NEWSLETTER
Nov 5, 2005

Dear Shipmates;

Hope everyone enjoyed the reunion and arrived home safely and in good health. We had another good turnout for this one, 93 members had signed up, 11 had to cancel due to health or hurricane Katrina, however 8 unscheduled members showed up so we had 90 members attend and a total of 172 people.

From what I gather everyone had a good time and everything went well. I came down with pneumonia on Friday and spent the rest of the time at the emergency room and in my hotel room. Arrived home at 0300 on Tuesday morning and went to the hospital
at 0930 and spent 3 days in the hospital, am doing okay now. It takes a little time and a lot of scotch to recover from pneumonia.

Our raffle was another successful one thanks to the working ladies who run it, we had 113 items donated and ticked sales were great. As you know the raffle is our only fundraiser and covers most of our expenses.

We had 2 first time events at this reunion. We had church services in our hospitality suite on Sunday morning, and we had a wedding on Friday night. Harold and Phyllis Golden were married by our chaplain Herman Carter in the hospitality suite. The wedding was made a fun event by Clyde Williams who brought ties for everyone to wear, he thought it should be a formal event so everyone wore ties and put their hats on backwards. We had cake and coffee after the wedding. There are pictures on our website.



The Church service was well attended and enjoyed by all. We Visited Fantastic Caverns on Friday and 2 Branson Shows on Saturday. We didn't schedule any trips for Sunday and this worked out very well so we plan on doing this each year. It is too tiring to go on a trip on Sunday get back and have to rush to get ready for the banquet dinner, so we'll make Sunday a R&R Day.

A special thanks to Clyde & Helen Williams, Paule & Mary Papez who live in Springfield and were really a big help to us at the reunion.

Also our thanks to Bruce & Mary Borgschatz who volunteered to assist the photographer on Sunday night, it was very well organized and went much faster than it has in the past.

A special thanks to Chris Hartford. This was her first reunion and the ladies put her to work immediately upon arrival, she was a big help and seemed to enjoy it, thanks Chris.

Lois and I really appreciate all the phone calls, cards & letters we received after the reunion, it really meant a lot.

Since most people had already made a donation to the victims of Katrina we voted on two things.

#1.- Do we want to give a donation from the Parks Association - the vote was yes
#2.- Do we give our donation to a charity organization or directly to the 2 parks members who lost their homes. The vote was to give it to our members. We collected $1500.00, and gave $750.00 to each of our members.

Our San Diego Mini Reunion will be in March or April of 2006, once we establish the date we will send a letter to all members in the area. If you live outside the San Diego area and think you might be able to attend please let me know and I'll send you a letter when we determine a date.

There is an article in the Dec. O5 issue of Naval History about the collision of the USS Columbus and The F.B. Parks. If you don't have a copy and would like one I can Xerox it and send it to you.

We had 11 first time attendees at the reunion, we hope they had a good time and will return next year. Tom and I would like to hear any comments or suggestions on the reunion, we welcome your input. Criticism and suggestions are appreciated.
Take care, stay healthy and keep in touch.

--Tom & Robby

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Chaplain's Corner

Greetings from your Chaplain: Herman W. Carter

Greetings Shipmates,
Another year has come and gone, as well as another successful Parks Reunion. It is always encouraging to see the number of new members that come to the reunions every year. We hope everyone had a safe return home. As always we want to praise Robbie and Wyatt for the outstanding job they always do to ensure that everyone has a great time. The trip to Branson was a great success and the choice of shows was fantastic!

Also, 1 especially enjoyed the Sunday morning service we had for tbe first time and. I am glad this will be a Sunday tradition for future reunions.

As the Thanksgiving season is approaching, lets stop and reflect on God's goodness to each of us. While preparing this newsletter, l found a poem that I would like to share with you.

How to Observe Thanksgiving

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;

Count your gains instead of your losses.

Count your joys instead of your woes;

Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your smiles instead of your tears;

Count your courage instead of your fears.

Count your full years instead of your lean;

Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count your health instead of your wealth;

Count on God instead of yourself.

--Author Unknown

In closing, let us remember to continue to pray for our nation, our President and leaders, and our men and woman who serve our great nation.

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click here for reunion photos

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