I would like to thank all attendee of the CMA 2010 Annual Reunion for their participation in this years events.  It was great to see all of the new cadets that were there for the 1st time,  and it was also equally great to see all of our old friends that were there.

I have been asked to request comments from the attendees, please join this forum and send us your comment about the reunion.  We would like to know such things as how you liked the location, the date, the events, the dinner as well as the WO (Wife's Comments).  Please help us to do a better job next year.

We are trying this format for your comments for the 1st time so please don't be shy, let us have good or bad.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated

Your CMA Board of Directors

Mike (Bart) Davis

Randy (KY Col) Jennings

Ed Dunn

Great reunion. All went well and I don't see any room for improvement. It was my own fault that we got in late Friday night and didn't attend more events.

One suggestion. Since I got notified late about the reunion, I didn't see the earlier posts about the event schedule. Perhaps a "sticky" at the top of the reunion webpage with the schedule for next year remaining there for all updates would help us late-comers.

Wish I had known about the earlier reunions but from here on I won't miss one.

John Myers

I salute the Colonel ( RANDY ) for a job well done !! 

With very little contact with any of the Cadets or Faculty,  I was amazed how fluid everthing flowed after 44 yrs..

Wonderful time reminiscing and catching up with OOOOLD friends !! 

Looking forward to our next reunion..

Until next time lets all stay in touch !!

Greg Boykin

Band Co..65/66          

Colonel Randy,

Awesome reunion.  One of the best ones yet.  I can't think of anything that could have improved what was already a grand event. 

Please thank all those responsible...

Shark & Belinda

My complements to Randy Jennings and the others who planned this outstanding reunion event. I cannot think of any suggestions for improvements, every detail was addressed.

Seeing and talking to so many of my former fellow Cadets from 47 years ago truly made this reunion a special event for me. I look forward to the 2011 reunion and hope that there will be a  regional Lexington, Kentucky reunion.

Tom Ward

CMA 1962-63 

(excert from email from Ed Dodd)

 It meant so much to me to reunite with each and every one of you  guys.

 I want to drop a not to every one that I can remember.

 Sincerely.

 Ed Dodd

Dear Randy. Don and I both enjoyed the reunion tremendously.  It was so well organized, except for the part where your camera got stolen. The memorial service was very moving. Don and I both feel the tribute to Don Creed was well deserved. He was a fine man and will be sorely missed by many. Hopefully we will all be remembered in such a way some day. We are both looking forward to the family reunion next year!  Don and Missy

Randy and all of the cadets who worked so hard to make this a great reunion. Patti and I enjoyed every aspect of this years reunion. I wish we could find more of the classmates from my era, maybe that will come with time. I can not find any faults with the programs, we thouroughly enjoyed everything, especially Billy's trumpet! Our best to everyone, Mike and Patti Stevenson

      A terrific reunion. It was particularly nice to see some of those folk who had never attended previously. I look forward to more 'new' attendees in the future, and hope that those who have attended in the past, but missed this one, will return.

     It was great to see the faculty/staff members.

     Especial thanks to Scott Blankenship for bringing the scrap books.

      I'll take this opportunity to express gratitude to the outgoing officers for a job truly well done. Chuck Pless & Leo Fuller both deserve our thanks. Also a salute to Randy..., uh...., that's 'Col. Randy' to you soldier, for the excellent web site.

 John Whitton

I was glad my room mate from 65 came from Texas and we had time to talk over old times. I plan on coming early next year. It was good to see the faculty and have Lt. Ferguson  have so many Band Co. members present to give the "finger" too!!. All was well recieved. I definitely left on highway 17. Terrific show at the Alabama theater. Maybe we can have Dunn practice the bugle calls for next years reunion to give Billy some competition.

(excert received from Scott Blankinship)

Attention to orders:  Carolina Military Academy Cadet Corps

Cadets Arthur Smith and Billy Lewis have successfully returned to the heart of the "Bluegrass State".  Words cannot describe what this trip meant to them.  For instance, if you have any money to invest ....buy Walmart stock ... because their profits will be up 25% after Billy develops all his pictures!! Anyone that did not sign his yearbook will be haunted.  Arthur (while in great pain) said he was so glad he made the trip ... but felt bad that he didn't remember more old friends that knew him.

As an ex Marketing Manager with AT&T let me address any CMA cadet graduates or attendees who are not active in this organization.......

For an initial novice undertaking, the organizers of this program have created an excellent product to enable a large group of friends to stay in touch with each other and share memories .... with little personal individual responsibility.  I am envious, as a person that attended another school with a 115 year history, without any formal program in place.

If " YOU " are not  a member of this organization ...you need to join and tell others!  This past reunion was a great success due to the attention to detail and planning by the leaders.  Hats off to them and the newly elected officers.  As we age, old friends and old memories may be what allows us to feel young.  While Arthur does not have a computer, I would be happy to share any messages with him (e-mail:  lbacker60@aol.com) Finally the "Bluegrass Trio" await for notification of who will be assigned as "Colonel Jennings" Aid-de-Camp.  I appreciated the opportunity to share in your activities and being assigned to "Company C".     Dave Cobb

Excert From John Myers Email

Randy,

I just wanted to add a word or three as an after-action report on the reunion. The sweet wife and I arrived Friday evening and missed the get-together and also arrived too late to get a reunion packet, so had no idea there was a business meeting the next morning at 9 a.m..

But at least we did know about the luncheon at the Sea Captain Restaurant the next day so we googled that and found the address and arrived only 30 minutes late. We sat in the first vacant seats and after a few minutes I realized I was sitting with Gene Vincent and Ken O'Leary, two former Band Co. cadets I knew from my first year at CMA in 1965.

Gene was the supply sergeant and saxaphone player who loudly told me in the very first band formation I marched in to get the H into dress with the rest of my row. I was promoted to supply sergeant the next year and carried on in Gene's tradition. Ken was the cymbal player, whose clangers I inherited when he graduated. I clanged away with all my might for my post-graduate year in 1965-66, trying to uphold his high cymbal standards but surely failing.

Gene and Ken and a few others joined the wife and I after lunch for a visit to the local winery Belle Ami and we had a great time sipping wine as well are renewing old friendships.

Gene in particular became my new best friend when he found out I worked in a gun store now. As I have often said at the gun store, God bless Texas! They are our very best customers.

All in all it was a really great reunion and I really enjoyed most of all the Hall of Heroes memorial ceremony on Saturday evening. I was hoping to get a chance to tell my senior English teacher how much he influenced me to seek a career in journalism, Lt. Lonnie Smith, but I learned to my sadness he has already shuffled off this mortal coil. (Shakespeare, Lt. Smith taught me that.) I can still recite the first 15 lines of Robert Frost's Mending Wall "with feeling" after Lt. Smith put the fear of God in me during class. I well remember that the easiest question on the final exam was "Write 450 lines of poetry you learned this semester."

I thought until I encountered Lt. Smith that I was incapable of memorizing poetry. Wrong. All it takes is an attitude adjustment and he gave the class that and more. I am forever grateful.

Perhaps I'll encounter him again in glory so I can thank him for his influence on my life still.

John Myers, photojournalist for life due to Lt. Lonnie Smith
"Peace on earth to all men of good will. All others stand by."
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Internet Photojournalist John W. Myers
Email: writeme@johnwmyers.com
Website: http://www.johnwmyers.com
God, Guns & Grits Blog: http://www.netfotoj.com
2020 Pinedale Road
Rockingham, NC 28379
Home: 910-419-9806 Mobile: 910-995-3975

Exert from email from Richard McGhee

Nancy & Richard McGhee