2011 Class Notes #2

Brother Rats,

Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of our class notes. I hope your 2011 is off to a great start!

It’s been great to hear from a number of you, and I encourage everyone to drop me a line or give me a call and let me know what you are up to.

Mike Lythgoe checked in from Boulder, Colorado, where he and his wife Amy and three daughters (Corinne, Celeste and Calista) are living the good life in ski country. Mike is working with the state of Colorado helping to improve school and university safety for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Mike is also a doctoral candidate through Virginia Tech, which he hopes to finish next year. Three daughters, working on your doctorate and protecting the youth of Colorado – impressive Mike!

Mike also relayed that his roommate Tim Haynie recently moved to Colorado Springs, and they are looking forward to spending some time together – although perhaps not in the same room this go round. If you’re in the area, give them a call; and Mike can show you some of the wonderful local breweries in Boulder. (My favorite: Left Hand Brewing Company)

Speaking of four women in your life, I heard from Gray Riddick. Gray and his wife April are the proud parents of three daughters and are stationed at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. Gray is the Commanding Officer of the 71st Special Operations Squadron which flies CV-22 Ospreys. If I recall, those go up, down and sideways at fairly high speeds – much better than flying a desk. Gray is scheduled to be at the Air War College this summer.

I found my way to Gray through his co-dyke, Sal Bora. Sal checked in from El Paso, Texas, where he is in the private sector and with the Arizona Air National Guard. Sal’s a flyer by trade but is currently working an office gig with the Arizona Guard’s command center.

When not on guard duty, Sal is the Juarez Mexico Plant Director for Foxconn Technology Group. This role has allowed Sal to collaborate with Eliot Assimakopolous on a General Electric lighting project. As we all know, Juarez is a dangerous part of the world right now so we’ll keep you in our thoughts.

When Sal checked in, he and his wife were headed off on a Caribbean cruise, then off to Phoenix for Christmas and then back in time for skiing in New Mexico. His most rewarding trip, however, will come later this year when he and his wife head off to Chicago where Sal’s twin daughters – Ana and Maggie – will be graduating from the University of Illinois Chicago. Congratulations to Ana and Maggie!

Also in Texas is my rat roommate Bill Ator, who I got the chance to catch up with via phone not too long ago. Bill and Suzy and their three kids (ages 15, 13, and 11) are living in San Antonio. His oldest son is a 5”11, 215 pound freshmen, who recently won his football team’s weightlifting contest. Perhaps his son will be joining the Keydets soon – let’s hope so!

Bill is stationed at Randolph AFB, where he is a Branch Chief running crisis operations action teams for the command’s generals. I’m sure I butchered up that description but, in short, I think Bill runs the place when the crap hits the fan.

Bill just went over 19 years and is starting to contemplate his next move in or out of the Air Force. It sounds like he’s up for one more assignment, which he’ll have worked out here soon. The Ator’s get together fairly regularly with the Feagan’s, Dick’s, and Moushegan’s and report those families are all doing well.

I got a great note from Daren Payne, who has been a busy man indeed. Darren is living in Daphne, Alabama, where he works as the Deputy Commander of the Mobile District for the Army Corps of Engineers. Prior to this role, Daren did a tour in Iraq which ended last July.

In October, Daren married Leigh Ann Woods of Stafford, Virginia. Daren and Leigh Ann were friends in high school growing up. Daren’s duty in Iraq prevented him from attending our 20th, but Leigh Ann and Daren landed at VMI this past fall after their wedding and took in a football game. Daren shared his concern with our lack of football wins, and I can’t disagree. Seems we can’t find the recipe to put a winning football team on the field. I’d be interested if others share our concern.

Right before these notes were going to print, I received a note from Louis del Valle, who, at this writing, was heading out on an eight to ten month deployment to Afghanistan for the Marines. Louis will be in the Helmand Province area and our thoughts and payers are with you.

Luis does not have a direct email account on deployment. However, if you’re interested in writing Luis, you can create an account at www.motomail.us and send him email through this Marine service. I have his mailing address if you’re interested as well. Drop me an email, and I will send it to you.

We wish Luis and all of our BRs in the military our best! Thanks for your sacrifice and service.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed being class agent. It’s great to hear from folks, so keep the cards, emails, and photos coming!

Rob

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