Shipmate: May 2017

by Mark Hubbard

Well, time continues to fly by and here I am writing another Class Column. Is there any way we can slow this pace down just a little?! I guess not…anyway, here’s the news!

Update from Gary Greenfield:

Earlier this week I had a chance to catch up with Allie Mysliwy and his wife Debbie in Dallas where I was visiting on business. Allie retired as a senior executive at Safeco several years and spends his time between Dallas and Hawaii – though weighted to Dallas. They are enjoying life and it was great to catch-up. Over the holidays they had joined a close friend and his 9 children and grandchildren on a visit to Orlando and Allie described it as tougher than any military duty he had ever confronted. Though they could not make the reunion, they will be joining in Philadelphia for Army/Navy.

From Dallas, I head to Aspen where I wanted to try out my new knee which I received last summer that originated from an injury at USNA. Snow conditions were great, albeit a bit cold. The replacement held up well, with the biggest challenge being a bit of over use. I had put it to a test on golf earlier in the month in Naples, Florida. It upheld well and think I can declare it a success.

Allie and Debbie Mysliwy and Gary Greenfield catching up in Dallas

Here’s some news from Mark Hubbard (yes, me). Barb and I were recently watching the two youngest grandchildren, Madeline (2) and John (4 months old) because the parents, Sara & John McCain (again, not to be confused with our famous alum), were on a trip to Portland, Oregon. I decided to take them all with me down to Annapolis on a rainy Saturday in late February to drop off a painting to the Naval Academy Museum in Preble Hall. Late last year the curator for the museum, Jim Cheevers, accepted my offer to accept the donation of a painting I commissioned space artist and retired astronaut suit technician for NASA, Ron Woods, to paint for me last year. Ron was the suit tech who worked with Buzz Aldrin USMA ‘51 getting him suited up before the famous Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. The painting depicts a picture taken from the flight deck of the space shuttle, Discovery, of Mission Specialist Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Steve Smith during an Extravehicular activity (EVA) for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Mission 3A in December 1999 (they were replacing the gyros). The canvas used in the painting is a portion of payload bay liner flown on Columbia in February 2002 aboard Columbia for HST SM3B. Assistant Curator, Grant Walker USMA ’73, was there to take delivery of the painting (Of course, I had to mention to Grant, GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!). If anyone would like to buy a giclée print copy of the painting, please contact me for details. By the way, I got to meet Ron Woods for the first time through my association with Apollo 10 Commander, General Tom Stafford ’52, and helping Tom with Hubble flown hardware story boards at the Thomas P. Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, OK.

Grandparents Mark (holding a sad Madeline) & Barb Hubbard (holding John) deliver Hubble painting to Grant Walker at the USNA Museum 25FEB17

Space artist and suit tech, Ron Woods, getting Buzz Aldrin ready to fly to the moon 16JUL69 (Photo courtesy of NASA)

Tom Stafford poses with Ron Woods in front of Ron’s oil painting of an Apollo suit

I, along with several alumni from USNA ’74, attended the Memorial Service at the Fairfax (VA) Memorial Funeral Home on Tuesday, 28FEB17, for Dave Marra ’74 who was affectionately known as Bear Marra to those of us who knew him at the Academy. He passed away suddenly on 20FEB. Bear was in my company (26th Co.) our Youngster year. I actually met Bear and some of his Classmates at the end of their Plebe year when I was a junior in high school and had flown east from Oakland, CA, with my family to attend my older brother’s (John Hubbard ’71) graduation from USNA. Home base for 15th Co. during June Week that year was Roy & Fran Gregory’s house at Turkey Point. The Gregory’s were sponsors for my brother and several of his Classmates (the Gregory’s adopted many of John’s Plebes as well). So, there I was as a 16-year-old hanging out with all these Midshipmen and their girlfriends. That’s where I first met Bear, Fred Stuvek ‘74, and others as well. A year later, having survived Plebe Summer at USNA and with the return of the Brigade for the fall semester, I chopped down the middle of the passageway from 6th wing to 8th wing to visit these upperclassmen I knew in when they were in 15th Co., now moved to 35th Co. I recall that Bear and Fred Stuvek were the first upperclassmen that I shook hands with (“spooned” as it was known back then – no comments from the peanut gallery, please). I remember strolling back from 8-1 back to 6-1 with a grin on my face having succeeded in getting on a first-name basis with Bear & Fred and given “carry-on” privileges on my trip back to my company area, when suddenly a random upper classman appears from one of the rooms and yells, “Hippity hop, PLEBE STOP!” He asked me why I wasn’t chopping down the passageway and I said that Fred and Bear gave me carry-on. He asked, incredulously, “Fred and Bear who?!”. I told him their last names and that I knew them before I was a Midshipman. He then shook his head ruefully and sent me on my way (whew!). Anyway, these guys were moved to 26th Co. their First Class year and it was great having familiar faces in the same company. John Brown ’74 first informed me of Bear’s passing and we were all shocked by the news. He was larger than life and was such a wonderful person. I learned from his two children, Kelly and David, Jr., just how much he was loved by his family, friends, coworkers, and what a great husband he was to his wife, Pam. Bear always put his family first. Their touching and sometimes humorous stories related in their eulogies elicited a mixture of tears and laughter from those in attendance. He will be missed but we will always remember Bear fondly, especially that big smile with his pearly whites in full display.

Mark Hubbard, Mike Holton, John Brown, Morgan Ames, Ray Donahue, Bob Hogan, and Don Loren after Bear Marra’s Memorial Service

Dave “Bear” Marra and his grandson, Dave Marra III – the spittin’ image (or a clone)! There’s that heartwarming smile Bear was known for!

I got a brief but newsworthy update from fellow 26th Co. Classmate, Mark Metcalf:

Well, it took a while to get things published, but 2017 was the year:
– A chapter that I wrote on PRC warship technical standardization was published in a USNI book in January: http://www.usni.org/store/books/spring-2017-catalog/chinese-naval-shipbuilding
– An article about contemporary PRC perspectives on applying deception to modern warfare (as described in the Sunzi) was published in the February 2017 Proceedings.
Currently teaching a weekly undergraduate seminar (the third time) on Sunzi’s Art of War at the University of Virginia. Also, had the privilege of giving a talk to the UVA NROTC Battalion on how the PRC PLA applies Sunzi’s Art of War to modern warfare and got a coin for me effort.

Did I mention that I enjoy being semi-retired?

Rumor has it that Chris Ames live in Carlsbad, CA, but he really is a world traveler selling unmanned air systems for a world-class manufacturer. Don’t understand why a former P-3 pilot would be selling unmanned aircraft, but that’s just me (and someone else who knows him like a brother…). He has two children currently in prestigious colleges. Hey, Chris, how about dropping by when you are in the Annapolis area and come to one of our reunions/football tailgaters?! Just sayin’!

We are led to believe that this is what Chris Ames looks like now (can someone confirm?)

Here’s a last minute bulletin from Jim Doherty! (I hope Maria O’Shea at Shipmate doesn’t get upset with me pushing the word limit…)

I was down in Florida last week, in the Tarpon Springs area, for the 3rd annual get-together with some old Navy buds, Jerry Willett being one of them. Here we are: From the left is Dave Rogers ‘79, one of our Plebes, (every other picture in the past we made him stand in the back…), Chris Staszak, good friend commissioned out of Boston University and served with Jerry on the USS Glover–at one point in the 80’s, when Jerry, Chris and I were roaming free on the streets of Boston, Chris was the XO of the USS Constitution. The Boston Globe anointed him one of “Boston’s Most Eligible Bachelors”! That’s me and then Jerry. Yes, that’s “TK” (Tom Kennedy) on the left, his wife, Barb, me, Jerry, Ed Harper and his wife Kathy. So many laughs that night…

The Tarpon Springs area USNA ’76 minireunion with Doc & Company

That’s all, folks! Now, carry on…