. Well here it is sixty two years later, and I’m still driving around the former Miss O’Neil. And Ruth Ann is still giving me directions.

Wayne Wyatt

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Garret and Jill Roosma

Shortly after I arrived in Heidelberg, Germany, with my parents in the summer of 1950, my twin brother Will and I started our sophomore year at Heidelberg American High School. As I was walking down the hall one day with a friend whom I knew from my days at Governors Island, he pointed out several girls that he knew. One was Jill Carson who at the time was in the eighth grade; while I was not about to date an eighth grader, she did catch my eye. The following year when she was a freshman, Jill was elected to the cheerleading team and, of course, was on everyone’s date list. It was not until the following year when I was a senior that the opportunity arose to ask her for a date, and we attended the Homecoming Dance together… after that we had several dates. Because of the Korean War, the Seventh Army was reactivated in Stuttgart; my family moved there, but we continued to attend Heidelberg High. The group of us in the Stuttgart area held a Christmas dance at the Seventh Army Officers Club, and I invited Jill to the dance. She arranged to stay with a friend of hers who was in the same apartment building where I lived. Following the dance, we went to the friend's apartment, and it was there that I asked her to go steady. I had never asked any one to do that before and much to my delight she said, “Yes”. For the rest of the school year we dated and saw a lot of each other. In June 1953, I graduated, and my family returned to the States after a three year tour in Germany. Jill and I corresponded, and she realized during her Junior year that she had enough credits to graduate in 1954 instead of 1955. So she did and came back to the states about the time I entered West Point. She attended a nursing school in the Washington, DC area and came up to West Point often; we were together as much as possible in the summer. Jill then switched to a nursing school in New York City, so we were able to see one another more often. Following the Ring Ceremony at Cullum Hall, I walked Jill out to the balcony of the hall and gave her the miniature. Since she could not get married until the last part of her senior year, I went off after my graduation to the Artillery basic course, jump school and primary flight school. We were married at the Cadet Chapel on July 3rd, 1959. Jill was with me for the summer at Fort Rucker, Alabama and then returned to finish school that Fall. Jill and I are presently enjoying retirement in Vermont.

Gary Roosma

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The White Plague, a Blind Date, and Br’er Rabbit

The “White Plague” had descended on Columbus, GA. That was the name given by the local Georgia boys to the West Point cadets in their crisp white uniforms (they visited Fort Benning every summer). In June, 1956, my friend, Mary Wellborn, called, she wanted me to join a quadruple blind date party that she and John Abernathy had planned with four Class of ’58 Company I-2 cadets. Mary would be with John; the rest of us would be totally “pot luck”. One of the four cadets, Dick Webb, had just given his “A” pin to a Norfolk girl the previous week, but John desperately needed a fourth man, so he begged Dick to go. Reluctantly, Dick said he would. We girls drove up to the barracks by the Ft. Benning Jump Towers. Dick walked around the car and hopped in beside me. Dick and I strolled around the Post on that hot, sweltering Georgia Sunday afternoon while the others swam at the Officers Club. We stopped at the school playground, and he pushed me on a swing. Dick said that if he pushed me too high, it might not be “proper” for a young lady. Those were the days of long skirts, and not a soul was around to observe any impropriety. “What a prude!” I thought to myself. Later that afternoon, the two of us ended up on Mary’s back porch alone. Even though he might be a bit of a prude, I still liked Dick’s looks and thought he was very nice. I was definitely interested! But Dick obviously wasn’t enjoying my company, I thought, because he was SO QUIET. What could I do to shake Dick out of his boredom? I looked around and saw some books on a nearby table. It seemed a weird thing to do on a date, but I had to do something to “liven” things up. So I asked Dick if he would like for me to read a story. He chose “Robinson Crusoe” from the titles I offered. “Too dull,” I thought. So I chose “Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby”. I was quite familiar with the story and read it using all the original Southern dialect. I didn’t hold anything back! Much later Dick told me that he had caught himself thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have her read stories to our children?” That evening, Dick invited me to be his date for the upcoming formal hop. I supposed that he would rather go with me rather than the usual “Take Your Chance” method. After the hop, he asked me out again. Just as things were looking more promising, word filtered out to me that Dick was engaged! What?! When confronted, Dick said he was only pinned. Still, how could this relationship ever possibly work out? Every time I was with Dick, I was sure that I’d never see him again. What were the odds? Dick was from Idaho and went to school in New York. Both were a long way from my home and college, both in Georgia. Was it meant to be? Love at first sight? Despite the odds, we married in July, 1958, and I spent forty happy, interesting - not boring at all - years with him as an Army Wife!

Audrey Webb

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David and Arlene (Capelle) Komyathy I was drafted into the Army around 1960. As I was signing up, I met a local fellow and helped him with some of the paperwork. We were both bused to the physical in Albany, New York later that year, and we were both sent to Fort Dix for basic training on the same bus and assigned to the same company. (Horrors to West Point, but our civilian occupation made us eligible for critical skills enlistment, and, thus, basic training was for three months and end of service). We became friends, and I also became friends with his parents. His mother constantly said she wished she had another daughter because her only daughter would have been perfect for me. I met her daughter and her husband (Capt. Gerry Capelle, ’58) at her brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner, sat across from her, and spent the whole night talking to her. In 1994, Gerry was shipping out to Vietnam; her brother had a Christmas cocktail party the day he left, December 23rd, 1964. I spent the evening talking to Arlene and her mother. During the conversation, her mother asked me about my love life. I had none, but I was a very eligible bachelor. I confessed that I had a personal goal to be married before I was thirty. At the time, I was twenty eight. Gerry was Killed in Action on on April 1st, 1965. Arlene’s brother now had two widows for friends. Later that summer, he asked me which one I would like to date. Of course, I said, “Arlene”. We started dating and on her birthday in August, I proposed. We got engaged Christmas Eve of 1965. We were married on February 19th, 1966, the day before my thirtieth birthday. Arlene and Gerry had a son who was six years old when we started dating. He soon began calling me “Daddy David”. The day we got back from our honeymoon, I became just “Daddy”. I met Gerry’s parents in June after we were married. Gerry’s father, for no other term to come up with, would introduce me as his step-son-in-law... I had bonded to the whole family. We remained friends with Gerry’s parents while they lived and are still friends with his sister and her sons and many of his relatives in Wisconsin. We have many friends from the class of ’58, have outlived a lot of them, but I have bonded to them more than my classmates from the University of Illinois, my Alma Mater. I had a ball at the 50th reunion, meeting a lot of you who I had just known by name. It is true … the class of ’58 shares a special bond.

Dave Komyathy

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The Romance of Bob and Trinky Grete (according to Bob)

We are among those who believe that God has a plan for each of our lives. We believe the following account demonstrates the hand of God in our family. Proverbs 3:5-6 My first recollection of Trink was from kindergarten, as we swung together on our school’s swings in Monsey, New York. We attended classes together through the eighth grade, after which our mothers conspired together to get us started dating each other. Trink’s mom gave me money to take her to a movie in Spring Valley… that was our first date. We attended separate high schools as freshmen, but our relationship strengthened to the point of “going steady.” Then “disaster” struck… my family had to move to Media, Pennsylvania, where the “going steady” concept became impractical for both of us.

In my junior year, I started dating Marcie. God used her Dad to help get my appointment to West Point. As Camp Buckner cranked up, I called Trinky to invite her to visit me there. Her response was, “That would not be fair to Johnny!” So I crossed her off the list, and for the next two years, I usually dated Marcie or Sandy.

During the last month of summer before Firstie year, my mom and I visited family in Monsey. Aunt Jewell said, “Bobby, have you seen Trinky lately? She is a beautiful girl.” I replied, “I haven’t talked with her since she turned me down for a date at Camp Buckner.” Despite my objection, we went to her house. She was not home, so I just left a “sorry we missed you note” and left for our home across the border in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. She responded with a note saying she would like to see me. So I invited her to a picnic lunch at Mad Anthony Wayne State Park off the Palisades Parkway half way to West Point. There, Trink told me that she had gotten engaged to Johnny, who subsequently entered the Army and changed for the worse, she planned to break off the engagement. Over that year, we dated a few times before I went off to pilot training, and she began teaching in a Christian school in Monsey.

November, 1958. Trink and I visited at my parent’s home in Alexandria, Virginia for Thanksgiving. I asked her to marry me, and she said, “Yes!” July 24, 1959, after I got my wings, Dick Burpee and I flew a T-33 to Stewart AFB. The next day, Dick served as my best man as Trink and I were married in the Cadet Chapel at West Point.

As we celebrate our fifty sixth wedding anniversary, we praise God for blessing us with six children, thirty two grandchildren, and four great grandchildren - and there are more coming!

Bob Grete

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Hugh and Nancy Fisher The story of Nancy’s and my romance began the summer of my brother’s plebe leave (Sam, ’53) when he brought home a gal from the Jersey shore whose manners shocked my very “southern-bred” mother. As soon as the “hussy” left, my Mom packed us off to Kentucky, calling our grandmother to say, “Find some nice girls for Sam to meet.” She lived in Winchester, and she set up some dates for Sam. One was with a girl, in nearby Richmond. A date for me was arranged with Nancy Carr, a doctor’s daughter. After we had picked up everyone, Sam dropped us off at the local theater, (“Showboat” was on). After the show, Sam and his date drove us back to Nancy’s home, where he said: “Hurry up and kiss her goodnight, we need to get going.” Talk about sibling pressure! Well, we complied (Nancy saying later that she was scared to death). Now my mother always told me to look at any girls I dated with the thought as to what kind of wife she would be. This thought I applied to Nancy and she came out with high marks. Not only was she very attractive, fun to be with and a good dancer, but her dad had a big boat on the Kentucky River. Over the following seven years we only saw each other a few times, although I did drive my just bought ’52 MGTD from Louisville one weekend to see her (just had to show off to someone!). In ’60, I took Christmas leave to see Grandmother, and I naturally checked in with the Carrs and found that Nancy would also be home for the holiday. We talked, took drives (a ’60 Corvette this time), and she broke a previously set date to go to a Country Club dance with me. She had never broken a date like that before and could not understand why she had done so this time. I believe this was the time “we knew” something was there in our relationship. After I returned to Ft. Bragg, I found that I would be going on a “SECRET” mission to Laos. I wrote to her that I would visit her in New York City upon my return. I hit the “Big Apple”, a bright–eyed lieutenant, with pockets stuffed with TDY per diem money to woo Miss Nancy. I had brought gifts from Hong Kong to bestow daily and on the last day, I “semi” proposed, saying, “just think about it, don’t answer now”. A week later I had PCS orders to Okinawa, called Nancy, and she said “meet me in Kentucky”. It took all of my leave to convince her, so there was no time for a wedding. The wedding was planned by my friends’ wives and the entire 1st SFG was invited. Now, 52 years later, our family consists of two children and five grandchildren (ranging from 23 to 7 years old). Two have graduated college and are pursuing post-grad studies, one is in her last year at Trinity University, one is in high school and the youngest is starting second grade. Hugh Fisher

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Jack and Rachel Bujalski It was January, 1954, this Minot State Teachers College freshman had been turned down for a blind date with a high school junior in his roommate’s home town because there was a basketball game that Friday night, and she was a cheerleader. Furthermore, after the game she had to work at the local drug store, the social center of the town. After home games, she spent most of her time behind the soda fountain. There would be no time for a date. However, that Friday a blizzard struck, the temperature was minus 40’, and the snow was falling horizontally. The fellows drove one hundred and ten miles through the blowing snow to the roommate’s home. The game had been cancelled! The stores had been closed! The streets of the town of about five hundred were deserted. His knock on her door was interrupted as she opened the door with a plate of fudge in her hand. She was going to walk to the nearby telephone exchange where her girl friend was the operator on duty at the manual pull and plug switchboard. She was surprised, but the blind date was back on. The fudge was delivered. The evening was spent dancing in the basement recreation room of his roommate’s family home. For the next five months, he spent most of his available time with her: weekends from college and in June, every minute he could spare from his temporary job in his hometown fourteen miles away. Then, it was off to West Point and the great class of ’58. His mother came out for Plebe Christmas, and she came with…Wow!!! Wonderful!!! All too short. They were too far apart to date and decided it was not healthy to go into social hibernation. In summer of 1956, he gave her an A-pin while he was home on leave and she was home for the summer from Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota. In the summer of 1957, he proposed with a ’58 miniature in hand. She decided she should get to know him better than just the Christmas breaks and one month each summer. So, she left college after two years and returned to West Point with him for Firstie Year. She found an apartment in Highland Falls and a job in Newburgh. The daily roundtrip commute over Storm King by bus became a drag. Once again, she searched for a job in Highland Falls and finally found one at Ladycliff, just a few blocks from her apartment and right outside the West Point gate. We were finally able to learn a lot more about each other, liked what we learned, booked the Catholic Chapel for June 5th and were married there by the Ladycliff Chaplain. Its been a great fifty seven years, thirty on active duty and twenty seven retired. We have three children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Jack Bujalski

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Gene and Joanne Wentworth JoAnne and I were born in the same hospital, in the same year, in the small town of Leavenworth, Kansas. We did not meet until several years later (about 3 or 4) when we attended birthday parties for mutual friends together. We did not attend the same Elementary School or Jr. High School, but we saw each other at Church Youth Group meetings and often at Ballroom Dancing classes. We were High School classmates and dated occasionally (mostly in the summer of 1952). The first time that I kissed her was in her parent’s driveway in June of 1952. Little did either of us realize that exactly eight years later, our son E. Gibson III was born! JoAnne carved that date into a rock that is still in the driveway to this day. (But I am getting ahead of myself). After graduating from Leavenworth High School, I left home by train enroute to West Point…with a stopover in Washington, D.C. because JoAnne was visiting her Aunt and Uncle who lived there. We did meet each other, did some sightseeing, had dinner and even attended one of the early 3D movies before I departed and went on to join the Long Grey Line, and JoAnne went back west to attend a small college in Nebraska. We did not have any contact until the following summer when we dated several times when I was back home on leave. It was during Christmas break in my Yearling Year that I got up the courage to invite her to come to the Academy for the June Week festivities of 1956. We both recall that we really had a good time and some really fond memories. During summer and Christmas breaks in 1957, we dated some but not exclusively. I did ask her to come to my graduation in June of 1958….but she had to decline, because she was scheduled to graduate from Kansas University at exactly the same time! The summer of 1958, before attending basic training, Airborne and Ranger School, I thought long and hard about our continuing relationship and the future, and after careful (and prayerful) consideration and lots of encouragement from both my Mom and Dad, I asked JoAnne to marry me…..and she said “YES”!!! We were married on December 27th 1958. A few weeks later, we sailed out of New York Harbor, on our way to our first duty assignment in Panama. We spent thirty good years in the US Army, during which time our three wonderful children were born: a son in 1960; and two daughters in 1962 and 1969. After almost fifty seven years of marriage we feel that God has blessed us abundantly. Our children, sons-in law and daughter-in-law are wonderful and successful people, and our nine grandchildren bring us much joy. Life is truly to be celebrated, and we are very thankful to Him for ours.

Gene Wentworth

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Mike Mahler

Ellie and I were good friends in high school, but we never dated. In later years, Ellie would claim that I had been too much of a cut-up back then for her to date me. My standard response to that was that she could not resist the brass buttons on our full dress uniform once I entered West Point. In any event, it is fair to say that before we were a couple, we were children. During Buckner summer, I regularly invited a group of girls from my high school in nearby White Plains to come up on weekends. Ellie was part of the same group, but somehow had not made it up. One of the girls relayed a “Hello” from Ellie one weekend, and we started writing to each other. The first chance for a date was Yearling Christmas, and I managed to be two hours late because of a family engagement that I could not get away from. I will never know why Ellie waited, but I have been ever thankful that she did. That date led to more letters, which led to Ellie coming up for June Week of Yearling year. We kept writing, and we started to date more regularly, or as regularly as we could when getting together involved gathering enough Smithies together to rent a cab to drive from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts to West Point or taking the train to New York City and up to White Plains, and then borrowing a car from one of our families to drive to West Point. During football season of Cow year, I gave Ellie an A-pin. Ever the romantic, I gave it to her as we walked on the edge of the road in back of Michie Stadium that led to those upper parking lots. As cars whizzed by three feet away, I gave her the pin. I must have been doing something right because she broke up with the Dartmouth guy she had been dating at his Winter Carnival weekend. Ellie’s parents had some reservations about our getting engaged too soon. They were concerned that she would not finish college. But, I have always suspected that some of their reservation might have had something to do with the way I met my future mother-in-law during high school. On a dare, three of us guys joined the pledge group for the sorority that Ellie was in. Somehow that led to raw eggs in our hair and my future mother-in-law washing the eggs out of our hair at the end of that evening. Ellie’s parents also wondered if it wouldn’t be better if we waited “until my hitch was over.” I had acquired a miniature for Ring Weekend. After the company ring ceremony, Ellie and I walked down to Flirty, where I showed her the miniature. She wanted to try it on. Once she had it on her finger, she gave me that trademark smile of hers and said, “I’m not giving it back.”

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The compromise with her parents was that we would wait a year after I graduated to get married so that Ellie could finish at Smith. Two weeks after Ellie graduated, we walked down the aisle in the Old Cadet Chapel. By the time it was over, Ellie had been my best friend and companion for 60 years and my partner for over fifty-four of those years. She made everything we did a happy adventure and a joy. I miss her terribly, but the miniature hangs around my neck in a leather pouch close to my heart. Were we blessed? You bet!

Mike Mahler

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Jim and Mary Ruth Peck

Classmate, Denny Rupprecht, and I reported to the 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st ID at Ft Riley, Kansas together in January, 1959. We joined Barney Rose, USMA ’57, in the Battalion, so we hung out together. We lived in the old wooden BOQs with a shared bath. After a few months , we decided we wanted better accommodations at a better location, so we obtained approval from the Commanding General to live off -post. The three of us rented a house in Manhattan, Kansas, home of Kansas State University (KSU) where there was more action. Barney’s girl friend, Judy, had graduated from KSU and worked in the Office of the Dean. I told her if any girl came into the office she thought was special to try to fix me up with a date, never really believing it would happen. One night, Judy said, “I have a really outstanding girl for you. She came in to change her schedule for her senior year last semester after being away this last semester to study French in Quebec. Her name is Mary Ruth Hall, she is pretty, smart, and very nice. Her parents are both Chemistry Professors at KSU, so she is also from Manhattan. I have known her only slightly for several years because she is a few years younger. She did not want to go on a blind date, but when I assured her you were a really good guy, she reluctantly agreed.” We had our blind date on 31 July 1959, with dinner at the Ft Riley Officers Club. It was love at first sight. We spent as much time as possible together the next few months even with her class schedule and my heavy work load at the Battalion. She was a KSU Home Coming Queen candidate in the Fall. We were married 20th Dec 1959. Despite the demands I made on her time the prior six months, she graduated from KSU in Jan 1960, Summa Cum Lade. Barney, Denny, and I were all married within one year of moving into that rental house. In January 1961, Denny and I left for Korea together leaving Mary Ruth and Ann both pregnant and sharing a house in Junction City, Kansas. Fortunately, we were both welcomed back sixteen months later! Mary Ruth was even more wonderful than I thought those first few months. She was the perfect wife, Army wife, mother, grandmother, Best Friend, golf partner, fishing buddy, travel companion, and much more. My love for her grew over the years, and we had more than fifty three happy years together before she died in April 2013.

Jim Peck

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Ours was an Arranged Marriage

In 1939, our family, Horse Cavalry Capt. Samuel Myers, my mother Frances, and I left Fort Stotsenberg in the Philippine Islands to return to the US. Moving into our vacated quarters were Capt. Hugh Stevenson, a classmate and old friend of my father, and his wife Mabel and daughter Leslie, then a babe in arms. Down the street were the Bartletts, whose son Bill (“bad boy Billy”) is now our brother in law. The Stevensons were evacuated on the last troop ship in 1941, and we met again in 1942 as our fathers deployed to invade North Africa. It was reported that Sammy threw rocks at Leslie and pedaled away on his tricycle. Fast forward to 1960, Sam was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland after graduation, his parents were stationed in the Washington DC area, and the Stevensons had retired to Alexandria, Virginia. The two mothers got talking in February and catching up on events of their long friendship. Sam’s mother said that her son had wrecked his sports car twice and needed to settle down; Leslie’s mother opined that she was about to graduate from George Washington University and had thoughts of getting her master’s degree. Their plan was to “fix us up” with a date – fixed up with a classmate’s child was a frequent occurrence in our lives – not always joyful. For our first date, dinner and dancing at Bolling AFB Officer’s Club, Leslie met Sam at her door wearing Groucho Marx glasses and mustache. She figured that after that shock anything would be better! We had several dates and then Sam went to Georgia on maneuvers, so we corresponded by mail. During this time one of Sam’s classmates, Bob Donovan, kept advising him to “not let this one get away”. Best advice I ever received from my “other wife”. When the regiment returned to Fort Meade there was a gala ball to celebrate, and, on a balcony at the Officer’s Club, Sam proposed and Leslie accepted - a four month courtship leading to a six week engagement since Sam was on orders to Germany mid-August. We married on August 3rd, had a brief honeymoon on the beach and at Lake George, ending up at McGuire AFB for Sam to deploy to Germany. Six weeks is not a long engagement time but there were many things about each other we didn’t have to discover because of the similarities of background and family ties. The proof of that is that we have now been married 55 years!

Samuel Myer

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Jill Bacon

Once, long ago, as a young lieutenant with the 14th Cavalry defending the West German border, I was eating dinner as usual in the Fulda Officers Club. In walked the first of a subsequent group of cute new Department of the Army Civilian school teachers. SHE got my attention, an attractive blonde, Jill Boag. She had just arrived on a train from Frankfurt, tired and confused by her new surroundings and wondering what was ahead for her. Hopefully, it would be me. Jill had signed on in hopes of seeing Europe, which she managed to do at every opportunity. I made it a point to get to know her better at parties in the BOQ, over meals at the Officers Club, and on group outings. She was vivacious and so much fun to be with. Our first date was a near disaster when dining together at the Hotel Lenz Bar. While lighting her cigarette with the candle on our table, I managed to spill wax down the front of her blouse. That we continued to date, when she wasn't off traveling at every break in the school curriculum, says much for her tolerance, tested repeatedly on subsequent occasions. We dated, cooked meals together in the BOQ, danced to Jackie Gleason, The Four Freshmen, The Misty Miss Christie and others, and got to know each other better… our past, our hopes and our foibles, mostly mine. How could I not fall in love with this divine creature! That she took off traveling every vacation; that I spent half my time in the field; that she was being wooed by another lieutenant, still leaves me wondering how I ever managed to win her love. But somehow I did, and she is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Stan Bacon

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Blind Date

At the end of cow year, George Hussey conned me into going on a blind date with “a tall, statuesque red-head”. Well…said red-head was called away to home (‘er sumpin) and a gorgeous blonde named Pat Sarrau agreed to take her place. We seemed to connect and the usual dating at WooPoo ensued during Firstie year - to include her being stranded one weekend as I was undergoing ‘confinement’ for some infraction I don’t recall. We married in March ’59 and spent the next three plus years in northern Italy. After eighteen moves in twenty four years, we’ve now lived in this wonderful “First Summer Resort in North America” maybe better known as Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and…she is still putting up with me!

Dan and Pat Charlton

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Paul and Virginia Vanture

The first time I met her, I knew I wanted to marry her but, of course, held my counsel at the time. We dated a few times, but as Christmas came around, I flew home to Virginia to be with my parents. When I returned, I asked her to go with me for the weekend. She had to have permission from the University to stay away from the dormitory. She received the permission and stayed with the Hills. It was then I asked her to marry me, but she said she would have to think about it. A while later she said she would marry me on the condition I would ensure she finished her college education. I did promptly promise. We were married on 29 July 1961 at her Lutheran Church. She was nineteen, and I was twenty six. We have been married almost fifty four years. We have two children, Andrew is an astrophysicist, and Katherine has a degree in physiology and works for Portland Community College. We have three grandsons, Adam and Brandon McDonald, Todd being the father, and Alexi Orion Canzoneri-Vanture, Diana being the mother. Our lives are eventful. We are all close as a family. Who could ask for anything better?

Paul Vanture

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Roger and Laurelei Waddell

One evening in late 1956, I was with Bill Fagg (Brower) in the Weapons Room. Suddenly, a commonplace night at the Weapons Room turned into “Some Enchanted Evening”. I knew the girl we saw across this crowded room was the one for me. However, being the same shy guy then as now, I suggested that Bill find out who she was. The price for that was that he would be the first to ask her out. I was happy to pursue her later.

That beautiful blonde was Laurelei Duty, the daughter of an NCO medic who was assigned to the West Point Hospital in late 1953. I knew that fate had determined it was my DUTY to marry her. Our first date was 27 January 1957. Courting was not easy, Laurelei seemed to have lots of situations that conflicted with her being available when I asked her for a date. But... I was not going to shirk my DUTY. Dating really picked up, however, as the summer trip and leave approached.

Over First Class summer, I had to go by planes, trains, ferries, and automobiles to spend a day or two with Laurelei in West Long Branch, New Jersey, before returning to the rock bound highland home. Laurelei lived in Highland Falls so afternoon dates were frequent First Class year. Laurelei says I never did propose to her. She says that on another enchanted evening, I just said, “Why don’t we get married on graduation day?” We had known for months that marriage was the ultimate goal.

Laurelei’s father had warned her of the dangers and heartbreaks of dating a Cadet who might just bail out at graduation. Fortunately, she did not take her father’s advice on that. I gave her an A-Pin on her 19th birthday on 29 June 1957, and a miniature on Thanksgiving Day 28 November 1957. We decided we would get married on Graduation Day, 4 June 1958.

Our wedding was a simple affair at the Cadet Chapel with Father Arnold Fenton, Chaplain at New York Military Academy, conducting the service. Laurelei’s sister, Donna, was maid of honor and my brother, Willard, the best man. Saber bearers were Bill Fagg, Herb Puscheck, Jim Sigler, and John Stone. We encountered several other newlyweds when we spent the night of 4 June at the closest motel. Was it the Nyack Motor Lodge?

Our honeymoon included a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame where Rube Waddell was inducted in 1946. Then we went to the beach at Lavallette, New Jersey and on to spend some time at the family farm five miles from Pawnee City, Nebraska. There was no Flirtation Walk on the farm but we could take a handcrafted quilt to the hayloft.

Roger Waddell

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Dodie and Dale Hruby Dale Hruby first met Dodie Reeder at the Army Daughters' Tea, a gathering of “Army Brats,” held for the incoming plebe class of 1958 in the Dean's Quarters during Reorganization Week in August of 1954. At Camp Buckner in the Summer of 1955, Dale overheard a classmate saying he was going to "pin" Dodie Reeder the coming weekend. Remembering her from the previous year as a really “Pro,” “Post Girl,” Dale decided that the only manly thing to do was preempt the "pin-er," and ask Dodie out first. He dashed down to what is now known as Barth Hall from the barracks and made the phone call. This gambit proved successful, and they enjoyed one Saturday afternoon and evening together on the shores of Lake Popolopen. Dodie declined an invitation to return on Sunday because, she told her mother, "Things might get too serious." The "romance" then went into deep freeze until Christmas of 1957, when Dale called Dodie Reeder, who was home from her Junior year at Mary Washington College. When she answered the phone, he asked, "Are you married or anything?" She responded "No. Are you married or anything?" Having gotten through the preliminaries, they made a date for the next evening. It being Dale's birthday, Dodie arrived with some silly birthday presents which he unwrapped in the Weapons Room before they took in a movie in the Old Army Theatre, and the rest, as they say, is history. By the Spring of 1958, their courtship had intensified, and they saw each other as often as their schedules would permit. After graduation in June, 1958, Dodie travelled by auto west across the nation with Dale, Ken and their parents, stopping to meet Dale’s family in Iowa, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington and California. The trip was not without its rough places including when Dale, introducing Dodie to his Grandmother, forgot Dodie's name! Nonetheless, before she returned to the East Coast, Dodie finally accepted Dale's miniature, and they announced their engagement. The wedding was planned for February 7th, Tom Carpenter, Cary Martin and George Walker would be ushers. Their plan was to leave Fort Benning and fly to West Point in one of the Aero- Club planes. Dale arrived two days later to learn the tragic news that the plane had crashed near Greensboro, North Carolina. George had been killed and Cary and Tom were in serious condition in the Two days later, after returning from seeing the Walker family in Brooklyn, Dale received a call from his mother. A few hours before they were to board the plane for New York, his father had suffered a fatal heart attack and at forty years of age had died in his office at work.

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Dale’s mother insisted that they go ahead with the wedding. There was impressive support from the West Point staff and classmates. Jim Brooks, Bob Dey, Bill Miles, Church Hutton, Clyde Brown, who were at West Point for George Walker’s funeral, stepped up as ushers to insure a proper military wedding. George Michael agreed to be Best Man to replace Dale’s brother who had flown to California to be with their mother. The day after the wedding, Dodie and Dale flew to California for his father’s funeral at the Presidio of San Francisco. Dodie began life as an Army wife with a long separation as Dale left for Gehlnhausen, Germany, and she finished her college classes. She visited Tom and Cary at Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C. bringing along her classmates to boost their morale. One in particular, Emily Babb, went often and December, 1962, became Mrs. Thomas E. Carpenter III. Dodie joined Dale in Germany in July of 1959. Dale E. Hruby II was born June, 1960, followed by daughter Taya in November, 1961. When Dale was assigned to West Point faculty, Elizabeth was born September, 1963. As we approach the Class of ’58 Reunion in Austin, Texas, and come close to our 57th Wedding Anniversary, we proudly claim eight grandsons, one granddaughter and one great granddaughter. Life is good!

Dale Hruby

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Ted and Sally Timberlake Ted and I met at Eisenhower's second inauguration (1957). Ed Matthew, a high school friend of my roommate, Pat Booker from Bronxville, New York, called Pat and asked if she could set up blind dates for Frank Phillips, Ted and himself. Pat and I were students at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Pat and I were going to the inauguration anyway and had tickets near the platform because Pat was a Political Science major and was interning for the Governor of Maryland. I believe most of the Corps marched in the parade… at least E2 did. After the parade we met Ted and Frank at the 823 Club on Pennsylvania Avenue. For some reason Ed did not come down. Ted said when they came in the restaurant, Pat was the only one sitting in the booth. He took a chance and thought he would sit on the other side – not having the slightest idea who the other date would be. It certainly worked out. The next weekend I went up to West Point and from then on, we were together. We were married June 19, 1958. Turns out Ed's parents moved to Princeton, New Jersey where I was living before Ted and I were married. Ed was at the rehearsal and his parents were at the wedding. Ted died in 2000. We had two sons, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Our son, grandson and great grandson are named after Ted, (Edward J Timberlake IV, V , VI).

Sally Timberlake

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Tim McLean

Jerry Cook, John Kubiak, Bob Durkin and I went off Post with a girl, Shannon Burke, that Jerry was dating. We had a few beers and were cutting it pretty close to supper formation. On the way back Shannon missed the exit for West Point, so we missed supper formation. Fortunately, for Durkin, no one took roll call for the First Captain, Cook, Kubiak and I were not so fortunate. Consequently, we faced a Commandant's Board. I forget what the exact slug was but it was significant. Now the story begins… Arlene had plane reservations and was flying in the next weekend. I did not have the intestinal fortitude to call her and tell her not to come. She arrived and came up to West Point with Harriett Connell. Wanting to explain the situation to her I broke confinement and started walking across the area. She saw me and came running with her arms outstretched. When she was about ten feet away, I said "Don't touch me!" She couldn’t understand as we were going to be married right after graduation. I then calmly, I thought, tried to explain the situation to her. She asked the logical question, “What am I going to do all the while you are in confinement?" I told her that President Eisenhower was scheduled to come up to West Point next week and the rumor was that he was going to grant amnesty. As things turned out. he did come and he did grant amnesty so our engagement survived, and we were married back in Butte, Montana on the 28th of June 1958. However, we did have lots of adventures that last year at West Point.

Tim McLean

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Arley and Sally Finley

In August of 1955, I finally agreed to date a cadet at West Point. I lived less than 30 miles from the Point and was very happy with my 'Home Town Dates'. A friend I worked with at my summer job kept at me to go on a blind date at the Academy with her. I finally agreed, and, as we arrived in the parking lot on a Wednesday night our dates were waiting for us. I was not very impressed with my blind-date, and wondered why I agreed. At this time, a gorgeous cadet in his dress whites walked up to us and joined our conversations. He conversed with us for a few minutes, and then left our group. I was already in love with him...Yes there is love at first sight! In a short period of time he returned to our group telling my blind date his name was on the duty list and offered to escort me for the rest of the evening. The next morning telling my parents about my date, I told them I met the man I was going to marry. They both laughed and said ,"You love every one you meet, what is this cadets name?" I told them I did not know, but I loved him. I waited for him to call me and I missed every one of his calls, my Mother's said if I would just stay home, a young man had been trying to reach me. Finally, while I was at a pajama-party at 6am, I got a call from my cadet asking if I could come for the week-end. I asked if he was 6'5", brown curly hair, and brown eyes and had he met me in the parking lot Wednesday night. He answered "Yes" to all my questions, so I said I'd come. I never regretted my blind date..........to this day I love my husband , as I did in 1955. We have been happily married for fifty nine years.

Sally Finley

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A Second Chance at Love

2 June 1956 – The West Point cadets were arriving at the end of June for their Second Class summer training at Fort Benning. Evelyn Greason and her close girl friend, Jay Tyler, were invited to be among the area daughters who would greet the class at the customary welcoming hop. Enter the Class of 1958. Soon, Evelyn, Jay, and many local belles, all radiant in a rainbow of organdy and tulle, lined the far wall of the O’Club ballroom. They chatted animatedly all the while casting frequent glances across the room. There, our class was similarly arrayed, dressed in our sparkling, starched whites, we too stole furtive glances across the room. And perhaps on both sides, there may have been some jockeying for position. At last, the music began. The lines inched toward one end of the ballroom; in turn, we strode, Hop card in hand, to the center where we met our first dance partner. “Hi, I’m Evelyn Greason,” she smiled. Thus began a wonderful summer romance for the rest of our time at Fort Benning and, later, at Evelyn’s home in Jacksonville. Inexorably, the calendar crept toward September. Evelyn was off to her first year at Duke, and I returned to my “Rock-bound Highland Home.” Our fledgling love proved unable to overcome the separation of time and distance. Fast forward to the early summer of 2011…my wife, Mary, and I had moved to Dallas following our retirement from the Air Force in 1987. By now, it was three years since her passing, and I was moving to Air Force Village. One box was full of photo albums and scrapbooks from my school and college years. Turning their pages was a delightful return to long-faded memories. I read and looked, then finally shredded each document or photo as I closed forever its chapter. At once, two wallet-size photos leapt out of the page at me. In one was a beautiful young lady in a pink, ante-bellum gown complete with matching parasol and set against a background of live oaks and Spanish moss. In the other photo, the same lass posed, her delicate feet positioned just so, before a staircase wearing an off-the-shoulder prom dress. The lady was Evelyn. “These are too nice to shred,” I said to myself, “these belong in her family album not mine.” But with only her maiden name, how would I go about finding her? Google showed that no less than six Evelyn Greasons were scattered about the country. Luckily, Evelyn’s daughter had opened a Facebook account for her in her full name – Evelyn Greason Crosby. I entered that name quickly in the search box and waited. At last, her welcome page appeared, picture and all.

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The laughing eyes and welcoming smile told me instantly that this was the very same Evelyn! Now, if she only had a listed phone number, I could find her address on whitepages.com. Yes, there it was! I wrote her that I had been “cleaning out” and wanted to return the photos for her and her family’s enjoyment. My letter included a few personal details and concluded that “All in all, I’ve had a pretty good life”, and hoped that hers had been the same. I was not expecting a reply. Yet here came a reply. Before long, emails replaced hand-written letters. Gradually, we learned the course of each other’s lives over the intervening fifty five years. Evelyn was a mother and a grandmother and had been widowed several years back. I too was widowed but without children and had completed careers in the Air Force and the law. A telephone “date” soon followed. The Orlando Mini provided opportunity for a brief, first visit on my way there. We were, we found, pretty much the same people who had fallen in love so very long ago. And now for the rest of the story . . . Evelyn and I courted for several months, became engaged, and married at her summer home in the North Carolina mountains on October 12th, 2013. And fittingly for a Hearts of ‘58 tale, Bob Bunker, my D-1 roommate, was my best man; his wife, Marion, and company mate John and Judy Galen celebrated with us.

Bill and Evelyn Callaghan

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Gar and Ginny O’Quinn I have been fortunate to have contact with a number of our classmates. My roommate, Ken Herberger, has kept me informed about events, Chuck Densford has kept me aware as well as Dick Reidy. So the request for the story of romance caught my thoughts this morning, and it is too wonderful not to share. I have always been proud to be a part of USMA '58, and, as we have grown older and fewer, my feelings have grown deeper than respect and honor and have become love. So it seems okay at our time in life to be open about such feelings. I had been divorced for four years, my daughter was living with me and finishing up her senior year of high school. I would take her for late night study to a local restaurant where the waitress was unusually kind, gentle, and efficient. Her name was Ginny, she was also divorced and worked her way through the University of Texas in Austin. Over about six months time, both my daughter and I fell in love with this wonderful woman. Ginny and I were married in 1982 and how fortunate for my whole family. Her two children and my two children have merged into one family. After retiring from full time at the University of Texas at El Paso, we ended up in Kerrville, Texas, just about an hour and a half southwest of Austin.

Gar O’Quinn

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Love with Wings The 50's were an exciting time! Little did I know I would meet the "man of my life"during those busy Christmas holidays two years before Rex Mason graduated from the USMA! I had arranged two blind dates for my friend's classmates including myself. Our first date was not "love at first sight", and I didn't see Rex again until the following Spring leave in New York City. Mutual interests, fun and many happy times initiated romance exceeding any expectation our future would hold. Rex graciously asked if I would like a tour of the Military Academy at West Point via Grey Hound. I was delighted with his thoughtfulness! The drive from the City to West Point was a memorable time as our hearts truly found each other. During the passing months, we sent letters every day and spoke by phone several times each week. I quickly learned about "Cadet" life! PDA was an invisible but visible sign I saw everywhere after Capt. Haldane quietly and unexpectedly drove up behind us in his jeep while we parked at the North Dock! Fortunately I learned later that Amnesty could be granted by visiting Royalty! Most surprisingly I learned Cadets received an incredible allowance of $11 each month! I received my engagement ring on "Ring Day" under the "Rock" on "Flirtation Walk", and we were honored to be the first couple in the Class of '58 married in the Catholic Chapel. Even with the efforts of a Military Police escort, I was late for my wedding because of traffic during June Week! Rex's career choice after graduation was Air Force where he felt he could serve his Country best. This was not to happen because of an eye stigmatism. He chose the 82nd Airborne Div. at Ft. Bragg, N. C. where our first two sons were born. Hawk Missile school was next in readiness for the Hawk Missile Battery in Hanau, Germany where our third son was born. All the years, never giving up his desire to be a pilot, he designed a motorized machine for exercising his eyes. Four years past the age limit for pilot training and rejection for an inter branch transfer, he flew to Washington with his appeals and returned to Germany wearing Air Force blues! Quickly, we were en route to Williams A.F.B., Arizona where he received his "pilot's wings." In 1967, we reported to Nellis AFB, Las Vegas Nevada for training in the F105 Thunder Chief , in addition… the birth of our beautiful daughter. Takli, Viet Nam 1967, "Black Sunday", they suffered the loss of 10 F105's. While flying two missions during that time with two friends was difficult in

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the loss of his "hooch mate" and another friend. The evening before Rex's homecoming was spent with a Classmate who asked how he faced each day? His answer was "Faith". He received the Silver Star for gallantry in action. Our new assignment was Williams AFB, and Rex, an Instructor pilot! He was referred to by his students as "the old man." Always having kept physically fit, he quickly earned their respect. The German students appreciated his fluency in German and the camaraderie with him at " Happy Hour" at the O’Club. Two months later while ferrying a new plane to Jordan, via Ramstein AFB, his right engine caught fire after takeoff. Diverting it to a nearby forest and ejecting, an explosion ignited his chute as he streamed to the ground. Still alive, a helicopter transported him to Landstuhl Hospital where he died minutes later. The doctors attributed his survival time to his physical fitness. His wing man that morning stopped with him to post letters for me with Anniversary cards. June Week 1967, I returned to West Point for Rex's Memorial and burial services. Afterwards while waiting for the elevator at the Hotel Thayer, a young bride in her wedding gown stepped out! The love and happiness of my life flashed before me as I relived all those happiest of times in our lives together. He is laid to rest in full view of the Old Cadet Chapel, his life well done!

Charlotte Mason Kitchell

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Harry and Claradell Shedd

Born Claradell Gergely in Des Moines, IA. Orphaned at six by a tornado in Indiana. Sent back to Iowa to reside with many relatives, both paternal and maternal. Was at CBS-TV when a U.S. State Department rep came by to introduce community TV spots regarding “joining the US Foreign Service.” It seemed a safe and exciting answer to leave the Midwest and “see the world.” Arriving in Washington,D.C., I knew no one. Made decision to reside at Strong Residence for Women (YWCA) in downtown Washington while I worked in DC and awaited my security clearance to ship out to San Paulo, Brazil for State Department assignment. Why not become acquainted with the many venues Washington, D.C. offered? Acquaintances at the “Y” had arranged weekends to drag at the Naval Academy. I still had a desire to visit West Point before I shipped out. One of the girls at the “Y” suggested that since Eisenhower’s Second Inauguration was approaching and the Corps of Cadets would be marching in the parade, that I consider attending a party at a friend’s house after the Inaugural Parade. They didn’t specifically need Claradell. They needed “women.” I gave my word she could count on me to attend.

Obviously, both the Cadets and the Middies marched in the Inaugural Parade. The G-2 (George Lawton) party to which I committed would be at the quarters (the basement) of General and Mrs. Lawton, then Comptroller General of the Army, at their Ft. Myer quarters. This occasion might present an opportunity to meet someone who could propose an invitation to West Point. Since hard liquor was off limits at WP, General Lawton had “taken orders” for cadet preferences for this gathering. As I descended the stairs to the basement, I did not see prim and proper cadets, but cadets in white tee shirts and suspenders. No FD’s! Sofas lining the perimeters of the basement accommodated cadets who were already under the influence. John Herren became a dancing partner in the tango. It was a delightful experience as we tangoed around the washing machine and avoided other basement household items. At the end of the dance, John “California dipped” me…and dropped me into the lap of a sloshed cadet, Harry Lee Shedd, Jr., of Phoenix, AZ. Harry looked down into his lap and there was this broad! We exchanged names, and he showed me photos of his “one and only” back in Phoenix. Getting those cadets back to Union Station and into their FD’s for formation created an anxious exercise! Harry was not an easy ticket to WP.

I first experienced WP via an exchange weekend with a Middie. My first date with Harry was at Annapolis for his exchange weekend. Fast forward…we were pinned while guests of John Herren’s parents at Fort Jay, Governors Island, NY. We were engaged at the October, 1957 Army-Navy Game. I had resigned my Foreign Service commission and remained working in

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Washington until the time of the wedding, occurring at West Point the day after graduation, June 5, 1958. We had $50.00 between us when we married, so we worked our way across the US for gas money to get us to Fort Sill. Then on to Fort Bliss, Fort Gordon, Fort Benning, and finally, Fort McArthur in Southern California. Harry resigned his US Army Commission in 1961 and spent thirty seven years in management and sales for Allstate Insurance Companies, eventually relocating us to the Pacific Northwest where we have resided for the last forty nine years.

Retiring from The Boeing Company after 35 years there, Claradell returned to college for her credentials in graphics and web design. Harry had spent 11 years earlier in obtaining his FLMI and CLU in the insurance industry and his MBA at Seattle University, but he went “back to school” after retirement to become a computer geek, volunteering for the last nine years in teaching seniors how to use computers, tablets, phones, drones, etc. Claradell has 38 volunteer websites, and we are both active in our local community. We are contented Christians who are grateful to have lived when we lived. Our blessings are many. Visit us at http://www.hshedd.com/

Claradell Shedd

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Alex and Lois Pensiero

We met when I was 16 and he, a senior in high school and heading off to West Point. It was at the tennis courts in Central Park in Schenectady through mutual friends. One date for me was enough…this guy was for me! Little did I anticipate that it would take eleven years to tie this guy down in marriage. It’s a long history. I visited him at The Point several times with mutual friends, and we dated but only occasionally when he was at home. He dated other young ladies quite seriously over those years. I was not allowed by my father to have overnight visits with Alex for dances and other celebrations at The Point. Certainly my handicap. Four years later when I was a sophomore at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, I remember sharing with my college girl friends that Alex would be the one I would marry some day. This was despite only occasionally dating. That was 1958, the year of graduation for Alex. Again, little did I know what a long haul lay ahead in my “quest” for him. During the next few years as he went off to Italy on assignment, or do you say in military language, deployment; we kept in touch with the occasional letter writing and dating when he was at home. He eventually came back to Schenectady as a civilian, teaching and eventually joined the General Electric manufacturing training program. I was working in the area at the time but much to my disappointment he did not call me for a date! On one occasion I called him for a date (how desperate was that?!), and we had that one. Now here is how we got serious. I moved out of Schenectady to New Jersey on a job and he out of town with GE. One weekend we were both at home and we went to our beloved Central Park, sat on a bench by the duck pond and he asked me to marry him. I was thrilled and responded “We certainly should pursue this in our future”. We both went back to our jobs and then…nothing! I heard nothing from this fine gentleman. We must have had some contact or other, but we did not move forward with this proposal. Years later Alex admitted to me that in the days and months following that proposal he thought, “What have I done?!” Two years later when I returned from a stint with the Peace Corps in Peru, we went to the same park bench, and he proposed again. My reply, “Yes, Alex, but if we don’t do it this time we are finished!” He said “ok!” We set the date for four months in the future but then delayed that date for a week later because he said there were some good football games on the date I selected!

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Alex was very happy that classmates Dave Swanson and Peter Millspaugh (as best man) attended our wedding at St. Luke’s Church in 1965. One incident involving the military; we took a honeymoon trip to Washington DC and on the way stopped at a military base (can’t remember which one), and we received lodging there in what was called, I believe, VIP quarters. It was a small room with twin beds located in a basement. I assumed if Alex had remained in the Army this would be customary, and I accepted it as fine for one night. Early the next morning I heard what I thought was a boiler exploding! I woke Alex and said we better get out of that basement room. He calmed me down and explained that was just the Revelry cannon announcing time to rise and shine. And so we did! So after knowing Alex for eleven years and having a great marriage for forty two years, we lost him in 2007 while hiking on a mountain top in Phoenix on our church celebration day of Ascension Thursday. We have four nice kids and now five terrific grand-kids! For me this has been just wonderful!

Lois Pensiero

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Richard and Nadine Clements

My first wife Catherine, a beautiful French woman, died 25 September 1997, of liver cancer. We were together thrity five years and had a daughter and a son. Now they each have a daughter and a son.

Around 20 January, 1998, about four months after Catherine’s passing, I went to a gathering here in Denver called Indian Market where Native Americans display their arts and crafts. Catherine and I always went as we both liked Native American art. I primarily went to hear Carlos Nakai play the American flute. There was a lull in his performance, so I walked the floor looking at the art. I walked past a booth and stopped dead in my tracks before a display of pencil art. There was a drawing that did not fit the Native American theme. I motioned for one of the three women manning the booth… Nadine came over. I asked why the drawing was being displayed. She replied that her ex-husband and she went to the unveiling of the Vietnam Nurses statue in Washington, D.C. She took pictures of the event and went home to Denver City, Texas and drew from the photos the drawing being shown. Now you need to see the drawing to understand my interest. In the bottom left quarter is a black GI kneeling beside his dead comrade. In the top left quarter is a man anguishing against the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC. In the top right quarter is four or five Vietnam/POW veterans and finally in the bottom right quarter are five West Point cadets marching towards you. This had nothing to do with native Americans. I asked Nadine if she knew who the cadets were. She did not. I told her, “ They are West Point cadets.” She asked how I knew that, and I replied because I was one. Well, that caused a brief discussion followed by my mental noting her recent divorce and asking her to have supper with me. She declined. Probably thought I was full of it (West Point) and maybe an ax killer. I went home and played a CD of a native Peruvian musical group that I bought at the show, and the Universe began to set it's stage. The CD was defective. That was Saturday. The next day, Sunday, I went back to exchange the CD, and I stopped at Nadine's booth. I said to her, since she would not have supper with me here in Denver, Colorado, if I flew to Denver City, Texas, wherever that is, would she have supper with me. She probably thought I was blowing smoke and said, “YES”. I flew to Denver City (notice the date) on 14 February in my experimental airplane I built over eleven years. I flew there seven times in the next three months. I finally convinced her to move to Denver, Colorado and live with me. We lived together for seven years and were married in 2005.

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Maybe you noticed my mention of the Universe. There were at least seven things that fell in place for us to be together today.

1. Catherine and my interest in native American art causing my going

to the show. 2. My walking around and seeing Nadine's drawing. 3. The drawing had West Point cadets and I was one. 4. Nadine refusing to have supper with me. 5. The CD was defective causing my return to the show and asking

Nadine to have supper with me in Denver City, TX. 6. My having an experimental airplane to fly to Denver City. 7. Nadine's wanting to leave Denver City even though she taught art in

the school and knew everyone there but the town was destroying her.

All of this in my belief was programmed by the Universe. If any one of them had not occurred, we would not be together today. So, today we are happily together. Nadine has become a Minister as has her youngest daughter, Savanna. Me, I relish the thought that the past seventeen years I dedicated to Nadine and her happiness.

Richard Clements

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Sue Kernan

Our first encounter was 1955 at Delafield Pond for a family picnic… a blind date. I was seventeen and very impressed by the thirteen page letters that came every day after. Jim invited me up to West Point in August, he was at football practice, so his roommate Bob Melott squired me around ending up at the field. He told me to hide behind him... then he called Jim over and stepped to the side, "Surprise!" There was #51… mud and blood streaming down his face, hair plastered by sweat. When he saw me, he grinned broadly and called out, "See you in a minute, I've got to go comb my hair." I just stood there looking at this toothless guy, thinking what a selfless, humble guy and knew this was going to be special. I arrived one weekend at West Point as a surprise, and later, years later, learned he had to juggle me and the drag who was his official date! One weekend, I brought two college friends from Boston to an Army home game, five hour drive in the rain, arriving in time to hear the announcement, "Number 51 is being carried off the field!" Ring Hop, Jim had to slide along in a chair then limp up to THE RING for the big momentous PDA kiss. Dating a football player had its downside. June Week, 1957, Jim gave me his A pin and, on my return to a college camp on Cape Cod, the plane made a forced landing in Boston. We were instructed to take off all pins and necklaces, put a pillow in our laps and bend forward hugging our knees...I did NOT take off my A pin! At graduation, I guided fifteen members of his family from one activity to the other losing two nuns in the process. When I finally found them, they were standing on the corner watching the cadets lining up for the P-rade sighing, "I've never seen SO many handsome men!" We married after my graduation and physical therapy internship September 3, 1960. The ceremony was in the Catholic Chapel, and I smiled as I walked the aisle to discover half the people smiling back were weekend tourists! No one mentioned what the Army life would mean. My introduction at twenty one: three moves in one year, flying solo to Germany with our three month old baby son, Jimmer; on the economy in Butzbach, hanging the diaper wash out the window on a pulley clothes lines only to have rains soak them through; alone in our temporary attic NCO quarters when an ALERT was called… sirens wailing, lights glaring, and all the men running for the trucks with their

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pants around their knees! That was just the first month! We survived... Our sons, Jim, Andy and Michael are wonderful men with loving families and eight beautiful children between them in Texas and Holland. West Point friends have included me in family events, holidays and trips… France, Italy, Alaska, Russia, Macchu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands! Reunions have been a highlight each year since 1998. West Point was home for three years, 1969 to 1972, and returning there with my sons for the 50th was a very special homecoming. In truth, my love story IS the Class of ’58!

Sue Kernan

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Clark Bailey Clark Bailey and I were high school sweethearts. After graduation, he headed to West Point and I went the opposite direction to the University of Rochester. We each tried dating others a little but our hearts were not in it. We finally decided we really were committed to each other, and we never looked back from that point on. I traveled to West Point about every six weeks to see him during the four years, to include ten days at Christmas time Plebe year. I stayed in the Thayer Girls dorm, five to a room, and we shared the bath with the girls in the adjoining room! Makeup was simpler in those days! I remember many times waiting on the railing outside of the sally port waiting for him to walk off demerits in the area and wondering why, when he knew I was coming, did he have to goof off and get a punishment tour. We walked miles and miles each Saturday afternoon, attended the dances at Cullum Hall, went to church on Sunday. I remember those cold dress uniform buttons against me when we danced at the formal dances each Saturday night. I also remember watching the submarine races on Flirtation walk. Always looking for opportunities, we found a secluded spot on a bridge over the South end of Lusk Reservoir where we could sneak a kiss. When we were back for the 50th reunion, we noticed they had installed lights on the bridge! No fair! We had fun meals with D2 in the dining hall on special occasions with all Clark’s company mates. It gave us “drags” a taste of what meals were like there, and we formed friendships that have lasted a lifetime. Going back for the 50th, we were amazed at how tired we got walking up and down all the hills. We had done it with such ease when we were in our teens and early 20’s. We were married three days after graduation, in Binghamton, New York. We had decided not to have crossed sabers, but Clark was a groomsman at two weddings at the Point before we left for home. On the way back I said how much I liked it, and he said he would see what he could do. He went to the Army Reserve and they had nothing but sent him to the Navy Reserve. The result was we exited the church under crossed Navy swords! We did cut the cake with a saber on loan from one of the Tacks at West Point and we returned it on the way home from the Ackermans’ wedding a week later. We were married fifty two years and had twin sons in December 1959. They were born at Ft. Huachuca the day after Clark made 1st Lieutenant, and I always felt they stole his thunder. I don’t think he really minded however. We had a wonderful life together, and we never forgot all the friends we made during those four years at West Point.

Phyllis Bailey

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Ron and Barbara Bellows In April of 1955, during my plebe year, the Corps visited New York City as part of the Armed Forces Day parade. I was on the plebe baseball team, and, in that we had a game scheduled that day, I did not make the trip. As I was walking across the Plain, along with Danny Yarr and Fred Schluter, all heading down to the fieldhouse to change into our baseball uniforms, three young ladies on a tour of the Point from a “gench boat” from the city, stopped us in the vicinity of Battle Monument and asked if they could photograph us. We broke off from our intense concentration on the game we faced, and acquiesced. In the short conversations that followed, I was able to pry an address from the one lady of the three that I considered the prettiest. During the balance of plebe year I exchanged letters with the young lady a few times, and at one point I invited her to Camp Buckner where I would spent a couple of months of the summer following our 30-day leave.

While on leave at home, I received a phone call from the lady, inviting me to New York City where she and her mother were doing some shopping from their home in Philadelphia. It seems that Mama wanted to check me out before allowing her daughter to visit Buckner on her own. I made the trip to the city, the three of us dined, went to movies, and before I left I was informed by the young lady that I had passed muster, and she would be able to visit me at Buckner at some point. We had a number of dates that summer at Buckner, and then during the course of my remaining tenure at the Point, the young lady made innumerable trips from Philadelphia for weekend visits, and then the day after my graduation, the young lady, Barbara by name, and I were married in the West Point Protestant Chapel.

From that point onward we have increasingly fallen in love through our fifty seven years of marriage, thoroughly enjoying our lives together, along the way making a home for our two children; reveling in the companionship of friends, many being folks from our days at West Point; traveling the globe, visiting some thirty two countries in the process; and living comfortably in our retirement years in the Historic Triangle at Williamsburg, Virginia.

Over the years Barbara and I have frequently marveled at the way fate brought us together on the Plain at West Point, a chance meeting that resulted in our being enshrouded in a very happy marriage for fifty seven years and counting. However, the finger of fate did actually get a little nudge in that when I remarked not long into our marriage that it would be nice if we could get a copy of the photographs that were taken on the Plain that day in April of ’55, Barbara came back with, “Sorry ’bout that – there was no film in the camera”.

Ron Bellows

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John and Judy George

In 1952, my dad was assigned as a Battalion Commander at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. However, due to a lung ailment he contracted during the Korean War, he was temporarily assigned to Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver. Following his surgery, he asked to be reassigned to Fort Sill so I, John, could finish High School there; instead, he was reassigned to Oklahoma City! Then one day in the fall of ’53, my backdoor neighbor, Judy Early, knocked on our door to borrow my football! Not long after that, she invited me to a Sadie Hawkins Day dance (“Lil’ Abner” where girls asked the boys out. Interestingly, in 1952, it was celebrated in over 40,000 locations.) Well, the race was on until Easter of our Senior Year when I decided she was the girl I wanted to marry! Judy was attractive, the President of the Pep Club, but I had never met another with such wonderful character. My dad was reassigned to Trieste, and we moved the night after I got home from Graduation. We didn’t see each other for fifty three weeks – the old Corps! I wrote to her every day and put a lot of quarters in the phone – no Smart Phones in those days, not even Skype! She went to Monticello Junior College in Illinois her first two years and then to University of Oklahoma for her last two. I was only able to see her for seven days each Christmas and nineteen days each summer. Judy was a PE major and loved sports. She and her sister were State tennis champions, and she was a tennis pro for the first twenty five years of our marriage. She also loved football – Bud Wilkinson years! So it should not have been surprising that I got a phone call from her three weeks before our wedding on my graduation day at West Point telling me that she had broken her ankle as the quarterback on her Pi Phi sorority team! So she walked down the aisle of the Cadet Chapel with a walking cast on 4 June 1958. Out on the steps, I lifted up her dress enough so photographers could take a picture of the walking cast. Well, as she was checking in to a motel the second night after the wedding, the person behind the counter asked if she had just gotten married which, needless to say, embarrassed her. He then showed her the local paper. UPI had carried that wedding picture of us with her cast nationwide! Now, as of this writing, fifty seven years later, I continue to pay tribute to the most wonderful wife and “Grammy” in the world. God has honored us with a son and daughter, each of whom has three children for a total of three granddaughters and three grandsons.

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Only God could have engineered that weird assignment of my father to Oklahoma City; he was an infantry officer, not artillery for Fort Sill, and there is no army post in Oklahoma City!

It was God who gave us each other, and we rejoice daily in His continued blessings upon us and our loved ones.

John George

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Larry and Barbara Bullis Over our 1957/58 USMA Christmas break, I was invited to come to a party in Kensington, Maryland, at the home of Barbara Kappler, a girl I only casually knew. Barbara said that she wanted to fix me up with a blind date, a good friend of hers, Judy Taggart, whom she thought would be the "perfect girl for me." Having had less than good experiences with blind dates, I asked Barbara what this friend was like, and she replied that Judy had a "really good personality." In that era, having a "good personality" was intended to be a compliment, but usually was what one said when there was no other appropriate attribute. So, I declined the offer to have a date with Judy and was told that I could bring my own. At the party, as I mingled amongst those in attendance, many of whom I knew pretty well, I kept staring at this very beautiful girl wearing a red dress. Trying not to be obvious, I went to Barbara when she was standing apart from her guests to ask her "who is that girl over there in that red dress." "That's Judy Taggart, Larry," Barbara responded, "the girl I wanted to fix you up with." Instantly, I regretted my mistake. Faced with the dilemma of wanting Judy's telephone number, but not wanting to be rude to my date, I enlisted the help of my sister, Faith, who was there also. Faith succeeded and gave me the number. From January through June of 1958, I was not able to contact Judy – my attempts were thwarted by her mother who would not give me Judy's number at her University of Maryland sorority house where she lived. We began dating in the summer of 1958, became engaged in December and were married on June 11, 1959, one week after Judy's graduation from Maryland University. Barbara Kappler had been right; Judy was the "perfect girl" for me and still is fifty six years later.

Larry Bullis

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Gene Wilson

When I got to Germany on January 1st, 1960, and then arrived at the Bad Hersfeld Bahnhof on Saturday, January 2nd, the last thing on my mind was the 'Women of Germany'. At that time the single, and only BOQ at BH housed the five school teachers at the BH Elementary School and the three area Service Club 'girls' in the lower left wing of our two story 'apartment' building. While one of the teachers was actually a bonified, but older bachelor, five of the ladies were 'spinsterish', one was rather 'different' and the only other one was the age of most of us - 'datable', but not like the 'gal who married dear old Dad. I extended my tour and moved from the Flight Detachment at the airfield to ground duty with the 3/14th's Howitzer Battery - the Berlin Wall went up - and I got busy under the guise of "no horse, no wife, no mustache". But then the 1961-62 'crop' of teachers arrived in late August - the 'girls' were much more than just OK. Two were almost immediately 'taken' - but the one of choice who particularly caught my eye also caught the eyes of several others. Miss Ellie Gabler was five foot two, eyes of blue (that just sparkled), and had a smile that broadcast 'still water runs deep' - she stood out among the group and was the schoolmarm of interest to say the least. The first 'date/outing' was on a Sunday afternoon in October in my brand spanking new 1962 red VW "Beetle" convertible when I simply asked her if she would like to see Kassel, the Hercules Bau overlooking the city and maybe have an 'innocent' glass of wine at a café. On that afternoon I learned three things about her; (1) She wanted to see Europe; (2) There were German family ties whom she expected to meet and get to know; and (3) She had no intention or desire to become 'attached' to an Army officer. The challenge had been established... now to find the ways and means and the timing... She immediately became AWOL on weekends at Bad Hersfeld. I got busier - Battery Test - Border Exercise, then the Squadron went to Graf for a month. When we went on a major exercise over three or four weeks we had to leave the keys to our cars parked in front of the BOQ with someone in case 'the balloon went up' and there was an evacuation of all dependents. Miss 'Ellie' had the keys to a Chevy Corvette, a BMG and my VW during the ice and snow of January. When I returned, without any doubt my VW had stolen her heart. During that same time, the 'guy' back home, unknown to me, had also sent a 'Dear Joan' when she told him that she had accepted a contract to stay in Germany for another year. As the dust settled, Spring was not far behind, so the time to make a move had arrived. She began accepting invitations to dinner - she loved dancing - and the relationship warmed considerably. I then approached my Battery Commander and requested a leave - but without any specific dates. He immediately said, "It's Ellie, isn't it?”

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So I told him that the next time she said she was going to visit relatives – "I plan to take her!" At Spring Break in March she accepted my offer. She was 'for real' - I met her Onkel Hans and Tante Sophie in the small village of Magolsheim outside Stuttgart. With a lot to discuss, we spent the next few days in Munich and the Garmisch area. The months of April and May moved by too quickly, but by June she had cancelled her new contract and decided to go home to California and await my return to the USA in December. She stayed in Germany until August... but upon her departure... without an engagement, we entered our continued, but long distance courtship. The mail was always too slow - but troop duty on the Border always kept me busy. In one of my last letters, I asked if she could come East and meet my folks in West Virginia as soon as I got home. Little did I know that I would not be flying in one of the new 707s from Rhine-Main, but as a bachelor I would be on a troop ship from Bremerhaven to New York City - with 7-9 days enroute. There we were... totally out of communication. Rough seas crossing the North Atlantic in December extended the voyage to 11 days. I picked up my new car in New Jersey and ran into a snow storm on the PA Turnpike and finally got home on December 23rd. My parents welcomed me home and my mother waived a telegram from San Francisco at me... Ellie would be arriving at Pittsburgh on the 26th! The 24th was a very busy day! To make a longer story short, everything worked out fine! We bought a ring on the 31st, and she said "YES" that very night! Getting on to California - and I will spare the details - I met her family, and we were married in San Carlos on January 12th, 1963. We honeymooned in Carmel-Monterey at the fabulous Highlands Inn - and the assignment to Fort Sill became my first accompanied tour. I will never forget that first 'date/outing' - it just took me a while to convince Miss 'Ellie' that life as Mrs. Wilson, an Army wife, could, and would be OK. I also cannot forget that marrying a school teacher has provided a very enjoyable educational experience - if I did not get something right the first time, we did it over and over again until it was perfect! We haven't done much in the past 50+ years together that we wouldn't do over again!

Gene Wilson

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Summer Lovin’ In June, 1954, as an Airman 3rd Class (A 3/C) in the USAF, I had finished USMAPS at Stewart Field with a congressional appointment to West Point, and was home at Maxwell AFB on leave prior to entering West Point with the Great Class of '58. My younger brother, Bucky, and I decided to go to the Officer's Club swimming pool to see what we could find. At the same time, Patsy was visiting a high school girlfriend from Winter Park High in Florida. The girls were asked by an Air Force neighbor to take their kids to the Officer's Club swimming pool, which they agreed to do. My brother and I put on our bathing suits, picked up towels and our can of Cavalier cigarettes and went to the pool. We set up on one end of the pool deck and began to check out the scenery. At the far end of the pool were two good looking young chicks, and as we ogled them, they seemed to be interested in us. One of the girls sent a young boy, giggling and laughing, over to where we were. He said, "Those girls over there like you!", and he ran off laughing. So, we went over to the girls to introduce ourselves. It turned out that Patsy had remembered us from the short period my brother and I attended Winter Park High School from January to the June of 1951, before moving to Norman, Oklahoma. Before asking them for a date, my brother and I talked it over, and agreed he would take the tall one, and I would take the short one. We had two dates. Bucky did not get along with Dorothy (the tall one), but as for me and Patsy (the short one)…the rest is history!

Chuck Densford

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Stan Bacon

Stan and I met the first night that I arrived in Fulda, Germany as a Department of Army Civilian school teacher. I had just gotten off the train from Frankfurt in August 1959 and was taken to the Officer's Club for dinner. There was a group of British officers being hosted by a very young Stanley Bacon… they were headed downtown for some action. I was not impressed. Stan was the one that loved to entertain with his guitar, singing at BOQ parties. He had the messiest room in the BOQ, and I definitely was not impressed! We eventually got to know each other, he appeared to be maturing, and by Christmas it seemed that Stan was getting pretty serious. When I returned from a trip to Italy there was a new radio installed in my Kharmen Gia, red bow attached. We were engaged in February and the wedding planning kicked in. I chose my West Point miniature out of a catalog, having never seen one. At our engagement party some of my teacher friends wrote a poem for us: "When she first arrived on the 7:05 she didn't even know that Stan was alive. And then they met and so began the age old story of woman and man. To travel was the reason she came, being with the Army was not her game. But every time she went away her Stan missed her more every day. Then Stan went away, Out to the field on that glorious vacation called Wintershield. On his return they knew for sure that their true love had just one cure. So soon they'll be Mr. and Mrs. and with them go our very best wishes." We had a traditional June wedding in Fulda except for the ride from the post chapel to the reception at the Officer's Club on top of a tank, seated and vibrating on a sofa draped in white. My parents were in a car behind the tank, and I still remember the expression on my mother's face. She was not impressed… I had gone to Germany for nine months of teaching, planning on returning to California. In actuality, it was two and a half years, and I returned with a husband and baby. Now, fifty five years later with two children and four grandchildren, many wonderful memories and interesting (and some not so interesting) places we have lived, I am very grateful to having been assigned to Fulda, Germany as I can't imagine life without Stan and all of the friends that we have made along our journey together.

Jill Bacon

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Man and His Mate

‘It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helper compar- able to him; a helper truly fitting, fully adequate, just right.’ (Genesis 2:18) I arrived at Fort Dix in a depressed state after a failed first marriage, but ready to raise hell! My saving grace was that I had an officer friend and his wife, Gretchen, who I used as my social advisor. I explained my escapades and prospects to Gretchen seeking her advice. She looked at me and said in her delightful German accent: “Willie, you are crazy, you have too many problems… what you need is someone like her!” She pointed at the lifeguard at the Fort Dix Officers Club Pool; a young college girl who looked like a Centerfold model; I thought no way, but why not try! Unknowing to me, this confident college grad had bragged that she could get a date with anyone she chose. The other lifeguards, who were active duty soldiers, challenged her to get a date with this young Green Beret Major. Throughout the week, I continued to go to the officer’s club pool to see if I could make contact. One day this stunning young lifeguard swims over to the edge of the pool where I was seated. She was oozing feminine charm from every pore. I started a discussion; eventually, I asked if she would like to go to a Broadway show or dinner or a movie. She responded very loudly so the other lifeguards could hear. “A Broadway show, dinner, movies” … I naively asked if she was hard of hearing; she laughed and said, “No”. Well, she won the bet, and I got a date. It started as a friendship against long odds; I had no home, I was in debt, divorced with two children, I had reached the advanced age of thirty two, I considered her too young, she considered me too old. Her father was more blunt with the comment, “Get rid of him!” Despite the odds, our dating period was exciting and soon the friendship developed into affection and love. After a short engagement we decided to get married. We were married October 12 1968 (Columbus Day) in a military wedding in the Chapel at Fort Dix with a honeymoon in Florida. A little over a year later, our daughter Noelle was born. Within two weeks I departed for my second tour in Vietnam. Both families suspected the marriage would fail. Although we had some difficult times along the way, we look back on forty five years of good memories. We walked arm and arm through an Army career with the memories of Vietnam experience, two years in Iran, and two years in Italy and three years in Germany. We both agree that the Lord answered the prayers of a prodigal soldier and strong willed girl. Now, I consider the marriage vow more important; what GOD puts together let no man put asunder!

Will Collett

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The Best Feeling In The World

Most of us, somewhere along the line, had a conversation with a friend who described some momentous happening. And for emphasis the friend said, “That was the best feeling in the world.” What was really meant? Not the literal meaning, surely. She has no idea what the best feeling in the world feels like. She only knows how she felt at that moment. And how could she know there was no better feeling? Most likely all she meant to convey was whatever happened on that occasion made her very happy. But was it really the best? Was it as good as it gets? In my own life I’ve had events occur which made me very happy—at least momentarily. When I was accepted as a cadet at West Point, in spite of the odds against me, that was a great feeling. All joy evaporated however, when faced with the rigors of actually being a cadet. We used to say we were receiving a free fifty-thousand dollar education, jammed up our rear a nickel at a time. It should be no surprise that graduation was an extremely happy event. The positive feelings about graduation were somewhat tempered by the immediate transition to active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant. Graduation was followed by marriage. I’ve heard a significant number of people label their wedding day as the happiest day of their life. The groom is almost obliged by convention to say that. It was a happy day for me, but was it the “best feeling” in the world? Would there never come a time when I felt a better feeling—more joy, more serenity? The only answer to that question was definitely perhaps. Or not. Certainly there were other candidates: the exhilaration after a successful parachute jump; the delight in the arrival of a new-born son after two daughters; the overwhelming relief as our flight left Vietnam, headed for home with me still in one piece; my retirement from active duty after thirty years of service. I became a widower and college professor almost simultaneously. The emotions from the one event rather cancelled out the other. Looking back over my considerable years, however, there is one event which stands out still. It was in the fall and I was playing golf with Susan, the widow I was soon to marry. The leaves on the trees were brilliant yellows and reds. The late afternoon sun cast lengthening shadows across the carpet of green fairway. A gentle breeze blew. All was right with the world. I turned to Susan and said, “You know, it doesn’t get any better than this.” And so far, it hasn’t.

James Weis

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Some Events are Pre-Ordained To Happen

As usual on the first Saturday in December (5 December 1987 this year), the Class of USMA ’58 was preparing to join our counterparts from USNA ’58 on the annual train trip to Philadelphia for the Army-Navy football game; Navy in one railroad car, we in the adjoining car. I had a date, but as the situation happened, it did not work out. So, I called Dan Brockwell and offered him a ticket, which he accepted. About the same period, in Katonah, New York, a lady was offered tickets to the game by a neighbor and Medal of Honor recipient, ‘Buddy’ Bucha.

The train ride up and the first part of the game was uneventful as I remember, but around half time this lady moved down from her seat in a section above us (because it was more windy and cold there) and took seats in the row in front of where I was sitting. Being an observant bachelor, I immediately noticed she had no ring on and was cute, but, being shy, I was unsure how to handle this situation. I observed however that Mark Sigurski, who was “partying” all the way up on the train and happened to be sitting in the same row as she was, needed some attention and used that as an excuse to move towards him to administer some medicinal fluids. As I excused myself to pass in front of her on the way back, I said some inane remark like, “I’m sure glad it isn’t cloudier” and thus began a periodic conversation with Mary Jane that lasted until the end of the game.

I had told her about our train trip up to the game from Washington and suggested that she might like to consider joining us on the trip back in our “private” railroad car, but being the smart person she is, she gratuitously declined saying she was escorting her daughter to check out a college in the area. Realizing that this encounter was coming to an abrupt end and I had not only no information on which to contact her, nor a means to record it, I asked Annie Stanton who was sitting a few rows up (and apparently in a louder voice than I intended), if I could borrow a pen or pencil. At this point, my esteemed classmate, Phil Pryor, began harassing me by asking what my wife and children would think about this situation, and other untrue remarks. Needless to say, I explained my situation to her satisfaction, got the information I needed, and left a message on her home phone the minute I got home.

The rest is history. One year later we were married in the Catholic Chapel at West Point on 17 December 1988. Twenty-seven years later, we have five children (four of Mary Jane’s and one of mine) and nine grandchildren. This marriage was the best decision I ever made and MJ is the love of my life.

George Lawton

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Middie and Tommy Thompson

Little did we know when we started kindergarten in September, 1940, that we would end up many, many years later still together. It is still not clear whether we ever spoke to each other or had any contact. The only true proof that we were in Miss Mary’s kindergarten is that we have a graduation picture to prove it. Coincidentally, I am standing behind Middie Lou in the picture; I guess that could have foretold some future connection.

Middie claims I came to her house in the third grade to participate in making a Valentine box. Not sure where we went from there except that the fourth grade teacher, Miss Thomas, introduced us to art, music and literature that we still vividly recall. In subsequent years, we would a see a picture, or read a book, or hear a musician’s name, and we would look at each other and recall it.

Middie Lou jumped over the city limits in the eighth grade when she was selected to attend Girls State. This was the beginning of being constantly recognized for her vibrant, outgoing personality. She was voted “Miss Congeniality”.

By the time we were seniors we were going pretty steady, after receiving an outstanding education, participating in sports, music, debate and every other activity offered, we were ready to take on the world. Middie went to finishing school at Sophie Newcomb, women’s part of Tulane in New Orleans, and Tommy went to the University of Kentucky. Middie’s Father wasn’t sure whether she had finished New Orleans, or New Orleans had finished her, either way he brought her home to go to University of Kentucky. In the meantime, Tommy received an appointment to USMA.

This duo stayed pretty much together over this period; through summers, Christmases and Spring leaves, ring weekend and graduation. Not sure how many in the class ended up marrying their Plebe Christmas drags, but we qualify. We married in Frankfort and began the military phase of our lives.

After assignments at Ft Sill, Ft Bliss, Ft Knox, Germany, Vietnam, Alabama and Nebraska and celebrating the births of three children, we look back and say, “Where have all the years gone?” We eventually settled in Alabama. We enjoy a bit of traveling, being with the children and grandchildren, and a great deal of community involvement. We count our blessings and look forward to continued joy.

Middie and Tommy Thompson

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Catherine and Tom Smith

After fifty three years of marriage, that old song by Maurice Chevalier rings true as we each recall with absolute certainty the details of how we met, fell in love, were engaged and married. This is the story of Catherine and Tom Smith, I-2, as remembered well.

In early 1961, Catherine was not quite twenty when the Boeing Company offered her a promotion to move from Seattle to Rapid City, South Dakota. Tom was assigned to the Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and arrived August 1st.

One day Major Nick Brady came up to Tom and said, “Let’s go over to the Boeing offices and see who we are going to be working with. Tom was walking in front and not being too observant when Nick said to him, “There is one in here without a ring on”. It turned out the one without a ring was Catherine. After some small talk, Tom and Nick left, Tom thinking, “nice legs-nice lady”.

The next week Tom was having lunch at the O Club when Catherine came in with one of the Boeing guys, Pete Spakowsky. Tom decided he would ask Catherine for a date. The date went well. They went to a nice restaurant and had what she considered dinner. They got to know each other better, but it when he took her home and asked her for dinner the next she had to ask, “What is your first name”. All she knew was Lt. Smith. Tom tried for a kiss, but Catherine was not the kind of girl who would allow that on a first date. However, dinner was on for the next night.

Following Christmas break, Tom and Catherine talked for a while, and while Tom was sitting on the floor next to the davenport Catherine was reclining on, he nonchalantly said, “I think we should get married.” Not to be out done, Catherine just as nonchalantly said back, “OK”. Tom did not have a ring as he wanted to know if Catherine would like a miniature or a more traditional engagement ring. Catherine opted for the miniature and one was ordered. For a while Catherine would have to do without the normal hardware that announced she was engaged. Wedding date Saturday, June 2nd, 1962.

Catherine phoned her parents to let them know the news that she was going to marry this guy they had never met. Catherine flew to Olympia two weeks before the wedding. Tom drove the Saturday before the wedding. Catherine’s parents accepted him as is and six days later they were married in St. Michael’s Church in Olympia, Washington.

Tom Smith

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Karin and Ron Hudson

I was stationed in Giessen, Germany in 1959. On November 7, a Saturday, I got a telephone call from Dick Malinowski ’56, (now Malin) asking if I was available for date with a city girl in Frankfurt. We were scheduled to meet at seven. After pacing the hallway for an hour and no show of Dick, I decided to drive back home. Tired from working, it would be 9 o’clock and time for bed back at Giessen. As I left the building Dick arrived with his date Doris and Karin Jacobi. Dick had arranged for a party in the Battalion Surgeon’s BOQ. One of his double rooms was decorated in a Tiki Village theme. We enjoyed snacks, dancing and a few drinks. Karin was a ground hostess for Lufthansa, and would shortly head to tour some cities, (New York, Chicago and Kansas City) in the US. I really enjoyed our blind date, and agreed to another date when she returned from the trip. That second date occurred on the day I graduated from CBR School in Vilsek which is east of Nuremberg. Driving a TR-3, I made the several hour trip in record time. I felt there was something very special about Karin. Our dates were as frequent as possible, usually dinner at a nice restaurant in Frankfurt or at the Wiesbaden Officers Club. One night we met Captain Louisell and his wife there.

Karin is sympathetic to bachelors at holiday time. She invited me to her parents’ home in Worms for Christmas. There I met grandmother Josefine, father Anton, mother Isolde, brother Klaus and sister Edda… only Klaus spoke English. The family graciously accepted me and my limited German.

In late January we decided we wanted to get married in April. Unfortunately, both the Army and German bureaucracy made it frustrating and time consuming. Finally we had our wedding in Worms on June 30, 1960. It was payday, and so only Bob Dey was able to make the ceremony, all others were pay officers and could not attend. We enjoyed a honeymoon in Salzburg and Vienna. Upon returning to Giessen, I left Karin in our apartment in a local home and went immediately to training at Wildflecken for thirty days.

I married above my pay grade in every respect. In the first twenty four years of marriage, we moved twenty three times. People thank you for your service, but in my mind, Karin is the one deserving of the thanks. Her devotion and love for those challenging and formative years developed our well rounded, three wonderful youngsters. Our life together has grown from young love to an incredible bond of deep love. We look forward with joy to the continuation of more years of this incredible blessing from God.

Ron Hudson

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Alex and Charlene Johnston

When I walked into a community college “Income Tax Strategies” course, my whole vision seemed to tunnel over the shoulder of the instructor onto the face of a beautiful woman already seated in the class. Much to my frustration she kept her left hand in her lap when a sign-in sheet was passed around, so I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a ring. After the class ended, my shyness made me hesitate long enough for another guy to strike up a conversation with her. The same guy dominated her attention after the class the next two weeks. Finally, I got up my courage, moved in, threw him a hip block and clumsily introduced myself. As we talked and walked to our cars, I knew I wanted to get to know her better.

The next week I had to leave the class early so I called the high school where she taught 10th grade English and asked if we could go to dinner and review the notes I missed in class. The officer sitting next to me at work said, “Alex, that is the lamest excuse for a date I’ve ever heard.”

On our first date when I opened the door of my MGB, she looked down and wasn’t sure how she could get into the car while wearing an ankle length long skirt. That was the only awkward part of the evening. During dinner the ease of conversation and common interests shared were amazing. We danced and I knew that I never wanted that night to end. We were both smitten and couldn’t seem to go a day without seeing each other from then on.

We never did go over the class notes but were married a little over a year later. The night I proposed on the lawn of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Officer’s Club she said, “Someone hung the moon just right”, and He had.

Charlene and I celebrated our 41st anniversary in June and want everyone to find the love we found.

I can’t grumble when I pay my Income Tax.

Alex Johnston

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Robert and Sylvia Clark

Bobby and I knew each other when we were five years old. His family visited our next door neighbors and all of us played. On one occasion, competitive Bobby organized a sidewalk race. I am sure he thought he would easily win, but not so…I did, and we have never forgotten it!

Bobby and I were together in the same first grade room. We traveled the school halls, sometimes in the same room, sometimes not. There wasn’t much interest between us. When we became high school juniors, our “juices” began to flow. We weren’t steadies. but we dated some between then, Mississippi State and the time he left for West Point. I couldn’t resist Bobby’s invitation for Plebe Christmas. What a grand time!

I graduated from Mississippi State College for Women, began teaching and occasionally would fly up for a West Point football weekend. During the summer of ’57, a friend and I toured New York City. Since we were so close to West Point, we decided to contact Bobby. “Yes!” he said, “come on up to Camp Buckner, and I’ll meet you there.” We did, unloaded all our things and got ready to stay at Camp Buckner. Bobby was horrified and sent us packing to the Hotel Thayer!

During our visit at Buckner, Bobby got my friend a date and provided us with two canoes for a cruise on Lake Popolopen. While on our ride, Bobby explained his life’s plan to me and how he thought I could fit in with him and the US Army… and also later with his cows and pine trees. A fellow who was definitely planning ahead! Honestly, at that point I didn’t have a complete plan for my life. However, I was certain that I thought more for Bobby than anybody. I was sure that we were alike in spirit, experiences and shared the same values. This was serious business on Lake Popolopen!

Well, in our memory, we agreed to think seriously about Bobby’s plan. He had one more year in school, I was drawing a meager teacher’s salary but could manage a visit to West Point from time to time. As that year unfolded, our intentions became clearer, and Mister and Miss Louisville High of 1952 were engaged to be married in July, 1958.

Fifty seven years of wedded history has passed and not one regret. Sometimes differences of opinions but nothing serious. You West Point friends keep continue making our lives sweet and more interesting. Thanks for your friendship. Bobby joins me in this.

Sylvia Duck Clark with the approval of Robert E. Clark, C-1

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Gerry and Bonnie Schurtz

T'was the summer of 1962 and we were getting set up to do what we always did when we had time off at Fort Lewis, Washington, namely water ski. I had been selected to go get the boat, moored by the Officer's Club on American Lake. As I brought the boat out of the mooring dock, I noticed a new set of beautiful legs over by the swimming area. Being a good Cavalry scout and a leg man, I cruised over near her and casually introduced myself with, "Hello, darling. My name's Gerry. What's yours?” (This approach was taught me by OK Hill!). This was not a trivial discovery. Fort Lewis had just given up Wisconsin 's National Guard Infantry Division, called to active duty for the Bay of Pigs, and we were adjusting to half strength at our Post. It seemed, though, that what had really left were all the eligible young ladies. We had only five bachelor ladies to split up among about one hundred and twenty bachelor captains and lieutenants; so, a new pretty face was important, and just maybe, I was the first one to discover her. “Yippee” or words to that effect.

I didn't immediately get a date with her, but things looked promising. A few days later, both my roommate and I received invitations to a cocktail party on Friday evening, to be hosted by Bonnie Lynn at the home of BG William M. Lynn, the Commander of 4th Division Artillery. Of course, I was curious why or how my roomie, Riley Moore, Class of 59, had met her and, more importantly, why he had not mentioned the arrival of a new "sweetie-pie" on

Post. All I got was a “Humma-Humma”!

We showed up together at the appointed hour, the Friday evening before Labor Day weekend. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, we had been training and prepping to climb 14,000+ foot Mt. Rainier starting the next morning. To stay too long at this soiree would seriously set us back on our schedule to assault the Peak. Hence, at 2100 hours, we gracefully paid our respects and left, as gently as we could. Miss Lynn was disappointed, but seemed resigned to having us go. As we were driving up to the mountain's base, we discussed what had been a very nice evening and how nice Miss Lynn seemed to be. Then, Riley let it slip out that he had known her for more than a week longer than I! In fact, he had taken her for several spins in his green Triumph convertible. How's that for being cuckolded? It was the start of a most eventful weekend (don't get me started), highlighted by our successful ascent of Mt. Rainier and an uneventful trip back to Ft. Lewis.

The next two months were taken up by nightly dates with Bonnie, punctuated early on by her admission that she had been turned off by Riley's penchant for driving his Triumph too fast, and later, on 23 October, the Class of 1958's mass promotion to captain two months' early (which scared the bejeebers out

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of both Castro and the Russians and postponed World War III!) So, pop your chests up for our great successes -'58 Really Is Great!!

Let me see a show of hands! Amen.

PS: Not for you guys; rather, for me. I got Bonnie!!! Fifty two years later, and I haven't been able to get Riley to take her.

Gerry Shurtz

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One for the boys…..

T'was the summer of 1958, right after our graduation. I was spending my leave time before heading to Ft. Knox at my Uncle's ranch in southern Colorado. I was contacted by that bon vivant, Tom Claffey, telling me that he and Dave Bourland were heading to Ft. Collins, Colorado to attend their roommate's (Tank Reid) wedding, just to make sure it was done properly. They asked me if I wanted to join them. How could I turn down such an offer?! They arrived at the Ranch to pick me up in the late afternoon. That evening my Uncle, the manager of Trinchera Ranch, a 150,000 deeded acre cattle ranch, was entertaining a prospective buyer of the year's calf crop.

My Uncle was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in 1942, in the Philippines, with a subsequent 3.5 years as a POW of the Japs, being liberated by the Russians in Manchuria, China in September 1945. All of the tropical diseases, starvation, brutality, etc. had been experienced by him - and the 2000 other New Mexicans captured with the surrender of Bataan (a subject conveniently overlooked in our Military Art classes- since Gen. McArthur was the commander of the entire force). This experience left them severely weakened in all major areas of the body and psyche (except the ability to procreate!). My Uncle had lost most of his vision - which did not stop him from driving his pickup at over 60mph - and his assistant driver always had to be alert when he was passing on the highways to tell him if it was OK to pass. Another disability my Uncle had was total loss of feeling in his fingers. My Uncle's procedure when entertaining prospective buyers of his cattle was to wine and dine them with plenty of bourbon and thick T-bone steaks with all the trimmings. So, he just added enough to feed even Claffey and Bourland in the same manner. My Uncle always barbequed the steaks. At the right time, he stacked up briquettes in his cooker and applied the lighter fluid to get the briquettes to the correct consistent heat intensity. Then when the briquettes were all the same ashen color, he began distributing the briquettes about the cooker - with his bare hands! I thought Claffey and Bourland were going to pass out (it is very impressive, in their defense). After they recovered, I took them into the next room and told the whole story about my Uncle. The next day, we travelled on to Fort Collins and attended Tank's wedding, which went off very well, in spite of all the best efforts of Claffey and Bourland to disrupt things, as only they can! However, as we were escorting Tank and his bride out of town to go on their honeymoon, with Dave Bourland driving and Tom Claffey in the front seat, Tom all of a sudden rolled the window down, extracted a six shooter from a bag and began firing into the air as we chased Tank out of town! Typical of Tom, he couldn't hit anything anyway. Gerry Schurtz

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“Courtship" or “Roping The Right One”

In the summer of 1957, I returned to Ben Lomond, California for my leave. I asked my brother Ed if there were any eligible women I could date while I was home. He said there was a pretty young lady working in the Felton bakery, but she was “useless”. (That was code for a woman who guarded her virtues and/or was pursuing an advanced education). Upon arrival in the bakery, I found Harriet Hooper covered in flour but gorgeous with a flashing smile. Our dates that summer went well but she was only a sophomore at Cal Berkeley, and both Mother and Harriet were intent on young Harriet completing her education.....and in my fatherly role, I was in agreement. According to Harriet, I invited her to June Week of 1958 knowing that because of her finals and lack of funds, she would not be able to attend. Harriet handled her finals and got the money …then I had to confess that I had already committed to another date. That did not portend well for my summer leave after graduation. I came home after graduation thinking I would get a job, but my dates with Harriet changed my mind, and I stayed home the full two months. What changed was Mother got on my team, and Old Granny was delighted Harriet was cavorting with a man in uniform. When I arrived at her house up in the sand hills, her boyfriend from Cal’s baseball team had driven her all the way home from Berkeley. He seemed like a nice chap, so I told him, in a very diplomatic manner, to leave as, “three’s a crowd”. His mistake was gracefully leaving without a fight. From there on, Harriet seemed more serious about a relationship. We did a lot of fun and interesting things together. I felt we were good friends, comfortable with each other and, from my vantage point, she was "the one". One evening we went to San Francisco and did the North Beach scene. We listened to a new young Kingston Trio in the Purple Onion, had Red Foxx make comments about my buxom girlfriend in the Hungry i and then listened to some fine opera in the Boci Ball Club. Harriet was fun, helpful and positive the entire time. By the end of the summer, I wanted Harriet and had to settle for what crumbs she dropped for her eager suitor. After I graduated from Engineer Basic, Airborne and Ranger Schools, we confirmed our engagement on 18 May 1959, planning a later marriage in Europe in order to save both families the cost of a wedding. This was some progress i.e. a larger crumb. I also bought a $300 engagement ring in Felton. It was an indication of a tightwad Scotsman. Before I headed out to Munich, Germany in March, Harriet’s Mother sensed that I wanted to get married ‘now’ and apparently told her daughter to

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commit, otherwise, I would probably find a nice plump fraulein. It was then that we made serious plans to get married in Munich in July. Harriet’s Brother, Glynn, would come to Germany to ‘give Harriet away’. Tony and Carole Smith were kind enough to let Harriet and Glynn use the apartment while they were on leave. Our 'first marriage' was the legal one in the Standesampt (Registration Office) in downtown Munich on July 17th 1959. It was conducted by men in black robes, and you had the sense that you were on trial. Since I had not applied four months in advance for the marriage license, I was charged a rate for a "quickie". I think that I paid 40 marks (about $10). To make matters worse, we invited Marilyn Sigler down to be a witness as was required. The problem was that Marilyn was not yet twenty one, and we had to pay 4 marks to a German entrepreneur willing to verify anything for a buck. We had been ordered by the Battalion XO to get a wedding and reception within the Battalion community. Accordingly, I set up the Henry Kaserne Chapel for a wedding on 19 July 1959. Our 'second marriage' was conducted in the Chapel in Henry Kaserne by a Mormon Chaplain who was on his first wedding and shaking as badly as the groom who had to be reminded to get the ring up for the ceremony. This was followed by Harriet and I walking out for a kiss under the crossed swords of our fellow officers and getting up on a D-7 E mounted on a low boy dragging a bunch of cans down Terganseer Landstrasse much to the delight of the Germans. At the end of the reception at the XO’s Quarters, the guys stole the bride, which is an old German custom, and rather than chase after them, I stayed and killed off the champagne. Our honeymoon was not an Amy Vanderbilt approved affair and it was a story unto itself… Ask me!

Orly Hill

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Mae and Theodore Hepner

Willie Mae Bailey and Theodore Hepner lived in the east side community of Detroit, Michigan in the early days of World War 11. Mae’s parents came from Kentucky and Ted’s parents came from Wisconsin. They went to different schools, went to different churches but discovered they had a common friend, Betty. She went to Mae’s church and to Ted’s high school. Ted took Betty to the Detroit High School’s city wide ROTC Military Ball. He later met Mae at a youth party at Betty’s and Mae’s church. Ted’s first date with Mae was in Mae’s senior year at high school. It happened to be on the same day that Ted received a telegram advising him that he was moved from first alternate to primary candidate on an appointment to West Point. Ted had the privilege of taking Mae to her Senior Prom before leaving for West Point in July of 1954. Mae came to West Point for several days of Plebe Christmas and her graduation picture sat on the top shelf of Ted’s locker for the next four years. During that time they wrote many letters and Mae’s regular packages of home made fudge were welcomed treats for Ted and his room mates. Ted and Willie Mae were married in Detroit, Michigan on July 19th, with Ted’s roommates Mel Farrar and Otto Thamasett serving as ushers. Mae’s letters and care packages continued as an army wife while Ted was deployed to Korea and Vietnam and training exercises in Alaska and Europe. It was a unique experience for Ted to open a German Chocolate Birthday cake baked by Mae and mailed – packed in popcorn, and delivered to him on the tactical site of a Hawk Missile Site on North/South Korean border arriving exactly on his birthday. This year, as many in our class, we celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary!

Ted Hepner

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Bob and Bonnie Moscatelli

In the spring of 1966, I was a twenty nine year old bachelor captain living in the BOQ at West Point nearing the end of the first year of a three-year tour. I was determined to never marry. One evening, I was watching the Miss Universe competition on TV. The moderator walked down a line of the ten finalists as they sat at their makeup tables and asked each contestant, “If you are selected as Miss Universe, what is your ambition?” One after another, the women spoke of riches, movie contracts, handsome husbands, etc. When he asked Miss Japan, after thinking for a moment, she said, “My ambition is to have a happy home.” Even this committed bachelor knew that he had heard something worth remembering if ever there was a need. Fast forward into my second year. One evening in August 1966, there was a knock at my BOQ room door, it was the BOQ’s janitor. When I answered the door he said, “Bob, have you met the new blonde lieutenant?” I said I hadn’t. He then said, “Come with me, I’ll introduce you.” He led me down the stairs and out the front door. There in the grass was a beautiful young blonde woman and her dog. The woman had a spoon in one hand and a paper bag in the other. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this determined bachelor met his future wife, Bonnie, when she was picking up dog poop! Is that romantic or what?! After some small talk, we watched a men’s soccer game together and got acquainted. I learned she was a 1LT, a dietician and the new Chief of Food Service at the West Point Hospital. The woman started stalking me right then and there! (Bonnie’s memory is different on this point!) Anyway, since graduation, I had met many women I figured I could live with; Bonnie was the first I met I figured I couldn’t live without. I proposed one evening, I believe it was Friday 18th August 1967, as we sat on the grass at Trophy Point looking out at the Hudson River. She accepted. We both knew we were going to Vietnam the following summer. We decided to have a church wedding and agreed that we could pull it off in sixty days. In the short period we were engaged, the wife of a classmate and close friend told me that I was “making a big mistake” marrying Bonnie. Despite that warning, we married sixty days later the evening of 20 October 1967. After the wedding ceremony in the Post Chapel and reception at the Officers Club, Bonnie and I drove to New York City, spent two nights in a hotel, and returned to West Point late Sunday. (We both had duty on Monday).

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Bonnie and I arrived in Vietnam eight months later on 27th June 1968. Our orders were to opposite ends of the country. One of the first things we did was find a mess hall for supper. We ate with several of our classmates who were on their way home. When it came time for Bonnie and I to leave for our separate overnight billets, we did so convinced we might not see each other during the next year. Having just spent three years where public displays of affection were forbidden, it seemed right to me to shake hands with Bonnie as we said goodbye. Wrong move. A loud chorus of raspberries from our classmates ensued. Embarrassed, I grabbed Bonnie and right in the middle of the crowded mess hall, I gave her my imitation of the iconic “Sailor’s Kiss” photo made famous at the end of World War II. I have been living with “my mistake” for almost forty eight years. We have a happy home and it all started with a janitor, a dog, a spoon and a paper bag. Life is good!

Bob Moscatelli

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Tom and Ann Stevens

Long ago in 1967, I was working for Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., an engineering/construction company building oil refineries in the U.S. and Europe. Having completed a project in Portugal, I was relocating to Liberia (W. Africa) where we had recently won a 20,000 B/D refinery project. On my way to Liberia it was necessary to go through Madrid to obtain a Liberia Visa. While waiting for my plane in Lisbon airport, I noted a very striking Portuguese (or Spanish) girl also waiting for the plane. I later overheard her speaking English with a soft Southern drawl. But arriving in Madrid that evening amid the flurry of getting off the plane, through customs, etc., I saw her no more – ‘two ships passing in the night’.

The following morning, a rainy Sunday, the thing to do in Madrid is visit the Prado, an extraordinary art museum. At 10:00 am I had the place almost entirely to myself, but wait… who should also be walking around but the girl on the plane – unaccompanied! Then, my most famous family pickup line, “Hello, weren’t you on the plane from Lisbon yesterday?”

Madrid in my memory with such a girl was magical – museums, restaurants, bull fights. I went on to Liberia and my oil refinery. Ann continued up to Brussels where she was working. Many months later, after completing the Liberia project and… to continue this remarkable serendipity and impossible good luck, I was re-assigned to build a plant in Alsace-Lorraine in France (not far from Brussels). We were married in Brussels in 1969.

Tom and Ann Stevens

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Jim and Marilyn Sigler

August 1958, I reported to Fort Belvoir as a newly-arrived member of the Engineer Basic Course. Since there was no room for us on Post, I and four other bachelors rented a two bedroom apartment in Hunting Towers, an apartment complex in Alexandria that was appropriately named. At that time I was a confirmed bachelor… or at least I thought I was. A few weeks after we arrived, we had a party at the apartment. I asked a yound lady to dance when her date went to get her a drink. I found out her name was Marilyn McKibbin, and that she was home from college for the summer. Also, her father was a graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. As it happened she wore a blue dress with a cape. Something was spilled on it by a classmate who offered to return it to her. I was looking for a date for the next weekend and there ws her name and phone number on the dresser in our room. I called her up and asked her to have dinner witth me. She said, “Yes”, and our forst date was at the Officers Club at Anacostia Air Base. We dated for a few months then I had to leave for Airborne School. I wondered if I would see her again… I could not get her out of my mind. I found myself writing to Marilyn as often as I could while trying to earn my jump wings. I had planned to go home to Denver for Christmas, but that is not what I ended up doing. I drove all the way to Arlington without telling her I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise. Marilyn answered the door and screamed because she had her hair up in curlers… she actually shut the door in my face! We went out for dinner the next night, and I asked her to marry me. I said I would take her to see the Alps, and she thought that was a wonderful offer since she had never seen Europe. It did not take her long to say “Yes”, and I managed to order an engagement ring before I left for Ranger School shortly after Christmas. We were married in the Old Chapel at Fort Myer on the first day of Spring, March 21, 1959.

Jim Sigler

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Jack and Iris May During one of our infrequent leaves as USMA cadets, several company mates accompanied me to my home in Florida to escape the gloom of our rockbound, highland fortress. At my mother's insistence on Sunday, all in uniform, we attended church. After the traditional Southern lunch of fried chicken, we were faced with an afternoon without plans. For us, dancing was an important social activity, so I suggested to Mom that she corral some of the eligible young ladies from the neighborhood over to socialize and dance on our large enclosed porch. Shortly, several Southern Belles in spring dresses with crinolines eager to see real-live West Point Cadets arrived. One Belle had brought along her much-younger sister, only fourteen years old...vivacious, lively, extremely pretty, and a phenomenal and enthusiastic dancer. We enjoyed songs like “Jailhouse Rock” (Elvis) and “Wake Up, Little Susie” (Everly Brothers) and rock and rolled to Chuck Berry. The precocious teeny-bopper became the star of that afternoon, despite being way too young. Her name was Iris. The earth had circled the sun many more times when I returned home after USMA and military service. I was now a civilian diligently working as a real estate developer seeking my fortune. Again, in church with my folks, my attention was riveted by a stunning young lady – the same teeny-bopper of long ago blossomed into a drop-dead gorgeous, incredible beauty! She was a freshman at the University of Florida, still living at home in the neighborhood. I immediately began to court Iris, and we became seriously connected, nearly inseparable, and deeply in love. Her mother was less than pleased with this situation. I was much older, more worldly, and, in her judgment, not a good influence. Can you imagine! Iris was soon transferred to a college far from home. We tried to stay attached, but distance and the demands of my business and her studies succeeded in divorcing us. Our paths diverged. Wives, husbands, children, and forty five years later, I received a letter with a Texas postmark. Iris had inherited property in our hometown and was seeking advice. She called when she got to town, and we set a date for the following day. Hearing a knock on my front door, I hesitated, almost overcome with apprehension. What would she be like after forty five years? Would my once dearly beloved and I have anything in common after all this time? As I opened the door, decades of time whisked away like fog. Our rapport was instantaneous. Then, as before, we found that we shared interests in most everything – music, art, travel, food, wine, and each other. It seemed like we had been apart only a short time. That auspicious date in 2009 was June 4th, an important day of each year for all the Class of '58. Iris and I have been together ever since that evening.

Jack May

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INDEX

1. COVER PAGE 2. FRED MAYER 3. PALMER McGREW, CHUCK TOFTOY 4. ROXIE YARR, DAVE TURNER 5. JACK HALSEY, WALT PATTERSON 6. JIM CASTLE, TOM CLAFFEY 7. WAYNE WYATT 8. GARY ROOSMA 9. AUDREY WEBB 10. DAVE KOMYATHY 11. BOB GRETE 12. HUGH FISHER 13. JACK BUJALSKI 14. GENE WENTWORTH 15. MIKE MAHLER 16. “ 17. JIM PECK 18. SAM MYER 19. TIM McLEANSTAN BACON 20. DAN CHARLTON, PAUL VANTURE 21. ROGER WADDELL 22. DALE HRUBY 23. “ 24. SALLY TIMBERLAKE 25. TIM McLEAN 26. ARLEY FINLEY 27. BILL CALLAGHAN 28. “ 29. GAR O’QUINN 30. CHARLOTTE MASON 31. “ 32. CLARADELL SHEDD 33. “ 34. LOIS PENSIERO 35. “ 36. RICHARD CLEMENTS 37. “ 38. SUE KERNAN 39. “ 40. PHYLLIS BAILEY 41. RON BELLOWS

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42. JOHN GEORGE 43. “ 44. LARRY BULLIS 45. GENE WILSON 46. “ 47. CHUCK DENSFORD 48. JILL BACON 49. WILL COLLETT 50. JAMES WEIS 51. GEORGE LAWTON 52. TOMMY THOMPSON 53. TOM SMITH 54. “ 55. RON HUDSON 56. BOBBY CLARK 57. GERRY SCHURZ 58. “ 59. GERRY SCHURZ 60. ORLY HILL 61. “ 62. TED HEPNER 63. BOB MOSCATELLI 64. “ 65. TOM STEVENS 66. JIM SIGLER 67. JACK MAY

Thank you for your wholehearted collaboration!

Collected and Edited with Love

by

Sue Kernan and

Lucy Kernan Stephens

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