WELCOME
The 60th Reunion is now history! We had a great turnout: 148 classmates, 16 widows, and 201 family and friends, for a total attendance of 365. Unfortunately quite a number had to cancel at the last minute, including our hard working Win Skelton, who suddenly had surgery on his eye. Quite a number of classmates brought large contingents with them, as you can see from the photo of the Newton and Cody families. 

The year is only two months old, but it is off to a busy start.

At the turn of the year Lynn Wood gave Spike an 80th birthday party. That is Spike on the right with Lynn holding the cake. The actor Tom Bosley is on the left next to Norman Gorans, a writer for 60 Minutes. Then it was off to Hawaii for the Woodses.

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.