In various Christmas letters, we heard from several Retirees this past holiday season:

Gus (Mechanical Engineering, 2000) and Char Carlson, spent their fifth year of retirement enjoying family in the Bay Area and visiting family in Arlington, Washington. Their travel event of the past year was a 1 1/2 week trip to Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The wildlife of the Galapagos, both on land and in the water, is simply amazing. And in the high Andes Mountains near Quito, Char was surprised and thrilled by the number and variety of hummingbirds. They also spent an enjoyable September week in Kauai, accompanied by son Brian. Their dog Molly prefers trips that she can join, so her favorite was the drive to their daughter's where she got to play with the black lab.

Edgar (Chemistry Test, 1993) and Janet Peck had several celebrations during the past year. In June they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. They hosted a memorable dinner at a delightful local restaurant for the entire extended family-three children, six grandchildren, one-great-grandchild, a son-in-law, and the latter's father. They also surprised their congregation with a special "reception" during the customary after-service coffee hour. In May, they journeyed to Hiran College in Ohio for their fiftieth class reunion; it was really great to spend several days there enjoying reconnecting with many friends. On that same trip they went to Pennsylvania to spend a few days with Janet's brother and family. In September they attended Edgar's fifty-fifth high school class reunion in San Angelo, Texas-again spending two days with "old" friends. On that trip they visited Edgar's brother in Dallas who took them to two outstanding local museums and to a joint performance of the Dallas Symphony and the Dallas Chorus.

The trip to Texas coincided with the arrival of hurricane Rita. Although the weather in both Dallas and San Angelo was humid and extremely warm, they experienced no rain. It was good that they had motel reservations in both cities as they were full with folks displaced by both Rita and Katrina.

In March, they embarked on a week-long cruise on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. They were on the same sternwheeler that they enjoyed last year in Alaska. They even had the same stateroom so they knew which way to turn when they left the room for great meals, the on-board entertainment and the shore excursions. To their surprise, the same captain was in charge although most of the rest of the crew was different.

Gordon (B Division, 1989) and Nancy Repp have been heavily involved with the remodeling of their Parish Hall. Nancy drew the original floor plan for the expansion, which were in proper building language and drawings. She was happy to turn things over to the building committee and design committees. The contractor was great and the construction was completed on time. They had a great Gala in April to initiate it and the Bishop and his wife attended. Nancy has received many compliments on her design, especially on the kitchen.

While she was looking for new appliances for the Church kitchen, she decided she just had to have nice new cook top, ovens and microwave ovens at home. Of course, they would not fit into the existing cabinets for Gordon had to modify some of the old cabinets and build some new ones. He also changed the electrical service. After doing some more work at the church, they finally took a vacation.

In May they went to Washington, D.C. so that Gordon could see the WWII memorial and Nancy wanted to see the new Native American museum. They stayed at a time-share in Maryland at Ocean City. It was a good trip. Maryland is a beautiful state.

They then took at trip to France and had a wonderful trip up the Rhone River in a delightful little river ship, stopping at cities and villages. They got quite expert in walking on cobble stones. The old walled towns were fascinating. They began the trip at Nice and ended at Paris.

A month after their return, they took off to a time-share in Kauai, where they had not been since 1958. It had changed so much they had to explore it form scratch. They took a helicopter ride and saw everything and even attended a luau.

Sue (Procurement, 1989) and Sam (Electronics Engineering, 1993) Spataro had a busy year visiting their children (Sandra - Cornell University, Ithica, New York), and Suzanne & family (Nebraska). They also saw other relatives (Sam's 90+ year old aunt and cousins - Rockford, Illinois), Sue's cousins (Southern California recently immigrated from Armenia), Sam's "big brother" celebrating his 80th birthday, and Sam's nephew's upscale restaurant (one of 9 in his chain) named "Spataro". They spent Christmas in a cabin in the Missouri Ozarks with their daughter Susanne and family.

A highlight of the year was their visit to the Football Hall of Fame last August where they attended the induction of their favorite Forty-niner quarterback, Steve Young. They followed Steve around like groupies, and when they were face to face, all Sue could say was "I love you, Steve!" He, on the other hand, with much more composure, replied "Thank you." It was great fun being totally captivated in something that they could share and enjoy with others.

Edward Dante (E Division, 1986) and Mary Ann Dante (TID Library, 1993) are enjoying life in the Sierra foothills on their 280 acre ranch near Placerville in Pleasant Valley. Last March they had installed a 32 module photovoltaic solar system and have made more than 6 Megawatt hours of electricity. Mary Ann is a current member of the El Dorado Grand Jury.

The next Travel Group meeting of the year is Tuesday, February 28th at 2:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Livermore Police building, 1110 South Livermore Avenue. The topic is "Hiking in Switzerland", by Barbara and Dick Mallon.

February's Retiree luncheon will be at noon on Wednesday, February 15th at the Elks Lodge in Livermore, 940 Larkspur Drive. Our speaker will be Jim Seward of LLNL's Health Services Department and his topic is "What Happens if the Bird Flu turns into a Human Pandemic?"

Please send any news or input (please include the date and department from which you retired) to Jane or Gus Olson. E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.