I can’t believe 41 years has past by so fast and then Van Ellington
calls Tuesday night (haven’t seen or talked to him since 1976!) and
tells me about this
web
site. Kudos to Bob and Steve for their efforts and you know you ain’t
gonna get a bio from Ellington.LOL! He still has his Judy Buie though.
Life is GOOD! I have been in Maryland since 1985, in and around the
beautiful and historic Annapolis area. My only child, Lisa, lives with
her Anne Arundel County police officer (and former Marine) hubby in
nearby Arnold, MD. I am primary child care giver for 5 or 6 afternoons a
month to my grandson, Jackson (age 6 and in Kindergarten), but never on
warm weather Wednesdays because that's when Pop-pop's Seniors golf
league at the Naval Academy plays. He is into Wii bigtime and is very
computer literate! Lisa’s mom Carol lives in Ohio with her 4th hubby. We
divorced in 1980.
I retired from the Air Force Reserve after 30 plus
years of service, mostly in air operations, command positions, and the
flying business for the ANG and the USAFR. I was a fighter pilot for 10
years at the Springfield ANG Base, flying F-84Fs and F-100s (yes, the
airplane crash story is true!) I was the sole survivor of that F-84F
crash in December of 1968......OK, the rest of the story...I was alone
in the plane (of course….that’s what we fighter pilots do best) and
ejected successfully (some may disagree with that opinion….). I got
squeezed out of the Ohio Air Guard at 24 years (they didn’t like Wing
tri-deputy [Ops, CSS and CMS] commanders (commuting from Maryland) so I
got into the DLA IMA program in 1989 at Cameron Station, VA and made O-6
after three years there. Retired as the IMA to the DLA Chief of
Operations …….neat job …..at Ft Belvoir, VA in 1996.I concurrently
worked as a civilian at WPAFB for 17 years (the last 7 years were in the
Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) business----fun!) before coming to
Maryland. I retired as a GM-14 with a CSRS pension on the last day of
the millennium from DoD as Director, Center Services in December 2000
from The Joint Spectrum Center, located on the Naval Station in
Annapolis. I have worked seven separate weeks in 2006-2008 as a
volunteer in a work camp in D'Iberville, Mississippi. We rebuilt and
renovated old homes and built new homes for the residents there
displaced by Hurricane Katrina. My wife Lynn (3rd time is a charm!) went
back in June of 2008 for their "Volunteer Homecoming" celebration.....
and ended up working all week anyhow! It is simply the most fulfilling
work I have ever accomplished and the group is lead by, worked for, and
prayed for by the most giving, caring, and industrious folks I have ever
met. I am humbled by their presence and friendships.I am currently
serving a second stint as my church's treasurer and as the church
Session representative on the Board of Directors of an organization
which provides weekly support group meetings to separated and divorced
people as well as another group for widows/widowers.
I have been a member of Naval Academy Golf Club for 25 summers and
counting. HCP has gone to hell since 4 vertebrae fusion on my lower back
and a new hip, but it’s exercise!. I am also serving as the assistant
representative for the Navy Seniors in the Maryland Interclub Seniors
Golf Association (MISGA). This enables our club members to play many
other fine courses in MD and southern PA at a "carts only" cost. I am
the full time "pool boy" for my wife during the summer months in our
back yard (tough work.....but the "rewards" are nice!)In 2008, we spent
most of the summer and fall in the throes of remodeling; new siding,
entry way, new doors and windows, new roof, remodeled master bath, etc.
but that is now done and we have a nice "Nantucket" style rancher in
beautiful Crofton, voted one of the top 100 places (#72!) to live in a
recent Money magazine article. New carpeting the master bedroom just
finished that project up. Kitchen remodeling is in the works to finish
up everything (including devouring much savings, our contribution to Mr.
Obama's "stimulus package" for our economy. Add to all this is my hectic
travel schedule, both with and without my wife (she has to work to
support my travel habits {read: to young to retire ...), and I don't
know where I ever found time to work ...(ugh! A nasty four letter word
which has been missing from my vocabulary since the last millennium).
My wife Lynn and I got married in Las Vegas in March 2004, after a short
11 year relationship. (No, Elvis wasn't there and it wasn't at the drive
thru chapel either.) She is an RN and is really looking forward to her
retirement in two years. Thanks to her I have three adult step-kids and
two more grandsons! The older one, now 11, is a baseball player and a
budding thespian (He had the lead in "Aladdin" at his school's musical
in May 2009 and the younger grandson is a budding "Jimmie Johnson",
racing quarter midgets this summer at the age of six (just turned 7)!
The whole family went up to see him run in Pennsylvania in August and
witnessed his wire to wire 20 lap feature win ... (his first) and he was
very impressive! Jackson’s (age 5) flag football team won "The Super
Bowl" (as his coach called it) because they hung a payback loss on the
only team they lost to all year in the finals of the playoffs! All of
our children live near us and family life is good!
I
enjoy playing golf, volunteering, traveling (a lot!), messing about on
the computer, digital photography, and playing Texas Hold-Em with my
monthly group and dealer's choice poker with my bi-weekly group. I go to
Atlantic City several times a year and to Las Vegas at least once a year
to play in tournaments and see some of the shows (Cirque du Soliel's
"Love" with The Beatles music is the best I've ever seen!). No, you
won't see me in "the Main Event" yet ... not enough patience. Oh, I want
patience, but I want it now!
I love to travel ... 2007 saw me
(sometimes us even!) in Vermont, 17 days in Alaska, fishing and cruising
Alaskan and British Columbia waters, three times back home to Ohio,
D'Iberville, MS for three separate weeks of Hurricane Katrina relief
work, Las Vegas, the NC Outerbanks (twice, spring and fall for a week
each with friends in our 12 bedroom beach home in Whalehead south of
Corolla), and a couple of side trips to Atlantic City to play Texas
Hold-Em. 2008's "big vacation" was on a six day cruise in August out of
Newpo
rt,
R.I. to Martha's Vineyard (Oak Bluffs and Edgartown/Chappaquiddick ...
ring a bell?), Nantucket, and Cuttyhunk on the three-masted tall ship
"Arabella", along with the standard trips to the Outerbanks(2), Ohio
(2), Vegas in October, Mississippi Gulf Coast (3), Myrtle Beach, and
Atlantic City sojourns.
In January 2009, we headed to San Juan by air
for a Southern Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas)
Princess cruise. It was wonderful! Tubing from the mountains thru the
jungle to the ocean's breakers in Dominica and Snorkeling a reef on St.
John's were two of the greater highlights of the week in the sun.
Outerbanks in May, Pennsylvania in August, Outerbanks in September, Las
Vegas in October ... and in October/November 2009, we joined 14 friends
and family on a Princess cruise to the eastern Mediterranean from Rome
to Venice, with most of the time spent in the Greek Isles, Italy, Turkey
and Croatia ... Ephesus was amazing, Dubrovnik was impressive and
Mykonos and Santorini were very photographic venues (I only took about
1400 pictures!). To top it all off, 3 days and 2 nights in Venice was a
great way to end our trip. The $1700+ I won in the casino onboard the
Grand Princess helped out too! On then to Myrtle Beach for golf after
Thanksgiving and ended up with a cartilage tear in my good knee ...
Life’s a bitch then you die ... and retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up
to be ... IT’S MUCH BETTER!
I have a time share in Oregon this summer
and thought I might try to look up Mike Madden ... anyone have a phone
number or address?
If you want to send me an email, please do:
rmweller2005@yahoo.com ... phone is 410-721-1190. If you are in the
DC/MD area, stop by for a beer or dinner (my treat). I have almost gone
to Burke VA on a couple of occasions just to go up and ring Bingo’s
doorbell but, well, I’m just too lazy.
Guess if "Swede" Gietnes (nice
bio, Harry!) can show the colors with his old 1958 Impala, I'd better
follow suite. Mine is a 1954 Buick Special full custom "low rider"
flamethrower. My brother and I started with a $375 rustbucket with no
interior at all. He did everything (15 mods) except upholstery and pin
striping and I provided money. I ended up with this result, "Street
Blues", in May of 1985 when it won 4 prizes at its first car show
including "best of show" out of 562 cars registered. Many shows and
trophies later, I can't sell it because my daughter says "It's Mine!"
It's still resides in my garage and still looks like this (when I get it
cleaned up and started!). On a good night, it will shoot continuous six
foot flames out of the tailpipe.