Email sent 22 July 2018
Dear Fellow Hawaii travelers,
I am proud to say this because up until a few days ago, I was organizing this trip without being able to attend it. Good luck and some creative scheduling by my wife and I have allowed for us to make the trip over to Honolulu for the game, get some beach time and join everyone for a few days of socializing and a Navy win against Hawaii. I have to admit, I was slightly jealous and now I am just excited to able to enjoy this time with all of you. First off, let me thank Rich Tilghman and Ashley Yetman again for the work they have put into helping me arrange for events and offering their time (a precious commodity). And Rich for offering up his home and pool for a party at the victory celebration the day after the game. This all being said, here is where we stand with events:
1) Thursday August 30 at 0845 the tour of Pearl Harbor on the Admiral’s Barge (not sure which Admiral, but nice to loan us his barge). This is courtesy of Ashley Yetman and if you want to sign up contact her. Also, there is a dress code, I am guessing some sort of business casual attire. Ashley’s email is: apyl@comcast.net to sign up for this. As it gets closer, I will have a proper schedule of events, but for now, I need to get the word out for some of these sign ups.
2) Luau at the Hale Koa on Thursday evening. If you want to go, we only have 50 seats reserved and only about 18 spots left the last time I checked. Call the Hale Koa directly at: 808-955-0555 and prompt #2 for Events, tell them you want to reserve your number of seats with the “Navy 85” group. Cost is $64.95 per person. We will meet at the Beach Bar at the Hale Koa at 1730 and the Luaa begins at 1830. Fireworks after the Luau next to the Hale Koa courtesy of the Hilton resort. The Hale Koa is a short Uber/Taxi ride from the Marriott Waikiki, we will not have group transport for this event.
NOTE: PLEASE RESERVE BY JULY 25th TO BE IN OUR BLOCK!
3) Friday Morning we are still putting together an Island Tour hosted by Rich and will keep updating that. Email him directly for info and to sign up at:richardwtilghman@gmail.com or message him on Facebook (best method) . Sounds fun and casual and great for anyone new to Oahu. Friday evening, I am working on our Class of ’85 Happy Hour to fire us up for the game on Saturday and to welcome those who are arriving that day. I have a couple options in the works and will email the group soon with the final plan. This would be from around 1700-1900 with dinner in small groups that evening at any of the local restaurants. (Get on Trip Advisor now get your research done, I will publish my list soon of places I have eaten at in Waikiki and enjoyed). If we get a large group, I can try and make a reservation or the event we end up doing may be dinner and drinks all in one. Stay tuned…..
4) Saturday Tailgate and Game. We are partnering with the local USNA Alumni Chapter for a full blown tailgate starting around 1300 with the game kickoff at 1700. Food and beverages included for $50 per person. I am working directly with the U of Hawaii ticket office on a seating block and now that we are growing to about 100 or more, I surprised them with our success. I think they can still keep us all generally together in a lower level end zone area. The tickets will be $40 per person and will be distributed at the various events or tailgate. The local Chapter President works for a tour company and can provide us with all our transport needs and I will soon have a breakdown of costs associated for all our events. The big transport will be to and from the tailgate/game from the Marriott Hotel and the Hale Koa and one other hotel if needed. Other events will include the Friday Island tour and the pool/beach party at Rich’s house in Kailua Beach area on Sunday, departing around 12:00 from the hotels.
5) Sunday Pool and Beach Party at Rich Tilghman’s. This will be transportation and a donation to Rich to cover food/beverages and possible entertainment. Once again, more to follow on this.
So, as you can see, quite a bit going on and quite a bit of it TBA. Plan on me collecting money in advance for the tailgate, game tickets and transportation via my paypal account or a personal check mailed to me (although I much prefer paypal). When I finalize these events and costs, I will reach out to you and start collecting money in advance for this. Worst case, I can collect from you in person in Hawaii. My commitment was quality events for those of you traveling this long distance and with the help of Ashley and Rich and the local USNA Alumni Chapter, I am pretty sure we will live up to the ’85 standard!!
Please now contact me directly with questions or comments about this trip via email, texts or phone calls to the number on this email. I will help me make sure everyone has what they need. Here is a list of those classmates attending:
| Angela Orlando |
| Ashley Yetman |
| Christy Sahler |
| Brad More |
| Mark & Beth Brownell |
| Jeff Bernardi |
| Chuck Merritt |
| David Oliver |
| Dan Holzrichter |
| Steve Powers |
| Nancy & Eric Isaminger` |
| Eric Bowman |
| Brian Norris |
| Frank Gunsallus |
| Greg & Sue Morrow |
| Jeff Rocha |
| Charlie & Jennifer Giles |
| Jeff Belt |
| Jeffrey Hull |
| Jim Evans |
| John Winkler |
| Kevin Clinch |
| Kathy McCartan |
| Steve & Monica Rauch |
| Mark Henderson and Pamela Righter |
| Mike Fazzio |
| Michael Tranchina |
| Mike Prosperi |
| Marcus Flagg |
| Pat Redmon |
| Richard Tilghman |
| Greg Morrow |
| Ray Alfaro |
| Bob Smith |
| THOMAS L ADAMS III |
| Mark & Kim Waterman |
| Jim Winkler |
| Susan Wells |
| Steve & Theresa Kelly |
For those with Whatsapp, I have started a group chat for those attending, message me on the App and I will add the our private group I created for this event. For those of you not using Whatsapp, give it a try and I can add you to the group. It’s a great way to communicate and not clog up your personal text message space and it’s very secure. Otherwise, we will use this email group and the USNA ’85 Facebook to communicate with each other. We also plan on collecting pictures from the various events and informal get togethers and post them to Facebook, the class website, and possibly Flickr/Shutterfly. If you haven’t subscribed to the class website, please do to keep appraised of the activities for this trip and future ones.
Thanks for signing up for the trip and being patient as we build this great event! Stay tuned….
Go Navy and Beat Hawaii!
Bob Smith ’85