WHAT WE DO (or DID)!!
This page provides some of what we are doing as Retired Old Fudds (and maybe some stories of what we did as Young Studs). All that is left then is what we did as Lieutenant Commanders.
It will be revised from time-to-time as the Class, National, and World Situation dictates. Suggestions/recommendations for items to be posted should be sent to the Class Webmeister. Contributions are both sought and welcome.
Frank Parker sends!
Here's a video that I enjoyed watching, of our classmate Charlie Duke, taken about 2 years ago, forwarded for your consideration. Charlie and I exchange e-mails, and I told him that Neil got all the honors etc. for being the 1st man to walk on the moon, but I suggested that he got left out, since he was the first man to talk to another human on the surface of the moon ! I'm glad to see Charlie getting his deserved recognition, though it be a half a century later !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6KRcBsLGJs&t=51s
An Interesting Piece From Selig Solomon
The email around here is seldom very interesting or inspiring but this week came both in a note from Selig with a story from long ago attached. Selig tells us of his 1959 encounter with the famous movie star, Errol Flynn, who happened to be Selig’s boyhood hero. (Mine was Gene Autry!) I found it very interesting in itself and was fairly amazed to hear about a Classmate taking leave while in a foreign port to skipper a large sailboat around the Med. Just click on the link, Robin Hood, and have a read to see for yourself!!
Robin Hood
Welcome, Tony Crowell, to the Nonagenarians
It has been a long held element of class lore that Tony is the youngest of our graduates. Tony arrived at the Academy on his 17th birthday which coincided with our "I-Day" on 29 June. How lucky he is (and we are) that the stork was not delayed en route and that he hit the ground just in time to make it into this Great Class of 1957.
Now that all of us have crossed the Line of Ninety we are pointing toward Century Celebrations insofar as our life styles and/or nature will allow. In point of interest, as best we know from various forms of communication, we are 226 Graduates alive, well, and becoming vertical on a regular basis. Let’s all drink a toast to all of us with whatever libation we choose!! Mine’s root beer, what’s yours?
Bill Peerenboom sends!
An event on Saturday May 9th marked a standout occasion for our class - the wedding of Sylvia Auton, and Jack Cook (11). Sylvia is the widow of our class' honor graduate, Forrest (Bob) Hanvey (5). A number of local Northern Virginia classmates were in attendance to celebrate with Sylvia and Jack - Dave and Diane Smith (2) , Lee Walker (2), Larry Cohen(1) ,Gary Antonides (2) and Bill and Betty Peerenboom (3). The ceremony took place at Jack's church, St. James' Episcopal, in Leesburg. The beautiful wedding was followed by a grand reception in the church hall. A wonderful writeup of this singular event can be found in the linked article from the New York Times . It tells the story not only of their wedding, but the wonderful "back story" of their romance. It includes some superb pictures.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/style/john-cook-sylvia-auton-wedding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Frank Parker sends!
Hi Y'all - I thought that maybe you'd like to watch these 2 videos. They are about my friend and our classmate at USNA, Charlie Duke, who went to the moon on Apollo 16. Charlie has been interviewed recently by the media in connection with the Artemis mission that recently went to the moon and back, since he's only one of four astronauts still living, out of the 12 that walked on the moon during Apollo. Charlie and I still exchange e-mails. He recently moved from Texas back to South Carolina to be near his kids, but is still getting lots of requests for speaking engagements. The 2nd video below is one of his talks that he made in Oslo Norway recently. In 1967 I was working in Houston as an engineer on Apollo, and Charlie had just been selected as an astronaut, and was in training. Charlie and wife Dotty had me over for dinner a few times, since I was a bachelor, and they figured I needed a good home-cooked meal !! Good memories !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6KRcBsLGJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LssqPfgE-c