9TH COGSWELL DD-651

 ASSOCIATION REUNION

SEATTLE WA

OCTOBER 17-19, 2002

Report by  Frank Wille, President

The Ninth Reunion of USS Cogswell Association was held Oct 17 thru 19, 2002 in Seattle Washington. 87 members and guests attended the reunion and banquet. The Sixth Ave Inn provided nice accommodations and turned their hotel into a Cogswell facility for the 3 days. Their staff worked very hard to make our stay pleasant.

We met many old friends and welcomed a few shipmates to the association. Efforts are underway to find additional shipmates via the Don Miller Shipmate Locator Program, coordinated by George Overman.

There were two nice tours of the Seattle area which were well attended by our members. On Friday, we took the ferry to Bremerton for the “Anchor’s Aweigh” tour – a look at the Navy’s Past & Present. This included a tour of  USS Turner Joy (DD 951), a Forest Sherman class destroyer which was decommissioned in 1982 and became a permanent fixture in Bremerton in 1990. We enjoyed a nice guided tour of the ship and even ate lunch on the mess decks. I saw several shipmates showing family members the space that would have been theirs aboard Cogswell. After touring Turner Joy, we boarded a harbor boat for a view of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and mothball fleet. 

Our guide was quite knowledgeable and identified all of the ships present. There were many familiar names, especially among the many aircraft carriers present.

On Saturday, we sampled Seattle, a deluxe city tour. We visited several neighborhoods of the city, then stopped at the Hiram Chittenden Locks and Salmon Ladder to watch some of the hundreds of boats that pass from freshwater Lake Union to saltwater Puget Sound via the locks. There were a few salmon passing thru the fish ladder that day. After going to Magnolia Bluff, above the Space Needle, we stopped at world famous Pike Place Farmer’s market. The guys were hanging onto their credit cards as the women found souvenirs and keepsakes of Seattle.

Several shipmates, and their guests, took advantage of the Seattle location and visited sites in the local area. Several used the ferry system to visit historic Victoria, British Columbia; others visited Mt St Helens, the Oregon Coast; and Northwest areas. That’s always a nice feature of our reunions – the chance to see other parts of the U.S.

At the Association meeting on Saturday, new By Laws were adopted, giving some structure to our organization. Adopting By Laws was the culmination of considerable effort by a number of members.  Using provisions of the By laws, officers were elected to serve until the next reunion:

President: Frank Wille
Vice President: Pete Daggett
Secretary: George Overman
Treasurer: Orvil Williams

George reported on the survey mailed to all members and Charleston was the number one site chosen for the next reunion. A motion was made, seconded, and passed to have the next reunion in Charleston, South Carolina in May 2004. (Subsequent to our meeting, Dick Kiel agreed to be reunion coordinator for the Charleston meeting. He has already chosen a hotel and blocked the rooms.)  Block the dates May 20 – 22, 2004 on your calendar for our next reunion.

The banquet was a real success. Shipmates and guests mingled in the Inn’s dining room which was shut down to the general public for the night. We had an excellent social hour followed by a nice steak and shrimp dinner. Our speaker, CDR Schiffman, Chief of Staff, DesRon NINE provided an insightful look at today’s Navy. The room layout made it difficult for everyone to see the video portion of his talk. We learned some lessons which will be incorporated into the planning for the next reunion.

My sincere thanks to Orv & Cheryl Williams who handled the registration and paid the bills, George Overman who provided Cogswell statistics & information and also allowed use of his room as the hospitality suite. Special thanks to “karoake” Mark Coolidge for all of his help in organizing the reunion activities. Mark brought the supplies for the hospitality room which featured some special local beers. He also provided the PA system and entertainment for the banquet.

A very special thank you to Shad White’s widow who donated $300 to the Association for the reunion. This money was used to upgrade the hospitality room and the appetizers at the social hour.