AFIT RETIREES NEWSLETTER: SPRING 2006

The spring luncheon is scheduled for April 22, 2006 at Villa di Giovanni, 1100 Dayton Yellow Springs Rd. The restaurant is on the South side of Fairborn Yellow Springs Road, just to the east of the interchange with I-675. Coming from the east, the sign is quite visible. But coming from the interstate, it is hard to spot until you are past it. Turn in at the stop light and double back.

Social time starts at 11:30 with everyone seated to order from the menu by 12:10. As far as we can tell, there are no Maple Festival parades in either Fairborn or Yellow Springs. Please contact Jim Bridgman (233-4583 or charlesbridgman@earthlink.net), Matt Kabrisky (mkabrisky@yahoo.com or 426-1462), Karen Calico (434-4078 or rcalico@woh.rr.com), or Peter Torvik (374-0521 or torvik@att.net) by Wed., 19 April so the restaurant can plan for us.

Karen Calico has offered to take the "flower Fund" treasury over from Harold Kepler, and thanks all of you who have been so generous in giving to the fund. Your moneys have enabled us to make memorial contributions for Jack Crouch, James Hitchcock, and Norma Keister. But our balance in the Social Courtesy Fund is getting low. This fund is used for mailing and paper expenses for the newsletter as well as for bereavement donations on the death of a retired faculty or an immediate member of his/her family. Your contribution of ten dollars or more to Karen Calico or Peter Torvik will be appreciated.

As of 9 January 2006, the Graduate School of Engineering and Management has a new Dean. Dr. Marlin U. Thomas came to AFIT from the College of Engineering at Purdue, where he was, from 1993 to 2006, Professor and Head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies. He was educated at the University of Michigan, where he received his doctorate in Industrial and Operations Engineering in 1971. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality, the Institute of Industrial Engineers (Past President), and of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (Past Secretary).

Previous academic appointments included positions at the Naval Postgraduate School, Univ. of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), Univ. of Missouri (Columbia). Cleveland State Univ, and Lehigh University. He has also worked briefly in the automotive industry and served a thirty-two year combined active and reserve career as a Navy civil engineer corps officer.

Dr. Thomas’ research interests are in stochastic modeling, reliability and evaluating logistics systems with emphasis on optimal design for contingency operations. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 archival articles and delivered over 100 presentations at major conferences. He has served on six editorial boards including area editor for Operations Research, department editor for IIE Transactions, and consulting editor for McGraw-Hill. He has also served on numerous national committees, boards and advisory panels for academics and research, and is a past member of the Army Science Board.

Last fall’s newsletter included recollections by our members of WWII experiences. The following item was received from G. Richard Hagee after ‘going to press’, and is included here.

FOXHOLE TO FOXHOLE ACROSS GERMANY AND AFTER

Following graduation from St. Xavier High School in June, 1943 I enlisted in the Army as a candidate for the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). Those in the program had demonstrated through aptitude tests ability in a number of technical fields and were to be sent, after Basic Training, to college to study engineering. By late February, 1944m approximately 200,000 men were in the program at colleges or in Basic Training. As I was completing my Infantry Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the Army cancelled the program because of the forthcoming need for replacement Infantry troops for the planned invasion of Normandy. Most of us in the program were transferred to Infantry Divisions (Ref: "Scholars in Foxholes" by Louis E. Keefer, 1988). Still only eighteen years of age, I joined the 86th Division in Louisiana in March and was in training with them on June 6, 1944.

In late July, 1944 I departed the 86th Division to become a replacement (Ref: "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen Ambrose. 1998) following the battle of Normandy. I landed on Omaha Beach in early October, 1944. We bivouacked for two days on the plateau overlooking the beach, roughly where the Military Cemetery is today. At that time I joined the 104th (Timberwolf) Division engaged in liberating Belgium and Holland.

Our massive offensive at Aachen against the German Siegfried Line was the initial penetration of Allied Forces onto German soil. Several major offensives were required over the next four months to cover the thirty miles to enter Cologne. The Division continued east of the Rhine to the Elbe River at war's end. I spent six months in infantry combat, was wounded rescuing a fellow platoon member during an artillery barrage, saw the replacement of essentially our entire Company, and was hospitalized four weeks prior to the end of the war.

When I returned home in February, 1946 I entered Xavier University where I was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in January, 1949. In September, 1950 I married my sweetheart, Dorothy Selzer. We have five wonderful, talented children and thirteen beautiful grandchildren. I completed my Ph.D. in Physics it The University of Cincinnati three years after the birth of our fifth child. Cumulatively, I spent almost forty years in various aspects of the nuclear field, including research and development, environmental and medical physics, participation in the Nevada Nuclear Tests, and as a Professor for twelve years at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where I taught and guided the research of M.S. and Ph.D. candidates in Physics and Nuclear Eng.

Norma Keister

Funeral services were held on Sunday, April 9, for Mrs. Paul Keister, who died on April 4. Norma, born June 4, 1922 in W. Va., was a long time member of our group, as the widow of Professor Emeritus Paul Keister, one of the initial faculty members when AFIT was reconstituted in 1945. She was a Kettering Council Member from 1975 through 1987. During her Council years she was active in many Local, State, and National organizations, representing the City of Kettering.

Albert Harrison Moore

Dr. Albert H. Moore died at home on December 9, 2005. He was born February 5, 1921 in New York City, New York and a received a BS from Pratt Institute, a MS from New York University and Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from The Ohio State University. He served on the faculty of AFIT for 29 years, and was named a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics upon retirement in 1990. He also worked as a Research Professor at Wright State until 1992.

James E. Hitchcock

Dr. James E. Hitchcock of Fairborn, Ohio, passed away Wednesday December 28, 2005 in his residence. He was born on October19, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan and earned the BSME degree in 1954 and the MSME in 1956, both from Wayne State University, and his PhD from Purdue University in 1962.  After graduation from Wayne State, he worked as a Research Engineer at the General Motors Technical Center from 1955-1957.  During this period, he also taught part-time at Wayne State.  He was a full time Instructor at Purdue (1957 to 1961) while working on his doctorate.  In September of 1962 he joined the faculty in Mechanical Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology.  He was promoted to Associate Professor in December 1964 and to Professor in November, 1970.  While teaching at AFIT, he was regularly identified by students as one of the most outstanding of instructors.  Upon retirement from teaching in 1989 he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus.

Lt Col Saul Young (USAF Ret)

Dr. Saul Young, who served on the faculty of AFIT in the Department of Operational Sciences, School of Engineering, in the late ‘70s, died January 11, 2006. He graduated with a BA from the University of Texas in 1962, with a MS from Wisconsin in 1969, and earned his doctorate in Industrial Engineering from Stanford in 1975. After retirement from the USAF, he joined the faculty of the School of Business Administration at the University of Dayton.

Lt Col Jack G. Crouch (USAF Ret)

Dr. Jack G. Crouch died on February 26, 2006. He was born July 5, 1922, and raised in Montana. He attended Cornell University before entering the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1945. He earned his doctorate in Engineering from the University of Michigan. Col Crouch served in the School of Engineering from 1958 to 1965; initially on the faculty of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, then as assistant Dean at Malmstrom (1962-1964), and with final assignment as Assistant Dean, School of Engineering. Following retirement from the United States Air Force, he worked for several Dayton area companies. An AF pilot (F51), he continued his flying activity after retirement by becoming and serving as a flight instructor.

Robert and Karen Calico will not be at luncheon, as Bob’s niece is getting married that day. They are busily preparing for the wedding of their daughter Michele on August 12, in Dallas -- to another Purdue graduate. Upon the installation of the new Dean at AFIT, Bob went back to having only one job, that of being the Academic Director, which he enjoys as being much less stressful than having two.

Ernie Dorko reports from Albuquerque that both he and Betty doing well.  Ernie is still teaching at TVI, a local community college. He says "I am teaching two lab sections this semester. Based on my high school and now junior college experience, I am convinced that at these lower levels (i.e. grade and high school and even beginning college chemistry courses) we should teach the subject as a language. This is actually what I have been doing with the TVI students. It does seem to help them since I encourage them to think in terms of translating from English into the symbolic language of both the chemistry and the math involved and then to translate back into English. This is hard for many of the students who, I am surprised to learn, cannot read with comprehension, and cannot do simple math problems. But it is still fun for me to do the teaching, although every year I wonder if it will not be my last to teach. Even though I am only 28 my body turns 70 this September. Ernie points out that the current chair of the chemistry department at TVI is Joe Shield Wallace who Ernie taught at AFIT.

Dennis Quinn, who retired in January, is enjoying the weather at Hampton, VA. He has lined up some sailing, and will soon begin working with UDRI on a contract from AFRL Information Technology,

Guy Risley remains well (young and handsome, he says) and active in Florida, running two investment companies. He is leaving shortly on a trans-Atlantic cruise, with several stops on the way to Great Britain.

Dan Reynolds is enjoying the retirement he began last September. He has been studying Spanish at the University of Dayton.

Andy Shine reports that he has not taught at UD for 1 ½ years, so he is now totally retired, after teaching since 1948.

Larry Smith has been retired from Wright State since 1999, but he is currently remaining busy by taking the Master Gardner training program.

Peggy Spenney will not be at the April luncheon, as she will be out of town attending her first granddaughter’s first communion. She has been winding down here kitchen planning business.

Peter Torvik received an offer from a European research training network to bring him to Minorca for a week in June to present lectures in a workshop on Structural Integrity of Ceramic Multilayer Coatings. Never even having seen the Mediterranean, he (and Pat) accepted. In addition to continuing his consulting work on engine vibrations, he is collecting and editing biographies (56 so far) of high school classmates in preparation for a 50^th reunion of his class at the West Central School of Agriculture (now U of Minn, Morris).

Lynn and Arah-dean Wolaver are booked for a Star Princess cruise in a cabin just below the burned section. They hope the $50 million damage is well repaired.

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