Greetings Classmates!
Esprit de Corps! There is much to report. Firstly, please keep in your prayers our great classmate, Greg Gorzelnik. Greg, suffered a stroke several weeks ago [Jan 12 or 19?]. Here is a note from his wife, Monica.
Greg had a basal ganglia hemmoragic stroke at 4:30 Thursday morning. He was doing his usual emails when he saw he couldn’t move his mouse. He must have called out because I woke and from then on we were very lucky with timing. EMTs arrived w/i 15 min,, firestation is less than half a mile away so the firemen could help move Greg. Roads to stroke center were clear, ambulance did 70-80 the whole way. (45 + miles) You have to come here to appreciate that! The normal fog around the Poconos held off so he was able to be stabilized and put on the air ambulance to one of the top 10 Neorosurgical centers on the east coast.
The stroke caused him to lose motor functions on his left side (he’s a lefty) and a bit of vision. He is fully cognizant He’s fighting brain swelling and inflammation.
Right now Greg is very weak after a hard night. They gave him a drug to control hiccups caused by stroke blood irritating his hypothalamus and it is having other reactions. His BP is starting to stabilize Heparin is being given and I hope to get out of ICU soon. Maybe this week. Then he’ll be on a regular hospital ward until the blood is reabsorbed or there is no more danger of stroke, then to an acute rehab hospital near home in Scranton. Full recovery is possible ….the next 18 months will tell. He’s strong, smart and determined. As to your offer, I will probably need your help keeping him in good spirits and around tailgates and 40th reunion.
Thanks for your note and prayers.
Monica
God bless the Gorzelniks.
REUNION UPDATE
1. THAYER HOTEL STATUS
After weeks working thru our AOG rep, Lexie Davis, a phonecon took place last Friday to meet with the Thayer management to discuss our contract. The Thayer will not move on their rates. Their position is they have already reduced rates by $50 from their standard fall wknd rate. They are a private entity now and they fight to be in the black. The goal was to reduce the wknd rate from $309 to $279 and asked what it would take to make that happen. They offered a plethora of cocktail, appetizer & meal options over the wknd(again pricey). My recommendation to our class committee was not to pressure or obligate our class in smaller groups and instead sign the contract as is with the only contracted Thayer event is the Thursday nite reception. Know that a month long best effort was made, however, it is time to sign a contract so reservations could be made.
The class committee will either approve the request or ask that more due diligence be executed. In either case a contract will be signed by the end of next week and a day and time will be established to begin accepting Thayer Hotel reunion reservations. Look for that date to be between the 15th and the 28th of Feb. We asked that the Thayer be adequately staffed to accept the calls as the rooms will probably book out within hours if not less than an hour. Know that you will be the first group to be notified of the reservation acceptance date/time and a best effort will be made to insure all our classmates have equal opportunity to make that call.
2. OTHER HOTELS/B&B’s/VRBO.com
Through the good efforts of AOG’s Lexie Davis, and my aide, Deb Reast, we have secured 180 rooms within a ten minute drive to post. There are another 80 rooms between ten and twenty minutes from post not counting the VRBO.com opportunities which may offer the best value and flexibility for our classmates’ dollar. Here is the latest updated accommodations spreadsheet. Again, the recommendation is to book plan ‘B’ room now in the event the Thayer rooms cannot be secured then cancel the plan B room if successful with the Thayer booking.
3. PARADE
Rick Lynch offered to reach out to the Supe and share our class wish for a parade. Here is Rick’s note on his conversation with LTG Caslen.
Rich
Spoke with LTG Caslen. Parade on Saturday 7 October is not an option for several reasons:
1) It is a long weekend for the cadets. Most will be gone
2) No precedent for doing this….and AOG doesn’t want to set a precedent. They want to encourage reunions to be held on football weekends
Bob did advocate attendance at the Thayer Award parade for those interested in seeing a parade. Tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 5 October. He also reminded me that all of the academy leadership will be gone that weekend…..attending the away football game. Won’t be anyone available to give our class an academy update.
Take care and God bless.
rick lynch
Should the Thayer Award Parade take place on the 5th, AOG will arrange for our class to have our own section in the stands. Please note that the 5th is a tentative date based on the availability of the recipient.
4. THURSDAY NITE RECEPTION
Classmate Scott Anders suggested the possibility of eating in the Mess Hall Thursday nite for the Thayer Award Ceremony. Scott’s idea was run up the flagpole. Here is the AOG note after doing some homework.
On Jan 30, 2017, at 10:08 AM, Lexie Davis <alexis.davis@wpaog.org> wrote:
Hi, Rich –
I’ve forwarded the inquiry about the Class attending the Thayer Award dinner in the Mess Hall to Vince McDermott. He’ll speak with the Academy and WPAOG’s President about it, but he and I did speak this morning and your Class would be able to attend the parade (you would all be seated in a section in the bleachers), but we’d recommend that after the parade the Class would return to the Thayer Hotel for your Welcome Reception. October 5 is still a tentative date for the Thayer Award until the recipient is announced and confirms that he or she is able to receive the award on that date, and we really don’t know how long that process will take – all depends on the recipient. Also, we expect 300 of your classmates and guests to attend the Thursday evening event, and I think it is unlikely that they’d offer 300 seats in the Mess Hall for your Class since that would displace 300 cadets. Again, I think it is unlikely, but you never know unless you ask, so again, I did forward that info to Vince and he’ll talk to the right people, but he and I both think you should continue efforts with the Thayer Hotel and having your mixer there. I will check with the Thayer Hotel to see if the Thayer Award is presented on October 5, could they broadcast the dinner/speech at your mixer.
Please let me know how you would like to proceed with the Thayer Hotel.
My response-
Hi Lexie and Marc,
Thanks for your note. This is perfect due diligence and it is appreciated. You are right, pls ask! I spoke with Marc as I was getting on the plane and he felt that in the Mess Hall we most likely would be viewing the ceremonies on a big screen anyway. The Thayer would offer a better set up and we could possibly arrange to view the ceremony on a screen there as well.
rich
My best guess as of now is that the better option is to have the Thursday nite reception at the Thayer unless we are assured of a close front view of the poop deck in the Mess Hall. will keep you posted.
5. SATURDAY CLASS CENTRIC GATHERINGS
On a football wknd reunion, options are limited but the day’s events are well scripted and it makes for easy planning. This reunion’s Saturday’s offerings will be varied and many. The only class centric offerings to date will be corps squad events. Unlike football, all other fall sports schedules do not come out till late spring. Several of our classmates have suggested rally points, tailgate parties and reception rooms secured for gatherings around rugby and/or sprint football in the afternoon and hockey at nite(near the Thayer). The intent is to do just that so long as the schedule gods look kindly on us.
Greg Gorzelnik, a few weeks back, approached the hockey and rugby coaches to see if they could request home dates for their teams that day. Pls know that should we be fortunate with these corps squad games/matches, we will arrange for tailgates for sprint or rugby and do our best to secure a good size reception room at the Kinsey Center for hockey.
Thanks to all for sharing your support for these ideas.
6. ON POST ENTRY
Pls go to this link to see the latest protocol for on post entry. Important. thanks http://www.westpointaog.org/page.aspx?pid=3201&storyid21242=18269&ncs21242=3&erid=19678618&trid=20477c74-4aec-47aa-b2e7-60cb06accbf3
7. CLASS AUTHORS
Pat Linehan has offered to be the point person to gather a list of works by our class authors. If you or anyone classmate you know has written anything that was published pls let Pat know at prpjtdkl@aol.com. Our hope is to have a Friday table with copies of our class authors’ books to be purchased and put on our class book shelves at home. thanks, Pat, for taking this on!
8. CLASS GIFT
Please visit USMA77.com to see the advantages of utilizing stocks as opportunities for our class gift. If you haven’t made your gift, pls consider doing so early and often. THANK YOU if you have already given and, if possible, pls send more our way. It is greatly appreciated.
Appreciate you taking on the role of company class rep. It is so important to reach out to our classmates regularly and encourage the best attendance possible for our Legacy 40th. Esprit de Corps!
rich
USMA77, F-1/G-1
