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RAFINO Report "MAC" (CHARLES) McINTOSH kindly sent us his and Virginia's 1997 Christmas letter saying, "What a difference a year has made. Yes, we are still around - just patched up a little more." Mac had major surgery on Nov. 25, 1996. His entire lumbar area is now fused so his mobility is somewhat restricted. He was released from the hospital after a month, then spent 3 months in a body brace! Currently walks with a cane yet still continues his working political life as a City Commissioner of Dade city and as Mayor (8th year). (Ed: As the old Strohs Beer commercials always ended up, " don't surprise me none!") $ $ $ $ $ CHARLES COSTELLO reported --"All quiet in Merry Point. I see Mike Harwood occasionally. I'm busy being treasurer for our Habitat for Humanity affiliate. We're getting ready to build our first house. (Ed: Charlie, is the new homeowner living in it by now?) $ $ $ $ $ MARY SMITH (who advised us her new address is now: 129 Laurie Dr., Penn Hills, PA, 15235) went on to say, "Hi, all my Florida friends are telling me that they're going to have me committed for leaving FL and moving to the Pittsburgh area -- and I sometimes agree! However, my daughter, Julia, and I are buying the house together. She and my doctor finally prevailed, and I agreed not to live alone any more. Since daughter, Mary and her family, live just 6 hours away in Virginia, I won't be missing my kids anymore. As we're all just a little nutty, I'm looking forward to a lot of fun times in the near future! $ $ $ $ $ JIM RUSK wrote to say that he has been suffered the trials and tribulations of trying to get 21st century Email capability while…"in the middle of the woods using 40's telephone equipment." He consoles himself, though, commenting, "Oh well, I can still watch the deer, moose, bear and timber wolves!" $ $ $ $ $ FRED HINSHAW's status report reads, "I have been a taxi driver in Las Vegas for more than ten years; not especially challenging but I enjoy it thoroughly. Still playing a lot of golf and tennis. Son, Rick (2LT Army Aviation) just finished flight school with PCS orders to Korea this April. (Ed: Our best wishes for a great tour go to Rick. We know dad is very proud of Rick.) Fred sent us this new Email address, too: hinshaw64@aol.com. $ $ $ $ $ Another reported in saying he got bored and decided to go back to work-this being FRANK CLAYTON. Frank took on the Administrator's job with the Central Union Church in Honolulu, Hi-with a congregation of 2300 members! (Ed: That sounds as though Frank is really going to get his wish to be a busy man.) $ $ $ $ $ Celebrating his 86th birthday on 20 March (the day I typed this entry), AL ABBOTT writes that he also celebrated his 40th year as a U.S. Army retiree this past Feb. (Ed: You may have noticed that Al's address recently changed. He now lives in a retirement facility but still keeps very busy with his outside activities.) $ $ $ $ $ When submitting his membership renewal CASEY NAATJES reminded Phil Anderson, our Treasurer, that his thoughts went back to their days as students at Ft. Ben when attending the Career Course, specifically to one evening at the Golf Lodge when, as Casey put it, Phil's fingers turned to bloody stumps playing Fred's guitar! (Ed: WOW! Details sure sound needed.) $ $ $ $ $ KEN MONROE advises he recently moved to: 10354 Carrollwood Ln. #191, Tampa FL 33618-4721 also saying he regrets that, as much as he wants, he concludes he won't be able to join us at Columbia this September inasmuch as he has had three major back operations recently and has difficulty walking. $ $ $ $ $ CHARLES COSTELLO reported -"All quiet in Merry Point. I see Mike Harwood occasionally. I'm busy being treasurer for our Habitat for Humanity affiliate. We're getting ready to build our first house. (Ed: Charlie, is the new homeowner living in it by now?) $ $ $ $ $ ANN HURSH is one of the many widows who enthusiastically endorsed the "no dues for widows" trial for the next two years. Ann said, "…now I don't have to worry about having to renew every new year." $ $ $ $ $ LEE CURTIS sent a business card along with his membership renewal saying "Continuing to enjoy living and working in Hawaii; a second career in the automobile industry has been most interesting and rewarding. Lee mentions that he was recently promoted to: Executive Vice President, General Manager of Servco Pacific Inc., with responsibility for import and distribution of Toyota, Lexus and Suzuki vehicles for the State of Hawaii, plus several tire and parts distribution operations. And Lee's comment was "Just having a lot of fun! Aloha!" (Ed: But clue as to which make of car he drives.) $ $ $ $ $ ART ALPERT penned a brief message on a note in which he expressed succinctly the same comment a number of others made about our upcoming reunion. Art said, "Would love to be at the reunion, but 'Old Man Time' is catching up with me! Have one for me." $ $ $ $ $ From TOM SHARP we hear, "Mary and I are enjoying the warmer weather of Texas compared to the cold, snow, and ice of the North. I no longer teach for the University of Texas. I did enjoy that opportunity to expand my mind and share with others. However, I was a bit like the coach who never got in to play. Therefore, when the right team (read: company) asked me "to play", I jumped at it! I am now with the Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation as a coach and involved in strategic planning. I am thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to get more involved in the daily actions of an organization while facing the opportunities of growth and innovation. $ $ $ $ $ BOB BRANCH, prompted by our article on Ralph Dixon's capture and liberation as a POW during Korea, shares this bit of personal history with us, "… before joining the Finance family, I was a POW of the Japanese in WWII --- captured on Corrigidor, P.I. and held prisoner for 3 ½ years mainly in Mukden, Manchuria --- survived 40° below temperatures and "hell" on ships to get there --- was repatriated by an OSS team and Russian troops in late August 1945." $ $ $ $ $ JOHN KENT did a sly bit of bragging (what fisher-man doesn't?) when he simply sent a photo with some notes on the back showing two halibut which won the distinction of being the "best total weight for a two fish daily limit on one boat". They weighed 175 and 90 lbs respectively --- and yielded 200 lbs of all white meat fillets! (Ed: Wow! Must have taken a lot of freezer space!) $ $ $ $ $ ED FORD has sent your editor a lot of dandy artifacts one of which is simply an admission ticket for a dinner of the Indianapolis Chapter of the Army Finance Assn. in 1956 at the FCUSA with MG Crandall, CoF, as the speaker. The price for dinner was $1.75! $ $ $ $ $ VERN BUEHLER's Christmas letter did a bit of reminiscing and some current reporting on his doings. Commenting on our new F.C. Mecca, Ft. Jackson, SC, he recalled that back in 1954-55 he was part of a 4-man DA team, under the leadership of Colonel Doug Barton, which tested the then new Financial Management System for PPB&A before its world-wide application. Vern then went on to tell us that because he was "swayed" by the stirring appeal by General Powell whom he met recently, he accepted the board presidency of a 50-year old, non-profit nursing home which is now building a $4M assisted living center. Vern adds that not only does this job keep him busy but his biking the three miles to the facility not only helps his waistline but saves on the up-keep of his trendy Ford Explorer. Somehow he found time to make his seventh excursion to Russia (he said to "check up" on Boris Yeltsin) which involved a river cruise on the Lev Tolstoy from St. Petersburg to Moscow, sailing on the Volga near forested islands on shimmering blue lakes and canals passing through 17 locks and visiting quaint rural villages with colorful onion-domed cathedrals. His trip highlight was a reunion with Zoya, his translator during his 1994 consulting in Kirov (Ed: We reported that in B&P in detail a couple of years ago.) Just to make us envious of his privileged travels Vern sent along the tourist sketch map of the path of that "Imperial Russian Waterway" cruise. Yes, he succeeded! $ $ $ $ $ CARL ROTZ may have retired back 27 years ago. But he still keeps an eye on things he worked on during his active duty days by writing his Old Timers' Interest comments as follows: "I was stunned to read CPT Susan Walton's Article 'Making Sense of a DMPO" (Defense Military Pay Office) in the Winter 1998 of the F.C. Assn's. Newsletter, Diamond Points. It is too lengthy to copy here. However, for those of you who do receive the F.C. Assn. newsletter, you can read the article on page 4 of that issue. For those who do not get the F.C. Assn. newsletter one of the features of conversion to the DMPO concept (among several others) is to move the entire accounting function away from the installation to a separate Operating Location (OPLOC). CPT Walton also reports that "The concept of future operations in disbursing is to virtually eliminate disbursing at the installation level."….and to continue with Carl's comments: ….."Apparently accounting has reversed once gain -- from being decentralized where we took it earlier -- to the new concept of being regionalized and centralized. What happened to make integrated accounting obsolete? Should we care? I admit to being "an old fogey. I see making centralized or regionalized expenditures -- as DFAS requires -- without first making reconciliation against the underlying source fund obligations, opens the door to fraudulent expenditures. Present day computers may be smaller and faster than those in my day, but, nevertheless, I doubt that they can make possible more satisfactory regionalized or centralized reconciliations. WE'VE BEEN THERE! DONE THAT! Maybe the program for our upcoming reunion at Columbia will include a DFAS overview presentation on this subject. $ $ $ $ $ Three years ago CHUCK LANDIS sent your editor a time honored cartoon --- which surely you who have been in the disbursing business especially a few years back --- do not need to see in print. Actually, we can't reproduce the copy Chuck sent because the printer assured me that it would not print up good enough to include in this newsletter. However, most of you surely can conjure up your own mental image from the following. The picture shows a baldheaded, overweight finance officer (says so on his desk) holding a large eagle by the throat force-feeding it large spoons full of castor oil and feen-a-mint. Standing by are two NCOs one of whom is saying, "He's getting ready for payday!" (Ed: I seem to recall the color green being involved in the result.) $ $ $ $ $ ED FORD, (a good and loyal F.C. retiree who has always kept RAFINO Report needs in mind by often sending your editor mementos and news articles of interest to us) sent us several newspaper articles clipped from six different issues of the Leigh Acres Citizen, Leigh Acres, Florida. The highly complimentary seven articles spaced over eleven months tell about one of our own prized gold oak leaf WAC retirees --- BARBARA FARRELL. To put this into context you need to know that Barbara retired back in June '68. She moved to Lehigh Acres in '78. It didn't take long for local County Council officials to recognize her talents and urge Barbara to run for a seat in their council --- soon leading to the job of treasurer, then VP and finally the office of President. She wasn't busy enough, it would seem, so in '89, she also was elected to serve concurrently as a member of the County Water Control Board, and if you knew Barbara you would not be surprised to know that soon after she rose to VP of that organization. Her accomplishments apparently are legend in her county and community. It's no surprise that her "eagle eye" was focused to detect unnecessary spending --- with much appreciated benefits to the tax paying citizenry. Barb decided to hang it up finally this past November (possibly Barb misconstrued the apparently erroneous rumor that she had died while in the hospital -- which resulted in the county flying their flag at half staff in her honor -- as a hint?). A question. Are there any others of us who can say that the Governor of our state declared a day in our honor --- as did Governor Lawton Chiles of Florida when he proclaimed 4 Nov 97 as 'Barbara Farrell Day" in Lee County! (Way to go, Barbara. As the troops say these days, HOO-AH!) $ $ $ $ $ JOHN HERKO, author of the March 1994 Army Magazine article entitled The Bucks Never Stopped, while on the Staff of the C&GS produced two training videos in conjunction with the FSUSA for distribution to major finance units of the Army, wrote in July last year, "I had some great experiences in the Finance Corps. In fact, after being the first officer in the Army's Training With Industry in Banking program and serving three years as the Army's "Banker", I thought banking would be a good second career. As it turned out, I retired in August 1995 and joined First Hawaiian Bank as its International Operations Officer, responsible for wire transfers, letters of credit and foreign correspondent bank relationships." $ $ $ $ $ BILL COGHILL sent his "Snowbird" greeting to us announcing that he and wife, Gerry, recently bought one of 327 duplexes in a new Military Retirement Community (Paradise Valley) about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento just off route I-80. If you intend to visit the new "snowbirds" in Paradise Valley you can do it only during the four winter months otherwise you'll have to look them up at their usual address in Anchorage, AK. They say that their move is a "goodbye" to yard work, and utility bills and a big "hello" to fun! Could be, because their patio looks out on the 16th fairway of a golf course!!! Bill added a post script saying that in May 97 he also attended a reunion marking the 50th anniversary of his West Point class's graduation.) $ $ $ $ $ On Jan 16 of this year the headline of the feature article on the front page of the Pasco News of Dade City, Florida read: 'Tampa Bay Regional Council Renames Prestigious Award to Charles A. McIntosh, Jr. Regional Statesman Award." The essence of the lengthy report is contained in the words spoken by the Chairman of Tampa Bay's Regional Council reading as follows: "Charles is a true statesman, and we have been very fortunate that he has focused his attention on the Tampa Bay Region. Mayor McIntosh joined the council in 1985, and it became immediately clear that we had a jewel in our midst. He has enabled us to cross over many rocky roads with his quick wit, his sense of cutting through difficult issues and most importantly his ability to offer solutions that are acceptable to all." The Chairman went on to recite the astoundingly long list of the many committees and accomplishments attributable to the former USAFS commandant to include representing the council so well at state and national levels-even at the White House! Concluding, he announced, "It gives me great pleasure to give recognition to our regional statesman in his living years and to announce that the council's top award will be renamed The Charles A. McIntosh, Jr. Regional Statesman Award." The audience gave Charlie McIntosh a standing ovation. Alongside him throughout the event, of course, was Ginny beaming and justifiably proud! (Ed: Mac, and so is RAFINO!) $ $ $ $ $ The Washington Times recently ran a Sunday feature article entitled "Strength Training on the Senior Scene", starting out…."It's a little past 10 a.m. and a dozen senior citizens are flexing and jogging and lifting special water weights in the pool at the Fairfax, a large retirement community near Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. Instructor JUDY NEILL (whom we in RAFINO know is Mrs. Hank Neill), tells her students a couple of bad jokes, then talks about the importance of strong quadriceps muscles…. More and more classes like Judy Neill's are filling the schedules at community centers, health clubs and retirement villages." One of the Fairfax residents who suffered a stroke last December is quoted as saying, "I like using weights", and attributed his quick recovery to the exercise he did under Judy's guidance and instruction in her water exercise classes within a few weeks after his stroke, adding, "I really think I recovered quicker because I was feeling so strong." The article also contained a large photograph of another RAFINO personality - WARREN HUTCHISON - showing him doing bench presses! We know that Warren has been a regular exercise student of Judy's ever since she started teaching classes at the Fairfax - a number of years now. ( Ed: My wife, Sjelja, and I also thank Judy who fortunately convinced Sjelja, to enroll in water exercise classes sponsored by the American Arthritis Assn. - which continue to help her immensely. Good people doing good things!) $ $ $ $ $ While on the subject of the Neill family you should know that HANK NEILL, our president for six years, has taken on still another challenge. He is now the Executive Vice President of the Association of Military Banks of America (AMBA)! However we are sorry that it will cause him to miss our upcoming reunion due to a scheduling conflict with an AMBA conference. (Careful, Hank, that's ONE!) |