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.
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
Christmas Luncheon 2025
As is our usual Christmas custom, the local members gathered at the Army-Navy Club in December 2025 to collect Toys for Tots and enjoy the company of our colleagues, wives, and other hanger-ons of whatever variety. Although our numbers are falling our enjoyment of our association have not!
To paraphrase Ole Hank the V,
“We few, we doddering few, we band of brothers!!
For he who’s come this far, shall be my brother
etc., etc. etc.”
I send my greatest appreciation and thanks to Ginger Poole who graciously did the photographs and sent them to me for the web site. Kudos, Ginger, for all that you do for this Class!!
Herewith some photographic evidence of the festive event!!
HelenAnn Phillips Has Not Slowed A Bit!!
This from Robert Phillips, recent of sports car fame but now basking in the glory of the Fair HelenAnn!!
On 14 October 2022 the 35th Huntsman World Senior Games concluded in St. George Utah. Over 11,000 folks competed in various sports from 33 foreign countries.
Competing in the Women 85-89 age group, HelenAnn ran the 1,500m on Monday, the 800m on Tuesday and on Wednesday she competed in a 400m race for the first time. Results were: Gold, Silver and Gold respectively. They were all run in the middle of the day, so it was hot but dry.
There is one more interesting fleeting statistic. In the early June heat and humidity of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida she ran a 1,500m race at the National Senior Games (formerly Senior Olympics). According to the MastersRanking.com tracking website, her time at this event so far this calendar year is still the fastest in the world for the women’s competitive 85 to 89 age group. That time was also faster than the existing USA record but will not be recorded as she was not a dues paying USA Track and Field member at the time.
Your WebMeister wants to brag a bit!!
For the past four or five years I have been working on a book that is more of an anthology than an autobiography. Back in August it was published on Amazon as an E-Book. The Title is “Travails With Charlie (And Apologies to Steinbeck)”.
It can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/TRAVAILS-CHARLIE-Charles-Hall-III-ebook/dp/B0B9X87KZL .
If you have problems, please let me know and I will try to help you.
It’s not meant to be read cover-to-cover like a summer beach pot-boiler but rather to be dipped into from time-to-time to see what Ole Charlie has written about on some topic from the Table of Contents that seems interesting. But, of course, the reader is free to read as he/she likes. I welcome any comments that might spring to mind!
I have enjoyed the writing and I hope that you enjoy the reading! Here’s the cover:
