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<p>I, <em>John Simpson Guthrie Jr.</em>, was born at Fort Benning, GA on April 17, 1937. My parents were John S. Guthrie ’30, (son of William Leo Guthrie, Class of 1901) and Winifred Isabel Park (daughter of Richard Park, Class of 1907). My mother’s three brothers—William, Richard, and Joseph—were also all USMA grads. After a flurry of moves during the early years of World War II, my mother, my brother Dick ’63 and I settled in outskirts of Portland, OR. After the war we moved to Germany and lived for a time in the summer home of Nazi General Heinrich Himmler in Bavaria. We then moved to Arlington, VA and then to Fort Devens, MA, where my father commanded the famous 7th Infantry Regiment (“Cotton Balers”), which he led to Korea for the bitter winter campaign of 1950. Upon his return, the family then moved to Arlington, VA and then to Paso Robles, CA, followed by Paris, France, where I enjoyed the “best year” of my young life. In 1953-55, I attended Phillips Academy in Andover MA, a superior New England prep school, and entered West Point on July 5, 1955. My fondest memories as a cadet were playing lacrosse and being a member of Army’s first 150 lbs. “Sprint” Football Team. At West Point I saw both positive and negative leadership lessons; I remembered those lessons all of my life.</p>
<p>After graduation in 1959, I completed the Artillery Officer Basic Course and Ranger and airborne training. Assignments took me to Fort Lewis, WA and then to Okinawa, followed by the Artillery Officer Advanced Course and then an ROTC tour at St. Bonaventure University. In 1967 I volunteered for duty in Vietnam, where I was an advisor in Kien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, an assignment that had many rewards (as well as the frustrations of reading totally inaccurate media reports about the war, which were completely different from what I saw on the ground). The challenges of the extended separation caused my marriage to Ellen Galusha to end in divorce, but it produced three terrific children: Diana, Mary and Michael.</p>
<p>In 1968, I left active duty and worked for a computer company based in Rockville, MD and then later did part-time volunteer work as a presidential advance-man. In 1973, I was honored to join the White House Staff on a full-time basis, where I headed a small office coordinating the public appearances of Nixon Administration cabinet officers.</p>
<p>Afterwards, I worked in Congressional Affairs at the Dept. of Energy. I later served in the Pentagon in the offices of Manpower and Reserve Affairs (at both the Army and Defense departments), achieving a Senior Executive Service grade level. In 1982 I married the former Elaine Carroll Smith, who was the wonderful love of my life for 42 years. During this time I also served in the Army Reserve’s 310th TMCOM and subsequently commanded the 2122nd U.S. Army Garrison as a colonel, the 352nd Civil Affairs Command as a brigadier general, and finally the 97th U.S. Army Reserve Command, over 13,000 troops, as a major general.</p>
<p>My civilian and military retirements included some gratifying “give-back” time. I served as chief of staff for the Military Order of the World Wars, president of the USMA Class of 1959 Standing Committee, commander of the Lake Tahoe Chapter of the Retired Officers Association, and as the first president of the West Point Society of Northern Nevada.</p>
<p>As I entered my “Golden Years,” I reflected on the things that had became most meaningful to me: family, friends and quality of life. At age 59 I had prostate cancer surgery, which served as a reminder that life is short and should be enjoyed. The USMA Class of 1959 “mini-reunions” and the 50-Year Affiliation Program with the Class of 2009, including their 15-mile March Back, strengthened bonds with classmates. The renewal of old friendships with widows of the class and their families has been particularly poignant, a reminder that our departed classmates have merely preceded us, but we will soon “follow close order behind them, where they have pointed the way” in the Long Gray Line.</p>
<p>I have lived with great contentment in my retirement, having had the joy of living at beautiful Lake Tahoe. In 2004, Elaine and I relocated to Bradenton, FL. We sold our airplane and bought a 40-foot boat, trading one expensive toy for another. In 2014 we moved to downtown St. Petersburg, just to enjoy the fabulous view across Tampa Bay from our high-rise condo. Serendipity then resulted in our move to Naples, FL, where we had been coming for many years when my father lived here. We enjoyed traveling and spending quality time with my children—Diana, Mary, and Michael—and five grandchildren: Alexandra, Sarah, Garrett, Erica, and Samantha, who, with her husband, Will Robbins, brought us three great-grandchildren.</p>
<p>Having fought cancer, leukemia and stenosois, I do not know as of this writing the manner of my own passing, but I do expect that my last conscious thoughts will be of a full and happy life; but, most importantly, the love of those close to me and always of “the Corps and the Corps and the Corps.”</p>
<p><em>— Self-written</em></p>
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