Joe Hale writes in the Class of 1968 Way: From an article. . . to a memory

Isn’t this how our conversations go?

Dave Zell sent Joe Hale an email that began with an article he noticed about Air Force cuts, and then, following a reply from Mike Moore, Joe went on to reminisce about Thanksgiving at the Moores’ the first semester of freshman year.

Message group 1:

From: David Zell [mailto:davidzell46@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 7:42 PM
To: joehale46@att.net
Subject: ‘Wiped Out’: Air Force losing pilots and planes to cuts, scrounging for spare parts

I thought you might be interested in this article ‘Wiped Out’: Air Force losing pilots and planes to cuts, scrounging for spare parts.

On 2016-05-14 07:22, Joe Hale wrote:

Fyi

 

Martin (“Marty”) Steele (retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant general) is my high school classmate from Fayetteville, Arkansas who is now involved with a veterans research program at the University of South Florida in Tampa.  He and I started Catholic grade school together in 1952.  Mike Woods, Pat Long and Mike Moore were Notre Dame classmates of mine who were in the Air Force ROTC program at ND and served several years on active duty after graduation.   The two Mikes and Pat all have pilot licenses and still do some flying.   Pat’s (an aeronautical engineer major at ND who retired from FAA) main interest in retirement seems to be building a plane or two that he can fly.  And I knew Tom Curtin from freshman year on;  he was in Army ROTC with me and is now retired in Northern Virginia from Hartford Insurance.  Tom sees Mike Moore for ND football game watches, etc.;  Mike retired from Cessna and the FBI (after years of hospital administration prior to that) and is also in Northern Virginia.   (While visiting Mike for the ND-Maryland football game several years ago Mike and my ND roommate Tom Culcasi had me stand for photos by Stonewall Jackson’s equestrian statue at the Bull Run (Manassas) battlefield – since I was the only Rebel in our threesome.)

Dave Zell (a semi-retired CPA/lawyer here in Houston) graduated from ND with me and was in Army ROTC with me;  he went to Little Rock Catholic High.   An extremely hard (and serious) worker, he was a football student manager for ND.   Our senior year he was Ara Parseghian’s head student manager (and got one semester of free tuition for his diligence.)   Dave was rather accomplished at painting those gold helmets.

Message 2:

(From Joe Hale)

Tom,  Mike Moore was across the hall from me during our freshman year in Keenan.   You might add that Mike Woods (also on my floor at Keenan) – after his ND B.B.A. in accounting – picked up an MBA from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.  My last ND Directory shows that he owns/manages Custom Components International, Inc. in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.  Woods was a graduate of St. Joseph’s H.S. near the ND campus;  he grew up in Niles, MI.

Mike Moore had thirteen of us from Keenan Hall as guests during our initial semester break at his home in Lima, Ohio.   (Mike played football at Lima Central Catholic with Jim Lynch and also knew Jim’s older brother Tom.  Tom was captain of the Navy team;  later he as a three-star admiral headed the Naval Academy.  You see Tom on tv ads for New Day –  mortgage lending that focuses on V.A. loans;  Tom is an Executive Chairman for New Day.)

Back to that semester break visit in Lima:   the local newspaper took a group photo, and the descriptive newspaper article was entitled “Notre Dame Invasion.”   None of us will ever forget that good time in Lima and the Moore family’s great hospitality.

I myself retired from banking/financial services several years ago and also am retired (rank of lieutenant colonel) from the U.S. Army Reserve.   I do some volunteer work and spend time periodically at a lake house co-owned by myself and my brother John (ND Class of ’66) on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas (near our hometown of Fayetteville in the Arkansas Ozarks.)   Mike Moore and his wonderful wife Anne once spent a weekend with us on the lake; they much enjoyed the boating and sightseeing – plus the morning walks we took with the nice views of Beaver Lake

Sincerely,

  1. Joseph (Joe) Hale

B.B.A. in Finance and Business Economics

Message 3 (from Joe Hale):

Tom,   I would like to include info regarding Tom Culcasi in addition to what I submitted to you earlier today.   Tom was on my wing of Keenan, and he was my roommate for three years (sophomore through senior years.)  Like myself he got a B.B.A., but his concentration was in Marketing.   As mentioned before, Tom, Mike Moore, Tom Curtin and I attended the ND-Maryland game several years ago at the stadium of the Washington Redskins (Fed Ex Field at Landover, Maryland.)   Tom not long prior to that game had retired from the medical equipment sales business;  in that line of work he traveled quite a bit.

Tom and his wife Judy (Judy Donofrio, SMC Class of ’68) got married right after our graduation, and I had the honor of being in that wedding in early June of ’68; the wedding was in Judy’s home town of Skokie, IL.  They have lived for years in Lemont, IL – near Joliet.   Tom has been active in his parish and in the Joliet ND Club.   His and Judy’s three children (two sons and a daughter) all got undergrad degrees from ND.   Judy and Tom have done a lot of traveling and sometimes do so with Phil Mika (retired M.D. – ND grad in ‘68) and Phil’s wife Mimi (SMC Class of ’68.)  Tom and Judy have stayed in touch with Phil and Mimi for many years.    (Phil is from Tom’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio although Tom graduated from suburban Hubbard High School.)

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