Month: February 2010

Derel Schrock

{Derel is pictured here with the “guys”}

“After EHS, off to OSU, then shuttled between OSU and OU till graduating back at OSU in ’60. Back to OSU for grad school, got bored, then joined the Peace Corps and went to Nigeria. Later parted with the PC by mutual agreement and returned to OU. The draft began to breathe down my neck (no pun intended), so rather than fight it, I joined the AF where I learned to fly (at Vance!), then flew many-motor transports all over the world (loved it). Got out after a tour in Vietnam, but remained in the reserve flying Air Evac DC-9s and DC-10 tankers till the Peter Principle kicked in, got promoted, and spent my last 5.5 years in the Five-Sided Nuthouse (the Pentagon) which I thoroughly enjoyed, but then I wasn’t a full-timer.

“In between the regulars and the reserves, I flew for TWA briefly, then got laid off. Became a sky marshal and later a G-Man (“O’Schrocknik, US Treasury” — anyone remember “O’Hara, UST?”). The AF later made me a better offer to become a full-timer (air reserve tech) in the reserve. (BTW, I was learning to love law enforcement, and I would have been hooked had I remained a few more months. I’ve also become a cop junkie and avid reader of crime fiction.) After 5 years in the air reserve tech racket, went back to work for TWA and got farmed out to Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jeddah for 2 years; came back and got laid off again. This time, got hired as airfield manager at Richards-Gebaur AFB near Kansas City. After a couple of years, I got lucky and went to work for Piedmont Airlines in NC. USAir (USelessAir) came along in ’89 and bought us out, then trashed us, but somehow I survived to retire on favorable terms in ’98.

“Hm. I seem to have left out getting married in ’74 to an AF flight nurse I met on one of my flights, and we split up amicably in ’81; no kids, but she gave me custody of 2 cats and 2 parrots. Nothing long term since nor anything on the horizon. Hey, I’ve learned there are worse things than being single!

“Since retirement from the AF & the airlines(s), haven’t turned a wheel in any remunerative manner. Call me a parasite on the body politic. A few years ago, however, I discovered that even an old timer could be useful by becoming a member of the Peterson AFB Honor Guard. They call me out when they need me to present the folded flag to survivors of more senior deceased officers at military funerals (many in our territory). I’ve since branched out to help the Army at Fort Carson when they run out of brass for army funerals, and if the families don’t mind an AF weenie sullying their ceremonies. In all seriousness, getting to do this is the most satisfying, rewarding thing I can think of to pay back the military and to honor my comrades, and I’ll continue till that time when I need one of my own. Yes, I can get choked up when Taps is played, but I need to do this.

“I’ve also become active in my smallish congregation of mostly old retired Army folks who attend the chapel in the big Army hospital at Ft. Collins. My small Yorkiepoo fraternal twin sisters attend with me, and everyone loves them. There I am, singing my lungs out on the hymns, and the pups don’t even howl! Who woulda guessed I’d ever get righteous? I also love to host whingdings at my house several times a year for us where I do the main course and “refreshments,” and the others bring the rest. We get out 50-60 to these events counting other invitees. Fun!

“This brings me up to date. I grow old gracelessly and languish in serene, splendid isolation in Colorado with my little family of Charlie, the 50ish surviving parrot, and the 2 pups, Loulou and Claire, named after 2 of the 4 pups who used to live here with their mistress, Heidi, daughter of friends in MN, while she went to college here. The “guys,” as I call them, and I enjoy long car trips around the country (I hate flying anymore). Currently, my only other project is “mentoring,” if you could call it that, a young lady (16) who responded to a newspaper feature about my cooking and offered to help and learn whatever I had to offer, so I put her to work with the latest whingding. She’s very bright and efficient and is progressing rapidly. Now the paper is featuring her in an article. She intends to go pro, starting at the school I’ve attended many times in Boulder which offers a pro course. My other avocation is writing rabble-rousing nasty-grams to editors, many of which get printed, several by the Washington Times Weekly, so now you know my politics. Yes, I’m a news and politics junkie.

“Did I say short? Oh well, I got the more-or-less sweet and sour OK, I hope. Stay safe till the reunion — I’d hate seeing that obit list get any longer.
Best wishes, Derel Schrock, aka Schrocknik (from when I was a Russian Studies major)”

Larry Wurth (Deceased)
Larry is pictured with wife, Maria, in August 2004

Four days after graduation I enlisted in the Air Force which afforded me opportunities and adventures that I had never dreamed of. I was able to see the world by being stationed in seven different locations in the US (Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Montana, and 3 locations in California) and in seven foreign countries ( Italy, Yemen, The Congo, Libya, Laos, Thailand, and Viet Nam). I have over 3,000 hours as a crew member of cargo aircraft which enabled me to travel to and work on all seven of the worlds continents. Two of my foreign assignments required me to become fluent in the local language so I learned Arabic and the language of the Hmong peoples of Laos.

While in the military I received 27 awards and decorations which included three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, and a Silver Star. After my second tour in Southeast Asia I was assigned to the White House where I had the honor of participating in meetings chaired by the President. I was then assigned to a Naval Base in the California desert to train air cargo crew members in the aerial delivery practices necessary in a combat situation and to assist the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the testing of the parachute recovery systems for the Apollo Space Capsule.

While working for NASA I met the beautiful Maria Laseter who was a secretary for NASA and after a short courtship we were married. We have now been married 41 years and while never being blessed with children we have been blessed with a boy and a girl we helped raise who consider us their parents.

After retiring from the military I obtained employment as the Business Manager of a California School District. That was a pleasant job but there was no excitement in it so after three years I resigned and Maria and I took to the road in our Motor Home to see the parts of the US we had not seen. That took us 4 years and then we decided to settle down in Branson, Missouri.

Maria and I built a home overlooking Table Rock Lake doing all the work ourselves. When we were finished she made me promise that never again would we do that. After we finished the house I obtained the position of Operations and Maintenance Manager of the Lawrence Welk Resort. The resort had a 2400 seat theater, a 400 seat restaurant, and a 168 room hotel so I stayed busy 7 days a week. That was a very exciting and rewarding job which I truly enjoyed.

In 2000 Maria and I decided it was time to retire so we moved to Enid to care for my 84 year old Mother. She passed away in 2004 and we once again moved, this time to Yuma, Arizona where we had a contractor build us a house. When we are not at our Yuma house we are at our condo in Imperial, California so we can be close to Maria’s family.

In 1989 I had became involved in a West Texas oil field as a working interest owner and in two small West Texas ranches. Those ventures continue to occupy a great deal of my time but there is one last accomplishment I hope to achieve in the near future. I am starting to document with pictures and official papers my accomplishments and adventures.

Jim Froese  (Deceased)
Here you go.

After graduating I joined the Air Force and spent the next eight years of my life there. I started out my military career in Aircraft control and warning. After a couple of years in the states, I received orders to go to Germany for 2 years. Before leaving for Germany I married Annette Hitchcock. We became the parents of a Daughter Susan Marie born in Frankfurt, Germany.

From there we went to Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL where I was assigned to the Drone Squadron. There I learned Intercept Control, which is to scramble Fighters on Bogies and either identify them or shoot them down. We also conducted live firing missions over the gulf on Drone aircraft. I was sent to Tripoli Libya, North Africa for 6 months to work with the British controllers there and share our knowledge of intercepts and live firing with them. It was then back to Panama for a few months and then to Viet Nam. I was stationed just outside DaNang on a mountain named Monkey Mountain. (There were thousands of monkeys there.) It was a Radar Installation on top of the mountain and we controlled any and all aircraft flying within a 200 mile radius.

My wife divorced me while I was in Viet Nam. After Viet Nam, I left the Air Force and moved back to Enid and joined the Enid Police Dept. My ex-wife and I got back together and re-married but it only lasted 11 months. I took a job as a Detective in Chicago and was there 8 years. I married Gloria Sterling and we remained together for 7 years. I moved back to Oklahoma City and did various jobs.

I met and married EHS Graduate Beverly Diener Tabor in July of 1975. We owned and operated a Medical Repair and supply business in OKC until 1982. We went into the gun business and traveled to Gun Shows all over the country for the next 9 years. We then moved to Seattle, Washington, where I secured a job with Microsoft Corp. and worked for them until my retirement in 2005. (If any of you use Windows XP, I had a hand in building it). We moved back to Enid at that time. After my retirement, I consulted for a company for 2 years, and managed account for them at Microsoft, working out of our home.

I am now fully retired and loving it. I am staying busy though. I just bought Jerry Collins’ 1962 Cushman Eagle Motor Scooter and am getting it running. Also, my wife Beverly just bought me a Yamaha 1300 cc Royal Star Motorcycle. So if you see and old man in black leathers and a big black helmet cruising the streets of Enid, it will probably be me. Jim Froese (jfroese@msn.com)