Aloha shipmates, 9/20/16

The August 18-20, 2016 Seadragon Alumni Association reunion in Reno, NV at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino went very well. We had record attendance at the banquet dinner and business meeting of 52 people including retirees and guests. A reason for that was the attendance of 17 shipmates from the 70s. We were very happy to see so many of them. That’s good for the future of the Association. Unfortunately, our slated guest speaker Capt. Tom Jacobs was unable to attend, however LT. Larry Yano and MMCM(SS) Ray Kuhn spoke to us about some of their humorous, “interesting” experiences and observations while aboard Seadragon including Larry’s chief’s initiation requirement of running from forward to aft. raising a power drill and shouting “This is a drill, this is a drill”. Very funny!! Thank you both for sharing those experiences. They’re what makes us all proud to be Seadragon alumni!

The USSVI convention was held at the Grand Sierra at the same time so we had a few of it’s attendees show up at the hospitality room too. The dinner, accommodations and hotel support were very good. Thanks to our president Jeff Kramer and wife Vicky for making those arrangements for us. I believe everyone had a pretty good time. I know I did! Thanks to Rick and Lynette Locatelli for our beautiful name tags this year and to all others who contributed to the successful reunion from all our program speakers to those who helped deliver our beverages and snacks, to those who helped keep the

hospitality room looking good. You all know who I’m talking about. Jeff and I are both grateful for your contributions. I want to also thank my wife Marcia for her many contributions to the reunion from helping me with the “computer stuff” to her participation in the hospitality room and banquet activities.

Another success measurement of the reunion was our ability to fill pending vacancies in our leadership roles. This is something that attendees generally may not think about but those of us in leadership roles must. That is, who is going to assume future leadership roles and keep this association moving ahead??

This is nearly impossible to do by email. It is best done at reunions. To that end the following leadership roles were filled:

President elected - John Schwab

Secretary/Treasurer re-elected - Jerry Gruenhagen

Crew Rep. Advisor re-elected - Larry Yano

Headhunter (Finding additional alumni/E-mailing letters to alumni) – Jeff Kramer replacing Ron Waldron

Webmaster – Dennis D’ambrogio replacing Bob Young

Auditor re-elected – Duane Smith

I want to thank Ron Waldron and Bob Young for their many years of service, for their countless contributions to having made this association what it is today and for continuing to be a resource for us. I also thank John, Jeff and Dennis for stepping up to fill pending vacancies that must be filled for the association to continue. I also ask other alumni to also consider filling such vacancies for us when they will occur.

Our next reunion will be in Branson, MO sometime in September, 2018. It will not be in conjunction with the USSVI convention this time. With support from all of us, John Schwab will be making arrangements for the reunion with a hotel in Branson. We will all learn more about that in a message you will receive in December, 2017.

Thanks much for being an association member and we hope to see you in Branson!!

A copy of this letter will be added to the Seadragon Website home page.

Jerry Gruenhagen

Sec/Treas Seadragon Alumni Association

3376 Pebble Beach Ct.

Green Bay, WI 54311 GO PACKERS!!

(920) 469-0176

jgruenhagen@new.rr.com