Shipmate
Column Jan 2009
Not
a whole lot of news to share this month, everyone seems to be coming down from
the great A-N victory and the many holiday activities, but we did get a few
notes to pass along.
Jim Dolan was appointed to senior vice president
and general manager of Textron’s Overwatch Geospatial Systems,
effective February 1, 2009. An operating
unit of Textron Systems, Overwatch Geospatial has been providing geospatial
intelligence (GeoINT) solutions and services to the Department of Defense and
U.S. intelligence agencies for over 20 years. "As Overwatch Geospatial's
chief operating officer, Jim Dolan has been active in the business, including
the critical areas of strategy and business development. I am confident
Overwatch Geospatial will continue to excel in serving our GeoINT customers
under Jim's leadership," said Fred Strader, chief operating officer of
Textron Systems. Prior to joining Overwatch Geospatial, Jim was the operations
director for General Dynamics-AIS Geospatial Intelligence Systems. Over his 31
year career, he has held leadership positions of significant operational,
business development and program management responsibility within several
organizations supporting the geospatial intelligence community. Jim served as a
naval intelligence officer in a variety of operational intelligence assignments
while on active duty. .BZ Jim!!
Received
an uplifting note from
Chuck Karlan:
In
the December issue of Shipmate, Nelson Blish reported that Landon Phillips,
Nelson, and I had lunch in Denver as I waited to be called for my Lung
Transplant. I wish to report that my call came
Thanksgiving Weekend while many of my friends and relatives were in Denver
celebrating Thanksgiving. I had
developed a Lung disease call Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). It means scaring of the lungs from unknown
causes. There is a 25% mortality
rate/year for those diagnosed with IPF and mine had been very aggressive
strain. I was using 45LPM of O2 on
exertion and sliding fast. I had made my
reservation for the class reunion....but had waited to pay the bill.
As
we age, it amazes me how quickly our lives can change and how little control
over it we actually have. I had my
transplant done at the University of Colorado Hospital
in Denver on Nov 30, 2008. Within 48
hours I was walking the halls on an ordinary diet, without pain or discomfort
and breathing unaided. I feel truly
blessed with this new opportunity and wish never to lose the passion for God's
gift of another day. One other thought has been sticking with me. I have had a fabulous life but it certainly
has not been the one I planned on or thought I would have had when we were
sworn in so many years ago. I have made
mistakes, done things that I am not particularly proud of, but possibly did a
few things right. But you know, none of that really matters because it makes no difference
on how we start the race. It is just the
manner in which we decide to finish that matters. What an opportunity and there is still time.
Attached
is a picture of Pat Maley who lives
just a few blocks from our apartment and stopped by for coffee this past
week. Rich Batdorf is coming by in early January and I am going to try to
get Landon Philllips to buy my
lunch...all things are possible. Dr John
Post has offered "walk a run with me at our reunion" and I look
forward to it.(I'll even make a deposit now). I am
honored to part of such group of men and friends. Glad to know that you are on the mend,
Chuck!!
One
last testimonial for Rich Red: “The
world paid its final good-bye to our beloved classmate and illustrious
anchorman, Rich Red, on November 14.
Classmates Mike Clark and Rick Lottie attended his funeral
service, which was held at Lakeview Fellowship Church near Rich’s home in Fort
Worth, Texas. People from every chapter
in Rich's life were present to celebrate their relationship and their times
with their beloved friend, fellow Marine, family member, teammate and
classmate, and to bid him a fond and final farewell. The afternoon’s activities were an especially
fitting final tribute to our dear friend and classmate… The service itself, the testimonials (many of
which were quite hilarious), the presence of so many individuals whose lives
were enriched by Rich’s friendship, the formal farewell paid Rich by a Marine
Honor Guard as his ashes were spread over Eagle Mountain Lake, and a subsequent
gathering of friends and family at the home of his wife, Betty, where toasts
to, and tales of Rich continued well into the night, all combined to render the
occasion the very send-off he would have wanted. All of us who knew Rich, knew that he placed
great importance on the friendships he shared in life, and on this past
November 14th, his day of remembrance, it was clear he had done so to great
effect.” Thank you Mike!!
Dennis Plank writes in to tell us: the Hampton
Roads Chapter of the Alumni Association has been holding monthly Business
Networking Breakfasts since 1993. The
always illustrious emcee is Bob Byles.
In December, the guest speaker was our Classmate, Dennis Yatras. Accordingly,
the Class of 1969 (not just a class . . .) representation easily took the
mythical attendance award with a total of more than 50 other Alumni, friends
and guests attending. Shown in the
picture are, from left to right, Bill Coxe,
Joe Greene, Jerry Petykowski, Bob Byles
(emcee extraordinaire), Jack Lahren,
Jerry O'Donnell, Dennis Yatras, Bill Laz, Dennis Plank and Frank Roberts. Thanks for taking the time to share Dennis!!
That’s
it for now Classmates. Into the Dark
Ages we charge!! Beat Army-often! steve