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Jan . 31 , although he did take part in their new pastor ’ s installation service Jan . 1 . It was a bitter sweet time for both Dan and Lois . They said they are looking forward to retirement from official ministry , but will miss their church family as they will be attending a church closer to home . The church is giving them a retirement / honor dinner Jan . 14 . The Nortons are not sure just what “ retirement ” will look like yet as Dan will start leading a Bible study in their new community starting Jan . 8 . In March , they will be heading to Florida for a few weeks , taking their time driving down and coming home . They definitely want to stay busy serving the Lord in whatever way He leads them .

Congratulations , Dan and Lois , on your 38 years of ministry … Praise the Lord !

Dave Mershon : Dave says , “ At this time in our lives , Toni and I are doing great , and we feel blessed . This golf community ( we don ’ t golf ) turned out to be a wonderful place , being close to family , and the Chesapeake for the boat . As for excitement , we were hit by lightning sailing back from D . C . on the Potomac River . No major damage , but it gave us a chance to check the boat over . This summer we sailed up the James River to the first settlement at Jamestown . At home , we watched the grandkids mature , biked , and volunteered at church and the Masonic lodge . Life is great .”

Bob Raybold : Bob says he spends time telling the lost about the cross , and telling the saved about preterism ( things that are past ). He also works at a nursing home a few hours on Mondays and Tuesdays and helps sell cars at an auto auction on Thursdays and Fridays . His wife Lana substitutes at a local elementary school . Bob says , “ We sit back and watch grandkids grow up .” Their oldest is a high school junior and has a college picked out already . They also enjoy watching their sports . Bob ends with , “ I don ’ t know about the rest of the guys , but I ’ m enjoying getting older … maybe that ’ s because I don ’ t have much pain yet … and the future is bright .”

Warren Speakman called the other day asking for Rob Sharer ’ s phone number . He called back this morning to say he got a hold of Rob and they talked for 45 minutes . The Sharers are going to Warren ’ s to meet him for dinner .

I ’ m really glad to hear that . How about if you all try to connect with an old classmate … be it a roommate , shop mate , whatever ? I would just like to see us stay in touch . We were , and are , a great class and I ’ d like all to enjoy our great memories and friendships from over 50 years ago . Hope you all have a great year and that we can get together in the fall of this year . Blessings to you and your family ,

Dick

Steve Nash 205 Red Fox Court Middletown , DE 19709 302-376-9680 302-383-6860 ( cell ) snash999 @ cs . com

Hi guys ,

Happy New Year ! Here it is early January , the Christmas holiday season is over , and we are about to settle in for that cold dreary winter that we have to look forward to at this time of every year . ( Naturally , I ’ m excluding all you lucky fellows that live in

the South or the Southwest .)

This will probably be the last Williamsonian article that you will have read before the reunion . The reunion means so many things to different people . I know for myself , it ’ s coming is both exciting and threatening . On one hand , there will be old friendships renewed and re-established and on the other , that personal reminder that it was 50 years ago since we left Willy Tech . 90 percent of our lives will have been lived already and who knows how much longer we have yet to go . If anyone has made lifetime goals , now is the time to evaluate them and decide whether or not they have been reached . I know for a lot of us , we can look to our grandchildren to see if maybe they can carry on with our legacy . Hopefully , they can pick up where we left off . Maybe they can fulfill our bucket list items that we never got to .

I know this article is a bit on the morbid side , I ’ m sorry for that , but it also is a touch of reality . When you are gone , will you have said thanks to WTS in some way for the opportunity to have lived a better life ? I hope so .

One of the items on my bucket list was to have made it to our 50th . I ’ ve still got a few month to go , but we ’ re getting close ….

I heard from Ron Westbrook before the holidays and he has a plan that he wants to propose to the administration for some fundraising . I ’ ll let Ron tell you about it later on , but I think he spent quite a bit of time coming up with this one .

See you in June , Steve

Edgar Speer 1600 Ulster Lane West Chester , PA 19380 610-431-7574 speerhouse7 @ verizon . net

Greetings Class of 6W8 and Happy New Year ( I am writing these notes the last week of December 2016 ),

Our yearly October class luncheon at Shady Maple enjoyed another good turnout of classmates . We were scheduled for 31 classmates , but some last minute cancellations , due to health / family issues brought our numbers down a small bit . We had some first timers show — MIA ’ s for too long ! It was so good to see Jack Burns , Tom Paulovitz , and Fran Monahan join us this year .

Jack Burns was as quiet as ever , stately looking as a retired Delaware State Policeman , who is working in private security right now , and hoping to fully retire later this year . Jack had two brothers who also attended Williamson , Class of 6W9 and 7W0 . They also were in law enforcement , one for the Delaware State Police and the other for the Maryland State Police .

On a side note , Harry Lane told us he had the good pleasure of being pulled over by a Burns brother while trolling the roads of Delaware ! It was so good to get caught up with Jack concerning the last few years of his life journey . At the end of our meeting , we had a discussion of our 50th reunion and our Williamson class gift and Jack shared a good concept of the idea of a yearly gift from our class as opposed to a one shot deal . I have asked Pete D ’ Orazio , Williamson ’ s director of leadership giving , if something like this was possible . Pete said he would research it and get back to me and Stacy Starr , late January 2017 .

Tom Paulovitz : It was good to see Tom as

It gets better every time the Class of 6W8 meets at the Shady Maple . The class had an excellent turnout and several first-timers showed up . Pictured are ( from left to right , front ): Ron Wildasin , Fran Monahan , Ralph Ames , George Miles , Ralph Maiden , Dan Smith , Ed Speer , Steve Shedlock , and Jack Burns ; and ( back row ): Harry Lane , Dan Maslanik , Tom Paulovitz , Tom Turnbaugh , Dave Slotterback , Dale Laubenstein , Larry Leiphart , Monte Lawley , Will Short , Barry Veet , Jim Thomas , Joe Selgrade , Terry Lieb , and Terry Cooke . ( Stacy Starr was there , but missed the photo .)

his last appearance was at our 20th reunion in 1988 . Tom is fully retired , having sold his stainless steel business to his partner . His son is still working for the company . Tom and his wife split their time between their Pennsylvania home and their Florida home . They do a lot of travelling in the states and Europe . Tom , like many of us , is a Vietnam vet . He is talking about going back to Vietnam as a tourist to visit the Mekong Delta where he did river patrol . Tom , let me know how the trip turns out as Agnes , my wife , is interested in seeing that country . I doubt that any of the MCB 74 ( my Seabee unit ) firebases , bridges , or runways would still be around to visit !

Henry Carneavale was hoping to join us this year , but a health setback and necessary doctor ’ s appointment got in the way . Henry , we are all hoping for great health for your in 2017 .

Steve Shedlock and Harry Lane — it was good to catch up with you .

I had a good phone conversation with John Plisko before the lunch and he was looking forward to joining us this year . But , just before the lunch , a buddy offered him a free plane ticket to Florida for some deep sea fishing and John made a good choice ! John is retired , living in Somers Point , N . J ., and enjoys fishing there all year long . John had been in the hospital for a few days with heart and high blood pressure problems , but all was resolved with meds . John had his own construction business in New Jersey before retiring .

Ron Wildasin , who drives over 600 miles each way to the luncheon every year from Wisconsin , agrees with Stacy Starr that we have the best four hours that we spend together and there is not enough time for all to visit with each other .

Dan Smith shared that he and his wife Linda “ traveled to El Paso , Texas , for stepson Adam ’ s wedding celebration on Nov . 10 . He will be stationed in Guam for the next three years . Due to the late fall leaf drop , we have been cleaning up leaves ever since we got back . Not much else to report .”

George Miles writes , “ Just a quick response for the Williamsonian . First , I wanted to again thank you for facilitating

the luncheons . It ’ s great to see everyone . Second , I just wanted to brag about one of my grandchildren , who at age 14 bagged a buck , turkey , and bear so far this season . While all six of them have their own accomplishments , this one can ’ t get the grin off his face , or off mine . Sharon and I are still working on our Bucket Lists and are heading back to the Caribbean for a 3-week sail through the British Virgin Islands in January . We just returned from two plus weeks in Arizona where our daughter lives and after completing all of the “ honey-dos ,” we again spent a lot of time exploring lakes , gold mines , caves , the Meteor Crater , as well as standing on the corner of Route 66 in Winslow , Ariz ., with a statue of the Eagles and a flat-bed Ford , just “ Taking it Easy .” We are both still overwhelmed with our volunteer chores , with her as the HOA president in one community and me the VP and legal chair in another . I ’ m also still up to my ears in our water system and have run into a spate of time consuming failures , line breaks , fires , etc .), which most likely will get worse when the freezing weather gets here . I need to retire from my retirement job !

Stacy Starr has gotten another yearly contract to work two weeks a month in Artesia , N . M . Artesia is in the SW corner of New Mexico . Stacy is still active with the Alumni Association . Stacy designed and personally financed the beautiful stained glass Williamson window that the Alumni is raffling ( the article was in the fall Williamsonian ). Stacy was so busy selling raffle tickets at our lunch that he missed our class picture . So sorry about that , Stacy .

Agnes and I welcomed our eighth grandchild on Veteran ’ s Day , Nov . 11 . Fionn ( pronounced Finn ) James Speer-Gibson was born in Lisburn , Northern Ireland . We were so glad to be there for the month of November enjoying Fionn ’ s big sister , Aoife , and big brother , Luca .

Our son , Ed and Emily , are expecting their third child in the middle of January , joining Beatrix and Edgar , IV . This grandchild is only ½ hour away in Broomall !

We attended an MCB 40 reunion this