Tag: fryer

USAFA Letter: 13 August 1990

dad, history, littlesister

My mother, Angie Fryer, kept meticulous records of every letter I sent home as a cadet at the US Air Force Academy from 30 June 1988 to 27 May 1992. She also kept numerous other related news articles, photos, and other correspondence. These are chronologically stored in several 3 ring binders, which she gave me a few years ago before she passed away on Christmas Eve 2022.

That summer in 1990, in addition to leave, I served as a survival instructor in the SERE program (“Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape”) at USAFA, and also served as a “Philmont Ranger.” These are a few photos from that summer.

“Wes Fryer, SERE Survival Instructor at USAFA – Summer 1990” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
“The ”Rabbit Puppet”” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
“Philmont Memories 1990” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

Since Rachel is currently a cadet at USAFA in her 2 degree summer programs, I looked for some correspondence I sent home that summer. I found a letter dated 13 August 1990, which was just after the end of summer programs before the start of the academic year, my “2 degree” or junior year at USAFA.

Mon. 13 AUG 1990 1800
AIR FORCE ACADEMY

Dear Mom, Dad & Trudy ~

Hello! Sorry I missed you all when I called on Sunday! I don’t really have time to call, so I thought I’d write a quick note & send the 2 enclosures.

School is going good so far — and tonight it looks like I’ll do my first homework assignment! Training NCO has taken up (and is & will continue to) take a lot of time — but I’m enjoying it and the squadron’s doing very good military wise.

Guess what I did this past weekend? Along with Brad (my roommate), Tim Greminger & Eric Marshall (Firsties I went to Philmont with) I climbed my first “14’er”! We climbed Mt. Elbert, which is the highest peak in Colorado & the 2ⁿᵈ highest mountain in CONUS! It was tough, but I enjoyed it & am glad I went. Hopefully the pics we took will turn out.

As you can see — unfortunately — our 1ˢᵗ tourney is the weekend of Sharol’s wedding. I’m the trip planner for the Salt Lake trip — so unfortunately I’ll miss the wedding. I’ll hafta write Sharol a note.

Hope all’s well at home — I’ll probably call next Thurs weekend!

Love,
Wesley

“USAFA Letter – 13 AUG 1990” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

A couple of weeks ago, I drove 1500+ miles from North Carolina to Colorado Springs to deliver Rachel’s car to her at USAFA. It was a long journey but well worth it. Lots of water under the bridge since the summer of 1990, 35 years ago, but still lots of water left (God willing) to pass under as well.

“Rachel’s new car! USAFA Graduation 2025” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
Leave a comment , , , ,

Voice and Dance Recitals for Sarah Fryer (May 2016)

sister, youtube

Yesterday Shelly and I were blessed to watch and attend Sarah’s spring voice recital at Poteet Theater in Oklahoma City, and our entire family attended the third performance of her dance recital in the evening. Wow! It’s amazing to see how much she’s continued to grow and mature. Sarah is absolutely receiving top notch preparation at Poteet for musical theater. She has taken SIX classes this semester in jazz, tap, point, ballet, MTP (musical theater production) and voice. She’s taken all these classes on top of a full load of classes at Classen School of Advanced Studies, where she’s a drama major but continues to take IB (International Baccalaureate) versions of her core classes like English, History, Chemistry, and math. PreCalculus has been a huge challenge this year for several reasons, but it’s shown her to be such a tenacious and hard working student. (We’ve already known this, but it’s confirmed it in big ways.) Sarah is incredible, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her dad. What an amazing young woman she’s growing up to be! She’s finishing up her sophomore year this year, and has grown up so much in many ways, not just in her artistic, musical and creative talents. We are so proud of her. We’re in for some amazing years ahead as she starts her junior year in high school.

I combined both of her voice recital pieces into a single video, which is about 5 minutes long.

Sarah was in several different dance numbers during last night’s recital, since she’s in so many classes, and this really showed off the range of her skills and talents. The combined video of these is almost 9 minutes long. Notice the segment that is strongly influenced by Hawaiian hula! One of her dance instructors goes to Hawaii every year to lead hula workshops. I absolutely love the diversity and high quality of all the dance as well as voice and theater instruction Sarah has been blessed to receive at Poteet.

One of the most touching parts of yesterday’s recitals was a short message shared by Chris Grimes, who has been the director of programs at Poteet this year and Sarah’s voice teacher. She’s leaving Poteet and going to Lyric Theater, and we’re hopeful Sarah will be able to continue studying voice under Chris. Her message to her students was this:

Remember God says YOU ARE ENOUGH. There are so many people and situations in the world of theater and performance which try to tell you you don’t have what it takes. YOU ARE ENOUGH. Right now, on May 7, 2016, at 1:30 pm in the afternoon, YOU ARE ENOUGH. God has made you perfectly, and His truth is that YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Oh how important it is for Sarah and her classmates at Poteet to hear this message! This has been an incredibly stressful and challenging semester for Sarah personally and for us as a family with her schedule and all the demands she’s had… including the demands she places on herself. Thanks to God for Chris Grimes and her spirit-filled leadership of Sarah and her other students! It’s a huge blessing to have Chris living and speaking God’s truth into Sarah’s life at this pivotal time of development and growth.

Praise God for our healthy and loving daughter, who loves God and has such a kind heart. We are so thankful to God for his blessings and we see these manifested so clearly in our daughter, Sarah, who is flowering into womanhood before our very eyes.

Leave a comment , , , , , ,