To the Editor:

This week, I continue taking a backward glance o’er the roads traveled by former Berne-Knox-Westerlo students. This letter will focus on two members of the class of 1956.

Barbara (Barb) Filkins Cross sends the following account of her life:

“I grew up in the town of Westerlo. My foster parents were Edna and Uncle Pete Furman. We went to grade school in Westerlo in a one room school. There were three grades and one teacher.

“In the eighth grade we went to the school in Berne (BK).  After graduation, I went to Comptometer School and then worked at the A &P for eight years.

On June 14, 1958, I married Gerry Cross — now for 63 years. We still live in Berne and are the proud parents of three children, grandparents of six, and great-grandparents of two.

In 1970, I began working at BKW as a teaching assistant (aide) and retired from there in 2001 after 30 years. I am still friends with classmates.

“It has been a great life and I would change very little.”

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Rudolph A. Pitcher shared the following  extensive background:

In 1960, I graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of science degree and also composed the United States Army Infantry Officer Basic Course as well as the Airborne Course.

That year, I entered the Army as an infantry lieutenant commissioned through the Cornell University Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

Later schooling included an Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological Warfare Course in 1965, an Associate Officer Career Course in 1967, John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the city University of New York with a master’s degree in1970, the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College in 1972, and a National Security Management Course at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces also in 1972.

Further education included the FBI National Academy in 1974, the Department of Defense Language School to study Persian-Farsi in 1975, the Department of Defense Security Assistance Management Course in 1982, and the U.S. Army Inspector General Course in 1984.

I fulfilled these hostile action assignments:

— Berlin, Germany (Cold War) 1962-4: Commanded Railway Military Police escorting U.S. Army passenger and freight trains through East Germany to and from Berlin;

— Rochester Race Riots 1964: Served with New York Army National Guard, state and local police in riot control;

— Vietnam 1967-8: Commanded combat MP company providing discipline, law and order, traffic control, physical security, PW escort, main supply route security, pipeline security, and traffic control;

— Tehran, Iran 1978-9: Provost Marshal during revolution and evacuation of U.S. personnel;

— Invasion of Grenada 1983: Visited to advise on Civil Affairs operations; and

— Beirut, Lebanon 1987-8: Security Assistance Officer during their civil war.

I retired from U.S. Army active duty in November 1989 as a Colonel, Military Police with 28 years of service. I have lived in Huntsville, Alabama since leaving the Army and subsequently retired again as a contracts manager with a defense contractor in Huntsville.

I have been married for 56 years to Concetta Harris of Cortland, New York and have three children with families in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Huntsville, Alabama.

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I am confident you all will agree that the BKW community can take pride in how far Barb and Rudy have “traveled.” Clearly, for them, graduation was not the end; it was the beginning!

Helen M. Lounsbury Galicki

Berne

Editor’s note: Helen M. Lounsbury Galicki graduated with the Class of 1956 and is a former teacher and former school board member for Berne-Knox-Westerlo.