Presidents Winter Letter
December 2023
On behalf of the officers of PRHA and myself, I would like to extend greetings and Happy Holidays to all of you. I was fortunate to go to Florida in October for my wife’s family reunion. While there, I was able to meet up with a couple of Pedro guys. Roger Barre was down there and we met for breakfast, and then we drove to Neil McCutchan’s home for lunch with him. It was a great day.
In the summer letter I indicated that the Pedro History Project has slowly started to gain some momentum. We have been able to get around 10 interviews completed and then it slowed to a crawl. Our Chaplin, Stephanie Cheek, has been doing most of the interviews and trying to teach a few of us old Rotor Heads how to effectively use our computers to do some as well. I suspect she would tell you it was harder to teach us than to do the interviews. Well, she started teaching at Liberty University and a local public school and her time has been at a premium, so the interviews slowed down. I am hopeful that I will be up to speed and will be able to conduct some interviews after the first of the year.
I want to share a URL with you in case you would like to see an interview. In September of this year, Jeff Snicale sent an email letting us know that a member of PRHA had taken his final flight. That member was Paul Erickson. He served on Pedro as a Medic. Fortunately, a couple of months before his passing Stephanie was able to complete an interview with him. It is posted on YouTube. Following is the URL that you will need to type into your computer to watch his interview. It is about 30 minutes long. https://youtu.be/M29g3LfELVU
As time passes, there are fewer of us to get our history, as it relates to Pedro, recorded for future generations to see. I feel very lucky that we were able to record Paul’s memories before he took his final flight. It is taking us awhile to get this done but progress is being made. So, if you want to get your interview done, send me an email at sheets.rick@gmail.com and we will get you on the list to set up a zoom call to record your interview.
Again, I would like to thank all of those on the History Project Committee for their help in putting this together. Those Pedro Members are Jeff Bailey, Gary Pruitt, Hoyd Sanders (Sandy), Stephanie Cheek, Joseph DeFaeo and myself. At some point in the future, you will be able to go to the PHRA website, look at the names of those interviewed and click on a link and be able to go see the interview. I originally stated that I had hoped to have the interviews done by the end of this year. It looks like I will need to push that forward to before the reunion.
Chris Taylor has been working hard on the 2024 reunion in Albuquerque NM. He has been able to confirm the dates, September 12-15. He received a few responses back from some hotels. All of them but one was priced very high $400 per night or higher. One, the Sheraton-Airport came in at $139 plus tax per night. He was able to reserve a block of rooms at that rate at the Sheraton. More information will follow. But for now, we have the dates and cost so we can start planning to attend. After talking with Chris, he is planning a wonderful event for the Association.
If any of you are like me, you sometimes forget our PRHA dues. Please check the PRHA roster that was sent out and check to see if you are current on your annual dues.
As I stated in the summer letter, please keep our Association in your prayers. We are aging and several members have taken their last flight since our last reunion. If you know of any members that have passed, please let Jeff know so he can share it with the association. Just as we did at the 2022 reunion, we would like to recognize them at the banquet of our 2024 reunion.
Jeff Snicale will be sending out invitations for nominations for officers of PRHA in January of 2024. After he gets the nominations back, he will send out ballots for the vote. Our plan is to have this wrapped up by the middle of March of 2024. Please be thinking about who you would like to nominate for what positions.
It is my sincere desire that each of you remain healthy and prosperous. I look forward to seeing each of you at the reunion.
Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!
Rick
Rick Sheets
President, PRHA
