23rd Company,
We enjoyed a beautiful summer day for John’s funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery. We had a great turnout from the Class of ’78. In fact, there appeared to be many more people present than the cemetery had anticipated as they ran out of parking spaces which meant some of our drivers were redirected to overflow parking.
Present from 23rd Company: Joe Stanik and his wife Julie, Steve Ferree and his wife Gina, Horace Matt Leavitt III and his wife Maria, Michael Johnston, Howard Seeger, Chris Powers, John Rogers, Charlie Dawson, and me.
John’s Mother, Jewel, sends her thanks:
“To all my family and friends who came to Arlington National Cemetery for my son’s ceremony I want to tell you how much I appreciate all of you and what a heartwarming feeling it was to see a whole ballroom full of people who came from all over the country to celebrate John’s life. He did love his family and friends and I loved seeing it was mutual. I did get to talk to many of his navy and Naval Academy friends, childhood friends, neighbors from many places he lived and of course my wonderful family whom I think is the best there is. I meant to say a few words at the reception but evidently someone put glue on my seat so I just sat there. From beginning to end it was a splendid service. Thank you so much.” –Jewel
Separately, I’m sending you an email with links to photos and videos taken by our company’s world traveler, Charlie Dawson. As some of you do not use Facebook, or seldom use it, I thought an email would be a good way to get these to you.
When you are next in the DC area, you can stop by Arlington National Cemetery to pay your respects to John. He is interred in the Columbarium on Lewis Drive, Section 82, Site 385.
Wishing you all the best.
Go Navy! Go ’78!
Jim