Here are some pictures from the Dark Ages Black Tie Dinner and Dance held in San Diego on February 21^st.  I’m the chapter President here and we had VADM Bob Harward as our guest speaker.  Pictures show 79 group (l-r Doyle Thomas, Tim Dumbauld, John Doswell, Mike Mowins SD Chapter President, VADM Bob Harward, Jim Fawcett), Mowins and Harward (VADM Bob Harward, Elsie Mowins, Mike Mowins), Fawcett and Harward (VADM Harward, Jim “Bullet” Fawcett, Tawn Nguyen), VADM Harward and daughter Maggie.  We had over 200 alumni, guests and friends turn out for a great night at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for cocktails, dinner, VADM Harward’s speech and dancing.  A great West Coast start to the 30^th celebrations. 

Michael Mowins '79, President, San Diego Chapter, USNA Alumni

Beginning last winter, our classmates undertook to fund the restoration of an old sign in the yard of the Newport Rhode Island Elks Lodge, in partnership with the Elks. 15 June was the culmination of that project, with several of us from 9th Company traveling to Newport to celebrate Flag Day and the unveiling of the new sign with our new friends at Elks Lodge 104. In attendance were Doug Patton, Gary Stahl, Don Brummett, Scott Pursley and Jeff Lemmons.

As background, USNA was moved to this location in 1861, the former site of the Atlantic House Hotel, in central Newport. The reason for the move was that the Union feared the Rebs might capture the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. The USS Constitution boarded all the mids then sailed to Newport to relocate them at the Atlantic House Hotel. Once they arrived, all the upperclassmen were immediately drafted into the wartime Navy. The plebes remained. USNA operated here until the war was over. The Atlantic House Hotel was torn down and replaced with a beautiful Victorian home, which is now the domain of the Elks Lodge 104. Our mission was to replace the sign commemorating the site, since it was in very poor condition.

What was most rewarding was the seriousness with which these local citizens treated Flag Day and the partnership with us. There were emotional speeches about the history of the American Flag, a color guard presentation by local Sea Cadets, a Flag presentation by a Boy Scout Troop, a very professional "retiring" of the Flag by high school kids in Sea Cadet uniform, the singing of old patriotic songs. (I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't remember all of the words).

Our classmate, and my former roommate Admiral Jeff Lemmons, spoke of the special naval heritage of USNA and Newport. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse spoke of the maritime heritage of Rhode Island. It was truly a Rockwellian experience, and one that filled us with appreciation not only for our country's history, but also for the good people of Newport.

I suspect you may feel all this sounds corny, but the whole experience was very moving and totally rewarding. It was also a great excuse for us 79ers to get together once again.

Annie and I are looking forward to next year’s 30th reunion!

Regards, Greg Costello ‘79

We had a great flight and here is a good pic of two '79 guys, Mike Foreman and I right after landing at KSC and a few others. Mike did great, did 3 spacewalks of the 5 we performed! It was a challenging mission- the busiest of the 4 I've had. We had a night launch and night landing, 5 EVAs, more robotics than any flight and it was the longest to the ISS so far at 16 days. It took a couple weeks to catch up on our sleep! It was also the most rewarding flight I could imagine with a super crew.  

Wendy says I'm done after this one! Our son Andrew is heading to USNA in July so we will be there to drop him off and then return to a quiet house. Wendy just became the Exec. Director of our local Habitat for Humanity organization so she is busy and our daughter, Kim is finishing her junior year at Davidson College. I actually called Kim from the space station while Davidson was beating Georgetown in the NCAA tournament- I think she was more excited about the game than getting a call from space!