Today's Featured Biography

 
John Wetzel

As I approach my 70th birthday on April 12th and my 50th wedding anniversary on June 19th, my four high school years at Ramey Air Force Base seem both like yesterday and so long ago. Mostly I remember the fun things that happened and the great friendships. Occasionally, I recall some of the unpleasant things of those four years but, fortunately, they are few and seemingly less troubling. Things that come to mind include the Cuban Missile Crisis, trips to Crash Boat Beach, parties with classmates on the beach (my first beer , I think), riding my motor scooter all over the base, having a tow crew for a B-52 blow its horn as I raced in front of it to deliver newspapers to the Alert Crew quarters, seeing President Eisenhower in front of our high school building, going to the movies on Friday nights with friends and dates, the senior class trip to the Panama Canal with a stop in Guantanamo, performing in a school play, snorkeling and collecting shells and coral (bad, bad!), seeing the Bob Hope show with Anita Bryant performing and watching speechlessly one night as a B-52 burned only a hundred yards from where I was living—just a short list of some of my memories. No doubt each of us would create a different list.
I was sad to learn that Cathy Varga and Fran Butler have passed. I suspect we will encounter more and more of our classmates ending their time here (and hopefully finding peace in a new, more wonderful place). Diane (my wife) and I attend a lot of memorial services these days. Our parents are gone and now a growing number of friends and relatives are also passing.
Life has been good to Diane and me. We have two wonderful children and three grandchildren. Our son and his wife live nearby and our daughter and her husband live in Washington, D.C. We have had time and opportunity to travel, to scuba dive in wonderful places and to do many backpacks and hikes in the Sierras Nevada Mountains (Yosemite is only an hour or so away) and do so many other things. We plan to travel to New Zealand to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in January 2016 (it will be warmer then!). I’ve also had time for a knee replacement and a couple ankle surgeries. Thank goodness for all of today’s medical wonders. We live so much better than our parents, able to enjoy good health with the aid of wonder drugs and medical procedures not available 20-30 years ago.
I wish all of my classmates the very best in this coming year. We each had a few wonderful years isolated at Ramey, apart from all that was happening State side. It shaped us and changed us—for the better, I think. Best wishes, John

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