Dear One and All Firebirds,

Last month’s mini-reunion in Tucson was highly successful and good times were had by all. We thank Lynn Alsbury for researching and setting up the hotel for us which was exactly what we were looking for. It was a non-structured free-for-all as designed and we all took care of entertainment ideas. Small groups drove to the top of Mount Lemmon, others to museums and most to PIMA as addressed below.

Attendees update: Dan and Jo Brooks, Ken and Carolyn Pribyla, Honi Garvin, Jerry and Diane Drennan, Bruce (the Wedge) and Debbie Kronberg, Gregg and Laurie Fitzer, Kathy and Gene Ramsay, Dave (Tank) and Sue Frank. Steve Passmore, Bob Snyder, Chuck Lavoie, Bob and Margaret Shellenberger (Sq Commander after the late Jim Waldman), JJ Nicholaus, Chuck Donahue, Stet Palmer and Frank Allen. Also the C-130 Pilot son of Jim Waldman, Jeff Waldman attended. We told tall tales, shared stories about each other and a highlight was visiting C-130D 493 in the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was unseasonably hot and reached 103* every day we were there. The Zoom get-togethers were a bit disappointing as we had quite a good turn-out on them two years ago, only about 6 on each call. This year we had two initial cadre guys on the calls who brought the Ds from Dyess up to Elmendorf in 1964, people on the zoom calls were Jim Banas, Fred Cooper, Mike Steele, Alan Anderson, Jack Cayton, JC Arrington, Charles Hefner and our last Brit RAF Exchange Officer, who succeeded Jerry King, Felix Maguire.

Several of the “newest” firebird clan came as well to include Jeffrey Sherman, Kirk Shaw, Rob Staples, Jim Summers, and Mark Hirmer.

It occurred to us that not everyone got the message posted on our web page about our decision to stop organizing large reunions after nobody signed up to take any of the officer’s positions two reunions in a row. It was decided to make things easier and have mini-reunions every two years with no advance planning for activities, pay-as-you-go bar, and just get together and plan on the run. It worked out great. We only need a volunteer POC at the chosen sight to coordinate accommodations. Our next mini-reunion was discussed and suggested that we have it every year because we are dropping like flies. Thoughts were for a central location with several suggestions:

Tennessee – cheaper and central-ish but would require some research for city and things to do

San Antonio -Possible activities include a rodeo dinner with a live band; a tour of the San Antonio missions and the Alamo; plenty of time to meander along the River Walk, which features tons of restaurants, shops and bars. There are also some great spas for those needing a good rub down! You can do as much (or as little) as you’d like, and we’ll plan to stay at a downtown hotel, so a lot of this would be within walking distance.

Colorado Springs- Lots to do like cog railroad to top of Pikes peak, or you can drive up, sports events at the Air Force Academy depending on the season, Pioneer Museum and Olympic Museum etc. The only draw-back is the altitude. Many people get altitude sickness with bad headaches. Honi’s mother-in-law, visiting from Michigan, passed out. Anyone with breathing conditions should think twice about it.

Open to any other suggestions.

Regards,

Honi Garvin – honij@mac.com
Gene Ramsay – glramsay@yahoo.com
Ken Pribyla – kprib@verizon.net

This is a feeler to see what the group wants so if you could please answer the following questions and reply to the group of three of us listed above so we can consolidate the inputs:

Suggested location_______________________________________

Month/week of the event__________________________________

Frequency of mini-reunions ( one or two years )________________

It is scheduled to be from Thursday Oct 3, 2024, through Saturday Oct 5, 2024

To Firebirds and Significant Others One and All,

The first informal Firebird get-together (Reunion), which will be in Tucson AZ this October, is being finalized. We need to know how many people to plan for. There are no registration fees and drinks, meals and tours will be pay as-you-go at whatever venue we decide to visit. There will be no formal dinner, speaker or program. It will be a gathering for fellowship and tall tales.

We have chosen the “Sonesta Select Tucson Airport Hotel” (a former Hyatt) which is convenient for all who are flying in. The dates will be Thursday Oct 3, 2024, through Saturday Oct 5, 2024, with checkout on Sunday Oct 6. Depending on the size of our group, we may qualify for a free meeting room at the hotel for our tall tale telling.

The hotel rates, which Tucson Firebird Lynn Alsbury negotiated for us, are very good at $109 per night for a King and $119 for a Double (not including taxes and fees of 12%).

Please contact the hotel for reservations PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 25 for our final head count, after which they will release the extra rooms back to general sales. Thank you Lynn!

For hotel reservations, call: 520-295-0405. When the phone menu comes on, select ‘0’ for the Front Desk. Do not select the Reservations extension, because they do not handle special events like ours and won’t know what you’re talking about. Use Event name: FIREBIRD24

You are also invited to attend and to show up early and/or depart later OR to arrange your own lodging at other hotels or with friends. But all group tour, meal, museum, and social beverage sorties will launch from the hotel.

As a group, we plan to tour the Pima Air and Space Museum, which has ski bird C-130D 493 on display. We had also hoped to arrange a Davis-Monthan Boneyard Tour, but sadly Gene Ramsay has confirmed that, since COVID and a gate closure, Boneyard tours are absolutely no longer available.

Please provide the following information for our planning to Honi Garvin at Honij@mac.com and Gene Ramsay at glramsay@yahoo.com

Name

Number of people

Dates attending

As you know, the Firebird Association was founded as a C-130D ski bird-centric organization. We ski bird guys of the 1960s and 1970s are now all in our 70s-90s. The 17th/517th has a storied history dating back to WWII, which you can view on the Firebird website, (firebirds dot org). That website contains a wealth of information. (Ignore past reunion registration information). We would like the Association to continue on, so we are asking you post-1970s and later C-130 Firebirds to step-up, get more involved, become familiar with the e-mail and snail mailing lists, attend this reunion and join us in planning the next reunion. Another HUGE contribution you younger Firebirds can make is to invite and recruit your Firebird comrades and those who followed you, to get on the lists and to attend this and future Reunions. We believe the current C-17 Firebirds are not interested.

Thank You.

We hope to see you in Tucson! The Firebird Reunion Committee

Need to WARM UP and have some great COMRADESHIP after a LONG winter?

Announcing the 2023 FIREBIRD REUNION in Biloxi, MS. The Reunion is scheduled for Sunday, April 23, 2023 – Wednesday, April 26, 2023, with departure on Thursday, April 27th. It will be held at Quality Inn, 2414 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39531, Phone is (228) 388-1000. Hotel rate is $95 per day plus tax. This may be our last organized reunion.

The hotel will accommodate early arrivals as well as later departures at the same rate. Hotel will take our reservations up to a week prior, if members need to delay their decision. For refunds, reservation cancellations must be received by 3 days prior (April 20).