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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Many may know that Jim Hottois recently passed. We are waiting for the official obituary to appear on his website profile, but we felt it was appropriate to share a memorial provided by his involvement in the Civil Air Patrol.
Today, Riverside Squadron 5 and Civil Air Patrol lost a great friend.
This morning Lt Col James Hottois flew West on his final sortie after a short battle with cancer.
Hailing from Batavia, NY, he, and his wife Sue lived all over the United States as he progressed in an academic career, finally settling with homes in both Palm Springs and Vancouver, WA. Lt Col Hottois joined Civil Air Patrol in 1999, settling in Palm Springs Squadron 11. After a career as a college professor and college president, he retired and devoted a great deal of his time and expertise to CAP.
Jim was a Command Pilot, check pilot examiner, mission check pilot examiner, Airborne Operations Branch Manager, even an Airborne Photographer. He flew all missions including the Reaper escort mission in New York. He held a Commercial Certificate with Single and Muli-Engine Land, Single-Engine Sea, and Instrument ratings. He was a CFI with a Single-Engine Land rating.
Perhaps Jim's greatest impact has been as CAWG Director of Counterdrug for the last several years, maintaining a robust Counterdrug effort in various segments of our area of operation. He came to this position through the ranks and after many, many hours flying those missions. His love of the mission and affinity for those who flew it was apparent in the way he immersed himself in the endeavor. Certainly, his influence will be felt throughout the program for years to come.
Jim's contributions to Civil Air Patrol are many and diverse. From SAR/CD pilot to Region Staff College faculty, from primary instructor pilot for cadets to counterdrug mission manager, from Airborne Photographer to Reaper escort pilot. Certainly, a prodigious level of accomplishment. However, it should be noted that Jim was always approachable, with a great empathy and a wonderful sense of humor. His voice was big and his laugh was loud and unmistakable. He will be greatly missed in every way.
It is only appropriate that shortly after Jim flew West this morning, CAP487 flew one solo counterdrug mission. The aircraft is assigned to his home squadron, Palm Springs Squadron 11, and an airplane in which he flew hundreds of hours, and many counterdrug sorties and in which he trained many pilots and cadets. Jim saw a lot of sunrises and sunsets in this G1000 while flying our Missions for America.
This morning, CAP487 was flown by Riverside Squadron 5 Commander, 1st Lt Andrey Tikhonov and Inland Empire Group 3 Operations Officer, Maj Terry Pratt, on Sortie A0728. They flew for 3.2 hours, low-level, in the prime, most impactful segment of our area of responsibility in the professional manner we expect of our pilots. Wedged in between the panel and windscreen, always in view, was a folded American flag in honor of Lt Col James Hottois and the outstanding service he performed for our community and nation.
Ops Normal, Jim. We'll see you at the big RTB.
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Club 80
Sandy Sterling Weiler opened the door on how the Batavia High School Class of 1961 is collectively hitting 80 years old. Some classmates have already passed that milestone; others can look forward to the event. Some will celebrate the milestone; others may try to hide their tears. The fact that you can read this announcement, even with high powered reading glasses, is a good thing. You get credit for persistence, if not good luck and good genes. By checking the website profiles of your classmates, you can gloat if they have passed the 80 milestone and you have not, or welcome them to this exclusive club. As website administrator I can easily find the birth dates of all classmates, if you have been honest. I thought it would be fun, sadistically, to determine the ultimate gloater, by being the last in our class to turn 80. There are several members who were born in 1944. The prize goes to – Helen Mark Soanes. Congratulations Helen! Gloat on!
Tom Babcock (still gloating, but not for long)
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Turning 80. Those of us that have made it this far it is a true celebration. I am thinking of all of you as yesterday it was my turn. I guess we can no longer kid ourselves "We are old" but that's a good thing. We woke up on the right side of the grass. Wishing all of my classmates good health, happiness, and friends around you. Enjoy your 80's.
The Class Reunion held in the summer of 2022 was very well attended and everyone enjoyed a history lesson from Jim Owen, the singing of Ever Batavia, and just being with each other. A two day event held at TF Brown's (Mancuso's) and The Red Osier in Stafford, NY.
Until next time stay in touch and stay well. God Bless you all. Sandy Sterling Weiler
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The Official Web Site of
The Batavia (NY) High School
Class of 1961
Created May 12, 2010
Home Page Visitors since then:
134,319
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Reminder to Classmates
There are three ways you can communicate with classmates:
- You can go to their Classmate Profile page and leave a comment. Note that all your other classmates who have so elected will receive an e-mail notifying them of your comment and will be directed to that page where they can read it. You may want to use this somewhat sparingly.
- You can use the Message Center, under Member Functions, to write a directed private message to one or more classmates. If they wish, they can then respond directly to you in a private message.
- You can Post Announcement, also under Member Functions, which, after a few hours (for vetting purposes, keep it clean please
 ), will be displayed here on the Home Page for all to see.
Actually there's a 4th method too. You can use Message Forums (above Member Functions) where you can have more complex dialogues on subjects of your choosing with classmates who elect to participate.
Thank you!
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At the reunion some of you were asking what was going to happen to the web site after the reunion. The planning committee, using funds that you all helped provide, have paid Class Creator, the host system, the necessary fees to keep the site going for another 5 years and it is our plan to keep it going.
We welcome more content, your active participation, and strongly encourage you to keep your profile current (both contact information and also tell us what mischief you've been up to) and maintain connections with fellow classmates.
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We're still actively recruiting contributions (photos, clippings, etc.) from classmates' personal collections to be shared here. Root around a little in your sock drawer and show us what ya got!
Note: Photos should be sent to JCM@batavia61.com.
If you're unsure of how to do this, you might want to go to a commercial site (Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, or similar), give them the actual photos to scan and have them send the images to JCM@batavia61.com. Subsequently we can work out where the photos should go on the site, titles, etc.
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