From the President's Desk… I want to wish one and all a Merry Christmas and

Happy New Year. May Santa fill your stocking with

Love, Joy, and Happiness. May the New Year bring

PEACE to the world.

At our 2015 Annual All Hands Business Meeting we

elected a slate of Board of Directors and Officers to

serve until 2020. The Board consists of Donald

Cone, J.D. Manion, and Paul Tilson. The Officers

are President: Ennis (E.R.) Eaton, Vice President:

Juan Blanco, Treasurer: Byron Biddle, and Secretary:

Arvid Nelson. Our Newsletter editor: Paul Tilson. I

believe this organization will be well served by those

so overwhelmingly elected.

A proposal was brought forth by Byron Biddle and

me that we no longer have an election as to where the

next year's reunion will be held. There is a greater

concentration of our members living in the

Jacksonville, Florida area than anywhere else. Our

Jacksonville reunions have a great attendance. Our

2015 reunion in Pensacola, Florida, was attended by

only 42 members. Normally, it is the most heavily

attended because it is also election of Board and

Officers time. I was really disappointed by the

turnout. The low attendance caused the organization

to lose money because of our contractual

obligations. The proposal that was carried says that

we will hold all future reunions at the Crown Plaza

on the Riverwalk in Jacksonville. I have since been

informed that the Crown Plaza has been bought out

by Hilton Doubletree. The Staff currently there is

the same as when we attended in 2013, and they

assure us we will have the same excellent service as

before. We are currently undertaking a multi-year

contract whereby our rates will not change from year

to year and save the membership some monies.

Speaking of low attendance.. I am asking each and

everyone of us to get in contact with one or two of

your crew mates that you know that do not attend our

reunions on a regular basis and ask them to come on

board. I know that this is a organization that over

time has a decreasing membership. Time marches

on. We have over 220 paying members and only 42

showed up in 2015. At this rate, in 2020 we will not

have enough members attending to even hold a

reunion. That is something that I care not to

contemplate. Let us all make a concerted effort to get

our "lost" members back in the fold.

At the 2015 meeting our Treasurer made a passionate

plea for our members to at least get the annual dues

paid in the 1st quarter. Our by-lays says that they

(dues) are payable on January 01 of each year. I

know a lot of the members only pay their dues when

they send in their monies for the reunion

fees. Gentlemen, this organization has a lot of fiscal

responsibilities in the 1st quarter of each year. On

occasion we have had to dip into squadron monies to

pay these fees. It takes money out of our interest

bearing accounts, so we lose on both counts. I'm

asking that everyone please get your dues in by the

1st quarter, if not by January 15 of each year. It will

be greatly appreciated.

If any member has anything they want to get out to

the membership as a whole, please send it in an e-

mail to our Newsletter editor CAPT Paul Tilson. His

e-mail address is PaulTilson@aol.com Any and all

comments and letters are greatly appreciated.

I want to personally thank each and everyone for

having the confidence in me to re-elect me as

President of this fine organization. I always have the

best interest of you and this organization at

heart. Again, Thanks.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Ennis R. Eaton

President

US Navy Hurricane Hunters.

HURRICANE

HUNTERS

NEWSLETTER

Publisher E.R. Eaton Volume No. 10 Issue No. 3 Winter 2015

PAGE 2 WINTER 2015 NEWSLETTER

Hurricane Hunters attending the 2015 Annual Hurricane Hunters’ Reunion.

The Hunters’ Ladies attending the 2015 Annual Hurricane Hunters’ Reunion.

TAPS

It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of

our members that served so honorably.

AC2 Johnny H. Godfrey, Saturday, July 18,

2015. Johnny served in the Navy for 6 years as a

Hurricane Hunter in the CIC division.

Lt. James Schmidt, Wednesday, June 17,

2015. James flew as a pilot for the squadron. While

in civilian life he was an executive with Sears and

spent a great deal of his time with Hi-Tek Aviation,

mentoring At-Risk youth.

John F "Jack" Hanlon, Monday, June 22,

2015. Sent by his wife Dorothea Hanlon with no

other details.

Clarence L. Lack, Wednesday, August 5, 2015.

Sent by his wife Loretta Lack with no other details.

Lt. Donald Lee Kuck, Friday, July 3, 2015. Naval

Flight Officer served in the squadron 1963-1965 as a

Navigator

If any member knows of any other Hunter now on

eternal patrol, please contact E.R. Eaton at (770)

251-9088 or by e-mail at ereaton77@aol.com.

PAGE 3 WINTER 2015 NEWSLETTER

Editorial

Recalling the ancient curse purported to be Chinese,

“May you live in interesting times,” our 2015

Annual Hurricane Hunters’ Reunion was certainly

“Interesting.”

Our interesting times began last year when we were

informed by the Naval Aviation Museum that we

would not be allowed to hold our banquet there as in

previous years due to Sequestration and the lack of

funds to keep the building open beyond normal

working hours.

Our next interesting occurrence was when we were

informed by the Naval Aviation Museum that,

contrary to the Memorandum of Agreement between

the Museum and Hurricane Hunters, Inc. in which

we’d pay annual installments to cover the cost of the

paint and the Museum would paint the EC-121 they

were holding in their back lot using the paint scheme

and logos of VW-4, they would not paint the

“Connie” until the entire cost of paint “and labor”

was paid in full. At the price they were quoting and

the rate at which we could make payments to cover

it, all of us would be in the dust and the “Connie”

too.

We received more interesting news in the early

Spring when our reunion planning team contacted

the Crown Plaza Hotel in Pensacola to firm-up plans

for our reunion and were informed that the last week

in September that we had agreed to (oral agreement,

not in writing) had been given to another group who

“had money.” We had money too, but they didn’t

bother to ask us first. Water over the dam. So we

had to re-schedule for the third week in October.

As time for the reunion approached and much to the

dismay of our reunion planning team as well as our

officers and directors, it was looking like we would

not be able to meet the guaranteed minimum number

of rooms we had contracted for with the hotel. How

much more interesting could things get? At previous

Pensacola reunions we had occupied 75 to 80 hotel

rooms and so thought that the modest 40 rooms we

had guaranteed would easily be filled, even with the

change of dates, but that was not to be. Because

minimums were not met, certain things that would

have been given to us complimentary had to be paid

from our treasury. Fortunately, we did not have to

pay for the unused rooms.

As a result of the foregoing, your officers and board

members had long, soul-searching discussions over

what to do in the future. They finally concluded that

with the current and projected financial situation

with the government and the positions taken by the

current management of the Naval Aviation Museum,

it is not likely that we will be having our five-year

gala banquets in the Museum anytime in the

foreseeable future.

Studies of the demographics of our membership

show that the greatest concentration of members is in

the Jacksonville and central Florida area. The

officers and directors discussed previous reunions

and concluded that our best recent turnouts, had been

in Jacksonville. They decided to approach the

Crown Plaza management with a proposal that we

establish their hotel as the Navy Hurricane Hunters’

official home. We would not guarantee a set number

of rooms, but we would guarantee that we would

hold our annual banquet there, much like Kiwanis

and Rotary do at certain hotels.

The franchise has changed from Crown Plaza to

Hilton Doubletree (another interesting fact?), but the

management is the same, and they’ve agreed so we’ll

be seeing you all next year in Jacksonville.

HURRICANE HUNTERS, INC. A non-profit Florida corporation 501.c.19

OFFICERS

PRESIDENT E.R Eaton VICE PRESIDENT Juan Blanco SECRETARY James Evans TREASURER Byron Biddle DIRECTOR Donald Cone DIRECTOR J.D. Manion DIRECTOR Paul Tilson NEWSLETTER EDITOR Paul Tilson Newsletter is published three times annually. Association dues are $25.00 annually payable on January 1

st or thereafter.

Association address: Hurricane Hunters, Inc. P.O. Box 506 Vernon, Florida 32462

PAGE 4 WINTER 2015 NEWSLETTER