CLASS OF 1963
Pres:  Stephen M. Duncan
Sec'y: Michael H. Shelley
25 Sweetwater Lane, Pisgah Forest, NC 28768
h: 828-862-4245  e: Class.Secretary@USNA63.org
Web site: www.USNA63.org

      The Class extends its sympathies to Barbara and Glenn Takabayashi, whose son Keith Takabayashi '91 was killed in an automobile accident in Mexico on 6 November.  Glenn and Barbara reside at 18472 Hillhaven Drive, Santa Ana CA 92705-2126; their phone number is 714-633-8111. 

 I couldn't resist sending this picture of the four rowing studs from '63.  Yes, there is a full head of hair under each of those ball caps.  This July, Dick Omohundro, Mike Pero, Craig Thrasher, and I joined with our "firsties," Sal Perry and Pete Boss from the Navy 1960 Olympic crew, to compete in the Royal Henley Veteran's Regatta on the Thames River in England.  We are all part of the Navy Masters Rowing Club (NMRC) which, along with some 90-plus other former USNA crew jocks, have been meeting at regattas across the U.S. and Europe since the club's conception in 1989.  The brainchild of Craig Thrasher, the NMRC was formed to reconnect old friendships and to support USNA rowing.  Wearing Navy colors just like the old days, the fearless eight bettered the time of last year's World Champion Masters Crew from Munich to record the regatta's second best time (in our age group) behind a strong crew from the UK.  Under the leadership of Craig Thrasher and Dick Omohundro, a capital campaign was initiated last year, in cooperation with the NAAA and the USNA Alumni Association, to establish an endowment for Navy Crew.

Some additional information from Dick Omohundro is that Craig Thrasher is President of the Navy Masters Rowing Club and that the NMRC was to field an eight in the Head of the Charles races in Boston on 24 October.  Dick also commented on the excellent web site devoted to our classmate Jim Patterson at www.prisoner-of-war.com.  If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look soon. 

 Homecoming 1999 was not nearly as grand as our 35th Reunion last year, but many members the Class of 1963 were in Annapolis for the weekend.  Among the folks I saw at the football game, most with their ladies, were Jeff Miles, Dave Robinson, Joel Gardner, Bill Earner, Brev Moore, Frank Gregory, Chuck Maclin, Dick Arvedlund, Steve Duncan, Jim Metcalfe, Tony DeSantis, Norm Shackelton, and Dave Honhart.  The pre-game flyover by three F/A-18 Hornets from VFA-97 was especially noteworthy because one of the pilots was Robert Moore '94, son of our classmate Brev Moore.  Talk about a proud papa!

     I left the service as an O-3 in '67 after tours on DD-745 and DDG-15.  My last job was CIC on the Berkeley, a position that was personally quite rewarding.  As it seemed as if the whole wardroom was in CIC during hostile fire operations, I was chosen to drive.  I still have vivid memories of those huge columns of water that appeared around us on occasion.  Luck would have it that we avoided a direct hit but there sure was a lot of metal to sweep off the decks after GQ.
    I entered business school at USC in the fall of '67 and graduated in '69 with an MBA in Finance.  I went to work for IBM that fall and was a Marketing Rep with manufacturing and distribution customers after what seemed to be years of schooling.  I joined an investment banking firm in '72 and worked to develop institutional performance measurement for money management firms.  After a while I joined one of my clients and had a short career in investment counseling.
    In 1978 I was married to Beth Davis, a childhood friend, and after a six month period of driving into downtown Los Angeles for my investment job I joined her family company which was in the ranching, farming, and cable television business.  Our cable systems were spread out across the country and we decided to focus on the farming and ranching side.  In 1984 Beth and I separated our holdings from those of the rest of the family and I became Farmer Richard.  Would you believe that I am a sod farmer?  We also grow specimen trees, ground covers, wildflowers and shrubs for the landscape industry.  We operate production facilities throughout California and Nevada.  We sell our stuff all over the country, however.  We actually shipped a soccer field to Detroit for the soccer World Cup.  One of our specialties is sports fields, so we do quite a bit of the stadiums and golf courses in the West.  We also grow some food crops.  For example, up in the Sacramento Delta we operate an asparagus ranch.
    I have managed to accumulate five children along the way.  I have two girls and three boys ranging from 20 to 28.  One of the boys is my son Raul whom we fostered 19 years ago.  He was in the war zone in El Salvador when we got him into the States.  He is in the reptile import business and living in Madrid with his new wife, Maria, a truly wonderful girl.  My youngest son, 20, in still in college where we live here in Santa Barbara.  Our youngest daughter, 24, is in Nepal working on a research and film project concerning, would you believe, women Sherpas.  My oldest daughter, 27, is an EMT in the emergency room at the local hospital and my oldest natural son, 27, is in business school having already completed the first two levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualifications while he was working in the investment management business after undergrad at Berkeley.
    I have been busy in extracurricular activities having just left the California Board of Forestry as Chair of Forest Practice for the past six years.  I have spent 12 years on the board of trustees of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden having been the President for the last three years.  I also sit as President of a group of CEO's of the largest companies in the green industry here in California.
As for sporting activity, Beth and I love to ski at our place in Snowbird Utah.  I also joined up with the Navy Masters crew team a few years back and had a ball trying to keep as fit as all of those guys.  Rowing again with our classmates was an amazing experience that sent a flood of fond memories.  Speaking of the crew, if you have not heard Craig Thrashers' CD, Adirondack Friends, you should.  It is wonderful.
    I got into Olympic sailing back in 1974 and sailed several types of boats ending up with an undefeated Flying Dutchman season in '79/'80 only to have our own Jimmy Carter cancel the U.S. out of the 1980 Olympics.  Grrrrr.  I stayed with it and in 1984 with my ocean racer, The Shadow, I won Class A in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference held in and around Florida and the Bahamas.
    My true sports love for the last 20 years has been flyfishing.  I have focused on ocean flats flyfishing and have managed to land a few of the illusive Permit with a Grand Slam or two thrown in.  I do, however, love Alaska.  Mike Bonsignore and I went up to Bristol Bay Lodge last year.  He had never been up there but that didn't slow him down any.  One day on the Agolawok River he landed every type of fish that existed in that steam.  Amazing!  By the way, while it is true that he has attained exalted status in the business world, our classmates should be comforted to know that his nose still holds up a spoon quite well.  

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    When I solicited participants for our Northern Virginia Multiple Sclerosis bike ride early in the spring, Charlie Gosnell  noted that he was a regular participant in the Delaware MS ride each October and extended an invitation for company.  With 100 miles of Northern Virginia hills immediately in front of me, I said I would check and see if I was alive after completing that ride. As it turned out, my  recovery was still rapid enough (or my memory bad enough) to make it interesting.
I had a variety of "honey do's" that consumed Saturday, but managed to rise at an extremely early hour on Sunday, 3 October, and drive from Annapolis to meet Charlie at 0730 in Dewey Beach, Delaware.  Charlie already had 75 miles under his belt (or wherever), the weather was fine if a bit cool, and the day turned into a fine effort for MS.  The scenery isn't as spectacular as that in Virginia, but the limited view is only because the terrain is flat, which is not that bad a problem.  The one real difference was that teams all traveled in tight lines in order to draft and stay out of the headwinds.  It's rather a dicey prospect if you don't keep a VERY good eye on the rear wheel of the rider ahead.  (Who knows, maybe that had something to do with not noticing all the scenery.)  It was very different from the radical speed differences during the Virginia ride's uphills (old guys slow) and downhills (heavy guys fast).

    After graduation I was assigned to USS STRIBLING in Mayport , FL -- served there six months and was sent to ASW School in Key West -- back to the ship for another 12-plus months before being accepted for Destroyer School (class 14 ).  After one miserable winter in Rhode Island, I decided that Florida was a lot better place to serve, so off we went back to Mayport for a tour on USS GOODRICH as Chief Engineer ( suddenly developed a liking for the snipes ) followed by two years on USS AMERICA and then Civilian Land ( April 69 ) to work for Shell Oil Co.  By then Hilda and I had two children ( Maria and Tony Jr. ) and they were followed by a third child in '72  (Michele).
    I started for Shell in New Jersey as a Construction and Maintenance Supervisor but within two years they asked us to move to New York ( I thought I was back in the Navy with the two year move.) . In the meantime, I had started night school and completed those studies in New York with a BS in Civil Engineering and an MBA in Management . We lived on Long Island for six years and in 1977 they asked us  to move to Houston, Texas, and try my hand at working in a Chemical plant. That was a lot of fun and hard work, so in three years I was off to working in the Ivory Tower as one of those Head Office types.
    I have been here now 22 years and progressed through many positions in both Oil and Chemical groups and finally moved into the International marine world and have loved every minute of the last 10 years .  With 30 years with the company and with a great retirement incentive package, I have decided that it is time to go do something else.
    We live in  Missouri City, near Houston. The family has spread out with Maria in California and Tony Jr. and Michele in Houston , so with my upcoming retirement I will have more time to dedicate to them.  No grandchildren yet but hopefully some will come sooner rather than later. 

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    On 1 October, Larry Marsh assumed the position of Executive Vice President of the Olmsted Foundation in Falls Church, Virginia.
 
    Perry Miles, who's now working on a downtown redevelopment project in Knoxville, TN, supplements our recent news that Ron Terwilliger is the new Chairman of the Urban Land Institute.  Perry reports that Jim DeFrancia is Vice President – Secretary of ULI and presumably is on track to rotate into the Chairman's slot a few years hence.

    I am now on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee for Government Reform's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.  I am the "Special Counsel", which is just a term for "professional staff".  Our job is to oversee how the agencies for which we have responsibility spend the money which Congress raises for them and to watch out for any fraud, waste or abuse.  I am to be the person for the human resources part, which includes HUD, HHS, Education and what ever else someone can think to squeeze in.  The work is fascinating and the people are terrific - although I would guess the average age of a staffer is approximately 26.  In any event, I am employed doing something I enjoy.

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    It was on 6 July, 40 years to the day that I and many of us first arrived in Annapolis prior to being sworn in the next day.  I'm lucky that Ike married my father's sister.  Among my contacts with him over many years, my father and his class (Pop was one of Charlie Minter's room mates in '37), and our great group I feel I have touched, and in some small way been involved with, U.S. naval history of the last two-thirds of this century.  It makes a fella feel proud.
    The funeral was a marvelous, moving affair.  It gave me great pleasure to be able to introduce my son to the current CNO and some of his predecessors.  It was both uplifting and amusing to hear the serious, the light hearted, and the loving comments that come from great men who came through fire together, had high respect for one another and shared a great love for this country.
    An interesting note of USNA historical interest.  Ike's father, RADM I. C. Kidd, USNA '06, lost his first child, a daughter, at childbirth in 1912.  As apparently was allowed in those days he arranged with the Naval Academy cemetery to establish a family plot.  Until this week I had not been aware of it.  But high on the hill there at Hospital Point Ike's eldest son pointed out the four corner markers, labeled ICK, which are the only evidence of the graves of Ike's sister and his mother.  I assume his father will sleep forever in the ARIZONA.  I didn't ask the family but I hope they will now erect a marker for the family site.
     One last comment.  After the interment I walked with my father to the grave of  RADM "Mac" McCorkle.  Pop commanded the destroyer in which Mac had his DesDiv staff embarked when they accepted the surrender of Sasebo. Pop and I had attended Mac's funeral, but Pop had never seen the headstone.  I visit that site whenever I'm in Annapolis.  Among the emotions I experience are pride, gratitude and thanks for what we have. 

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    Let me hear from YOU soon, sir!
   

This column posted:    21 November 1999

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