Hal Gross, President Emeritus, Deceased

In 1984, Hal Gross had a dream; he wanted to rediscover long-lost friends that served with him aboard the USS John W. Weeks, during World War II. He put together a plan, then for over two years he searched for his shipmates.

After locating many of his former World War II shipmates, he organized the first Weeks reunion, which was held in September 1986 at Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  This reunion was so successful he and the members decided to hold another; and the rest is history. At the second reunion in Downingtown, a shipmate drove by the Downingtown Inn and saw a sign advertising the Weeks reunion. He ran into the hotel, found Hal and explained that he served aboard the Weeks in the sixties. He asked about the reunion, and was told that it was open to World War II vets that served on the Weeks.

This event gave Hal an idea, he went back to the Archives in Washington, DC and the Bureau of Ships; he found that the Weeks was in service for twenty-seven years and over four thousand sailors served on her. He also realized that if the association was to survive, it had to enlist new members from the later years. He went back to searching and found shipmates from Korea and Vietnam. In1988, the Association opened its doors to Post World War II shipmates.  I might add that a lot of searching was done using his monies. Today our association has members that span from when the Weeks were first commissioned till up to just before she was sunk in 1970.

Hal served as president of the Association from 1986 through 2003. Hal passed away on January 10, 2009 at the age of 85.

Len served aboard the Weeks the from 1956 to 1961 as a Firecontrol Technician First Class. After leaving the Weeks he went to work at Vitro Corporation, in Silver Springs, Maryland working on Polaris  Missile documentation. The same year he married Bea. They met when the Weeks visited Toledo Ohio on the Inlet Sea Cruise in 1959. Being a hands on person, he went to work for Raytheon in field engineering working on Tartar Guided Missile Fire Control Systems aboard US Navy Destroyers. While working on assignments in Long Beach, California their first son was born and at that point he decided to return to Toledo Ohio to attend college. Len graduated from The University of Toledo with degree in Electrical Engineering. He worked in electronic design and computer integrated manufacturing for 35 years, retiring in 1999.  

Len and Bea have four children and six grandchildren. They will be married 50 years in 2011. He joined the association the year it was first opened to post WWII vets in 1988 and served as president of the association since 2003.

Jim served on the USS John W. Weeks from 1962 to 1966.  Jim was born in Washington DC. Jim's father was in the US Navy and stationed at the Pentagon with the medical department.  Jim's mother was secretary to General Nathan Twining during the war until his birth.  After Jim was born his mother returned to Colorado with him and his father was stationed as the ships medical personnel on the USS Mayrant DD402. Jim was the oldest child of four and the family was station all over the world until Jim's father retired from the US Navy in 1961. The family moved back to Colorado in 1961.  Jim graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1962 and joined the US Navy. After 4 years in the Navy, most of the time on the USS John W. Weeks, he graduated from Mesa College in Grand Junction.  After graduation from college he met his wife Carol and married her. Jim has been married 40 years to Carol and they have two children, a son and daughter.  They also have six grand children.  Jim is retired from Law Enforcement and was a Chief of Police.  At this time Jim is involved in several organizations and travels and is working on his "bucket list".

Jan and I were born and raised in Wapakoneta, Ohio. After high school, I joined the Navy and was stationed on the USS John W. Weeks from 1953 to 1956 (SO3). After leaving the navy, I graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1960 and went to work for General Motors. I have also worked for Robbins and Myers (Springfield, Ohio) and Texas Instruments (Dallas, Texas) in Quality Assurance.  While at Texas Instruments, Jan (Nurse), our daughters (3) and two son-in-laws also worked there.  We retired to Spring Hill, Florida in 1994. In my free time I play golf, party, go on cruises and travel to Texas to see our eight grandchildren. In 2010, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.

Jerry served as a electricians mate aboard the Weeks from April of 1963 until June 1965.   He left the Weeks in Athens Greece and headed back to U.S..  He was discharged from the Navy in Philadelphia a couple of weeks later.

Jerry completed one year of college at Superior WI before joining the Navy.  After leaving the Navy, he worked for a year; and then attended the University of Minnesota for three years.  Wanting knowledge that is more technical, he later went to a technical school to complete his education.   

For the last 20 years, he worked for the city of St. Paul as an electrician.  His current hobbies are music. He is active member of our association, and a spokesman for those that served on the Weeks during the sixties.

For the last 31 years, Jerry has been married to Shirley.  They have a married son, two daughters, and two granddaughters.

Earl join the Navy in 1943 and trained to operate a steam evaporator and maintain refrigeration equipment aboard the Weeks, as a machinist mate 2nd class. As a member of the first crew, he was given the distinction of "Plank Owners."

Following his discharge from active duty May 19, 1946, Earl returned to civilian life, finished high school and eventually graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He remained active with the Navy Reserves until his discharge in May 19, 1954. He retired from Copperweld Steel.

Over the years, Earl has collected hundreds of items and photographs from his time in the service. He has continue his association with crew members of the Weeks at our annual reunions, and is proud to have been present at the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C..

Earl and his wife Joanne have three children. He joined the association the year that it was first started in 1986 and served as one of the directors of the association since 1986. 

Bill served on the USS John W. Weeks  1950 to 1953.  After receiving his discharge from the Navy in July 1953, Bill returned to his home in New York City, pursuing a career in law enforcement.  He served on the NYC Police Department for 24 Years. After retiring from the force he wanted to stay active, so, he then purchased a tavern in Pearl River, New York.  After ten years working the tavern he retired for “Good” and now lives with his wife Ann in the Adirondack Mountains in  New York state.

Bill joined the association the year it was first opened to post WWII vets. He is very active in the association and over the years have been a spokesman for our those that served on the Weeks during the Korean War era.

Ray served aboard the Weeks from Aug. of 1962 until Feb of 1966.  He reported aboard as a Fireman Apprentice after having spent about a year in boot camp and Electrician Mate A school.  Ray, managed to rise to the rate/rank of EM 2nd class.  For a short while not having a 1st class or chief electrician around he ran the electrical gang.  During his last year aboard he managed to snag a Master at Arms assignment and enjoyed that for a number of months.  He was extended for 4 months for the Vietnam conflict and discharged in 1966.  After leaving the Navy he worked for Western Electric for 10 years and then hired on with C&P telephone company which evolved into Verizon.  He retired from Verizon.   He married his wife Harriett, in1967.  They have two daughters,  the oldest is Stephanie and their youngest, Rebecca.

Robert Miller Jr. Bob served aboard the Weeks from 1958 thru 1964. He advanced to the rate and rating of Boatswain's Mate 1st Class and made the Navy a career, he spent several years with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Units. In addition, he is very active in his church and Disaster Relief.

As our Chaplain his primary duty is to be the point of contact for notification of illness or death of any Association Member or the Member's immediate family and take appropriate action. In addition, conduct the devotional and memorial services Association events if required.

Tom served aboard the Weeks from1956 through 1958 as a Radarman 2nd Class.

After leaving the Weeks, he attended Adelphi College, Garden City, N.Y.  After college, he then went to work in the property and casualty insurance industry.  Over the 43 years that he worked in the business, he held many different positions. The last before retirement was  Assistant Vice President.  He started his career in Glens Falls, N.Y.; 28 years ago, he relocated to Keene, N.H. for a corporate position with a different company.

 Soon after relocating to Glens Falls, N.Y. (late 1970), Tom met Karen at a party.  At the time Karen was a Sr. Public Health Educator, employed by the N.Y. State Department of Health.  Although they grew up around the block from each other (literally), on Long Island, N.Y., they did not know each other.  This might have something to do with the fact that he is nine years older than her.  In any case, their mothers knew each other.  Beyond that, as they say, the rest is history.  Tom and Karen have two children: Jennifer (married, lives in Honolulu, Hawaii) and Tom (married, lives in Massachusetts).  Currently, there are two Grandchildren.

Tom is currently the Association's Historian, prior to this office he help the post of Vice President.

Dave Kurtz, Newsletter Editor:
Dave joined the Navy in 1963 with three buddies from high school. Two weeks out of high school and there they were at Great Lakes Boot Camp. He served aboard the Weeks from 1964 to 1966. Dave initially was assigned to First Division where he spent his first six months before transferring to the Ship’s Office as a personnelman striker and later becoming the lead personnelman aboard ship. Dave liked serving in Mount 51 as my GQ station, on bridge detail during embarkment/debarkment and served on the Honor Guard as needed. Despite some nice offers from the Navy including the possibility of the Academy or six years of shore duty in his home town of Mechanicsburg, PA among others, he was intent on being a civilian again. He decided to join the Naval Reserves upon release from active duty where he attended school to be a personnel classifier and received an offer from them to go active duty Naval Reserve. Instead, he worked in private industry for three years before enrolling at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) under the GI Bill. He graduated from there in 1970, from Penn State-Harrisburg in 1972 and earned his Masters Degree in Governmental Administration in 1977. With the Vietnam Era GI Bill being enacted while he was on active duty, he had an interest in helping fellow veterans use their GI Bill to prepare for better jobs and better income. Dave worked for several state agencies doing this before he returned to HACC as the Veterans Affairs Officer. He later taught Government and Politics on a part-time basis and was appointed as the college’s first Alumni Affairs Officer. In 1979, He was impressed with Governor Dick Thornburgh and his goal to “reinvent government” so he went to work in his Budget Office. After eight years there, Dave transferred to the State Senate Appropriations Committee to enhance their analytical and computer capabilities. He retired from there in 2005. In addition to his involvement with the Weeks Association, his other interests and activities include family, friends, landscaping, traveling this great country of ours, the Chi Gamma Iota (XGI) Fraternity Alumni Association, the Fisher House, good movies, freemasonry, crossword puzzles, continuing education, HACC Alumni Ambassador and the Chapel of Four Chaplains. He met his lovely wife Judy on 8-8-88 knowing that the date was probably a sign. They have two daughters who live in Colorado Springs and New Orleans. There currently are ten grandchildren and still counting. The first reunion that Judy and Dave attended was in Charleston in 1992? He enjoys spending time with his former shipmates and their spouses as well as all the new friendships he have formed with shipmates from other eras. The John W. Weeks was one special ship and experience.