October 2016 Meeting Notes

We began the October meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in September and October, followed by birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and the officer reports.

Old and New Business 
Membership Recruiting - Kerry Ryan gave an update on his membership drive efforts. He is currently contacting veteran services offices at colleges and technical schools in the area. He is talking to them about posting membership flyers at their school. If you have time to help Kerry or any suggestions for other membership expansion ideas, please contact the base officers and Kerry.

Auburn Veterans Day Parade – The Auburn Veterans Day Parade is set for November 5th and the Submarine Veterans will lead off this year’s parade. World War II submarine veterans Ralph Sterley and Paul Christofferson are the Grand Marshalls for the parade. They will be followed by Western District 4 Commander Al Durkee and the rest of the submarine veterans, including the Silent Service Motorcycle Club (SSMC). We are planning on having four floats (Seattle, Bremerton, Yakima, and Rogue River – Umpqua) at the parade and want as many people as possible to show up. Because we are near the front of the parade, we need everyone to show up early. We would like everyone to be in place by 10 AM. We will be meeting at E Street and Main in Auburn (some float might be directed to F Street and Main depending on the situation). Note that there will be free parking in the parking garage by the train depot. There are several places we can meet for breakfast before the parade and we are hoping to meet for lunch with some of the other USSVI members after the parade. The parade will start at 11 AM with a flyover of an Air Force C-17 transport. Please help spread the word about the parade to other submarine veterans. Thanks to Ric Hedman for helping to organize the parade this year. There are several related events going on before and after the parade, be sure to check the parade website for more information.

November Meeting – Due to other meetings at the VFW post, our November meeting will be held in the small meeting room under the main VFW hall.

Holiday Luncheon - The Seattle Base USSVI Holiday Luncheon is set for Saturday, December 3 at the Meydenbauer Yacht Club in Bellevue WA. It is a great end of year event for all submarine veterans and associates. We are working to keep the costs close to last year’s event, but we will not have a hosted bar this year. The registration form for the event can be found at this link and will be included in the next newsletter.

New Sr. Vice Commander - Dick Gonzales nominated base member Carl Miner for the position of base Senior Vice Commander. Dick listed Carl’s qualifications for the position and invited any discussion. We voted on the nomination and elected Carl as our new Sr. Vice Commander.

Base Commander Al Smith swears in new Sr. Vice Commander Carl Miner

Here is the text of Dick’s nomination:

Carl J. Miner, the nominee joined the US Navy June 15, 1969 and proceeded directly to NTC San Diego, CA for boot camp. Just few months after graduation he married Joan his lifelong mate for 55 years. He proceeded to Virginia Beach, Dam Neck for A and C Schools and graduated MT-C school number 3 in his class and promoted to MT3.
In October 1970, he transferred to New London for Basic Submarine School with follow on orders to USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618). He qualified halfway through his second patrol in October of 1971. He also qualified as Missile Compartment Roving Patrol, Missile Tech of the Watch, and Launcher Supervisor. He later transferred to the USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642) and proved his worth with special qualifications in the Poseidon missile responsibilities. He left the Navy, after serving 6 years, on June 14, 1975. Carl served a total of 9 deterrent patrols during his time in the Navy.
After discharge Carl attended Shoreline Community College and earned an AA degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. He held positions as Senior Lead Technician in Telecommunication Electronics at Teltone Corp, Production Supervisor at GLI Corp Electro-Hydraulic Controls, Applications Engineer for VMC Corp, Mine haul trucks and down hole and blast hole drilling equipment. In the mid-nineties, after his children had graduated and left home, Carl became the owner of Goldie Road Kennels in Oak Harbor, WA. and co-owner of Kabik Afghans. During the years between 1980 and 2002 he raised and showed Afghan Hounds and trained under the supervision of Chris Terrell. He was also active with the Evergreen Afghan Hound Club, Greater Portland Afghan Hound Club, and the Puget Sound Borzoi Club. During this time, he sat on the board of directors of each club and was the President of the Evergreen Club, along with being the Vice President of the Portland Club. Carl excelled in every aspect of planning, managerial, and operational functions, including: planning and implementing specialty shows, providing for emergency services, insuring liability protection and developing emergency disaster plans.
The last 18 years of Carl’s remarkable working career he worked within the food service industry providing service installations and build of computer systems terminals and printer used for processing orders and processing credit cards within the restaurant industries.
Carl retired in July of 2015 and celebrated his 47th anniversary on August 30th. He also became an active member of our Seattle Base in May of 2016. Carl has great business acumen, organizational skills, and drive. We are pleased he accepted the post of Sr. Vice Commander and confident he will be positive force and contributor to our Base. 

Special Guest - We had a special guest, Sue Stewart, at our October meeting. She was at the meeting to research information about submarine service for her father David Townsley. Here is the message Sue sent to us:

My father served in the "Silent Service" on the USS Sea Cat (SS-399) and the USS Pomodon (SS-486) during the late 40's and early 50's... serving active reserves in between under the 52/20 plan. I was born at Mare Island (Vallejo, CA 1951) while my Dad served as an Engineman 2nd in the retrofitting of the WWII diesel into the GUPPY submarines.
I am in the beginnings of assembling a memory display box to include those few items that were his along with items I was able to acquire after the fact which includes his "Dixie Cup." Looking at photos my Dad appears to have worn his cap in a variety of ways and in some pictures it appears he "squared" his cap. Since the cap I have is new it lacks this unique shape. What I am wondering is whether you have members willing to show me how to imprint this shape into this cap in an effort to replicate his own cap long lost these many years. 

Program: 
Due to the absence of the laptop and projector for presentations, the program was postponed. However, Ric Hedman gave a short preview of the program he prepared, saying that it was about the man who was watching the “Christmas Tree” control panel during the ill-fated dive of USS Squalus (SS-192) in 1939. We look forward to getting the full story at a future date.

Good of the Order Notes: 

• Bob Haslan and Pierre Bruneau are looking for someone to bring them to the Seattle Base meetings. They are coming from the Bothell area, but can get closer to I-405 if needed (around exit 22). If you are coming through that area on your way to the meetings and have some extra room, please let us know so we can arrange something. 
• We will be participating in the Veterans Day ceremony at Tahoma National Cemetery on Friday, November 11. The ceremony starts at 11 AM, please feel free to join us.