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Dear One and All Firebirds,
Last month’s mini-reunion in Tucson was highly successful and good times were had by all. We thank Lynn Alsbury for researching and setting up the hotel for us which was exactly what we were looking for. It was a non-structured free-for-all as designed and we all took care of entertainment ideas. Small groups drove to the top of Mount Lemmon, others to museums and most to PIMA as addressed below.
Attendees update: Dan and Jo Brooks, Ken and Carolyn Pribyla, Honi Garvin, Jerry and Diane Drennan, Bruce (the Wedge) and Debbie Kronberg, Gregg and Laurie Fitzer, Kathy and Gene Ramsay, Dave (Tank) and Sue Frank. Steve Passmore, Bob Snyder, Chuck Lavoie, Bob and Margaret Shellenberger (Sq Commander after the late Jim Waldman), JJ Nicholaus, Chuck Donahue, Stet Palmer and Frank Allen. Also the C-130 Pilot son of Jim Waldman, Jeff Waldman attended. We told tall tales, shared stories about each other and a highlight was visiting C-130D 493 in the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was unseasonably hot and reached 103* every day we were there. The Zoom get-togethers were a bit disappointing as we had quite a good turn-out on them two years ago, only about 6 on each call. This year we had two initial cadre guys on the calls who brought the Ds from Dyess up to Elmendorf in 1964, people on the zoom calls were Jim Banas, Fred Cooper, Mike Steele, Alan Anderson, Jack Cayton, JC Arrington, Charles Hefner and our last Brit RAF Exchange Officer, who succeeded Jerry King, Felix Maguire.
Several of the “newest” firebird clan came as well to include Jeffrey Sherman, Kirk Shaw, Rob Staples, Jim Summers, and Mark Hirmer.
It occurred to us that not everyone got the message posted on our web page about our decision to stop organizing large reunions after nobody signed up to take any of the officer’s positions two reunions in a row. It was decided to make things easier and have mini-reunions every two years with no advance planning for activities, pay-as-you-go bar, and just get together and plan on the run. It worked out great. We only need a volunteer POC at the chosen sight to coordinate accommodations. Our next mini-reunion was discussed and suggested that we have it every year because we are dropping like flies. Thoughts were for a central location with several suggestions:
Tennessee - cheaper and central-ish but would require some research for city and things to do
San Antonio -Possible activities include a rodeo dinner with a live band; a tour of the San Antonio missions and the Alamo; plenty of time to meander along the River Walk, which features tons of restaurants, shops and bars. There are also some great spas for those needing a good rub down! You can do as much (or as little) as you'd like, and we'll plan to stay at a downtown hotel, so a lot of this would be within walking distance.
Colorado Springs- Lots to do like cog railroad to top of Pikes peak, or you can drive up, sports events at the Air Force Academy depending on the season, Pioneer Museum and Olympic Museum etc. The only draw-back is the altitude. Many people get altitude sickness with bad headaches. Honi’s mother-in-law, visiting from Michigan, passed out. Anyone with breathing conditions should think twice about it.
Open to any other suggestions.
Regards,
Honi
Garvin - honij@mac.com
Gene Ramsay - glramsay@yahoo.com
Ken Pribyla - kprib@verizon.net
This is a feeler to see what the group wants so if you could please answer the following questions and reply to the group of three of us listed above so we can consolidate the inputs:
Suggested location_______________________________________
Month/week of the event__________________________________
Frequency of mini-reunions ( one or two years )________________
22 May 2023
Dear Firebirds,
The final "official" flight of the Firebirds (i.e., Reunion 2023) is now in the record books. It was a grand time on the beach in Biloxi. We missed many of you but the hardy souls who ventured down were a sight for sore eyes. Many old friends and some new ones.
So many thanks to so many are warranted but wanted you to know that the board this year outdid themselves. Honi and Patty Garvin were stellar with margarita machine hauling and operating, money matters, and Firebird glasses, to name only a few. Warren Miller performed his usual outstanding services as Secretary and all-around "Firebird for the ages". He and Doris are about the last of the originals who still attended reunions and his tenure as Secretary has aided us for so many years. We gave him a Feather Award in 2018 but he deserves so many more.
Gordon and Susan Mills hauled most of the previous year's "leftovers" back to us and made sure the fishermen had their day as well as taking care of the hospitality suite. Chuck Lavoie was instrumental in assisting Carolyn and I with the planning of the venue, dragging the memorabilia down for one more "look see", and numerous other duties from last fall until the end of the reunion. Bob Mattingly, our Vice President ensured a great day on the Keesler golf course and was there for whatever we needed. Gene and Kathy Ramsay made it down this year and, as usual, boosted us all with stories, connection remembrances and then orchestrated three nights of Zoom meetings with so many of you unable to attend. It was great to see your faces and to do a little catching up.
Gene also generously acquiesced to our using his "Last Firebird Standing" bottle of schnapps to open the Wednesday Dinner with a toast to our memorial observance. Finally, Bob Schellenberger and Margaret graced us with their attendance and our former commander once again led us in the "proper" pledge of allegiance to our beloved flag. He also wowed the dinner crowd with his outstanding rendition of The Cremation of Sam MaGee!
Your association board thanks you all for your support the past several years and are now glad to be just like you, retired. Our business meeting was well attended. They decided to end the official Association as of Wednesday night, 26 May 2023. From now on, we are just a band of brothers and their spouses gathering somewherei in the world from year to year. Warren’s final meeting minutes should be posted somewhere on the website so you can see the details but suffice to say each year we will decide on the next venue and who the "stuckee" is. In that vein, we opted to gather in Tucson, AZ, next year in October, exact dates TBD. Email and Facebook and maybe the website will be our means of informing you all. So, we need you to keep us updated on your contact info.
And, yes, there will be some of us still around. Honi will manage the small treasury we have remaining to maintain the website and other incidentals that may arise. Gene Ramsay will continue to manage our membership email contacts and be our broadcast manager. I will hang around to badger our erstwhile web master and store a small box of memorabilia and final records of the association until we find a suitable repository for it all.
Finally, we ain’t dead yet just morphing into something much less formal but still us. We need you to stay in touch, stay engaged, and help us steer the group to good venues for each year's gathering. Perhaps we will have many more schnapps toasts and story telling to come.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Tucson come next October!
Ken and Carolyn,
Ken Pribyla, Col, USAF (Ret)
Past President
Firebird Association
(703) 328-2835
www.firebirds.org
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Past Reunion News
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| 23 Apr 2023 | Sun: | Arrival |
| 24 Apr 2023 | Mon: | Social free time |
| 25 Apr 2023 | Tues: | 7am Fishing, 8am Golf Tee Time |
| 26 Apr 2023 | Wed: | Night Buffet dinner |
| 27 Apr 2023 | Thurs: | Departure |
