Charleston, Maine
Newsletter |
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REUNION 2000 A GREAT SUCCESS The weather in
Bangor was perfect for the whole weekend. Fifty-eight
people got together at Pilots Grill on Friday evening
July 14th. On Saturday close to 90 people enjoyed the
tastey buffet catered by Steve's Stagecoach Catering
Service, plus we had other friends who stopped by just to
say hi and talk about life on the Hill.
GOOD NEWS! Judging from this year's turnout, we have
outgrown the sma]l Air Guard Club and during the next
year or so the Committee will be looking for a larger
facility! As soon as a date for 2002 Reunion is
chosen, you will be advised. Encourage your friends to
attend. You have two years to work on them! FOUND CAFSers Harry & Elissa
Durando Bill Johnson
Bob & Dot Goodwin
John Federowicz
Raymond C. Thatcher
John Ledoe Jr
Eugene Furden
Larry K. Phillips
William A. Evans Jr
nsmithl@mediaone.net!
Charles Donoho
Richard & Carolyn
Sprinkle Morris M. Cannon
DONATIONS FOR NEWSLETTER
Ronald & Mary
Fowle
OUR ONLY CHANGE OF ADDRESS It appears that the EGERS' have moved "south", further south in Maine, that is. Here's their new address, after living in the Bangor area and in Bangor Gardens for umpteen years. Lloyd & Judy
Egers
SAD NEWS I am
writing to inform you of the death of my husband Wendell
L. Golden, on Jan 1, 2000. He was stationed at
Dow Field and moved to Charleston Air Force Station in
1951. He left there in Feb 1952 for Korea. He always
enjoyed the newsletters and hoped to attend the reunion
some day, Sincerely Evelyn Golden,
10409 Shannon Pl, El Paso TX 79925-1622."
"I received the notice of the reunion. My husband LTC William S. Perry, passed away April 16, 1999. I am now living with my daughter Peg in Attleboro, Ma. It has been a very tough year. They say time helps. Thank you, Leona F. Perry, 79 Fairway Dr, Attleboro, Ma 02703." (Note LTC Perry was a great
supporter of 765th RADS/Det 6 reunions and attended
many. As Commander from 1956-1957
he was well liked and respected by his troops.)
It's with
great sadness I tell you of the passing of my husband, Maurice
J. Williams, on May 17th. He had a
very aggressive form of cancer and was gone in just 6
weeks after being diagnosed. Bill
Richardson was stationed at CAFS with
us. He suffered a stroke in 1998 and
subsequently died in 1999. His wife
Pat's address is 1515 Charmuth Rd, Lutherville
MD 21093." "To
let you all know that Mary E Haddock, wife of
Barry Haddock, born June 13, 1934, Larned,
Kansas, died October 30, 1999, Ferndale,
Washington. They were at CAFS in 1968. She
introduced John and I. She worked at Mayo in
Dover."
CAFSers NEWS The following e-mail was
received by Dick Cynewski, alias Dickieputt:
---------------- On May 9th Pauline got a phone call from an excited John Federowicz who had just got wind of the Charleston Reunions. He specifically asked for Paul Kelley and on looking over the list Pauline asked if he also knew Ron Brody from the mid-60's. He laughed and said what a coincidence it was mentioning Ron! The story he related concerned Ron and a '58 Ford Fairlane with a blown engine. That would have been a good one for the Reunion! -------------
"Sorry it's taken so long to respond to you
folks. Seems we're always here, there and
everywhere. Enclosed is a small donation for
help with the newsletter. We appreciate all
you folks have been doing over the years and even though
I don't recognize a lot of the names, it's good to know
that there are still so many CAFSers around. Karen and I
still live in DoverFoxcroft, although we both work in
Bangor. I'm still involved with the military,
as I'm working at the ANG Base and loving
it. Karen works for a mental health
agency and she, too, loves her job. When we
left CAFS in Sept '75 (headed for Italy) we were
relative newlyweds and childless. We now have
2 grown sons and one granddaughter. Don't know where the
time goes.., but of course, we still look the
same! Hoping to make the July reunion if we
are still ambulatory as we are supposed to raft down the
Penobscot River on the 14th!! Until then, best regards to
all and keep up the great job." --------------- "Guess it's about
time for me to dig into the cookie jar for a few more
coins for the newsletter. Things got screwed up
this year. Somehow this reunion and my high
school class reunion DID NOT END UP FALLING ON THE SAME
WEEKEND though they still fall in the same
year. Therefore, it appears that if the old
bod holds together we will be able to make both
events. My high school reunion is being held
on the weekend after the CAFS reunion.
Heavens, I'll have to take a vacation to rest up after
all the excitement. |
E-MAIL MESSAGES The following messages were received by
Woody via e-mail: ---------------- "I can
hardly believe that the 765th has a web page. I have
spent days attempting to find info on the radar sites
where I was stationed. I was at Charleston AFS from
5/69-8/70 and was a training instructor for Weapons
Director Technicians in BUIC III Operations. When I read
about the upcoming Reunion 2000, I could hardly believe
my good fortune. Also I read in the latest newsletter a
note from Bob Pare who was my CO. Please add me to
your mailing list. Also send me the latest newsletter, an
application for Reunion 2000, and the personnel
roster." ------------- We received an
e-mail from Morris Cannon and hadn't heard from
him for a long time. You'll find his address and email a
few pages back. His AFSC was 29150, and says his NCOIC
was SMSgt Joseph Mitchell, OIC was a CWO Cobb,
Capt Davenport was the admin officer. -------------------- "I
was stationed with Det 5, 14 MWS at Fort Fisher AFS NC
from 77-80. In fact that was my first assignment as a
276X0 and I was on the crew that deactivated the Fuzzy-7.
Do you have a list of folks that might attend the
reunion?" ---------------- "My name
is Bill Betrus. I was stationed at Charleston AFS from
August 1971-April 1974. I'd be interested in information
about the reunion, who's going so far, what's planned,
and so on." ------------- "I saw
your notice in the DAV Magazine. I was stationed up at
Dow AFB from 57-65. I worked as a Steward Supervisor at
the NCO Club. The name is SSgt Hank Sokolovlch. Does that
ring a bell with you? Would be interested in hearing from
you. Do remember your outfit. Sure miss the Air Force and
especially Dow. Great place and great people. In the
civilian population. Hope to hear from you soon."
(Note: Both Woody and Joe attempted to contact Hank at his E-mail address but the messages came back!) ---------------- "Just saw
your reunion notice in the Air Force Magazine a few days
ago. As things now stand, I am booked through September
of 2000 so attendance at the Charleston reunion is out
for me. I have attended two 49FIS reunions in the
last few years and they were enjoyable enough to make the
notion of unit reunions seem attractive to me. I
was in the 49F1S at Dow in 1954/55 as a young LT getting
my weapons control direction from Wild Bill at Charleston
as I recall, then the squadron was sent to
Hanscom. In 1971 I was back in the area as
the group Commander at Charleston at what was then an
Aerospace Defense Group which included a few remnants
of DOW. It was my first command and easily
my most interesting and enjoyable
one. We loved living in
Dover-Foxcroft and we have many fond memories of
those days. MORE FROM THE MAILBAG....... "Wish we could
be there in July. Hope it is a roaring success. We would
be there if we were not involved so in promoting the Green
Party in Tenn. We will be delegates to the G . P.
Convention in June -- as retirees, can't afford two big
trips in one year. We are grateful for the newsletters
although not much news about people we knew while we were
there - 1967-1973. We had a great visit with Mary and
Steve Wood from New Hampshire this spring. Steve had
a "civilianTDY" job in Atlanta.
Mary came with him and paid us a visit. Chuck Donaho and
family live here in Lebanon. Their oldest
son, Haley, is a Captain in the Air Force at present in
Kuwait. Don't see them very
often. We talk with David Seals via
e-mail fairly frequently. He and Peg live in
Kingsport. Dean and Carolyn Sprinkle still
live in Phoenix, Arizona. We have looked at
the Delp family's website. Sincerely, Beverly & Dan Sweeton '66-'73 Lebanon, Tennessee ------------- "Hi, Here's
something ($$) to keep the newsletter coming. We really
enjoy reading it. See you at the reunion. ----------------- "Have
been meaning to write you forever. You all are
doing a great job with the newsletter. Very
informative. I guess the last time I made personal
contact with anyone was the Dayton reunion but I am
planning to attend the reunion this year at Bangor
barring any unforeseen events. I
do try to keep in touch with Danvllie & Beverly
Sweeton, Junior Clark in Corinth, and Ben Cusumano in
Ohio. Enclosed is a check to help with
some of the newsletter costs. I would start
telling "Charleston stories" but it might be
difficult to stop, so I'll just look forward to seeing
everyone in about a month." ----------------
"Regret to miss "Our Reunion". Going
to Oregon to meet daughter and son-in-law in Tillamook
for a week. They have part of their business
there. -------------------
"Thanks for the Charleston newsletter. We are
thinking seriously about the reunion. I'm in touch
with another Charleston Hill guy from
California. His name is Leon Snyder.
He was assigned to the gap fillers while
there. He tells me there is a lady in Corinth
that he orders Soldier Beans from every year.-- 40 lbs at
a time. Now that is a lot of beans."
------------------
"Bill will not be attending the reunion .. he is
still in the hospital after his second cardiac surgery
since January. He's doing ok and should be
home soon. Enclosed is a check as a donation.
Please keep us on your mailing list." ATOP THE HILL by Cpl Arn Shein In accounting
for the Charleston Hill Personnel who reside at
Dover-Foxcroft last week, we mistakenly overlooked Sgt
and Mrs. Robert Koke. The omission was particularly
noted since Sgt Koke was among the 1st airmen to
"hang his hat" in this community. [Submitted by Bill Larrabee '51-'53] FUTURE OF GREAT POND Occasionally someone
will ask the Committee about Dow Pines and what the
government has done with it. Up until now, not much
has been known here in the civilian world.
But on October 5th, the Bangor Daily News ran an article
concerning the fact that it is difficult to figure out
WHO is responsible for Dow Pines and what will become of
that beautiful piece of real estate. "..a Cold War relic, and
its owner, the U. S. government, looks a bit like a
befuddled landlord who can't seem to find the key to the
front door. The article continues, "But a federal or state agency looking to take ownership may have some difficulty because the federal government's landlord -- called the General Services Administration -- isn't sure what part of the Air Force has oversight of Dow Pines." The News even called Air Force
public affairs and nobody at the public affairs office
had ever heard of Dow Pines or Great Pond,
Maine! Some government agency must have
control over it, to continue to reserve camping spots,
cabins, and lodges, to assure the proper individuals are
using it, etc, but no one seems to be able to come up
with the office in charge of getting rid of this
"excess property" . We are sure
there are lots of people who would just love to own that
piece of land. CAN'T FIND A THING!! In 1999 we started
moving across the street out of our mobile home and into
Mother's farm. August 2000 saw the move
completed into a house and barn which was already
occupied by someone. Talk about
difficult. Moving into an empty house would
be a piece of cake! The question is,
how long can we live out of boxes .... how long is it
going to take to find everything! Even
finding the toothpaste and household utensils has been a
big chore. Don't expect to come to the house
and find an empty chair in which to sit.
Those things have to be planned in advance! Pauline Sodermark '74-'79
REUNION 2002 Those of you who attended the 2000 Reunion and have the "inactive list" are asked to personally contact one of those listed and get them enthused over coming to Maine in 2002. REUNION COMMITTEE Joe Mizda Ted Robinson Peter Caristi Woody Breedlove Pauline Sodermark Volunteers: Greg Hildreth, Margaret
McKinney, Becky Robinson, Chuck |
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