G.R.A.A.

Goddard Retirees and Alumni Association

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

JANUARY 2006 http://graa.gsfc.nasa.gov 22nd Year of Publication

IMPORTANT DATES:

January 17	NOTE: Due to a Rec Center schedule conflict, we will meet on this third Tuesday of January. 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 13^th. See President Ron Browning’s comments below for information on the January luncheon speaker.
February 5	Barney Hoyt is hosting a Super Bowl Party at the Barney and Bea Recreation Center. With the doors opening at 4:30 p.m., this special event will include an open bar, chips and pretzels, a delicious steak dinner, wide-screen and smaller TVs, and an opportunity to win some great door prizes and games of chance. You’ll have all the food and entertainment you need on Super Bowl Sunday for only $40.00. Please call Alberta Moran at 301-937-6104 for a reservation.
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^th. Dr. Nicholas White, Goddard’s Director of the Exploration of the Universe Division (Code 660), will speak on the topic: “Beyond Einstein, From Big Bang to Black Holes.” Although Ye Ed opines this is not a very romantic topic, since it’s Valentine’s Day you may want to consider inviting your spouse or significant other to accompany you to the luncheon.
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: GRAA has enjoyed another successful year made possible by the support and encouragement we receive from members. Your generous financial and moral support encourages our team of retirees who volunteer their time in ensuring that timely luncheon reservations are made and attendant security processing requirements are met, preparing and editing newsletter issues, stuffing and mailing nearly 2,700 newsletters, maintaining a current membership database, and keeping a thorough accounting of our finances. I want to especially thank Alberta Moran, Dave Moulton, Marge Gustafson, Strat Laios, and Bob Wigand for leading these efforts. Next spring we will publish our biennial GRAA Membership Directory. Your contributions make this publication possible. If you have an address change, a new e-mail address and/or telephone number, or a mailing label correction, please notify us early in 2006 so we can meet our publishing deadline. We’ll include another reminder in next month’s issue.

Our first speaker for the New Year will be Suzanne Blonder, who represents HALT, an organization of Americans for Legal Reform headquartered in Washington and some 50,000 members around the country. She will address issues such as probate, small claims court, real estate, trusts, attorney discipline systems, judicial ethics rules, and sources of self-help. These are obviously subjects that most members will need to address at some point during our retirement years.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Bob Wigand reports that donations were received from the following members: Jim Burcham and Karl Peters.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES - IT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER:

- Jan 22, 1965: Delta launched TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) IX, the first cartwheel-configured weather satellite.

- Jan 22, 1975: Delta launched Landsat 2, known formerly as ERTS (Earth Resources Technology Satellite) and Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper), which was the second earth resources technology satellite.

- Jan 15, 1976: Titan II launched Helios B, a solar research satellite hosted cooperatively with Germany.

ENVELOPE STUFFERS FOR NOVEMBER: George Abid, Marj Gallagher, Marge Gustafson, Barbara Hamilton, Rose McChesney, Elaine Montgomery, Dave Moulton, Hugh O’Donnell, Ewald Schmidt, Bill Shields, Agnes Smith, Bob Wigand, and Frank Wrigley.

E-MAIL ADDRESS UPDATES: Peter Bradfield(shadcove@mindspring.com); Ralph Liebermann (kc4raf@comcast.net); Richard Marks (rpmarks@cox.net); Chris Stephanides (cstephan@verizon.net); and William Wildes (billwildes@gwi.net).

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

- Patrick M. (Pat) Kelly, of Jacksonville, FL, passed away from congestive heart failure on November 10^th. He was a visual information officer at Goddard from 1960 until his retirement in 1982 and served as Branch Head of the Visual Arts/Graphic Arts Branch. His wife, Thema, wrote that his first art job after arriving at Goddard in 1960 was to paint “women” and “men” on the porta-potties located outside Building 1 during its construction and that he served for 24 years as Santa Claus at the children’s holiday parties.

- Herman H. Thomas, Jr., of Tucson, AZ, passed away from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia on December 7^th. He began his NASA career at Goddard in 1966 and became an authority in the field of mass spectrometry. He soon earned a fellowship to the University of Pennsylvania, but during a sabbatical returned to Goddard to participate in the analysis of lunar samples collected during the first Apollo moonwalk in July 1969. He later distinguished himself as a geochemist and geophysicist in what is now the Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory. He also worked at the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and retired from NASA in 1999.

THE WHOLE TRUTH, NOTHING BUT: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?

Answer: NUTS!

TUTORS WANTED: 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 the GRAA membership to participate with them. Tutors are needed in chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Volunteers are 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 Goddard’s Main Gate. If you are interested in participating in this beneficial program, please contact Steven Dobrosielski at 301-286-7931.

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.

HAPPY TRAILS FOR GODDARD RETIREE: Since retiring from Goddard, Harry Cyphers has combined his love of biking and the outdoors with his engineering background in giving many years of volunteer service to the American Discovery Trail (ADT) Society. He has served as the organization’s coordinator for Maryland and the District of Columbia since the early 1990’s and is currently working on an effort to provide a user-friendly, map-on-demand product for trailgoers. Harry began mountain and road biking in the mid-1980’s and continues to monitor the trail through Maryland to make sure it is well marked for travelers. Over the years his interest shifted from merely exploring the trail to helping design and build the organization’s web site. With the assistance of some of his Goddard colleagues and other associates, he helped develop a working web site for the ADT Society where trail users can find specific information for the state or area they intend to travel. Harry has noticed a general trend toward increased physical fitness and envisions people wanting to get outside more with their families and animals. He and his wife realize the importance of staying active, so they continue to bike, sail, kayak and dance. He encourages his fellow Goddard retirees to get out and appreciate the environment. If you’re interested in learning more about trailblazing, check out the ADT Society web site at http://www.discoverytrail.org. If you’re really interested, Harry’s address and telephone number are listed on the web site under State Coordinators. Ye Ed is sure he’d welcome a letter or telephone call and is ready to put you through the paces.

LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS:

- Malcolm (Sam) Tarlton wrote, “I enjoy the newsletter very much.”

- Jim Burcham wrote, “I enjoy reading the newsletter and Goddard View articles very much. Keep up the good work. My wife and I still live in Davidsonville, MD, and did a lot of traveling until recently when I had a minor stroke. I hope to come to a luncheon sometime soon.

GEWA EXCHANGE STORE: Remember the Dried Beef Jerky from Cheyenne? Well, now it’s back!!! Only this time instead of the Original flavor, GEWA has received in two different varieties; one is pepper-flavored and the other is teriyaki-flavored. Both are 97% fat free and come in zip-lock bags, just like the original version. GEWA has also received in the mild Cheyenne Snack Sticks. They’re made of pure beef dried with smoke flavor and do not include a lot of filler material like other snack sticks.

If you like the Organic Chocolates product line, GEWA has added yet another product to its selection. The new variety is also from Green & Black’s and is made with 70% cocoa, making it an extra dark chocolate treat for the palates of customers who have a particular taste for dark chocolate. Just like the other products in the Green and Black’s line, this variety is made with organically grown cocoa beans.

Are you already getting tired of snow and ice? Then drop in at the GEWA Exchange Store and check out the new Salt Sticks that help in resolving delicate winter driving situations. These Salt Sticks are tubes containing the same type of salt trucks spread on our roads to melt the snow and ice. They weigh only three pounds, and are handy to keep in your vehicle for those inevitable snow emergencies. The best thing about these tubes is that they’re refillable. All you need is some of the salt that can be picked up in bags available at just about any hardware store during winter months and refill the tube. With Salt Sticks, you’ll be ready to tackle snow and ice no matter where you are.

The Franklin Language Master is an all-in-one electronic Dictionary, Thesaurus and Spelling Corrector. It’s even a great help in solving crossword puzzles. You just type in the letters you have, enter a question mark for letters you don’t know, and the Language Master will display all the words that fit the word pattern. Even if you don’t know if you’ve spelled a word correctly you don’t have to fret, as the Language Master will help. This unit regularly sells for $103.45, but it’s now on close-out sale for $51.75. It makes a great dictionary without having to fumble through all those tissue paper pages to find the word you want. GEWA can’t guarantee this item will still be in stock, but it won’t cost you a penny to check.

Are you beginning to feel a little chill in a room or two of your home now that Old Man Winter is starting to settle in? If so, GEWA has some ideas to beat the chill. You can choose from NASA sweatshirts (either pullover or zip-up), portable heaters and coffee makers.

MAY ALL GRAA MEMBERS ENJOY A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR