USNA Class of 1962 - Pacific Northwest Region
"Wherever two or three shall meet and old tales be retold..."
On May
1st and 2nd, classmates and their partners met in McMinnville, Oregon,
for a gathering. We had 24 classmates attending, some from the
east coast, California, and Wyoming. Total attendance was 42
people.
Our itinerary included:
Friday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, a wine tour of several wineries in the Yamhill Valley area of Oregon; McMinnville is the County Seat for Yamhill County.
Friday 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM, a reception on the mezzanine level of the IMAX Theater, which is part of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum complex.
Friday evening, dinner on your own. Most of the party went to "La Rambla" (sp. - "The Avenue") in the historic district of McMinnville. They specialize in a variety of hot and cold tapas, and two versions of paella, accompanied by sangria.
Saturday 10:30 AM - group photos in the Aviation Museum in front of a Navy Hellcat, and also a "Yellow Peril" N3N.
Saturday following group photos, guided tours of the Aviation Museum, which is the home of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose." Then self-guided tours of the Space Museum, which contains a 114 foot-tall Triton Missile. Most people took in a showing at the huge IMAX theater, the largest screen in Oregon.
Saturday 6:30 PM - Roast beef and chicken banquet at McMinnville's Golden Valley Brewery and Pub. Our guest speaker was Jim Willis, the Director of Veterans' Affairs for Oregon.
Our itinerary included:
Friday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, a wine tour of several wineries in the Yamhill Valley area of Oregon; McMinnville is the County Seat for Yamhill County.
Friday 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM, a reception on the mezzanine level of the IMAX Theater, which is part of the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum complex.
Friday evening, dinner on your own. Most of the party went to "La Rambla" (sp. - "The Avenue") in the historic district of McMinnville. They specialize in a variety of hot and cold tapas, and two versions of paella, accompanied by sangria.
Saturday 10:30 AM - group photos in the Aviation Museum in front of a Navy Hellcat, and also a "Yellow Peril" N3N.
Saturday following group photos, guided tours of the Aviation Museum, which is the home of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose." Then self-guided tours of the Space Museum, which contains a 114 foot-tall Triton Missile. Most people took in a showing at the huge IMAX theater, the largest screen in Oregon.
Saturday 6:30 PM - Roast beef and chicken banquet at McMinnville's Golden Valley Brewery and Pub. Our guest speaker was Jim Willis, the Director of Veterans' Affairs for Oregon.
We got quite a few pictures. The following links will take you to the various pages:
Attendees - close-ups of everyone who attended. See how many you recognize!
Wine tour - pics taken at a couple of the wineries that were visited
Group - group shots in front of the Navy Hellcat and Yellow Peril
John Hewitt - being presented his presidents pin Friday evening
Museum - a variety of candid shots while touring the aviation museum
Banquet - candid shots while at the Brew Pub
Jim Willis - shots of our guest speaker
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Glee Club - At our banquet, we started with a rousing fanfare version of "Stand Navy Down the Field" which is the exact version that the Navy Band played at the beginning of the P-rades, after our march-on (providing that the night crawlers hadn't messed with the company guide-on blocks!) At the end of the banquet, we played "Navy Blue and Gold" from a vinyl recording that was made of OUR glee club in '61 or early '62. This link takes you to my website that has all 13 tracks from that recording, in MP3 format for listening or downloading.
N3N Article - This was scanned from the Evergreen Museum's April 2009 edition of "Wingspan," their periodical. It gives an interesting history of the N3N "Yellow Peril" which is the same aircraft we flew in plebe summer. There's even a small pic of one of the versions that had pontoons, like the ones we flew.
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We had a great time. I would recommend anyone who is inclined, to host a similar function in your local region. Greg Chauncey is hosting one in San Diego for April of next year. I'm putting together a sort of "primer" on the planning and effectuating processes that were involved in hosting this one, just thought-joggers that might be of assistance to anyone who is interested. It's a lot of work, but very rewarding. None of us is getting any younger, after all!
Finally, many thanks to Tom Hitchcock, Butch Bewick and Gene McPhail for their advice, assistance and moral support while putting this together.
Jerry Larsen
larsen@jerryjan.com
Attendees - close-ups of everyone who attended. See how many you recognize!
Wine tour - pics taken at a couple of the wineries that were visited
Group - group shots in front of the Navy Hellcat and Yellow Peril
John Hewitt - being presented his presidents pin Friday evening
Museum - a variety of candid shots while touring the aviation museum
Banquet - candid shots while at the Brew Pub
Jim Willis - shots of our guest speaker
***********************************************************
Here are a couple of other links of interest:
Glee Club - At our banquet, we started with a rousing fanfare version of "Stand Navy Down the Field" which is the exact version that the Navy Band played at the beginning of the P-rades, after our march-on (providing that the night crawlers hadn't messed with the company guide-on blocks!) At the end of the banquet, we played "Navy Blue and Gold" from a vinyl recording that was made of OUR glee club in '61 or early '62. This link takes you to my website that has all 13 tracks from that recording, in MP3 format for listening or downloading.
N3N Article - This was scanned from the Evergreen Museum's April 2009 edition of "Wingspan," their periodical. It gives an interesting history of the N3N "Yellow Peril" which is the same aircraft we flew in plebe summer. There's even a small pic of one of the versions that had pontoons, like the ones we flew.
We had a great time. I would recommend anyone who is inclined, to host a similar function in your local region. Greg Chauncey is hosting one in San Diego for April of next year. I'm putting together a sort of "primer" on the planning and effectuating processes that were involved in hosting this one, just thought-joggers that might be of assistance to anyone who is interested. It's a lot of work, but very rewarding. None of us is getting any younger, after all!
Finally, many thanks to Tom Hitchcock, Butch Bewick and Gene McPhail for their advice, assistance and moral support while putting this together.
Jerry Larsen
larsen@jerryjan.com