Although we were able to outsource the Christmas letter to our 16-year old this year, no takers on class notes ...
We enjoyed hearing from many of you over the past months. It is great to hear of all the wonderful things you are doing. What would we do without all those great Christmas letters? Here's what we learned:
Cub & Wini Schlatter are now in Virginia where Cub is working for NASA and Wini is a freelance editor working for the CBS News Bureau in DC a couple of days a week. Marie is a HS Freshman who loves swimming and singing and Sam and Harry (twins in kindergarten) are having fun.
Kirk & Julie Hiles are enjoying life. Kirk is still working on Rescue 21. Julie
Joe & Molly (Kriz) Riordan are in the throes of major home remodeling, hoping jobs are complete by February-March (2007, right?!). Lots of fun! Jack (15) is president of his freshman class, goalie of his soccer team and working on his Eagle Scout project. Casey (12) is a strong soccer player and an even stronger 7th grade student. Sadly, they lost Molly's dad last spring, but were able to make a trip to upstate New York so their kids could appreciate where Molly grew up.
Bert & Rachel Diehl seem to be settling into their lives in Ohio (as in no weather-related complaints registered this year). Bert's been taking his work home with him and now appears able to complete home repair projects as well as he manages the facilities at work. Rachel is on track to obtain her dream job (school librarian) by subbing and tutoring and taking classes to refresh her credentials - best of luck with that endeavor, Rachel! Their kids (Tom, Allie and Andrew) are keeping them on their toes, which is to be expected considering their heritage!
Rick & Cathy Berard have been an inspiration, in keeping grounded while dealing with Cathy's cancer treatments. Stephen (16) and Molly (almost 14) sound like they are great kids!
Reality check is when you realize we have classmates, with children already in college - or more than half-way through like CGA Cadet Brittany Curran, '08; or UVA's Paul Hiles, '07 - but also have many with toddlers or even expecting and adopting new babies! Should make for an interesting reunion in about 18 months (Save the dates: October 2-4, 2008)
Lincoln & Tracy Stroh are prepping to move from Texas to Louisiana where Linc will be the new Sector Commander in New Orleans. Tracy is doing some substitute teaching and is in real demand! Jessica is a sophomore at Texas A&M studying broadcast journalism. Glenn is a senior in HS and looking to attend Marshall University to study engineering next year. He's quite the golfer and bowler. Allison is in 7th grade and sounds pretty athletic (volleyball, basketball and riding horses).
Matt Cutts & Ellen Wrynn checked in from Hawaii (have they been any where else in 20+ years?). Their twins (Zach and Josh) are big swimmers, traveling as far as Arizona for meets. They are looking at colleges. Hannah also swims and sounds like an incredible student. Matt is the swim team president and Ellen is coaching.
Becky (Smith) & Kirk Dyche are enjoying their time in Virginia. Brittany is keeping them busy as only 11-year-olds and all their interests and activities can! Kyle (17) is a HS senior and is applying to a number of schools, including CGA. Debbie (19) is moving up in her job and seems happy. Kirk's older children will all be out of college this spring and moving on into working life!
The Captain assignments are out (for those few still on active duty) and some great assignments are in the works. Have not heard of any planned retirements yet, but here are transfers: Liam Slein-D1(dre); Jim Rendon-Sector Northern NE (Portland, ME?); Dave Cinalli- D7 (dre); Terry Gilbreath-D8 (m); Lincoln Stroh-Sector New Orleans; Bruce Toney-PacArea (pre); Matt Cutts-PacArea (pm); Matt Bliven-CGC Sherman; Lisa (Tamblingson) Heffelfinger-ISC Miami; Rick Gromlich-COMDT (CG-44). Congratulations on the great opportunities to be "Leaders for Change."
Jean's office had their "holiday lunch" aboard Eagle, hosted by our own CO, Chris Sinnett - great to see him! We seem to see him every where, when Eagle is in; one of our sons even met him at our local high school where Chris was working on some project with a teacher.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Let us know what is up with you. And please look us up if you’re in Connecticut (or Rhode Island, since URI is Vince’s home away from homw until June). We’d love to see you!
-Vince & Jean is teaching 1-2 classes at George Mason U and says it "keeps her out of trouble - more or less." We should all have jobs like that! Paul is in his senior year at UVA and will receive his Air Force commission in May and start medical school (on the AF) in the Fall. Dan is a sophomore at UVA, Army ROTC. Steve is 10 and still enjoying being a kid - scouts, soccer, trombone and hopefully some `just playing' time!