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Band of Sisters

Jackie & Tom Grim, 11 June 1966 at the Heinz Chapel, Pittsburgh, PA

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!

1st/3rd Wednesday Zoom Info
Sail On Solo Zoom Info

Past Get-togethers (scroll down for book and movie recommendations, survivor resources and more)

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!

A USNA Clock made by Charlie & Sharon Votava with USNA accoutrements.

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.

Class of 1966 Tailgate and USNA Football Game on September 11, 2021

“Sisters” Learning and Growing Together

Below are some of the fruits of our discussions over the past few years. Enjoy!

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.