Another year in which to excel! Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that you have a great 2008.

We can start off with a bang. Dick & Ruth Newton's son Dick was nominated in Dec to be a three star and to be DCS Manpower and Personnel for the Air Force. Those of you who were at the 55th Reunion will remember the fine briefing he gave the Class.

Finally a rainy day here in VA! A good day to visit with all of you out there.

The Class of '50 here at The Fairfax continues to grow. Joan Scandling Pimentel and her husband Frank '52 will be joining the Singers, Jackleys, and DeGrafs here in 2008. With the housing market poor, many are passing up chances to get large units here until their homes sell.

Sitting here on a hot August day, I look forward to the cooler Autumn and football weekends.

Although he died three and a half years ago Lou Genuario has been honored by the Fairfax County, VA, Board of Supervisors for his efforts to ensure buildings, facilities and programs in the county were free of physical barriers, which made access hard for the handicapped. The picture shows Supervisor Hyland presenting the plaque to be installed in the Board Auditorium to Lou's widow Rose. Four of their six children attended the ceremony: Marina and Rick on Rose's right, Louis and Donna Hart on her left.

It's a beautiful sunny day here at The Fairfax, a nice day to have a visit with all of you.

Our working group, headed by Linc Faurer, sent along a rather detailed report by Gen. Kern, our incumbent Chair at West Point. He outlined the 17 session course he recently completed. Among the topics listed were Requirements of TRADOC, Nanotechnology and the Future Soldier, LEAN Six Sigma, and BioEngineering. Surely a far cry from E=IR or a session in the Juice Lab. He had 12 guest speakers plus a visit to Piccatinny Arsenal.

As I sit here at The Fairfax three inches of snow has just fallen to cover the countryside with a blanket of white. Still when you get this, it will be Spring, and you all should have received the annual class letter. Please be sure to send Win or me any updates or changes. Also check the roster for changes of your friends. There were a lot of moves and emails redone.

2007 - Another year in which to excel! They do fly by. However, a couple of items from the past take us back. First is the article onJohn Trent is The Graybeards , the magazine of the Korean Veterans. The article was a nice mix of his great Army football career and of his death in Korea less than six months after graduation.

The holiday season is fast upon us, so to all of you HAPPY HOLIDAYS and a great 2007!

2006 continues to be Dick Trefry's year. In addition to the Distinguished Graduate Award from AOG and the Castle Award from the West Point Society of DC, he now has received the Creighton W. Abrams Medal from AUSA for "exceptional service to the United States Army."

Hope you looked at the heading, for it is the new address for Robin and me. It appeared in the last column, but then I did not have the chance to point it out. We will be at The Fairfax, the Army retirement community near Ft. Belvoir. We join Ray & Peggy Singer and Marie Kaseman there, but we hope to see lots more of you around before too long.

The month of May will be memorable for the Class. Sunday about 40 of us will board the paddlewheeler Empress of the North for the Class Mini up the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Later in the month classmates will gather at West Point to see Dick Trefry receive the AOG Distinguished Graduate Award.

This is a tough column to start. As most of you know Laura Walker'03 was killed in Afghanistan on 18 August. She was the granddaughter of Volney & Janice Warner and the daughter of Valerie & Keith Walker '76. She is the first class grandchild to die in the Middle East war.

She was a Lt. Of Engrs., helping build a 75 mile highway fromKandahar to Tarin Kot, a job she was so proud of, when an Improvised Explosive Device went off, killing her and another soldier. Her roommate was Jennifer Austin, Tom Austin'sgranddaughter, and she was with her at the time. After services in the Cadet Chapel, she was buried at West Point on 25 August. Her parents, Col.& Mrs. Keith Walker, live at 2788 Thaxton Ln.,Oakton, VA 22124