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John Ruhsenberger

After graduation, I attended the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, graduating in June 1960
with the rank of Ensign, USN. I married a Navy Junior from Annapolis, Deborah Susan Wakeman
and headed for flight training at Pensacola, FL, Kingsville, TX and Corpus Christi, TX, receiving my
wings in February 1962. 

I started my career in Jacksonville, FL flying maritime patrol aircraft, P2V-5s at first and then later in my career P3As, in and around the Caribbean, the infamous Bermuda Triangle (without ever once disappearing for too long a period), and the Mediterranean Sea area, deploying to Puerto Rico, Cuba, Bermuda, the Azores, Spain and Sicily. 

I graduated from the U. S. Naval Post-graduate School at Monterey, CA with a degree in Operations Analysis in 1967. 
I followed that with a tour at NAS North Island, CA as a flight instructor in SP-2Es. We adopted our daughter, Susan, 
during this time in San Diego. 

A year tour in Vietnam followed, then a tour at the Pentagon where I obtained a Masterís degree in Business Administration
attending night school at George Washington University. Another squadron tour out of Brunswick, ME was followed by a tour
at the Operational Test and Evaluation Force in Norfolk, VA. I retired from the Navy in June 1980.

We returned to Maryland and took up residence in Calvert County with me working for Sperry Corporation. I spend the next 18 years working basically out of the same office, but for six different companies what with mergers, buyouts and the like. Altogether a very satisfying time working at first with the Anti-submarine Warfare Operating Centers around the world and then the Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facilities around the country. I retired for good in June 1998. We spent several years touring in a 30 foot RV and having a grand time. My wifeís back problems led us to sell the RV and settle down for good in January 2000. Weíre now living in a
marvelous retirement community called The Villages in central Florida. I highly recommend it. 

Itís been and is a great life. It was made even better by the birth of our first granddaughter, Amber
Star Hutchins, in November 2002. 

Maria Manetta

Since graduation in June '56 . . . . here's how my life has evolved.
I graduated from UCLA and years later got a Master's.  I have been a hardcore 'social conscious activists' from the '60's on . . . working for peace, human rights, environmental protection, and social justice issues.  I feel a strong connection with the native peoples of the world.

I worked in a local high school for 35 years, teaching a variety of subjects.  Para-psychology (study of psychic phenomena) was the most intriguing to students, yet not as 'dangerous' (for the administration) as the course I wrote and taught entitled "Nonviolence'.  I have always walked on the edge of what's considered 'OK' by the majority.  It's exciting . . . 

My proudest achievement was initiating a program called 'Peer Counseling' in which kids help one another tremendously, by simply 'listening'.  Gangsters, nerds, intellects, soshes, jocks, and the 'peculiar' (Columbine types) were changed dramatically by this simple process.  Skills in conflict resolution, getting beyond ourselves, and coping with life's lil' irritants, were all part of our learnings.  Kids from totally different backgrounds and life experiences came together with true understanding and compassion for one another.

My 'graduation'/retirement gifts to myself were a new laptop computer, Volvo and RV.  So these days, I travel the country, as well as remaining active in my Quaker community, and related organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, 'Women in Black' (peace/social justice radicals) , and the American Friends Service Committee.  I'm also on the boards of directors of the Heart Touch Project (working with children, elderly, AIDS and ALS patients) and the Alcoholism Center for Women (dealing with 'recovery' on many levels).

So, I'm involved, healthy n' happy, and grateful for a very fulfilling life.  And I'd love to hear 'what's up' from some of you old Muir, Eliot/Burbank friends . . . . 

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