Baron Scroll Spring 2005                                                                                                                             Page 3

For those of you who do not know Bernie, he was the ’65 class rep for 5 years, has served on the Board since 1987 and took over as president of the association when one of our members had to resign.  For months, after he was “found” in 1985 by Robin Robinson ’67 he spent every night and every weekend on the telephone locating former classmates.  (This was in the days before the Internet!)  His efforts were instrumental in helping us find 120 classmates, and 110 of them showed up in Arlington, Texas July 4^th weekend for our first reunion.  Bernie and his wife, Anne, have attended every reunion.  Anne is always a big help to us.  At every reunion she pitches in and helps us with the memorabilia room, registration and anything else she can do to help us have a successful event. 

 

Bernie is retired from civil service and the US Army after 36 years of service to his country.  He served 10 years on active duty and the remainder in the Reserves.  Bernie received the "Legion of Merit" when he retired, and his family is very proud of his service.  The Tibbetts’ have many eagles and flags as decor around the house, and the entire family on both sides is extremely patriotic.  Bernie now works at the Army Reserve Center as a contractor paid by Raytheon Aircraft, doing one of the many jobs he did before he retired.

 

Bernie and Anne have 2 children.  Daughter Karen is a Seafood director at Dillon's/Kroger and lives in Wichita with her son, Jordan.  Karen was pregnant with Jordan when they attended our first reunion.  Jordan is now 19 and has attended many of the reunions with his grandparents, most recently the 2003 reunion in California.  Son David owns his own construction company in South Carolina.  David recently took a trip to Helena, GA to see if he could find a place to suggest for a possible reunion site.

 

Bernie and Anne live in Mulvane, Kansas and are fortunate to have most of their family close by.  Bernie's mom lives in Derby, about 10 minutes away, and brothers Ron and Herb live in Wichita, about 15 minutes away.  Ron ’67 has also been to every reunion, and Herb ’70 started attending the reunion in 1997.  Nola, Bernie's sister, lives in Hutchinson about 1 hour away, and another sister lives in Savannah, GA.  Anne’s mother lives with them, and Anne’s brother only lives about 30 minutes away.  Needless to say, family gatherings are huge!

Bernie Tibbetts ’65