April 2004 President's Corner

Bill Rentz '55, USNAAA Atlanta Chapter President

Most of you have heard about our recent South side of Atlanta social event in Tyrone, Ga. We had enough response to warrant doing it again. Let your Chapter Board of Directors know if you have another idea for an event or a theme, and many thanks again to Mitch Rowland ’71 for pulling it all together.

Last summer the Chapter received a request for consideration to help fund the out-of-pocket expenses of a local midshipman, MIDN 1/c Neil B. Fletcher, USN, Class of 2004, from Roswell, Ga., for his participation in a Habitat for Humanity trip to Nicaragua. Due to the short fuse, too short for a fundraiser, your Chapter Board of Directors voted to provide $1,500 out of the Chapter treasury to assist him. Here are excerpts from a very nice letter received from MIDN Fletcher addressed to Atlanta Alumni.

“I was in a bit of a shock when my Mother told me how much the Alumni Association funded me for this trip. It went beyond my wildest expectations. I feel a thank you is not enough, I hope to leave a promise as well. That I will continue to live up to the high standards and values USNA Alumni hold themselves accountable to and one day return this gift to a future midshipman trying to make a difference.

Enclosed you will find a few select pictures of my trip to Nicaragua. Please accept them as part of my small thank you for your generous support and funding.

I came to Nicaragua with uncertainty and left with a renewed spirit that I hope to carry throughout my Naval career”. Signed Neil B. Fletcher, MIDN, USN.

If you read this in time, try hard to make the April 16 Chapter luncheon with our guest speaker, Skid Heyworth, ’70, USNA AA VP for Communications. It’s a great opportunity to find out what is going on in Annapolis and particularly what plans are in store for “Shipmate”. The new managing editor works for Skid.

Keep checking the Events Calendar on the Chapter Website. There is a lot going on this spring and you don’t want to miss anything by omission.

Bill Rentz ’55