If you knew your spouse when he was a Midshipman at the US Naval Academy or joined him in the years following, this page is a venue for all things related to the wives, widows and partners of the Class of 1966.
Our “Band of Sisters” comes together bi-weekly for zoom conversations organized by Ginny Jones and Kacky Carter (1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 4 pm ET). Linda McCook launched a separate initiative for those women who have lost their Class of 1966 husbands. “Sail On Solo” (SOS) participants meet on the first Monday of every month at 4 pm ET. Click on the buttons below for more information.
Wives, widows and partners are encouraged to join in the zoom(s) and/or to click on this webpage to hear about tailgate news, book and movie recommendations, survivor resources, and, even light-hearted plans to caravan around the country to rendezvous with each other.
You belong to the Band of Sisters. Welcome aboard!
Past Get-togethers (scroll down for book and movie recommendations, survivor resources and more)
NOTE! Updated Book Recommendations posted on July 3, 2025. See below!
Celebrating 5 Years Together!
On Wednesday, May 20, 2025, our group had its 183rd session and celebrated 5 years together! Above are 2 screenshots (note they are slightly different) and feature of total of 19 ladies. In addition, 4 ladies who could not be on the session sent lovely, thoughtful messages with their good wishes: Mary Ann Fulford, Marlene Mervine, Sue Reardon & Shirl Rollins.
We discussed happy memories from our sessions, including the friendships that have developed and grown because of our Zoom connection.
We also discussed the meaning of 5th year anniversaries, for gifts, etc.; traditional is “wood” for strength & stability; modern is “silverware” for elegance. In adapting those ideas for our Zoom group’s celebration, Ginny Jones shared a wooden-handled knife & wooden cutting board describing how we get lots of our fun & “strength” from talking about food & recipes! For the modern silverware idea, she shared a silver spoon. In our best “elegant” & caring fashion, we often send “Spoonful of Comfort” food gifts to those who need some support. Some of the ladies highlighted silverware including Janice Acker holding aloft a lovely mobile made from silverware and Therese Long showing off her knife and fork earrings!
Sharon Votava described a song performed at a recent concert she and her husband, Charlie, attended, called “Dear Sarah” written during the Civil War from a soldier to his wife. Scroll down to the “Sisters Learning and Growing Together” section below for the lyrics and a link to a Youtube recording.
All are invited to contribute to the Band of Sisters Summer Reading List when we meet on Wednesday, June 4. Ginny Jones will email the zoom invitation details.
Slainte! for St. Patrick’s Day 2025
Valentine’s (GALentine’s) Day 2025
Celebrating Christmas
Our fearless leader, Ginny Jones, hosted a virtual Christmas soiree on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. We had a fun and friendly time sharing favorite family traditions, including traditional Italian meals, recipes, etc. Maureen Callahan won the best costume award with her festive holiday chapeaux (note the plural use of the term!). Scroll down to the “Sisters Learning & Growing Together” section to access the updated Book, Gift & Music Recommendations. The Band of Sisters look forward to a wonderful year ahead where all ladies associated with the Class of 1966 are invited to join our twice-monthly zooms!
Sharing Favorite Fall Festivities
On Wednesday, October 16, 2024 the Band of Sisters embraced Fall by donning autumnal colors and sharing stories, descriptions of fall recipes and events, and in general savoring our deepening friendships developed either at USNA events or just by joining the twice-monthly zooms.
Gail Hartnett was able to jump on at the end of the zoom. As ALWAYS, she enlivened the conversation and contributed to the fun!
Celebrating 4 Years
The USNA ’66 Band of Sisters celebrated their 162nd zoom on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Ginny Jones has faithfully hosted this opportunity for wives to foster old and develop new friendships, learn from and support each other and have fun. Gail Hartnett nicknamed the group Boomer Zoomers. Here’s to many more years of friendship. Brazo Zulu BZs!
Spring 2024 Comearound in Jacksonville Beach, FL
A number of USNA ’66 “Sisters” participated in the FLIP FLOP KICKBACK Florida Comearound in April 2024. Following are some of the photos. Click HERE for all the photos and video of Classmates singing Navy Blue & Gold.
Valentine’s 2024 Celebration
December 15, 2023 Ladies Holiday Lunch
Thirteen of us happily were able to gather at the Fleet Reserve Club in Annapolis for our 3rd Annual Holiday Luncheon! What a fun and joyous event, filled with lots of “in person” chatting, good food and great cheer. Many thanks to Kathy Madaleno for organizing this lovely event for us once again. We’ve more than doubled our group of 6 from our first Annapolis holiday celebration lunch!
We know a few other Zoom friends were with us in spirit, but because of distance or other circumstances could not join us. We thought of all of you.
The group photos above have a story. Our waitress agreed to take the photo. Then a very kind gentleman also agreed to take one for us. To our surprise, we found he is a photojournalist, who works for National Geographic, as well as independently (bobmadden@verizon.net). What a happy and festive time in Annapolis, filled with friendship and holiday fun!
December 6, 2023 Christmas Zoom Celebration: during which the ladies shared gift and book suggestions. See below in the “Sisters Learning and Sharing Together” section for the list as well as the compilation of favorite Christmas songs from 2021!
3rd Year Anniversary Zoom on May 3, 2023
Valentine’s Day 2023
Christmas 2022 (see Christmas music playlist below)
September 2022 – 55th + 1 REUNION
December 2021: Christmas Lunch at the Fleet Reserve Club
November 2021 -the last Navy football home game tailgate for the season with special recognition of Jones/Posolis
October 2021 – Zoom sisters connected at USNA ’66 COMEAROUND in Tampa, FL. Click Here for more pictures of the entire event.
26th Annual RADM James Prout III Memorial Golf Tournament
USNA66 Band of Sisters, Kathy Prout, inspires us with how she honors the memory of her husband by educating future generations. Click HERE for information on the success of the event.
TAILGATES AND FOOTBALL
Please note, if you have photos you’d like to share, please send them to USNA66webmaster@gmail.com.
“Sisters” Learning and Growing Together
Below are some of the fruits of our discussions over the past few years. Enjoy!
- Bookshelf Recommendations from the Band of Sisters
- As of July 2025
- As of December 2024
- As of July 2024 PLUS Bonus List from Tina Adamson
- As of January 2023
- As of November 2021
- As of May 2021
- Summer Reading Recommendations
- This article was excerpted with the permission of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). For more information and to join, visit www.moaa.org. Thank you, Ginny Jones, for flagging this to our attention.
- Music
- Dear Sarah composed by James Syler: https://youtu.be/2tRb3LgP61A?si=WjU_SVDd-_NEAWYd Song is based on a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife, July 14, 1861, Camp Clark, Washington D.C. LYRICS:
- “My very dear Sarah, the indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days – perhaps tomorrow. And lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more…I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter…how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing – perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life, and to pay that debt…O, Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but the Omnipotence can break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all these chains to the battlefield…The memories of blissful moments that I have spent with you come creeping over me…but something whispers to me – perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed…If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me it will whisper your name…But Sarah, O, Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall be always near you, in the gladdest days and the darkest nights…always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath as the cool air fans your temple, it shall be my spirit passing by…Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.”
- Holiday Music Playlist. Note, playlist was compiled of favorite holiday tunes from the Band of Sisters. Enjoy!
- Music Playlist to help inspire a return to health of an “adopted daughter” (spouse of 2016 Link in the Chain alumni)
- Dear Sarah composed by James Syler: https://youtu.be/2tRb3LgP61A?si=WjU_SVDd-_NEAWYd Song is based on a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife, July 14, 1861, Camp Clark, Washington D.C. LYRICS:
- Gift Ideas
- Health Information
V.J. (“Ginny”) Michaux introduced “A Tree for Antarctica” to Band of Sisters
Many years ago, I was spurred to research climate issues by a small filler article in the Washington Post: scientists were saying that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could disintegrate by 500 years, causing sea levels to rise. Always a geography buff, I had to know more. So, I began to research in the Library of Congress, seek out-on site scientists, and ultimately, I undertook expeditions to see things for myself. Convinced this was a serious matter, I joined Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and over time presented talks to thousands of people about earth’s atmosphere and the mounting peril of climate change.
Eventually, I decided to try approaching the subject through a novel, A Tree for Antarctica, which hopefully would entertain while calling to action. Because act we must – not for ourselves, but for future generations.
We lost our beloved Ginny on August 14, 2024 but her legacy continues.
Click HERE for a link to Ginny’s website that has information on the book, her blog and more. Profits from her book go to organizations working to prevent the worse effects of climate change.
Click HERE for details on the book.
Click HERE for a Sept 13, 2021 article on the importance of ice memory, “Scientists scramble to harvest ice cores as glaciers melt”.
Click HERE for a list of credible sources on climate change.
October 18, 2023 Presentation on VA Entitlements
Click HERE for a recording of the Zoom presentation to the Band of Sisters by 1966’s Jim Galvin.
Group Discussion of Master’s Thesis: “Heels on the Ground: The American Officer’s Wife in the Vietnam War Era” on June 21, 2023
A Master’s degree candidate, Brooke Talbott described her thesis generating rich discussion from USNA66 wives whose personal experiences dovetailed those featured in the thesis. Indeed, one USNA66 wife, Sharon Votava, was interviewed by Brooke and was featured in the document.
Click HERE for a link to the session recording.
USNA Class of 1966's 60th Reunion (1-4 Oct 2026)
Recent Posts
- Kathy Prout’s NBC Interview Advocating for Gold Star Spouses
- What is USNA doing to prepare grads for challenges ahead?
- VADM Clapperton to speak at 9 July Class Lunch
- Save the Date for USS GONZALEZ Awards
- Columbarium Update June 2025
