G.R.A.A.
Goddard Retirees and Alumni Association
P.O. Box 163, Seabrook, MD 20703-0163
DECEMBER 2005 http://graa.gsfc.nasa.gov 21st Year of Publication
IMPORTANT DATES:
|
December 13 |
There will be no GRAA
Luncheon due to the many holiday-related activities throughout the
month. May all GRAA members have a
safe and joyous holiday season. |
December 15 |
Toy Wrap for the Children’s
Holiday Party in the Building 8 Auditorium.
See item below for details. |
|
December 17 |
Children’s Holiday Party in
the Building 8 Auditorium. See item
below for details. |
|
December 19 |
Toy Liquidation Sale in the
Building 8 Auditorium. See item below
for details. |
|
January 10 |
Mark your calendar for the
GRAA Luncheon at 11:30 a.m.
Reservations are required, so call Alberta Moran at 301-937-7762 no
later than noon on Friday, January 6. |
|
February 5 |
Barney Hoyt will be hosting
a Superbowl Party at the Barney and Bea Recreation Center. Detailed information will be included in
the January 2006 newsletter. |
|
February 14 |
Mark your calendar for the
GRAA Luncheon at 11:30 a.m.
Reservations are required, so call Alberta Moran no later than noon on
Friday, February 10. Since it’s
Valentine’s Day, remember to invite your spouse or significant other if you
plan to attend. |
|
August 2006 |
Looking forward! GRAA Travel (Alberta Moran) is planning a
cruise and land tour in Alaska.
Details will be published as soon as possible in 2006. |
COMMENTS FROM RON BROWNING,
GRAA PRESIDENT: Although we didn’t have a
guest speaker, the November luncheon featured additional information being
disseminated about prostate cancer and volunteer opportunities available at the
Smithsonian Institution (SI).
As a complement to Jerry
Longanecker’s presentation at the October luncheon, Ed Falkenhayn brought a DVD
showcasing speakers from a recent conference on prostate cancer. Unfortunately, the television was unavailable,
so Ed discussed it, took a survey of attendees, and noted some of the men had
not had a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. He encouraged annual PSA tests and noted that some doctors are
now saying that readings above 2.5 nanograms per deciliter may be an indicator
of cancer and may call for more frequent testing. If you haven’t had a digital examination or PSA test during the
past year, you’re overdue. Do
yourself a favor and call your doctor’s office today to schedule an appointment.
I provided a description of
the many and varied volunteer opportunities available at the SI’s
facilities. There are opportunities
working with visitors or behind the scenes at most all of the SI’s museums and
galleries. They range from docents
conducting tours of the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of
Natural History, Freer Gallery, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden, National Zoological Park, or the National Museum of American
History to working with museum curators throughout the SI system providing
research support. For example, I am
currently volunteering with a curator in the Explorer collection of the
National Air and Space Museum’s Space History Department. More information on volunteering is
available at the following SI web site:
http//www.si.edu/resource/faq/volunteer.
CHILDREN’S HOLIDAY PARTY: The GEWA Children’s Holiday Party is scheduled for Saturday,
December 17, from 11:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. in the Building 8 Auditorium. The party is open to all children/grandchildren
of Goddard employees, to include retirees.
Activities include a personalized gift for children under nine years
old, color photographs with Mr. and/or Mrs. Claus, a special magic show at 1:00
p.m., clowns, face paintings, snacks, and more for only $13.00 per child ($3.00
per person nine years old and above).
Registration forms and tickets are available at the GEWA Exchange
Store. Please hurry, as tickets must be
purchased by COB Tuesday, December 13 (or COB Friday, December 9 for non-U.S.
citizens). Sign up soon to enjoy the
show with the kids! For more
information, check out:
http://gewa.gsfc.nasa.gov/SpecEvents/index.html. If you have questions, please contact Keith
Corsi at 301-286-5179 or Keith.A.Corsi@nasa.gov.
HELP WANTED I: GEWA is looking for elves (i.e., helpers) to help out with the
Children’s Holiday Party. Pointy ears,
cute button noses, and slippers with bells are not necessarily required. However, if you have some in your closets,
you won’t be turned away. In any case,
volunteers are needed to support the party.
In addition, GEWA is seeking elves to help wrap gifts starting at 4:00
p.m. on Thursday, December 15. If
you’re interested in helping out, please contact Kenny Dearth at 201-286-3003
or kdearth@pop500.gsfc.nasa.gov.
HELP WANTED II: The GSFC Education Office, in conjunction with Codes 400, 500,
and 600, is forming a group of Goddard personnel to tutor students at Duval
High School and invites retirees to participate with them. Tutors are needed in chemistry, mathematics,
and physics. Volunteers would be
required to provide mentoring one to two hours per week between 3:00 and 4:00
p.m., Monday through Friday. The
tutoring will be performed at Duval High School, which is located on Greenbelt
Road about one-half mile east of GSFC’s Main Gate. Although all the details have not yet been finalized, please
contact Steven Dobrosielski at
301-286-7931 if you’re interested in participating in this worthwhile program.
THE WHOLE TRUTH, NOTHING BUT: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or
garage? They know that as soon as they
do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Bob Wigand reports that donations were received from the
following members: Art Anderson, Bill
Elsen, Paul Karpiscak, Bill and Doris Keathley, H. K. Lee, John Looser, Clark
and Betty Wardrip, and Ralph Welsh.
FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES -
IT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER:
- Dec 16, 1973: Delta
launched Explorer 51/AE-C, Atmosphere Explorer, which conducted upper
atmospheric research.
- Dec 10, 1974: Titan
III launched Helios A, a solar research satellite hosted cooperatively with
Germany.
- Dec 2, 1993: The
Shuttle Endeavor (STS-61) conducted the 1st Hubble repair/servicing
mission.
ENVELOPE STUFFERS FOR
NOVEMBER: Marge Gustafson, Barbara Hamilton, Rose
McChesney, Elaine Montgomery, Dave Moulton, Ewald Schmidt, Bill Shields, Agnes Smith, Bob
Wigand, and Frank Wrigley.
RECENT RETIREES: Robert W. Nelson and Michael Tasevoli.
E-MAIL ADDRESS UPDATES: Art Anderson (artnmary814@earthlink.net); Lee Davis
(leedav4@comcast.net); Tony Grandi (tgrandi@verizon.net); Jean Johnson
(jajohnson@ezy.net); Gilbert Ousley (gilbertmary@bellsouth.net); Vince
Salomonson (vincesalomonson@msn.com); Ed Walker (edfletch@adelphia.net); and
Billy Williams (billybwill@msn.com).
REMEMBERING OUR FORMER
COLLEAGUES:
- Vivienne Goebel, of New Carrollton, MD, passed away on
November 1st in Charleston, SC.
Ye Ed understands she worked for Alan Franta in Code 700.
- David W. Grimes, of Oxford, MD, passed away on
September 27th at the University of Maryland Medical Center in
Baltimore, MD. While working at
Goddard, he served as Project Manager for the Atmosphere Explorer Project,
Project Manager/Senior Executive for the Shuttle/Spacelab Payloads Project, and
Program Manager/Senior Manager for the Delta Program. He was also founder and CEO of Transpace Carriers, and more
recently, of Telkonet.
- Andrew W. Huntress, Jr., of Rockville, MD, passed away
on October 1st. He was
involved with establishing and maintaining satellite tracking stations around
the world.
- David G. Lewoc, of Deland, FL, passed away at home on
November 5th. He was
Associate Chief of the old Plant Operations and Maintenance Division and then moved
on to work as an engineer in Nascom.
- William E. Olson, of Lady Lake, FL, passed away on
November 11th. He was a
fixed industrial mechanic in the old Plant Operations and Maintenance Division.
- Gary B. Vincent, of South Beach, OR, passed away on
October 28th due to complications from pancreatitis. His tenure at Goddard included his work as a
project manager on unmanned spacecraft.
GRAA NEWSLETTER MAILINGS: If you no longer wish to receive GRAA mailings, please forward a
note to our Seabrook address or an e-mail to Dave Moulton at davidlmoulton@comcast.net. If you have moved or want to correct the
mailing address we have for you, please write to our Seabrook address or send
an e-mail to Strat Laios at stratlaios@comcast.net.
If your telephone number
and/or e-mail address is incorrect or not listed in the GRAA Membership
Directory and you want either or both items included when the next iteration is
published, please send the information via e-mail to Strat Laios at
stratlaios@comcast.net or drop him a note at our Seabrook address.
LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS:
- John Looser wrote, “I enjoy the Goddard View and the
NASA pages on the net. They have some
good pictures that always bring back fond memories of my days at Goddard. Please accept the enclosed small donation
for the good work.”
- Clark Wardrip wrote, “Seems like the same gang stuffs
the GRAA envelopes and has them mailed out each month. I really appreciate that and enjoy hearing
from people I worked with a hundred years ago or so! Enclosed is a check to use however you want. One of these days I hope to time a trip back
to Maryland from California so I can attend a luncheon at the Rec Center. It would be great to see friendly faces (or
even unfriendly ones).”
- Art Anderson wrote, “My wife, Mary, and I appreciate
getting the newsletter and Goddard View each month. I’m one of the few who does miss the work as well as the people I
worked with at Greenbelt and Wallops.
Keep up the good work.”
- Winifred (Wini) Cameron wrote: “I’m pleased to receive the GRAA Newsletter and commend you on
it. It’s nice to read about others I
knew about (the only one I now know is Paul Lowman, although I think Joe King
is still there. I’d love to hear from
anyone who knew me and to have visitors from Goddard here at the most beautiful
area in the world (200 Rojo Drive, Sedona, AZ
86351).” Ye Ed apologizes to
Wini for not being able to include more of her most informative and nostalgic note
in this newsletter.
- Vince Salomonson wrote, “I am still a Senior Scientist (Emeritus)
in the Earth-Sun Exploration Division and it appears I will be visiting Goddard
bi-monthly for business purposes. I am
also a Research Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of
Meteorology and Geography at the University of Utah.”
GEWA EXCHANGE STORE: Just in time for the holidays, GEWA has received a new selection
of CD’s featuring familiar Christmas tunes along with some everyday songs. Both CD displays have new selections of
songs to fit just about every taste in music.
Holiday cards are available as singles or boxed sets. No matter if you want just one card or a
whole box, they’re all 20% off the marked price.
There are many more
holiday-related items at the GEWA Exchange Store, so stop by and check out all
the bargains. There are, no doubt,
gifts available for everyone on your shopping list.