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POLARIS MISSILE FACILITY, ATLANTIC29 March 1960 - 05 January 1995 |
It's get-together time again. Please try to attend. We will again meet at the Dorchester Boat Club on April 14th at 2:00 PM for a catered barbecue meal. We will have barbecue pork and chicken with all the fixings plus dessert. Kelly's barbecue will be the caterer. The price per person will be $8.00 which includes the meal plus renting the boat club. Send your check to Mary Adams, 821 N. Palmetto Street, Summerville, SC 29483 by April 6th.
Cindy and Mark Dixon have a new baby boy (Ian) born on the 17th of January at 11:31am. He weighed 8lbs,13ozs and was 21 inches long. Their son, Joey, is nine and delighted to have a new brother. They live in Canal Winchester, OH.
We have made several trips to Sea World, Busch Gardens, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom and today to Animal Kingdom. As you can tell we like the parks. Some of you may remember that I worked in "Disney World" for a long time!! Ha.Ha. Anyway most of the parks are no further away than the distance from Summerville to Charleston. Going to watch the launch tomorrow even though we can get a good view from the house. About 60 miles. This launch should be beautiful as it will be at sunset with the sun to our backs. I watched an earlier launch early one morning which was very nice. One could see the bright flames in the dark and the changing color as it rose up into the arc of the Sun. I have a web site which has some POMFLANT photos. Have made several web sites for the GA State Parks. The web site address is: http://www.members.tripod.com/paulandrachel. Our address is 1597 London Court, Kissimmee, FL 34746. Our mailing address is: 3590 Roundbottom Road PMB F154239, Cincinnati, OH 45244. That's about it for now.”
Jim continues to research his family background and complains that Pat finds hers much too easy. Jim's search made it possible for him to join the S.A.R. last year. Pat is a member of the D.A.R. and urged-on by Anne Spear, is working on documentation for numerous other genealogical societies. Her quest has taken several of her ancestry lines back to the 1400's in England and Germany. They are having great fun.
Speaking of family, theirs continues to grow. All their 6 children are married and 5 live in the tri-county area. Jim's daughter, Olga lives in Melbourne Beach, FL. Of those 5 living in this area, they have 10 grandchildren. Jim has 2 granddaughters and 2 grandsons. Pat has 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter (included is a step-grandson currently a freshman at Clemson).
While in Alabama for almost 6 years, Pat took charcoal classes at the University of North Alabama to relieve her stress from work and discovered that she could draw a little. Imagine that! After much encouragement from Jim, she began watercolor classes. Since her retirement and return to Charleston, in addition, she has become interested in the art of polymer clay and is making dolls/jewelry, etc. She also has remained interested in quilting and decorative sewing. So far, these endeavors have been for the enjoyment of her family and friends, but maybe some day you'll see her "stuff" for sale.
They bought 4.5 acres on top of Hogback Mountain (Brushy Ridge) in Tryon, NC five years ago. They have two spectacular views - one of the valley (towards Spartanburg) and one of the mountains (toward Hendersonville). They are currently making plans to have it cleared; the road put in; and a cabin built.
Jim spent a year as Treasurer of the Charleston Artists Guild and is now Secretary of the James Island Dance Club. He just can't seem to say "NO"!
Jim loves working on the computer. So much so, that he had to buy Pat one just so she could use it occasionally. He also spends a lot of time just "keeping the house up." Seems there are always things to do. They have a 55 gallon freshwater fish aquarium and Bill Brandhorst liked it so much that he and Betty bought one for saltwater fish.
The Gallahorns' are in a supper club with Anne and John Spear, Sheria and Joe Alexander, and Betty and Bill Brandhorst. The group hopes to begin traveling a little next year, probably first to Europe. Retirement is GREAT!
We'll be going to our 13th straight ship's reunion of the USS WHITEHURST (DE-634) in Knoxville in June.
And many of us former POMFLANT employees still get together for breakfast each week. Since they closed Shoney's on Ashley Phosphate Road, we now meet at 9:30 each Wednesday at Luz's Cafe (on Remount Road, next to Parks Auto). We usually have anywhere from 6 to 15 people, and recently A. R. Brown joined us (he was down from his home in Iva, SC).
We stay in relatively good health (thanks to God), and are looking forward to seeing everyone at the April get-together.
Son, Joel is in Galveston. He travels worldwide troubleshooting microwave communications equipment. Son, Jared continues a successful career as a lawyer in Beaufort, SC. We have our two grandsons each summer…they attend the Space Camp at the US Space Center here. They love it!
So long for now, we wish good health and good luck to all our Navy and Lockheed friends.
On September, we flew from Charleston to Mildenhall, England and spent four days in London. Saw the musical Phantom of the Opera. It was our fourth trip to London and our fourth musical. Saw Chicago, Cats, and Les Miserables during previous trips. We never tire of England and have visited the country thoroughly including Scotland. Leaving London, we rode the EuroStar through the tunnel to Brussels and stayed in the town of Brugge just outside of Brussels. It is a beautiful place to visit. We then took the train over to Amsterdam and stayed in the village of Haarlem. Visited the Van Gogh museum and took a boat ride on the canal. Next we trained over to Paris and down to Amboise in the Lorre area of France. This area is famous for it's chateaus and we saw enough of them to last a lifetime. Rode the train back to Paris and then down to the Provence area in Avignon and Aries. This is a spectacular area of France with many Roman ruins and wonderful local people. Next we trained on up to the Burgundy area and stayed at Beaune which is close to Dijon. Beaune is famous for the wine vineyards. We had a fantastic half day tour of the countryside and sampled the local wines. We also spent one day in Dijon and saw the famous mustard shop and a few cathedrals. We were going to end up in Paris, but since we had already been there once before Anne decided that she would like to visit Switzerland. That was the right decision!! We trained on over to Lusanne which is on the west side of Lake Geneva (we had been to Evian on the east side last year). It is beautiful beyond description there and I mean it!! We visited Vevey and Bern while in the area. We made our way back to Ramstein, Germany and caught a C17 cargo airplane back to Charleston SC on 21 October, with a fueling stop in Gander Bay, Newfoundland. Our wanderings lasted exactly one month. We are currently working on plans to fly to St. Croix for a weekend, then to Maine for the month of July, then back to Italy for the month of October. We spent a month in Italy last year and loved it.
Ron had emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder on 26 February. The surgery was very extensive. He was on the operarting table for over 4 hours, although he had expected 1/2 hour. The gall bladder was full of stones and the two at the tip were gangrenous. As a result they had to do a large cleanup of surrounding tissue and also added was the scar tissue and lesions from his cancer surgery of 1982. He was on oxygen, IV, antibiotics, had pressure cuffs on his legs and went in and out of it, for the next several days. His agonizing pain started on Saturday the 24th, at 1000 PM. He could not sleep and was walking around the garage, lying down, on all fours, in the bed, etc., trying to get comfortable, by Sunday the pain was so intense he was unable to take a deep breath. I called the doctor and he said to go to the emergency room immediately. We got there at 2:30 PM Sunday and they finally checked Ron into a room on Monday morning at 2:00 AM.
They scheduled the surgery on Monday. He is upset that the incision is like the cancer one of 1982, from his nipples to his pelvic bone, but I tried to humor him and tell him that he now had his own railroad tracks. He closed his eyes and went back to sleeping, so I guess he did not like my answer.
The doctor said he should be there 3 or 4 days. Ron wanted to see the staples to see if he again had 41, but did not want to remove the dressing just yet. The doctor said it was the worst gall bladder he had seen in a very long time, and that Ron was a very sick person, but should mend in time.
Ron came home on 01 March at 500 PM. They took out the IV, gave us some prescriptions and sent us home with instructions. He is to stay still and not lift anything for 4-6 weeks. He went to the doctor on the 8th to have his 38 staples checked and removed. His spirits are good, but he is very, very tired and sore. The healing has begun. Ron's friend Ed stayed here with him during the week for me, so I could return to work.
He is working on the computer when he can. He cannot wait to see you all at the get together in April.
Since our last newsletter, I have received information that the following have died:
Barbara Stout - died in October 2000. She had cancer for many years. Barbara worked in the Operations Planning Department.
Joe Inman - died in October 2000. Joe was an inspector in the MIB/NDTIB. He lived in Broomfield, IN.
Bruce Meadows - died of a heart attack in October 2000. He lived in Otranto and was 49 years of age. He was stationed at POMFLANT from 1971-1973 and 1977-1978. He worked in the REB Division.
Jim Simpson - died of a heart attack in the last year. He retired from SWFPAC but was employed at POMFLANT from the mid 70's. He was in the Supply Department.
Bobby Wayne McBride - died in January 2001. He was a retired missile technician with Lockheed. He was 62 years of age.
Robert (Bob) Ryan - died in February 2001 in a Charleston Nursing Home. Bob was Assistant Weapons Officer while at POMFLANT. He was 71 years old.
Please keep us informed of any news about our POMFLANT family.
Please keep Ron Thomas and John Maney up to date on your e-mail addresses and or your current snail mail address and telephone number changes.
Keep Mary Adams informed of your address & telephone changes.
PLEASE SEND US INFORMATION FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER WITHOUT YOUR INPUT, I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT. Mary
