I had the privilege of attending a ceremony aboard the USS Midway Museum Friday, August 2, to honor Lowell Lindsay, a fellow Navy veteran.
Lowell and his wife, Diana, ran Sunbelt Publications, publishers of many volumes on the natural sciences, historical and cultural issues, and the San Diego region, for more than 30 years. Diana has a long association with the Anza-Borrego Foundation, serving as its President and as a long-time member of its Board of Trustees. I’ve been an ABF trustee for about a dozen years and President for the past four years.
In recent years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the Lindsays. Conversing about our earlier years, Lowell and I came to realize we each served in the Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of northern Vietnam and southern China, in the summer and fall of 1969.
Lowell was a helicopter pilot, serving various roles, such as search-and-rescue, and conveying personnel and supplies among the ships in the Gulf. I was stationed on the USS Biddle (DLG-34), a guided missile “destroyer leader,” later classified as a cruiser. It’s possible, Lowell and I realized, that he may have landed on the Biddle as part of his duties.
Among the aircraft carriers his squadron operated from was the USS Midway and on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum now is the actual helicopter he piloted.
Last fall, Diana had invited me to join her, Lowell, her son, and a couple of friends on a VIP tour of the Midway Museum that she had won in a raffle. I had posted about it. During the tour, Diana said later, she noted the presence of a pilot’s name on “Lowell’s helo.” She inquired about how Lowell’s name might be added. And then she brought it about.
She wanted to keep it a surprise for Lowell, however. Guests to the event on August 2 were aware of what was about to happen, but Lowell was kept unaware. He knew the event was to celebrate his and Diana’s 60th wedding anniversary. Which it was, as well.
Lowell and Diana at the lectern. Note the covering — blue stripes top and bottom — below the window of the helicopter.
At the lectern next to the helicopter, and before the collection of family and friends on the Midway flight deck, Diana talked about the couple’s anniversary and then directed Lowell’s attention to the helicopter. Below the window at the pilot’s station was a sheet of paper, evidently placed there to cover something. She urged him to remove it.
When Lowell removed the paper, he became quietly emotional (at right), while the group cheered. Under the window, it now read “LT LOWELL EDWARD LINDSAY.”
The rest of the afternoon was filled with “sea stories,” reminiscences among Lowell and fellow squadron mates, and hearty congratulations to Lowell and Diana.
The scene on the flight deck.
Bravo zulu, LT Lindsay! And Diana!
The USS Midway Museum is berthed alongside the Navy Pier in San Diego Harbor. It is one of the most-visited attractions in San Diego and the most-visited maritime museum in the United States.
The flight deck offers four acres of open-air space 50 feet above the bay. It is the site of many events and spectacles.
To give a sense of the height of the Midway flight deck above Navy Pier.
Meredith, the granddaughters (Addy and Alice), and I had the pleasure of visiting the Avocado Festival in “downtown” Fallbrook this morning. It was the first time we’d gone in a few years. It was canceled in 2020 when COVID hit and wasn’t held in 2021. This year was the 37th festival.
It was great to see the festival back at full bore. A reported 450 vendors set up tented exhibits and there were plenty of entertainment and food choices. Attendance was expected to approach 100,000 over the course of the day.
We went pretty early, around 9:30 am, and only stayed about an hour, enough time to walk up and down the festival grounds on Main Street (it’s officially Main Avenue, but I can’t bring myself to use that) and blocks to the east and west of Main.
The grandgirls enjoyed lemonade, guacamole, avocado ice cream. I find my focus to be people-watching and marveling at the range of products and services that put up exhibits at these local fests.
Addy shared some of the guac with me. I didn’t realize until I was preparing this post and working with the photos that I had dressed in pretty much avocado color. Had not been an intent. (Addy, on the other hand, made a point of wearing her avocado hat.)
We also spent a little time at the festival stage for some dancing and colorful costumes.
Fallbrook calls itself the “Avocado Capital of the World.” That title had more clout before 1997 when the US lifted a ban on the import of avocados from Mexico that had been in place since 1914. When the ban had been in effect, 90 percent of avocados consumed by Americans were grown in Southern California, and Fallbrook had many avocado groves.
The festival celebrates the community and all things avocado. There are contests for avocado costumes (Awesome Avocado Attire), best guacamole (duh), Avo 500 Avocado Race, Best Dressed Avocado, and Little Mister and Miss Avocado.
There’s avocado ice cream and avocado fudge, of course, but this product was new to me.
Fallbrook being something of an artists’ colony, there are also avocado-based art exhibits and contests. (Sorry for the reflections in the window.)
The “pit” of avocado-themed products in Fallbrook is this place.
And, if there is a chance to get a lot of people around, another SoCal interest shows up — vintage cars. There were maybe a dozen autos in the exhibit sponsored by the Fallbrook Vintage Car Club at the festival, but it was mainly a promotion of their upcoming annual show to take place on May 26 and on Fallbrook’s Main Street. Dozens of cars will be on exhibit then.
Matthieu Pavon came from behind to win the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open (FIO) on January 27 and become the first Frenchman since World War II to win on the PGA Tour.
As the photo above shows, Pavon was three strokes behind when he teed off at the 3rd hole (where I was once again hole captain). After hitting an incredible shot to the 18th green from the deep rough, he sank an eight-foot putt for a birdie, a three-under-par round of 69, and a one-stroke win over Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard. It was his only birdie on the the back nine.
Pavon and Hojgaard are not what you would call “household names” in golf. They were among several golfers new to the tournament this year, replacing several more well-known golfers who didn’t play the tournament this year.
(I’m going to throw in some photos, not so much related to the text, but to offer some visuals.)
View of #3 South in the distance from the north.
I found it particularly striking that, during the final two rounds, the leading three groups of nine players contained only three American golfers and the final group was all Europeans.
Professional golf, as are several other sports, is changing dramatically and the Farmers this year reflected that change. The changes, I fear, may significantly lessen the tournament’s attractiveness to players and fans and perhaps even threaten its future.
The tournament was first dealt a blow in 2022 when it had to shift from the Thursday-Sunday schedule that every other PGA tournament followed to a Wednesday-Saturday schedule. The reason? Oddly, perhaps, the National Football League.
Screenshot from TV. #3 South is at the top, with the location of the green marked by a red line.
Before 2022, the Farmers was played on a fortuitous weekend for attention and television viewership. It was played on the weekend between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl with no football competition. (Don’t know if true, but I had been told when I started volunteering that the Farmers was the most-watched PGA tournament outside of the majors.)
Then the NFL added a 17th regular season game, pushing the conference championships to the weekend normally open to the FIO. CBS televised the Farmers, but also one of the Sunday NFL games. The Farmers had to lose its Sunday final round.
This was my 12th year as a volunteer and I made the list (bottom right).
Then, this year, with competition from the LIV golf tour that attracted several major PGA players, the PGA agreed to designate several tournaments as “signature” events, with much larger purses and no cuts after the first two rounds. Fewer players qualified for such tournaments and they were the top-rated players.
Thought this child-carrier was clever. Especially liked the kid’s legs on dad’s shoulders.
This year, the Farmers had only 20 of the top 50 players in world rankings and only three of the top 10 — Xander Schauffle (who’s a local), Patrick Cantlay, and Max Homa. It wasn’t a “bad field.” It included nine winners of majors.
The total purse available at this year’s Farmers was $9 million, with Pavon receiving $1.62 million for winning. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which took place the following week, had a total purse of $20 million, with the winner walking away with $3.6 million.
Also, Farmers Insurance has announced they will end their sponsorship of the tournament in 2026. The tournament has been organized by the Century Club of San Diego, a charitable organization formed in 1961 to broaden the appeal of the annual golf tournament that provides monies for local charities. Since the late ’60s, when it was known as the Andy Williams San Diego Open, it has also been sponsored by Isuzo Motors, Shearson Lehman Brothers, and, for 16 years, by Buick.
Only time I was on TV. I’m at left near the green in red oval. 🙂
I enjoyed working with my crew of marshals, most of them returning from previous years. And it was fun to work with a couple of new folks. We took a group shot of most of the crew, as well as a couple of folks from Competition Support assigned to our hole.
Great group. Big sky.
As usual, the tournament was my most concentrated period of exercise. I was there five days (the pro-am was Tuesday) and walked a total of 45,639 steps (about 20 miles), climbing 53 “flights.” The number of steps was estimated to be about the same as 11.8 crossings of the Golden Gate Bridge and 8.1 laps around the Daytona International Speedway. Slept well.
During the afternoon of January 20, I joined a band of fellow board and staff members of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, as well as a few of their kids, on a visit to two popular sites in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The first was Vista del Malpais and the other was Coyote Canyon, to check out where the “road” had been washed out there by water brought by recent rains.
We needed four-wheel off-road vehicles and Paulette Donnellon and Sergey Kushch provided two of the better ones. Paulette had her Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and Sergey had the redesigned Ford Bronco and the appropriately named “Badlands” model. Here they are pre-excursion.
Bronco on the left and Jeep.
Also in the group were board member Stephanie DiPalma and her husband, Tom, in their Jeep Wrangler Sport, and ABF executive director Bri Fordem and board member Maris Brancheau.
The Vista del Malpais is, as the words themselves convey, where you have a “view of the bad country,” or as commonly used in the West, the badlands. To get there, you have to go through some “not-so-great” lands, in terms of easy travel, anyway. That’s Sergey’s and my view from the Bronco at the top of this post.
We did finally get to the view point and it was definitely worth the trip.
We also saw a few desert lilies, a potential harbringer of what might be widespread flowering of the desert in the spring.
The Coyote Canyon area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is about 75,000 acres in size, about a sixth of the Park. It is a deep cut between mountain ranges extending about 10 miles northwest of Borrego Springs. A section of the San Jacinto Fault runs right through the area and it is considered an active seismic zone.
Coyote Canyon is closed to the public June 1-September 30 each year to allow Peninsular Bighorn Sheep access to the creek that runs through the canyon.
When we went, access was closed at the “Third Crossing,” so named because it was the third occasion on the trail where the Coyote Creek could flow over it during the wet season. And it was flowing.
Just off to the side of the “road” and creek was possible evidence of prior and historic seismic activity — a dramatic collection of huge boulders. An adult human would be less than half the height of most of these.
That evening in Borrego Springs, we joined other ABF board and staff members, along with friends and family, at a “Sip & Savor Soirée” wine-tasting event at the Borrego Springs home of Jimmy and Judy Smith. Refined conclusion to a rugged (in a good way) day.
“Moderation in all things” is one of my favorite aphorisms. Especially when you add “. . . including moderation.” This past year seemed a mix of the routine and regular, spiced with new experiences and new acquaintances. That may be the best balance in life. (Note: Addy’s somewhat odd arms arrangement in the photo above is explained by the presence of a praying mantis in her hands. Why the praying mantis is there is beyond explanation.)
My activities early in the year started as they have for the last 12 years, volunteering at the Farmers Insurance Open PGA golf tournament at Torrey Pines. It was my fourth year as hole captain on hole #3 on the south course. Still a really nice place to spend a few days.
Not me. Justin Thomas on the tee at 3 South, Torrey Pines.
Soon after I moved to Fallbrook in 2012, I realized I lived in what could be called “horse country.” Heck, my neighbors had them and I often drove past nearby horse ranches. My own experience with horses had been limited to riding on a pony at the age of five, wearing my Hopalong Cassidy gear, and being led around a corral at a local park. Being here, I wanted to do something more with horses. But what?
Switching channels one morning in May, I caught the end of a program on a local channel. It was a live segment at a therapeutic horse-riding program. I caught the name and was startled to recognize that it was just down the street from me. I drove by it almost every day, but didn’t realize what it was. They mentioned they always welcomed volunteers. I went online, applied, and I now volunteer at REINS (Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths).
I just go Tuesday mornings, but it is the most active morning of my week. In addition to raking straw, filling water barrels, and shoveling poop, I assist therapists who work with riders, children and adults, with special needs, mental and physical.
An Appaloosa, Cosmo, at REINS.
Most often, I’ve been a “side walker.” I walk alongside the horse on the side opposite from the therapist working directly with the rider. I’m there usually to provide some physical support to riders who may be unsteady in the saddle. Recently, I’ve begun to “lead” horses, directing them where the therapist wants and halting and getting them to move ahead. (See more)
I was fortunate again this year to travel to see family and friends. The annual trip “back East” centered around the BC football game at West Point in October. We stayed at the historic Thayer Hotel, located on the post, on the banks of the Hudson River.
The hotel was an “easy” uphill mile-long walk to the football stadium. In the rain.
Oh, did it rain. Each of us thought we had water-proof gear. Nope. All of us got soaked. It’s what hours of steady and sometimes heavy rain can do.
Most of us stayed only for the first half. We repaired to the hotel to watch the rest of the game on tv . . . and dry out. (See more)
Next phase of the trip was to the Cape and Boston. Picking up my Avis rental in Cambridge, I got a repeat of what happened last year. Only vehicles available were a minivan and what you see below. Again, ridin’ the pickup.
Though the truck last year was black.
At BC, I visited our liaison in the Alumni office. While we met in the building’s atrium, person after person stopped by to say hello. Our liaison said next time I visit, she’s going to send out a blast email to the office to let people know I’ll be there.
Stopped in Michigan on the way home to see Julia, Sam, Dillon, and the Wolverines. I was able to get tickets to the Michigan-Indiana game from a friend, and Dillon and I got to go to the Big House. Where it rained.
Dillon and I at the Big House for Michigan football.
Great scene. Huge band. Rabid fans. Once again, though, conditions forced us to head for home after the halftime show.
Just happy otherwise to settle in with Julia and Sam. (See more)
I start my final year as president of the Anza-Borrego Foundation in January. In recent years, ABF has grown in staff and resources, consequently expanding educational programs, purchasing land to convey to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and providing direct financial support to the Park. ABF’s growth has been due to good fortune, the generosity of donors, and a great staff.
We were able to return to ABF board meetings in person a few times this year. On one occasion, I stayed overnight in Borrego Springs and awoke to this desert sunrise.
The grandgirls are 11 and 8 years old, with Adeline turning 12 in January. She was born less than two weeks after I moved to Fallbrook. Middle school next year. !! For my birthday earlier this month, Alice wrote in a card, “I hope you find wonders in the age 77.” She’s one of them, as is Addy.
Meredith works in development at the Boys and Girls Club in town and Winter is at Charlie’s Foreign Auto in Encinitas. He recently joined the big 4-0 club.
Happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, and happy New Year to you and your family. May 2024 bring all you hope for!
Dillon and I at the Big House for Michigan football.
Phase 3 of the trip “back east” this year went a little west. I left Boston for Detroit on October 12. Dillon picked me up and we rode to nearby Ypsilanti, to Julia’s and Sam’s house.
They were grieving. I had been aware of the failing condition of Juno, the chihuahua they “inherited” when it was already elderly, but only on arrival found out Juno had been euthanized that afternoon at the house. We reminisced about Juno and paid attention to Tarski, their toy poodle.
While the primary reason for the visit was simply to see my daughter, son-in-law, and son, there was an add-on reason that was just happenstance. In 2022, I had interacted with a member of our BC alumni chapter at a gamewatch. I learned that she was from Michigan and her kids attended the university. She added that she had season tickets to Michigan football games and sometimes not all of them were used.
I realized that during my visit, Michigan was to play Indiana in the Big House, the stadium on campus. I contacted the fellow BC grad who said she had just learned from her son that he would not be using two of the tickets for that game. I was able to purchase the tickets for Dillon and me. For some reason, Dillon was a big Michigan football fan when he was a kid. For both of us, this would be an exciting experience.
Here’s an aerial photo of the stadium and its surroundings.
Of course, it was going to rain. This radar image showed the weather for southeastern Michigan on October 14.
Julia and Sam dropped us off and we joined the many thousands heading toward the stadium. (Michigan Stadium is the largest college stadium in the country. Its official capacity is 107,601.)
I remember another Michigan native telling me about her daughter, raised in the state and an attendee at Wolverine games. She’s now a student at Stanford and she tells her mother about attending Cardinal football games, “It’s just not the same!” Wolverine fans are pretty intense. They all seem to know the songs, the cheers, when to pump their fist, etc.
Gotta admit, this is a great college fight song. (22-second video)
The Wolverines actually started a bit slow in this game. Indiana scored first and dominated the first quarter, outgaining Michigan substantially. Halftime score was 21-7 Michigan, however, and the final score was 52-7.
And when you have 100,000 people in the stands, you need a big band. Michigan has a big band. The halftime show was extensive and featured something of a “horse race.” The band formed two ovals, one inside the other. A hundred and more of what I assume were kids, dressed in horse costumes, ran into the stadium. Most of them frolicked in the center of the oval and some, carrying flags representing the schools in the Big Ten, raced inside the “race track.”
The “race,” of course, was fixed. Finishing first, in what I assume is always the result, was the “horse” representing Michigan. And finishing far behind, indeed last, was the “horse” representing Ohio State.
Check it out.
For the second week in a row, I didn’t see the second half of a football game, at least not in person. Dillon agreed it was wise to head home and watch the rest of the game on television.
While waiting in downtown Ann Arbor for Julia and Sam to pick us up, I came across this striking tree in the courtyard of a university building.
Sunday, we visited one of the stores in the Zingerman’s empire for breakfast. The “Zingerman’s Community of Businesses” is a collection of establishments in the Ann Arbor area each offering a food specialty. It started in 1982 with Zingerman’s Delicatessan, where Julia and I got sandwiches during my visit in 2022. Boy, is it good!
Julia also showed me her new hobby, which may be a retro hobby coming back into vogue. Remember macramé? Here’s just a few of her output.
She’s also expanding their garden and zinnias are a new addition.
Later, we visited downtown Ypsilanti and some of the unusual stores. There was also a bar that seemed to bring us back several decades.
The Thayer Hotel at West Point, alongside the Hudson River.
The annual gathering of the Sutherland Road gang (Boston College students who lived at 12 Sutherland Road, Brighton, during junior and senior years), their spouses/partners, and me centered on West Point, N.Y., this fall. BC football was to play Army at the historic and picturesque military academy on October 6.
The red-eye from San Diego to Boston was supposed to be quick and calm. It was quick, but also turbulent. No sleep. At one point in the flight, according to the app FlightAware, the plane was flying at 648 miles an hour. We got into Logan Airport before dawn and, even after taking a bus and subway ride, I arrived at North Station for my commuter rail ride before Dunkin’ Donuts was open.
I took the train to Winchester where Ed Hattauer picked me up and brought me to the beautiful home he and Jackie Hewitt share. Caught up with some sleep in preparation for our drive the next day to West Point.
We arrived at West Point Friday afternoon and took our rooms at the Thayer Hotel, located on the post. We had reserved rooms in the hotel’s “executive wing,” a newer addition to the almost century-old hotel. Mine was called a “suite,” but it was a spacious single room. Ken and Debbie Hamberg did have a three-room suite, which was a welcome respite at times.
The weather forecast for Friday evening and Saturday was for rain, sometimes heavy. We all (except for Pat Sugrue, who wisely deferred from getting wet) had what we thought was waterproof gear. I even had “waterproof socks.” Before starting the mile-long, uphill walk to the stadium, we had a group photo taken in the hotel lobby.
L-R: Me, Marcy Kenah, Ken Hamberg, Debbie Hamberg, Dan Downey, Shelia Downey, Ed Hattauer, Pat Sugrue, Jackie Hewitt, and Tom Sugrue.
On the walk, we passed a small area for tailgaters with an interesting sign. Not a temporary sign, a permanent one. I approached the tailgaters near the sign and said I wanted to take a picture. They said sure. As I left, I said, “Retired Navy.” Their response, “We welcome all.”
There was a section of the stadium that was under cover. That’s not where our seats were. Our seats were in the uncovered endzone. But several of the group stayed under cover standing among the many others also seeking shelter. The Hambergs and I went to our seats. After all, we had “waterproof” clothing. Here’s a brief video (9 seconds) of the view from our seats.
Joe and Lori Mahler, and me.
Two San Diego friends had said earlier they might be attending the game. While at the game, I received a text that they were sitting in the endzone. I got up and looked for them. With everyone bundled in raingear, it was more than difficult to identify individuals. As I stood near the field looking up into the endzone stands, suddenly a figure stood and waved. I approached and it was Lori Mahler! And I then joined her, Joe Mahler, and their daughter Caitlin, who lives in New York City. (Lori said she had noticed some guy just looking up into the stands and then realized it was me.)
As halftime came, we agreed that it was smarter to return to the hotel and watch the remainder of the game on tv. All but two of the original group did the same. Two had found seats under cover when the previous seatholders left and saw the game through. The Mahlers and I joined the group sheltering in the Hamberg’s suite. (By the way, the Eagles dominated the first half and led 13-3 when we left. Watching on tv was initially discouraging, as the Black Knights came back and took the lead in the final quarter. BC scored a touchdown with 25 seconds left and won 27-24.)
All of us who returned to the hotel were soaked. The “waterproof” gear simply couldn’t be completely effective for hours in steady, often heavy, rain. As I had brought only two changes of clothing to the hotel and only one pair of shoes, I went to dinner in the hotel dressed in a teeshirt and jeans and wearing socks.
Before getting to the hotel, I had gone on its website to check out amenities, etc. I saw that the hotel gave a 20 percent discount on dining to members of the “military.” As mentioned earlier, I’m “retired Navy.” I didn’t know if the discount applied only for active duty military. If I qualified, I wanted to figure out how to finesse the discount for maximum benefit of the group. Like maybe I would order the wine. I asked at the desk before we went to dinner Friday night (I was better dressed then). What I learned was a pleasant surprise.
I was advised that, when the final check came, I show my ID. The server would then apply the discount to the entire bill. To everyone, and for everything. Nice! I put everything on my card and, at the end of the weekend, Pat Sugrue was kind enough to figure it all out and assign what each person owed. Our teetotalers were not included in the liquor and wine charges.
Our first stop on the ride home was the nearest Tesla charger. Jackie’s Tesla had gone the 216 miles from Winchester to West Point without an additional charge, but needed one to get all the way back. Ed came up with a pleasant musical “game” to play during much of the four-hour ride. Connecting his iPhone to the car’s audio system, he would search for songs on Apple Music. Each of us in rotation would recommend a song and share context for choosing those particular songs.
Monday began phase 2 of the trip, which was visits to friends and family on the Cape and in the Boston area. As I finally got through a somewhat long line at Avis in Cambridge to pick up my rental, it was deja vu all over again. As had happened last year at the Avis office in Maynard, the only vehicles available for me to rent were a minivan and a pickup. Oh yeah!
Though the truck last year was black.
First stop was Harwich Port, where I had lunch with BC classmate and USS Biddle shipmate Steve Curran and his wife, Kathie, at Brax Landing. Then a visit with high school classmate Susan Hartley Mantoni, where we had a great chat. Next was the Oslins home in Dennis, where I was to stay overnight. Reid drove Susan and me in his new Jeep to dinner with BC classmate and friend since grammar school Richard Sullivan and wife, Karen.
Next day, drove to Wood’s Hole to meet my sister, Ann, who had come over from Martha’s Vineyard to share lunch. We went to a restaurant right near the ferry landing. When I visited the restroom, I noted the sign identifying the area for restrooms.
Back in the Boston area, I spent the next day-and-a-half visiting friends. Started at BC, where my truck was too high to use any of the parking garages on campus. I had intended to meet with Dara Garrison, liaison to our alumni chapter in San Diego, so I called and asked if I might also use a parking space in front of Cadigan Alumni Center. She said sure.
When I went to the reception desk at Cadigan, I recognized the receptionist and she recognized me, as did another woman standing nearby. I had left work in that department 12 years earlier and hadn’t really been in that office since. Then other people walking by recognized me and came by to say hello.
Sitting with Dara in the atrium, several more people stopped and came over to say hello. Laughing, Dara said the next time I was to meet with her there, she would send a blast email out to the building to let people know. At one point, I noticed in the corner of my eye a woman standing and staring. I looked over and it was Kate Heusner, a friend who had been in the alumni chapter in San Diego, and had recently taken a job at BC and moved to the area. A pleasant surprise.
Later that day, I met with Maureen Raymond, Bob Capalbo, and Lee Pellegrini, all former colleagues. I first worked with Lee at BC in the early 1980s. Closed the day with Margaret Evans and husband, Rob Sternstein, for dinner at a Brookline spot. Busy, but nice day.
Phase 2 of the trip ended the next morning. After meeting with Leo deNatale, former roommate and best man at my 1978 wedding, for coffee and reminiscing, I took the truck to Logan and began the trip west. Not all the way, just to Michigan.
The Midway’s “island,” the superstructure above the flight deck containing command and control spaces.
On September 30, I had the honor and privilege to join Diana and Lowell Lindsay on a VIP tour of the USS Midway Museum, berthed in San Diego Harbor. Diana had won the tour in a raffle and the prize allowed her to have five people join her. She invited me to be among them.
A couple of years ago, Lowell and I had learned that, during our service in the Navy, we had both served in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coasts of northern Vietnam and southern China, during the summer and fall of 1969. He was a helicopter pilot, shuttling people and supplies among the ships in the Gulf, and I was intelligence officer on a destroyer.
The tour allowed us to go on the ship an hour before its formal opening, permitting access to spaces that would later be filled with tourists and museum visitors. A museum volunteer, a former Naval aviator, was our personal guide. And we would end the tour with a meeting with the museum chief executive officer, who would then treat us to lunch.
Arriving a bit early, I walked along the pier at which the Midway is berthed. Looking across the harbor to Naval Air Station, North Island, I was surprised to see all three aircraft carriers homeported at North Island lined up. Usually at least one of them is deployed.
USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Abraham Lincoln, and USS John C. Stennis.
To give some background on this distinctive museum, the USS Midway (CVA-41) was commissioned eight days after the end of World War II, in September 1945. It had been named for the landmark victory by the US Navy in the area of Midway Island in 1942. Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955.
In more than 46 years active service, Midway saw action in the waters off Vietnam and in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, in addition to many deployments to the Mediterranean and Western Pacific. It was modernized several times during service, including the addition of an angled flight deck in 1957. The photo below shows the ship in 1958.
Decommissioned in 1992 in San Diego, Midway was put into storage in Bremerton, Wash. Many ship veterans and those who flew off it over the years organized efforts to make the ship a floating museum in San Diego, the birthplace of Naval aviation. The Navy donated the ship in 2003 to the non-profit San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum foundation. Thousands of volunteers made the ship accessible to visitors, prepared exhibits, and more. The USS Midway Museum opened to the public in June 2004.
Despite doubts by many about chances for success, Midway has developed into one of San Diego’s most popular attractions. More than a million people visit it each year. TripAdvisor says Midway is the fourth most popular museum of any kind in the U.S.
Among our group was Jon Lindsay, son of Diana and Lowell, and he and I had another Navy connection. Jon was also an intelligence officer. On active duty, he had served in Iraq, working with SEAL teams 1 and 4. In 1970-71, I had served on the staff of Naval Special Warfare Group, Pacific, which was the command over SEAL and Underwater Demolition teams, in Coronado.
A Stanford grad, Jon also received a master’s there in computer science and later earned a PhD in political science from MIT. A retired Lieutenant Commander, he is associate professor at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy at Georgia Tech. He’s the author of Information Technology and Military Power (Cornell, 2020) and co-author and editor of other works. So there the similarities diverge.
Also in the group were Greg Cranham, a local fellow geologist with Lowell, and Jean Billings, whose husband had served with Lowell in the same helicopter squadron.
Emulating the carrier flight deck “shooter” in front are Diana Lindsay, kneeling, and behind her, from left, Lowell Lindsay, Jon Lindsay, Jean Billings, and Greg Cranham. As usual, I’m going in the wrong direction.
Below are scenes from the tour.
Retired Naval aviator Walt Glenn was our guide and provided a detailed briefing about launch operations.Air operations centerA “computer,” c. 1992Passageway. Don’t trip.Huge anchor chains
Later, as we joined a group of “regular” visitors about to go to the top levels of the “island,” we received a briefing, which included warnings about the steepness of the ascent. Standard Navy “ladders” connecting decks were converted to stairs in much of Midway to accommodate a wide range of visitors. That was not possible in the narrow superstructure.
As the volunteer concluded his briefing, he pointed to me and said, “And you’re going to lead the way.” I looked puzzled, I expect, until he added, “Because you’ve done it before.” I was wearing a ballcap with the name of my ship — USS Biddle DLG-34 — on it. Indeed, I had done it before . . . many, many times.
Some scenes from the bridges above the flight deck.
View from the Air Boss bridge.Too many Air Bosses.
Back on the flight deck, I learned about what I thought was the most amazing aspect of the visit. I was aware that Lowell had flown off Midway during his tour in 1969, but I had no idea the helicopter he piloted was among those on exhibit on Midway. Number 68 in the picture below was Lowell’s bird.
The penultimate phase of our tour was a meeting with Rear Admiral Terry Kraft (Ret.), chief executive officer of the USS Midway Museum. A graduate of the Naval Academy and former commanding officer of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), Kraft was named CEO earlier this year. We met with Admiral Kraft in his office onboard.
L-R: Greg Cranham, Diana Lindsay, me, Lowell Lindsay, Jon Lindsay, Jean Billings, and Admiral Kraft.
He also told us about the museum’s plan to develop a $62-million park adjacent to the ship. The 3.6-acre “Freedom Park” will include a bay-view promenade and amphitheater.
Admiral Kraft and a rendering of the projected “Freedom Park” adjacent to the ship.
Initial work on the project is to begin in 2024, with completion scheduled for 2028.
And, to top off the morning, lunch — compliments of the CEO.
It was a fine Navy day and a wonderful way to mark Lowell’s 82nd birthday!
In the spring, I turned on a local channel to watch a sporting event that was to start at 9 am (a common occurrence on the West Coast). I caught the end of a morning news show. It was a live feature about a program right down the street from me.
The program is called REINS, Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths. It is a therapeutic horse-riding program, offering therapy to nearly 200 students, including children, adults, and seniors.
I learned relatively soon after moving here in 2012 that I lived in “horse country.” Neighbors have them and there are several programs and facilities involving horses nearby. I had considered being closer to horses as a goal during my time here. I had driven by REINS, however, many, many times and had not followed up.
Watching the television program, the REINS spokespeople said they continued to welcome volunteers. I realized they were talking to me. Went online, provided my info, attended an orientation session a couple of days later, and started my Tuesday morning shifts beginning of May.
My duties are varied. I shovel poop, rake straw, fill water barrels, groom horses, bring the correct tack out for horses scheduled that morning. “Tack” is the term for items for a saddle horse, e.g., saddle, stirrups, reins, etc. There are particular sets of tack, depending on the horse and the rider.
Most of my time, though, is spent as a “side walker.” Each rider is accompanied by a therapist, walking alongside the horse’s left side. For some riders, a side walker also walks alongside the horse’s right side. It may be because the rider is young and not especially stable. Or it may be possible the rider could have a seizure. In any case, the side walker is principally there for safety reasons, as well as to open gates and perform other minor tasks.
Ah, the horses. There are a couple of dozen horses at REINS, somewhat evenly split between geldings (neutered males) and mares. Two of the mares are miniatures, most often used as ambassadors for the program at fairs and local schools. Some of the horses are quite large. Grooming them, I often have to reach above my head to brush their backs.
The horse in the above photo is one of the larger ones. I’m reaching above my head to touch the saddle. A couple of things to note about this horse. His mane has been cut back to form a short “crewcut.” You can also see a “K” shaved in the coat on his neck. That’s the first letter of his name, “Konah.” He is a Fjord Horse, one of several at REINS. As you’ll see in the photos below, the appearance of each Fjord Horse is similar to others, so the initial shaved into the coat is to help humans identify the specific horse.
The Fjord Horse is considered the world’s oldest known horse breed. They have been bred by Norwegians for more than 2,000 years and were used as war horses by Viking warriors. According to webmd.com, the Fjord Horse’s “placid personality makes it popular with horse enthusiasts from many disciplines. It’s a naturally people-oriented companion that adults and children can ride safely.”
The mane, when not cut back, is full and somewhat difficult to manage. Its thickness and mix of black and tan hairs allows for variations. Below is Sarah, with a checkerboard style.
The photo below is not a horse at REINS, but shows the mane when allowed to be full.
There has been research that shows positive effects from riding horses, especially improvements in balance for those with motor disabilities. I regularly side walk a little girl who is unable to talk and can walk only with assistance. She seems to enjoy the physicality of the horse, resting her head along her horse’s neck and placing her hand on the large shoulder muscles as they move. She also enjoys the short trots, enthusiastically bouncing up and down.
For me, I enjoy being of help to people who benefit from this therapy. I also enjoy being close to horses, despite their daunting scale. I also get something of a workout. Generally, I walk about 10,000 steps each morning shift, including a few running when trotting is called for, and also do various physical actions, e.g., lifting saddles onto and off of horses, that are not typical for me. Mostly, though, it’s just learning the various personalities of the horses, listening to them gallop, and walking with them down clip-clop lane.
I start some “advanced” training next week, learning to “lead” horses on the walks. Giddy up!
Back to Torrey Pines in late January for for what I think was the 11th consecutive year as a volunteer at the Farmers Insurance Open (still checking on 2015). Third straight year as hole captain of 3 South.
Former Cal golfer Max Homa won the tournament, coming from five strokes behind. Sam Ryder shared the first round lead and was sole leader after rounds two and three. Four holes from the finish, Ryder shot a double-bogey on the 15th. He finished with a 75, tied for fourth, four shots behind Homa.
Homa shot a six-under 66 in the final round to beat Keegan Bradley. Third was Collin Morikawa, another former Cal golfer. Homa took home $1,566,000 and two trophies, one with a representation of a Torrey Pine, the rare and endangered species that grows only in coastal San Diego County, and the other a . . . what else? . . . surfboard.
Max Homa with wife and newborn and his trophies. USAToday photo.
This year’s tournament was the second in a row to end on the last Saturday of January. The schedule had been changed from the usual Sunday finale so as not to conflict with the NFL conference championships, one of which was also broadcast by CBS.
This year, the pro-am returned after a one-year absence (COVID), which brought my crew of “gallery managers” to the course Tuesday-Saturday. It seemed a bit odd at the pro-am, because the public was not allowed on the course and we had no “galleries” to “manage.” Though it started early (first group off the 1st tee at 7 am), there were only 14 groups on each of the two courses (North and South), and we were finished before 11 am. (Until 2022, we were termed “marshals,” which may have been considered too “martial.” Now we are more anodyne managers.)
It was brisk all of the mornings on the course and not “warm” except for Thursday afternoon when it reached the high 60s. It was usually in the high 30s/low 40s when I left home in the morning. Thursday also featured blustery Santa Ana winds throughout the day, sometimes gusting to 30+ mph. Saturday never reached 60 degrees.
I remember past tournaments sometimes featuring a cold day or two, a rainy or even stormy day or two, but this year was steadily less warm than usual. I wore five or six layers on my torso each day, removing my outer official Farmers Insurance Open jacket only during Thursday afternoon. That was the only time my tournament shirt was ever visible.
The big fashion change this year was my hat. The tournament wants hole captains to be distinctive in dress so that officials can locate them at each hole. Whereas gallery managers and other are to wear khaki pants, hole captains wear black pants. Gallery managers wear the issued ball caps and until this year hole captains had worn a wide-brim straw hat with a black hatband. This year, hole captains were issued “hodaddy” hats, apparently to convey better the San Diego surfing culture. Reaction among hole captains was very mixed. Most recognized that the wider brim was better for sun protection, but the style was iffy for many. Here’s a comparison.
The hodaddy hats were not off-the-shelf products. The tournament logo could have been added to any hat, but these hats featured on the liner under the brim a color drawing of hole #4S, the hole that obviously follows #3S. Distinctive.
TV announcers for the tournament frequently talk about the beautiful setting at Torrey Pines. There are many wonderful scenes. Here are a couple of aerial views, provided by the CBS drone and Goodyear blimp.
Aerial view with the focus on 3S, front and center. Hole #4S runs along the bluff at left, south to north.From above the Pacific, looking toward 3S.
One of the advantages of #3S (for managers) is that fans only have access to the right side of the fairway and green and are quite a distance from the green compared to most other holes.
Among the larger groups of fans at #3S viewing action on the green.
It does sometimes get busy in terms of players, people, etc., especially with several tees and greens close by. The view below shows the close proximity of the 2nd green, 3rd tee (of which there are five, but only two were used in the tournament), 4th tee, and 5th green. Fans following a group on the 3rd tee are often puzzled when they are signaled to be quiet when those players are not teeing off . . . but those on 6 are.
It also can get interesting when the golfers leave the 5th green and cross the 3rd fairway to reach 6th tee. They choose several different routes.
People-watching is another of the pleasures of this volunteer experience. Here were two special sights.
This elderly couple conveyed a retired pop star style.This young girl was _stylin’_. My granddaughters admired her outfit.
All but two of the members of the 3S crew had worked the hole during my tenure as hole captain. Robin Silva was a welcome addition, as was Andy Nocon, who joined us on Friday and Saturday, moving over from the North Course. Both were as focused, responsible, and fun as veterans Frank Barone, Patti O’Neill, Rick Taylor, Steve Dillard, and Dawn Norman. Steve and Dawn also joined us for the final two rounds from the South.
Two years ago, I believe it was the PGA that chose new titles for the previous marshals and reconfigured the organization of volunteers on each hole. Technology has become increasingly important in providing information to broadcasters. Volunteers with tablets mark on the representation of the hole on their screen the position of each ball after each shot. And that is linked to “the truck,” the central brain of the telecast. That’s how announcers can tell you a golfer has a 238-yard shot or a 16-foot putt.
While the techies had been on the sidelines of each hole in the past, they had been designated two years ago as the “competition support” group and included “tee spotters,” who from the tee indicate with paddles the path of each tee shot, and “ball spotters,” who locate balls hit off the fairway into the rough. These latter tasks had been the responsibility of marshals, under the direction of the hole captain, and tee spotting had been shared among marshals, many of whom enjoyed the task. They are completely separate now, under completely different chains of command.
That differentiation or roles and personnel has still not been smoothly integrated across the board. On as short a hole as #3S, both groups are in close proximity and we’ve been able to work together collegially. Our tee spotter was distinctive. Liam O’Callaghan is 16 years old and a member of his high school golf team. He called in sick to school Wednesday-Friday, but improved greatly on Saturday.
Here’s a photo of the entire team — Gallery Management and Competition Support — at #3S. I don’t know full names of the other CS folk, but will seek to find them out and will update.
Now, I have to take the new clubs I bought last summer and get out on the links. I’m sure new clubs will transform my game!
Ode to 2022
I was seriously remiss in not posting about the 2022 tournament. No real explanation for it. Let me just post a photo of last year’s excellent crew, several of whom returned this year.
I had the privilege of attending a ceremony aboard the USS Midway Museum Friday, August 2, to honor Lowell Lindsay, a fellow Navy veteran.
When Lowell removed the paper, he became quietly emotional (at right), while the group cheered. Under the window, it now read “LT LOWELL EDWARD LINDSAY.”
