Reunion 1998

The Twelfth Reunion of the U.S.S. Nassau was held in San Antonio, Texas on September 16-19, 1998, with 87 in attendance. At the Wednesday evening reception, the hotel provided what they called an "ice breaker" with a variety of Mexican food, as well as ice tea and coffee.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., the hotel provided a complimentary continental breakfast in the hospitality suite.

On Thursday, September 17th, we took the San Antonio City Tour which included riding the boats along the Riverwalk; The Alamo, where 189 patriots freely gave their lives for Texas' freedom from Mexico; The El Mercado; and The San Jose Mission, which was built by Indian slave labor over 200 years ago.

On Friday evening, September 18th, we went to a Chuck Wagon Bar-B-Q on The Long Horn Ranch, north of San Antonio. The Western show had singers who sang the songs Roy Rogers made famous, like "Coot Waters" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." They got Tony Calleo on stage in a pretend gunfight, but Tony couldn't get his gun out of his holster.

Saturday, the 19th, the buses took us to Fredericksburg, Texas to The Admiral Nimitz Museum, where a plaque of the U.S.S. Nassau is displayed on the Memorial Wall, along with many other ships of the U.S. Navy. This U.S.S. Nassau plaque, at the Nimitz Museum, and the plaque on the hanger deck of the Yorktown at Charleston, S.C. makes two places the U.S.S. Nassau is remembered.

At the Saturday night banquet, the son and daughter of Toby Grassi gave a very touching Eulogy of their father who passed away on March II, 1998.

Shipmates in attendance at this reunion were J. Adams, E. Alderson, F. Bahl, J. Bahm, H. Barber, P. Begley, J. P. Binion, E. Bishop, E. Brown, G. Cain, A. Calleo, W. Cebula, J. Coe, F. Crow, J. Duncan, S. Ferguson, D. Fortier, W. Fry, S. Gault, Janet Grassi with son Michael, daughter Linda and son-in-law Russ Ryan: L. Guptill, F. Hanson, J. Heagy, T. Hennessy, J. Holmes, R. Kleinspehn, E. Koszut, P. Liebert, J. McClain, V. Manning, J. Marino, S. Moore, E. Morris, G. Oberst, M. O'Brien, A. Pedrotti, W. Price, J. Rappenecker, R. Rose, C. Ross, E. Schneider, R. Stedman, L. Vandermevien, W. Zink, and their wives along with my daughters, Kathy and Carolt.

Our departed shipmates who passed on since our last reunion were remembered in the Invocation given by the Nassau Chaplain, Wilbur Zink. They were Ludlow Baldwin, R.B. Bertram, Robert dark, Joe Grant, Toby Grassi, Michael Hecimovich, John C. Johnson. Peter Kahora, Richard Lancey, Bertis Maynard, Cecil Opie, Edison Payne, R.J. Rose, Virginia Rose (wife of Rich), Harry Watkins, Weldon Yarbrough.