February 2008
Dear Shipmates,
IMPORTANT: Please READ and SAVE your newsletters. The next few newsletters will
contain all information about the upcoming Sept. reunion in Portland, Maine. Thanks so
much.
We hope everyone is happy and healthy and 2008 is a great year for you.
Your Parks assn. dues were due on Jan.1st of this year. If you haven't already sent them please help us out and do so right away. MANY have not paid their dues. Robby sent a letter out several months ago to a group of shipmates that hadn't paid their dues or made any contact for several years. He told them they would be placed on the "inactive" list if he didn't hear from them. This is to inform all who received the letter that this will be the LAST newsletter you receive unless we hear from you before the May newsletter. Dues are $15 per year....make checks out to U.S.S. FLOYD B. PARKS ASSN. and send to Bill Birdsong 17139 Owl Tree Rd. Riverside, CA. 92504. Your dues help the assn. with mailing costs, the website and many things we provide for you. PLEASE help us so we don't have to move anyone else to the "inactive" status.
We are gearing up for the San Diego mini reunion to be held on Sat. March 29`h at 12 noon at
the FRA in Imperial Beach. Our mini reunions are about a 4 hour get together with lunch,
ships store, sea stories, door prizes, and lots of friendships and camaraderie. Everyone is
welcome. The address is 659 Silver Strand Blvd. Imperial Beach, CA. 91932. The FRA
will
fix us a lunch of swiss steak, salad etc. for $10 per person paid at the door. You MUST
R.S.V.P. so the cooks know how many to prepare for. Contact Bill & Sue Birdsong (951) 789-
5309 or sbirdsong@roadrunner.com. Also Bob Bahler at 858-565-6218 or
bobbyred@san.rr.com : Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible so we will have an idea of
how
many to plan for. The Fleet Reserve Assn. was wonderful to us last year and provides us a
great place to hold our mini reunion.
RE: PORTLAND, MAINE REUNION
The reunion this year is in Portland, Maine Sept. 15-Sept. 22. Remember our banquet dinner
is on Sunday night Sept. 21 St. Last year we had a problem with people making their hotel
reservations to check out on Sunday. Everyone checks out of the hotel on Monday a.m. if they
plan on attending the banquet dinner. The hotel we will be staying at is the Best Western
Merry Manor Inn located at 700 Main St. Portland, Maine. 04106. To make reservations call
the hotel at 207-774-6151 and be sure to tell them you are with the Floyd B. Parks Assn. to get
the $79 per night room rate.
RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE BY AUG. 15 TO GET THIS RATE
Once again this year it would be a great help to us if you would make your reservations
as soon as possible. This gives us and the hotel a head count. Remember that the hotel
has a 24 hour cancellation policy so you have nothing to lose by making early
reservations. The earlier you reserve your room the more help to us for planning
purposes.
If you plan to rent a car we have struck a deal with Budget Rent A Car at the airport in
Portland for a discount on all cars. You will have to give them the code of "U.S.S.
FLOYD" to get this discount. If you are NOT renting a car and need transportation from
the airport to the hotel there is NOT a hotel shuttle but the sales manager at the hotel said
to tell everyone to get a cab, pay the driver, get a receipt, and the hotel would reimburse
everyone for the ride. Also the ride back to the airport will be paid for.
Activities for this reunion have not been decided upon as yet. That will happen when Bill
& Sue Birdsong go in early March to Portland. All that info along with an activities sign
up sheet will be in the next newsletter and also emailed to those with computers. But it's
looking like another great reunion with lots going on.
This is the first newsletter from your newly elected Parks assn. secretary/treasurer Bill
Birdsong. He is-trying to fill the huge shoes left behind by Robby and Tom. What a job! We
hope you will all respond as favorably as you did with the past assn. officers and we wish
you the very best of everything. Everyone stay safe and healthy ...until next time.
Bill Birdsong (951)789-5309
sbirdsong@roadrunner.com
James (Robby) Robbins (530) 283-2165
From The Chaplain's Corner .......
We're enjoying another mild winter here in Florida. Lois and I stay busy with grand children and are living life to the fullest. We're looking forward to PARKS' reunion in Portland, Maine.
Forty years ago... 1968...Let's see.... USS PUEBLO was seized by the North Koreans on January 23rd. PARKS sailed on the 27th. The Tet Offensive began on the 30th. We had sailed into the unknown! The Tet Offensive kept us busy until April. We fired 6,178 rounds. On April 6, we accomplished a "No Bell" unrep with CALIENTE. We crossed the Equator on 9 July en route to Singapore for R & R.
We experience many changes as the women who loved us and kept us young back then now grow old with us and, in some cases, go before we do. It's important that we keep the faith, as well as our doctors' appointments, that we love each other, and stay in touch!
TAPS: We have lost four more PARKS family members: George Crisp - Plankowner; Robert Langhoff - 1967-68; John Browning - 1952-54; and Mary Papez (a beloved wife).
The long term marriages of many of our shipmates is testimony to love, dedication, and a willingness to sacrifice. Being a Navy wife is said to have been the toughest job in the Navy.
Thank you!
For God and Country!
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"The
Fightin' Floyd B"