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POLARIS MISSILE FACILITY, ATLANTIC

34 Years of Service to the Fleet
29 March 1960 - 05 January 1995

POMFLANT Alumni Newsletter

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March 2001 - Issue 1

It's get-together time again. Please try to attend. We will again meet at the Dorchester Boat Club on April 14th at 2:00 PM for a catered barbecue meal. We will have barbecue pork and chicken with all the fixings plus dessert. Kelly's barbecue will be the caterer. The price per person will be $8.00 which includes the meal plus renting the boat club. Send your check to Mary Adams, 821 N. Palmetto Street, Summerville, SC 29483 by April 6th.


News from our Members:

Cindy and Mark Dixon have a new baby boy (Ian) born on the 17th of January at 11:31am. He weighed 8lbs,13ozs and was 21 inches long. Their son, Joey, is nine and delighted to have a new brother. They live in Canal Winchester, OH.


Buddy Gaillard wrote that the family moved to Spruce Creek Preserve in Ocala, FL in December. Their new address is 13888 SW 114th Circle, Dunnellon, Fl 34432 and the new their phone number is (352)291-1373. He says the golf is great and so is motorcycle racing.
Hiram Fewox writes: It has been six and a half years since I left you guys in Charleston. The time really flies, but I am finally coming to the end of my career with Lockheed. I will retire on 28 February and feel real excited about what is ahead for me. My wife, Betty, and I are looking into a move to the mountains of Tennessee, however, we may stay around here for a while, just to let the whole retirement thing sink in a little. We have a daughter in Moncks Corner and my youngest daughter is working in Jacksonville. She is still single! Both of them are college graduates and have been successful in their careers. We have two grandsons in Moncks Corner and visit them often. I do not have an e-mail address at home, but plan to remedy that real soon. Looking forward to seeing everyone real soon.
Paul and Rachel Fitzgerald: Rachel and I have been doing nothing except taking it easy. Thanksgiving dinner was in Avon Park, FL. Our son, Bruce and his wife Stacy live there. Our other son, Michael and his children were there from Merritt Island. Our daughter, Cindy and husband Lenny brought their 3 children over from Pensacola, FL. So a good time and meal was had by all. Sadly Rachel's sister-in-law passed away that morning so a rush trip to Fayetteville, NC was necessary. Also, we had to make another trip there two weeks later. Rachel's brother passed away. Unbelieveable, two weeks to the day. Christmas, Rachel and I went with Mike and his girl friend to her Uncle's house for dinner. To make a long story short, her uncle and I were in the same company in boot camp. That was in 1953. Can you imagine the surprise to everyone? Forty seven years. Wow! What a small world!! I have been trying through the Internet to find the other members. So far, I have only located one possible whom I haven't received a reply from yet. After that, things have been pretty quiet.

We have made several trips to Sea World, Busch Gardens, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom and today to Animal Kingdom. As you can tell we like the parks. Some of you may remember that I worked in "Disney World" for a long time!! Ha.Ha. Anyway most of the parks are no further away than the distance from Summerville to Charleston. Going to watch the launch tomorrow even though we can get a good view from the house. About 60 miles. This launch should be beautiful as it will be at sunset with the sun to our backs. I watched an earlier launch early one morning which was very nice. One could see the bright flames in the dark and the changing color as it rose up into the arc of the Sun. I have a web site which has some POMFLANT photos. Have made several web sites for the GA State Parks. The web site address is: http://www.members.tripod.com/paulandrachel. Our address is 1597 London Court, Kissimmee, FL 34746. Our mailing address is: 3590 Roundbottom Road PMB F154239, Cincinnati, OH 45244. That's about it for now.”


Doug Jimenez writes that he and his wife, Dee now have a second son (Thomas Hunter Jimenez). He was born on October 15th at St. Francis Hospital. He was 7 lbs, 15ozs, and 21 inches long.
Jim & Pat Gallahorn: Pat and Jim live in Hobcaw Creek Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. They are still members of St. James Episcopal Church on James Island. Jim had open-heart surgery in August 2000 - 4 by-passes. He is doing very well.

Jim continues to research his family background and complains that Pat finds hers much too easy. Jim's search made it possible for him to join the S.A.R. last year. Pat is a member of the D.A.R. and urged-on by Anne Spear, is working on documentation for numerous other genealogical societies. Her quest has taken several of her ancestry lines back to the 1400's in England and Germany. They are having great fun.

Speaking of family, theirs continues to grow. All their 6 children are married and 5 live in the tri-county area. Jim's daughter, Olga lives in Melbourne Beach, FL. Of those 5 living in this area, they have 10 grandchildren. Jim has 2 granddaughters and 2 grandsons. Pat has 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter (included is a step-grandson currently a freshman at Clemson).

While in Alabama for almost 6 years, Pat took charcoal classes at the University of North Alabama to relieve her stress from work and discovered that she could draw a little. Imagine that! After much encouragement from Jim, she began watercolor classes. Since her retirement and return to Charleston, in addition, she has become interested in the art of polymer clay and is making dolls/jewelry, etc. She also has remained interested in quilting and decorative sewing. So far, these endeavors have been for the enjoyment of her family and friends, but maybe some day you'll see her "stuff" for sale.

They bought 4.5 acres on top of Hogback Mountain (Brushy Ridge) in Tryon, NC five years ago. They have two spectacular views - one of the valley (towards Spartanburg) and one of the mountains (toward Hendersonville). They are currently making plans to have it cleared; the road put in; and a cabin built.

Jim spent a year as Treasurer of the Charleston Artists Guild and is now Secretary of the James Island Dance Club. He just can't seem to say "NO"!

Jim loves working on the computer. So much so, that he had to buy Pat one just so she could use it occasionally. He also spends a lot of time just "keeping the house up." Seems there are always things to do. They have a 55 gallon freshwater fish aquarium and Bill Brandhorst liked it so much that he and Betty bought one for saltwater fish.

The Gallahorns' are in a supper club with Anne and John Spear, Sheria and Joe Alexander, and Betty and Bill Brandhorst. The group hopes to begin traveling a little next year, probably first to Europe. Retirement is GREAT!


Rosalie and Jim Lawrence: We took a trip to Gulfport, MS in January to visit one of Jim's old shipmates (from the USS NICHOLAS DD-449 in Pearl Harbor back in 1960). Had a great time, even sampled a couple of the casinos there in Biloxi, and had lunch one day at the US Naval Home in Gulfport. We just got back from a long weekend in JAX FL, stayed at the Navy Lodge at the Naval Air Station, had supper with Jim's last civil service boss before he retired, and ate some great seafood.

We'll be going to our 13th straight ship's reunion of the USS WHITEHURST (DE-634) in Knoxville in June.

And many of us former POMFLANT employees still get together for breakfast each week. Since they closed Shoney's on Ashley Phosphate Road, we now meet at 9:30 each Wednesday at Luz's Cafe (on Remount Road, next to Parks Auto). We usually have anywhere from 6 to 15 people, and recently A. R. Brown joined us (he was down from his home in Iva, SC).

We stay in relatively good health (thanks to God), and are looking forward to seeing everyone at the April get-together.


Jim McNamara writes that he is now a granddaddy. Their daughter, Angela, delivered her first baby in August 2000, a girl, named Dakota. Angela resides with her husband and daughter in College Park, Ladson, SC.
Joel Newman writes: Eleanor and I are continuing in good health here in our adopted town of Huntsville, AL. We finally took the Cross-Canada Trip via the VistaDome train last October. Jasper, Banff, and the Columbian Ice Fields are spectacular. Took over 500 pictures, thanks to the versatility of digital photography. This year we plan to take a 3-week tour of the rivers of Europe. Only travel advise I would offer: Go with a company that specializes in SMALL groups!

Son, Joel is in Galveston. He travels worldwide troubleshooting microwave communications equipment. Son, Jared continues a successful career as a lawyer in Beaufort, SC. We have our two grandsons each summer…they attend the Space Camp at the US Space Center here. They love it!

So long for now, we wish good health and good luck to all our Navy and Lockheed friends.


Angie Coffman Ringley took a kindergarten teaching position at Pinewood Preparatory School for the 2000 - 2001 school year. She left Sangaree Elementary School in May 2000, after 10 years of teaching third and first grades. She is teaching science, geography and computers to 45 kindergarten students this year. Her daughter Heather (Don Coffman's granddaughter), is in first grade at Pinewood and has been busy with dance lessons, children's choir and cheerleadding for the Pinewood Panthers.
Jo Smith recently spent 3 weeks in Virginia playing grandmother to two of her grandchildren. Her daughter works for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and has been TDY a lot. Jo always looks forward to some quiet time when she returns home.
Joel Singletary writes: What a wonderful January treat! Libby participated in a national sales incentive program for a year. A group from her company in Brevard descended on the Kona coat of the big island and thoroughly enjoyed six days of royal treatment at the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort. We had an absolutely fabulous stay! I will continue to give Libby all the moral support and encouragement she can stand and bring her coffee in bed each morning with the question "are you feeling like going in and selling some tractors today?" Our entire visit, including rental car, spending money, and excursions was provided for us. I went out deep sea fishing and nearly landed a blue marlin while Libby swam with the dolphins at the resort. We extended our visit with a tour of the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu. Although neither of us stayed “retired” after leaving POMFLANT and the Charleston area, our lives are filled with lots of fun things and very little of the stress of our first careers. I continue working with the Builders FirstSource organization as a regional Purchasing Agent. I hope everyone is enjoying their lives after POMFLANT as much as we are!
John & Anne Spear: Anne and I have had a very busy year 2000 and are planning a busy 2001. In April, Anne was blest with her ninth grandchild, a boy named Joshua. We now have a grand total of fourteen between us. In early August, we attended Anne's 50th St. Andrews High School Class reunion. It was great fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Two days after attending the reunion, we headed North to Bar Harbor, Maine to attend my (John) 50th Bar Harbor High School Class reunion. We both graduated with small classes. Mine had fifty and Anne's forty, so you know everyone very well. It was great but the number of deceased classmates was a sad thing to cope with.

On September, we flew from Charleston to Mildenhall, England and spent four days in London. Saw the musical Phantom of the Opera. It was our fourth trip to London and our fourth musical. Saw Chicago, Cats, and Les Miserables during previous trips. We never tire of England and have visited the country thoroughly including Scotland. Leaving London, we rode the EuroStar through the tunnel to Brussels and stayed in the town of Brugge just outside of Brussels. It is a beautiful place to visit. We then took the train over to Amsterdam and stayed in the village of Haarlem. Visited the Van Gogh museum and took a boat ride on the canal. Next we trained over to Paris and down to Amboise in the Lorre area of France. This area is famous for it's chateaus and we saw enough of them to last a lifetime. Rode the train back to Paris and then down to the Provence area in Avignon and Aries. This is a spectacular area of France with many Roman ruins and wonderful local people. Next we trained on up to the Burgundy area and stayed at Beaune which is close to Dijon. Beaune is famous for the wine vineyards. We had a fantastic half day tour of the countryside and sampled the local wines. We also spent one day in Dijon and saw the famous mustard shop and a few cathedrals. We were going to end up in Paris, but since we had already been there once before Anne decided that she would like to visit Switzerland. That was the right decision!! We trained on over to Lusanne which is on the west side of Lake Geneva (we had been to Evian on the east side last year). It is beautiful beyond description there and I mean it!! We visited Vevey and Bern while in the area. We made our way back to Ramstein, Germany and caught a C17 cargo airplane back to Charleston SC on 21 October, with a fueling stop in Gander Bay, Newfoundland. Our wanderings lasted exactly one month. We are currently working on plans to fly to St. Croix for a weekend, then to Maine for the month of July, then back to Italy for the month of October. We spent a month in Italy last year and loved it.


Ron and Nancy Thomas write: Ron had a dream come true on 09 July 2000. We both got to go to sea on the USS West Virginia, SSBN 736. Ron went through qualifications and earned himself a "Honorary Submariner" qualification card.

Ron had emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder on 26 February. The surgery was very extensive. He was on the operarting table for over 4 hours, although he had expected 1/2 hour. The gall bladder was full of stones and the two at the tip were gangrenous. As a result they had to do a large cleanup of surrounding tissue and also added was the scar tissue and lesions from his cancer surgery of 1982. He was on oxygen, IV, antibiotics, had pressure cuffs on his legs and went in and out of it, for the next several days. His agonizing pain started on Saturday the 24th, at 1000 PM. He could not sleep and was walking around the garage, lying down, on all fours, in the bed, etc., trying to get comfortable, by Sunday the pain was so intense he was unable to take a deep breath. I called the doctor and he said to go to the emergency room immediately. We got there at 2:30 PM Sunday and they finally checked Ron into a room on Monday morning at 2:00 AM.

They scheduled the surgery on Monday. He is upset that the incision is like the cancer one of 1982, from his nipples to his pelvic bone, but I tried to humor him and tell him that he now had his own railroad tracks. He closed his eyes and went back to sleeping, so I guess he did not like my answer.

The doctor said he should be there 3 or 4 days. Ron wanted to see the staples to see if he again had 41, but did not want to remove the dressing just yet. The doctor said it was the worst gall bladder he had seen in a very long time, and that Ron was a very sick person, but should mend in time.

Ron came home on 01 March at 500 PM. They took out the IV, gave us some prescriptions and sent us home with instructions. He is to stay still and not lift anything for 4-6 weeks. He went to the doctor on the 8th to have his 38 staples checked and removed. His spirits are good, but he is very, very tired and sore. The healing has begun. Ron's friend Ed stayed here with him during the week for me, so I could return to work.

He is working on the computer when he can. He cannot wait to see you all at the get together in April.


Our Sad News:

Since our last newsletter, I have received information that the following have died:

Barbara Stout - died in October 2000. She had cancer for many years. Barbara worked in the Operations Planning Department.

Joe Inman - died in October 2000. Joe was an inspector in the MIB/NDTIB. He lived in Broomfield, IN.

Bruce Meadows - died of a heart attack in October 2000. He lived in Otranto and was 49 years of age. He was stationed at POMFLANT from 1971-1973 and 1977-1978. He worked in the REB Division.

Jim Simpson - died of a heart attack in the last year. He retired from SWFPAC but was employed at POMFLANT from the mid 70's. He was in the Supply Department.

Bobby Wayne McBride - died in January 2001. He was a retired missile technician with Lockheed. He was 62 years of age.

Robert (Bob) Ryan - died in February 2001 in a Charleston Nursing Home. Bob was Assistant Weapons Officer while at POMFLANT. He was 71 years old.


Please keep us informed of any news about our POMFLANT family.

Please keep Ron Thomas and John Maney up to date on your e-mail addresses and or your current snail mail address and telephone number changes.

Keep Mary Adams informed of your address & telephone changes.

PLEASE SEND US INFORMATION FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER WITHOUT YOUR INPUT, I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT. Mary


SEE YOU ON THE 14th OF APRIL 2001


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