G.R.A.A.

                                          Goddard Retirees and Alumni Association

                              P.O. Box 163, Seabrook, MD  20703-0163

 FEBRUARY 2007                                 http://graa.gsfc.nasa.gov                                       23rd Year of Publication

IMPORTANT DATES: 

COMMENTS FROM RON BROWNING, GRAA PRESIDENT:  We thank all members for the positive responses and generous donations we have received that will help assure continuation of our newsletter.  It is extremely encouraging to hear how you value GRAA as a communications link with Goddard and its retirees.  Starting with the March issue, we expect to be distributing the newsletters electronically to those who have provided an e-mail address.  For all other members, regular mail will be used.   If you have not already done so, please send your e-mail address to Strat Laios at stratlaios@comcast.net.  Dick Baker continues to perform magic in locating outstanding speakers from Goddard to make presentations at our monthly luncheons.  Dr. Charles Jackman, January’s luncheon speaker, certainly fit the mold as a most accomplished scientist who bowed over attendees with his topic of how the Earth’s ozone layer has changed over the years.  Dick’s synopsis of Dr. Jackman’s presentation appears below. 

Dr. Charles Jackman, Project Scientist for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and senior atmospheric scientist from the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch, provided GRAA members an excellent overview of the significant atmospheric changes that have occurred during the past several decades.  Dr. Jackman was kind enough to explain the complex scientific changes, and their life-impacting consequences, in easily understandable terms.  For example, the ozone inhabits two primary locations in the Earth’s atmosphere: the troposphere (where we breathe and experience weather, some 0 to 8 miles high); and the stratosphere (above where we live and experience the weather, some 8 to 30 miles high).  Even in the lower atmosphere, ozone is dangerous to breath or absorb by humans and other living organisms.  In the upper atmosphere, even small concentrations of ozone protect Earth’s life from the damaging rays of ultraviolet (UV) light because ozone converts the energy in UV light and visible light into heat.  Through data received from UARS, the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, Dr. Jackman demonstrated the following research findings:

Depletion of approximately 50% of Antarctic ozone since the early 1970’s, creating the ozone hole so familiar to us of late from all the media attention;

The loss of approximately 3% of global (total-Earth) ozone since the late 1970’s; and the apparently undeniable fact that

Global warming tends to increase the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere over the polar regions and decrease the destruction at other latitudes.

If you were fortunate enough to have attended Dr. Jackman’s presentation, you experienced one of GRAA’s better luncheon programs.  Ye Ed encourages members to provide suggestions for other excellent luncheon speakers or program topics to Ron Browning at arkabee@comcast.net or Dick Baker at richard.baker@juno.com.  If you do not have e-mail, just write a note to our Seabrook address. 

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Bob Wigand reports that some very generous donations were recently received from the following members:  Gus Alicea, Bob Bourdeau, Ron Browning, Wilbur & Dot Burroughs, Vince Canali, Tom Clem, Salvatore Costa, Ed Dalkiewicz, Paul & Bev Fahlstrom, Dwight Fortna, Herb Foster, Willie Fuller, Morry Gelman, Jerold Hahn, Ray Hartenstein, Dave Haykin, Bob Keefe, George Kraft, John Lahzun, Alex Lawrence, H. K. Lee, John Lesko, Mike Logan, Jim Lynch, Mike Mahoney, Paul Marcotte, Paul McCeney, Bill Meyer, Martha Morrissey, Tom Page, Bob Prince, Roger Ratliff, Andy Rolinski, Ray Saxton, Jim Scott, George Smith, Ed Smylie, Joel Steel, Max Strange, Virgil True, Charlie Tulip, Charlie White, Bob Wilkinson, and Bill Witt.  In addition, contributions were received from one anonymous donor and from Marty Davis, a not yet retired fan of the GRAA Newsletter.  GRAA’s account balance as of December 31, 2006, totaled $14,276.05.            

ENVELOPE STUFFERS FOR JANUARY:  Considering the fact there was no certainty that a January issue of the GRAA newsletter would be published during the holidays, the following members decidedly deserve kudos for stepping up to the challenge and stuffing envelopes on December 28^th:  Marg Gallagher, Barbara Hamilton, Elaine Montgomery, Ewald Schmidt, Eloise Tarter, and Bob Wigand.

ROAD CLEANUP:  On December 30^th, a vigorous team (comprised of Ron Browning, Kathy Jarva, Elaine Montgomery, Hugh O’Donnell, Ewald Schmidt, and Bob Wigand) cleaned up our assigned portion of the roadways along Goddard’s eastern boundary.

GRAA NEWSLETTER MAILINGS:  If you no longer wish to receive GRAA mailings, please send a note to our Seabrook address or an e-mail to Dave Moulton at davidlmoulton@comcast.net. If you have moved or want to make corrections to the address appearing on your mailing label, simply write to our Seabrook address or send an e-mail to Strat Laios at stratlaios@comcast.net.  

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH:  Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

Richard “Dick” A. Devlin, of Pasadena, MD, passed away from complications of a stroke on December 29, 2006.  He retired in 1989 after having worked at Goddard since 1963.

Morris “Morrie” B. Falk, of Boca Raton, FL, passed away on January 7^th.  Since 1987, he and his wife maintained another home in District Heights, MD.  Throughout his government service he was also a part owner of a hardware store and found time to serve as an executive in two community associations and as a City Councilman in District Heights.

Edward Gantt, of Washington, DC, passed away on October 8, 2006.

Robert T. Holdren III, of Pocomoke City, MD, passed away on July 31, 2006.  After his discharge from the military, which included service in the European Theater during World War II, he began a career with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at Langley Field, VA, and later at Wallops Island, VA. When NACA became NASA in 1958, he became head of the Technical Support Branch and later was named head of the Range Support Branch.        

Paul L. McConnell, of Annapolis, MD, passed away from a long illness with Parkinson’s disease and dementia on December 26, 2006.  At Goddard, he worked on satellites and experiments involving the Space Shuttle Program.  He was a graduate of the apprentice school of NACA, NASA’s predecessor organization.

Ethel M. Snider, of Bowie, MD (and previously of Stevensville, MD), passed away on January 2^nd after a lengthy illness.  She worked for 30 years as a secretary at Goddard.  Prior to retiring in 1994, she worked for several years as a secretary in the System Reliability and Safety Office of the Office of Flight Assurance (Code 300).

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES - IT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY:

    February 26, 1969:  Delta launched the Environmental Science Services Administration Satellite (ESSA IX), the 9^th and last of the TIROS Operational System satellite series.  ESSA IX replaced ESSA VII to provide cloud cover photography to the National Meteorological Center for the purpose of preparing operational weather analyses and forecasts.

    February 6, 1975:  Delta launched the Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS-2 or SMS-B), a weather satellite designed to sense meteorological conditions from a fixed location and provide data to forecasters.

    February 18, 1979:  Scout launched the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment/Atmospheric Explorer Mission 2 (SAGE/AEM-2), the purpose of which was to determine the spatial distribution of stratospheric aerosols and ozone on a global scale.

LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS:  Due to limited space, Ye Ed apologizes for not being able to acknowledge all of the notes that arrived in the GRAA mailbox during the past month.  However, Ye Ed offers the following sampling of member sentiments:

Dave Haykin wrote, “What we retirees should be grateful for is the amount of work that Ron Browning and the rest of the team put in to keep things moving.”

Paul McCeney wrote, “Enclosed is a little help toward expenses.”

Andrew Rolinski wrote, “Thank you for keeping us old codgers informed.”

Dwight Fortna, wrote, “I appreciate the time and effort contributed by the envelope stuffers and the many others involved in the preparation and distribution of the newsletter.”

Charles White wrote, “I hope we can keep the newsletter going out each month.  You and your team are appreciated.”

Mike Mahoney wrote, “Enclosed is a check for publishing and mailing the newsletter, which I look forward to receiving each month.”

Max Strange wrote, “I really appreciate all the work that I know goes into producing the newsletter, and hope it can continue.”

Morry Gelman wrote, “It’s gratifying to see that so many former Goddard folks are responding to the budgetary problems.”

Joel Steel wrote, “I enjoy the newsletter.  Come June, I will have been retired 37 years.  I’m now living in a nursing home, and for 93 years old, I’m doing well.”

Bob Keefe wrote, “I’ll take a moment to send a check and let you guys know how important I think it is to keep the GRAA newsletter coming.  The information it provides kind of binds us together, regardless of where we live now, and maybe from time to time it provides a little nostalgia when we hear about some of our colleagues we worked with so many years ago in the best agency in the government.”

Charlie Tulip wrote, “Enclosed is my check to help keep the newsletter coming.  We’re in Florida on our boat and use it as our “home” base to go timeshare hopping with our friends.”

RETIREES SINCE JUNE 2006:  John Azzolini, John L. Barker, Joseph D. Barksdale, John Beegle, Jeannette M. Benavides, William Bott, Margaret Bradley, Sol Broder, Lana Budd, Gary Burgess, William Campbell, Julianne Catloth, Barbara Cherry, David Cleveland, Keith Corsi, William Davis, Joseph Dolan, Lewis Donald, Edward Dyer, James Edwards, Jr., Joseph Fainberg, Lynn Ferris, Gilbert M. Flaming, Felipe Flores-Amaya, Michael Forman, Lee Foster, Harold Frisch, Randy Frisch, Govind Rao Gadwal, Samuel Geiser, Daniel Gezari, Per Gloersen, Marilyn Goodall, David Hancock III, Susan Hart, Robert Hartman, Joseph Hennessy, Ellen Herring, Richard Ho, Phillip Holloway, Norden Huang, Robert Jenkins, Sr., Janet Jew, Ruth Johnson, Alexander Klimas,     Ronald Kolenkiewicz, Martin Kordas, Danny Krebs, William Lau, Jr., Susan Leszkiewicz, Donald Lokerson, Johnnie Long, Edward Lowe, Arlene Lutes, Mirza Maroof, Robert Martineau, Stephen McCarron, Nancy McCormick, Daniel C. McHugh, Andrew Negri, Paul Ondrus, Eileen O’Neill, Sylvia Parker, Larry Parsons, Kent Potter, Kenneth Rehmann, John Rende, Jane Riddle, Michael Riley, Michael Roberto, Jr., Ralph Selby III, Mark Silverstein, Andrew Smith, Daniel Spicer, Robert Stone, Bonnard Teegarden, Isabell Watts, James Wilk, Gary Wolford, and Lois Workman.

YET MORE MEDALISTS IN THE MARYLAND SENIOR OLYMPICS COME FORWARD:  We missed more GRAA members who received gold medals last fall in events sponsored by the Maryland Senior Olympics (MSO).  George Smith won a gold medal on September 28^th at the Olney Sports Complex as a member of a softball team (age group 75+) and will represent the MSO in Louisville, Kentucky, next June.  In addition, Tom Canning won a gold medal as a member of another softball team (age group 65+) and will also compete in Louisville.  Both George and Tom were named in 2002 to the Goddard Slow-Pitch Softball Association’s Hall of Fame based on participating in Goddard’s first slow-pitch softball league. [Ye Ed won’t divulge how many years ago that occurred, so you’re safe]!