Class Interest Groups

FROM THE CLASS PRESIDENT: This list of Classmate interests and activities is provided for general information purposes only, and none of these interests or activities is organized, sponsored, directed or controlled by the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1973.

 

POSTED ON 23 SEP 2022 – 73 POWER PRAYER TEAM (PPT)

This attachment also contains the contents of the following 2022 PPT update: 73 PPT Update 17 Sep 22

73 Power Prayer Team Update

17 September 2022

Teammates, Brothers, and Sisters,

Losses and Gains.

This past month of August saw us losing ‘73ers Dan Simpson and Rory Fisher to this life on Earth. Both were beloved by their families and revered as Classmates and Naval Officers. I spoke with Rory’s widow Dorn this week and expressed our heartfelt condolences. Rory and Dorn were aware of our prayers and were most thankful. Rory’s brother (and our ‘73er brother) Rand, expressed similar appreciation for our prayers. If you wish to send Dorn a note of sympathy, her email is…  dornfisher@earthlink.net . I am certain she would be most appreciative. Rand is also on this Team’s distribution list.

When our beloved ‘73er Brother Randy Reinhardt went to be with our Lord, I received an email from one of Randy’s best friends, of which there were a countless number. Fr. Tim Barkley, a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, had been a student of Randy’s when a youthful Tim was a student in a Christian School where Randy was the Headmaster. Tim’s message to me read” “Our Brother Randy has graduated.” My reflection upon that was positive and reminded me that Randy would no longer have to suffer the pain life here on Earth can bring. Randy had truly moved onward and upward spiritually toward his eternal reward.

Dan Simpson and Rory now joyfully await with Randy for the second coming of Christ…they all ran the race and won…gaining, I believe, the incredible gift of “eternal life.” It is easy to preach comfort during a time of loss, but with the strongest possible foundation of faith, one can have hope, and offer charity without doubt or hesitation. How is your faith foundation? How is mine? How often do we pray and communicate directly with God? How often do we read the Bible? How well do we know it? Jerome, an early Father of the Church Christ established, said: “Ignorance of the Scriptures, is ignorance of Christ.” How often do we remind ourselves and others to: Just believe, trust, and obey Him who is the source of Eternal Life. “For believers, no explanation for the mystery of God is necessary. For those who refuse to believe through faith, no explanation is possible.”

 Our ‘73 Parkinson’s Support Team.

Our USNA Classes of 1965, 1968, and 1973 have answered the call and each have established Parkinson’s Disease Support Teams. Parkinson’s and Parkinsonian related diseases are on the list now of the seventeen officially recognized “Exposed to Agent Orange Presumptive Illnesses.”  Our ‘73er Team has met via Zoom six times for one hour each session since August. The team is led by ’73 Bob Bartron, a longtime Teammate of ours on the 73 PPT. Recently, Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I encourage ALL to attend at least one meeting to become familiar with its critical importance. ‘73ers Chuck Voith, Jim Ewing, Tom Broderick, and Pat Virtue have all attended at least one meeting in support of their Brothers, even though they, by the grace of God, have not contracted a Parkinson’s related illness. You can contact Bob Bartron’s email and request a Zoom invitation. The next one-hour meeting will be on this coming 27 September at 1300 Eastern, 1200 Texas (Centra), 1100 (Mountain), and 1000 (West Coast). Bob will provide some meeting agenda background information along with the Zoom invite. Bob’s: bobbartron@hotmail.com . FYI: Bob’s brother Bill Bartron (not a Twin) is also a ‘73er. The initiative for this great addition to our ‘73er mental and physical exercise came from our Class President, Marine, and longtime, 73 PPT Teammate, Dirk Mosis. Chuck Voith has made every one of the meetings so far and will, I suspect, always be there for his Teammates. “For ’73, there is strength in numbers.” PS: Ade Dillon has set a personal goal of being present for the 27 September next meeting. Following an extremely challenging recent hospital stay, Ade is back in his residence, with a daily goal of getting stronger every day and ready to rally with his ‘73er Brothers via Zoom.

Our ’73 Power Prayer Team Sunday Night Bible Group.

For one year now, our “SNBG” (aka Bible Study and Fellowship) have been meeting for one hour every Sunday night via Zoom, to share the Word of God and spiritually strength each other. If you have never taken a dive into the Bible, here is your chance. Suggestion: you have nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain.

Those who have always considered themselves to be Christians living by Judeo-Christian principles but belonging to a denomination that did not have the Bible at the center of their forefront of teaching, have found this fellowship to be incredibly valuable. We share responsibility of session leadership, and everyone gets a chance to play Quarterback. To date, we have taken dives into “Acts of the Apostles, Philippians, Mark, and we are now on session seven and Chapter 7 of the mysterious Book of Revelation’s 22 Chapters.

Where is all this taking us? Along with our families, Classmates, Teammates, Shipmates, Brothers, and Sisters, we are heading to Eternal Life! Given that, what do YOU have to lose? For more information and/or a Zoom invitation, contact Tom Broderick (thomas.e.broderick@gmail.com) or Brian Young (bkyoung73@outlook.com … while cc’ing both. “It is never too late for you to join us, until the day comes when it is too late!”

 Our Classmate, Teammate, Shipmate, and Brother, Jim Ewing and Wife Nancy.

Jim is currently “deployed” on yet another mission trip to Lourdes, France. There he and Nancy are summer volunteers at Lourdes where, to the best of my recollection, forty-six known cases were investigated by Church and secular medical authorities and determined to be bona fide miracles. As a member of our ’73 Power Prayer Teams, Jim and Nancy are in our prayers as they do God’s work on Earth.

Suggestion: Jim and Nancy consider leading a volunteer group from our teams to Lourdes the next time they go. I pledge to recruit my son Will (whose mother-tongue is French) to assist. We can expect a “legally detailed report of the facts” upon Jim and Nancy’s return, hopefully including pictures and/or video.

From Jim:

17 September,

Dear Brothers, 

My wife Nancy and I are in the French Haute Pyrenees, and we head for Lourdes tomorrow (18 Sep 22) where we will do our annual service to the pilgrims in the Sanctuary there.  We will offer prayer intentions for all of the people on Dan’s list.  If you have other prayer requests, please forward them so that we can include them too.  We will pray for you all in our daily masses, in Eucharistic adoration, and in Our Lady’s grotto, where we will leave the requests that we have received in addition to Dan’s list.  Thank you, and I’ll look forward to being back with you at the start of October.

Jim

 

Miracles.

“Miracles are God’s Divine Intervention in our lives here on Earth.” Having personally experienced a few throughout my life (the most recent, a near-death experience having been given a hopeless, Agent Orange related illness diagnosis, I have no doubt about His existence and answering of our prayer requests.

Our 73 Power Prayer Zoom Team.

Sailing full speed ahead now, twice a month, this team is providing invaluable spiritual fellowship for many. Tim Ellis has developed into an outstanding, non-denominational Quarterback of these Zoom sessions which welcome members of all Christian persuasions. The 2X/month sessions are usually on the 2nd Tuesday and last Thursday of each month, for one hour, beginning at 1100 Eastern. They feature breakout discussion groups of between 3-4 individuals for twenty of the 60 minutes. From start to finish the focus is prayer for our families, personal needs, as well as for our USA, USNA, Military Services, any one and/or anything which comes to mind. That includes a very detailed, updated list kept via spreadsheet by Dan Thigpen. This Team very nicely complements any personal family worship services one attends, provides a chance to regularly check-on All Hands, and build strength through Bible-based prayer. “There is strength in numbers…’73!”

Task Force 73 Agent Orange.

TF 73 A.O. has been assisting many ‘73ers for many years. It all began with our Classmates who were exposed to Agent Orange in Viet Nam. Everything one must know to get started seeking help, is instantly available on our outstanding Class website… (www.1973.usnaclasses.net)… (Agent Orange Information)…no password is required for access to that.  A password is needed for other protected site information. That password is our Class motto, lower case, as one word.

Thank you VERY MUCH to those who helped by selflessly building and maintaining this invaluable asset for us throughout the years…Debi (and Dan) Clarkson and our current webmaster Rick Elliott.

 

Task Force 73 for Veterans, Inc.

This is a non-profit, pro bono team of ‘73ers who have helped, and continue to help any Veteran-in-need of help from the VA. In addition to Agent Orange related health care claim assistance, objectives of attacking the Veteran Suicide Epidemic, and most recently, Service Dog possibilities have been added to our targeted interests.

 

Ade Dillon.

Ade just called (last evening) in a special prayer request on behalf of one of his wonderful, full-time health providers, Virginia, who will be watching over Ade tonight (last night) and tomorrow (today). Her best friend, Mary died the day before yesterday, and we prayed over the phone that Mary is resting in the presence of our Lord right now. Virginia intends to help Ade attend the scheduled prayer and communion service tomorrow (Sunday) morning at Ade’s “Evergreen” retirement complex in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. (Ade just called back this Sunday morning to report he made to the chapel prayer and communion service. He included us all in his prayers.)

Pat Virtue.

          A special note of thanks goes out to our ‘73er Brother Pat Virtue, who has now logged six round trips driving his own car, between his home outside the western suburbs of Chicago and Ade’s then Appleton, and now Oshkosh residences. Pat schedules a departure from home and then an overnight stop in Wisconsin to see his daughter Shannon and her family which includes, two grandsons who play high school football…then, early the next morning to/from spending a day with Ade. This is the same Pat Virtue who founded, managed, and led a “Crisis Pregnancy Center” which helped thousands of young women in-need over the course of 30 years, all while he was completing a 25-year Commercial Pilot flying career. If you ever want a first-hand update on Ade, just ask his Brother-in-Christ Pat Virtue. (pmvirtue@gmail.com) “Non-Sibi Virtch!”

 

 More To Follow Soon:.

U.S. Military Service Salutes to our family members by including short vignettes, starting, for example, with Bob Shary’s dad, Bob Apples’s dad, Paul Janik’s dad, and my dad’s selfless, patriotic service for our USA. If you would like to provide a “short and to the point” such story, send it my way.

          Families which immediately come to mind with members currently on Active Duty, Reserve, or Guard Duty: Simmonds; Dillon; Shary; Young; Nigro; Miletich; Canterna (very recently retired). Request names of those I may have missed. Regrets

 

Our 50th Reunion “Memorial Service” and our “Non-Denominational, Faith Based Christian Fellowship Service.” 

So far, Tim Ellis (Organization and Music), Tom Broderick (Organization), and Fred Donnelly (Bagpipes), have volunteered to help. Volunteers are invited.

 

More could follow, but I must, as always, stay “short and to the point.” Keep All Hands in your proactive, daily prayers.

Best/ Bill/ Non-Sibi/ Semper Fi Marines/ Amen.

 

 

30 April 2021 – 73 POWER PRAYER TEAM

73 Power Prayer Team – 27 April 2021 Update

The 73 Power Prayer Team (73PPT) was founded during the weekend of our 30th Class reunion in the fall of 2003. It was during that Homecoming Saturday morning that a group of approximately 60 ‘73ers plus family members met at the USNA Chapel for what was advertised as a “faith-based, non-denominational, prayer fellowship.” All ‘73ers were invited to attend. In addition to prayer and music, a sermon was offered by 73er Randy Reinhardt. Also, our first 73er Memorial Service was included with the reading of the names of all those who have gone before us. That part of the fellowship was led by 73er Tim Ellis.

During that weekend, it was decided that we would continue with such a service at each of our next 5-year reunions. The 35th, 40th, and 45th Reunion Memorial Services were all well-attended and appreciated. Our next will be held during the weekend of our 50th reunion in 2023.

The mission of our 73 PPT is:

to pray for the spoken and unspoken needs of our Team members, including our USA, Navy, Marine Corps, all our Armed Forces, Veterans, First Responders, Health Care Workers, and any or all other needs and requests.

All 73ers, their family members, and friends are welcomed to join the Team and be added to the email distribution list. There is no obligation other than to pray in your own way for the prayer requests as they are submitted and distributed. We have found this fellowship to be an invaluable way to be aware of our Classmates’, Shipmates’, Teammates’, Brothers’, and Sisters’ needs for prayerful support.

Within the past year, our Team added an activity named the 73 Power Prayer Zoom Team comprised of approximately 30 members of our 73 PPT. Its mission is identical to our 73 PPT and meets for one hour, twice a month. More information is available upon request.

We remind all to “never forget nor underestimate the power of prayer,” and we stay unwaveringly focused upon our God who created the Heavens and the Earth and has given us all this incredible opportunity to serve Him here in this life, and to be with Him forever in the next. Our Team can be contacted via email at: 73ppt@earthlink.net.

Best/ Bill/ Non Sibi

Bill Short