Tag Archives: Dave Cole

2018 Dinner Weekend Followup

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Our 2018 dinner weekend is history.  Comments indicate everyone who joined us had a good time.  It was really good to see friends and catch up on their activities since last year.

Alumni Dinner

Our dinner gathering Saturday night at Dunwoody Country Club was great.  I won’t repeat the details as you can see the powerpoint slides used for the program by clicking here and a few photos by clicking here.  Speakers included Dave Cole, John Caldwell and Bill Cobb plus a host of ad hoc commenters from the audience.

Thanks to Libby for her behind-the-scenes work that keeps the event running smoothly, to Butch Price for enabling us to use Dunwoody Country Club, and to all whose suggestions and support help us keep the event fresh.

Other Weekend Activities

  • The bridge group did not hold an event during the dinner weekend this year – not enough folks were available.  We understand that the group plans to hold a replacement event during the spring.  If you want to play, ask Josh Taylor or John Caldwell to add you to their mailing list.
  • The Financial Braggarts Breakfast Club gathered Saturday morning in Dunwoody to celebrate the successful conclusion of their 20th year of competition. Bill Beckemeyer, 2016 champion, turned over the trophy to 2017 champion Tony DeMaria. Tony’s 42.3% portfolio gain bested the S&P 500’s 19.4% gain by just under 23 percentage points – great results in any year but especially this year with a new president-elect and uncertainty over where his policies would lead the country and market at the time when FBBC members were constructing their 2017 portfolios.  Congratulations Tony!!

2019 Alumni Dinner

Our 2019 Alumni dinner date has not been scheduled as this is written.  Plans are to hold it in late January or early February.  As soon as a date is firmed up with Dunwoody Country Club we will alert you here and by email.  By the way, if you are not receiving our emails, go to the “Mailing List” link in the menu above and sign up.  Or email Bill at wrc@kurtsalumni.com and ask him to enroll you.

Jack Johnson

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Gloria Johnson called … sadly Jack died this morning. She noted he had been hospitalized the past several days for pneumonia.

Jack was a dear friend to many of us and a highly respected colleague by all that worked with him.

If memory serves he joined KSA in 1953 and retired 30+ years later in the mid 80’s. He was a key pillar of the firm, served as a KSA VP for many years and led many important initiatives.

Subsequently Jack and Gloria moved from Atlanta to settle into retirement in their beloved Auburn, Alabama.

Both were proud graduates of AU. Jack as I recall had been editor of the school newspaper in his college days.

This is a loss for everyone that was fortunate enough to know JAJ. Certainly for me, as he recruited me into KSA in 1965 and was a dear friend for the 50+ years since.

Jack was a man of intellect, integrity, keen wit, warm personality and an infectious spirit.

Gloria says that Jack had clearly specified he did not want a Memorial Service held and she plans to honor that wish.

His obituary will be in the Auburn newspaper within a couple of days.

She will receive visitors and cards/letters at the assisted living facility in which they lived in recent years.

Robyn and I had prior plans to visit with Jack and Gloria two weeks from tomorrow. We will go and spend time with Gloria reminiscing on wonderful memories of Jack.

Dave

David A. Cole

 

Here is a note from Jack’s son Andy.

Jack A. Johnson former Vice President of KSA died Sunday February 26th in Auburn, Alabama after a brief illness. He was 86 years old. Having rejoined KSA after military service, he supervised several assignments across the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and South and Central America. Jack was preceded in death by one of his three sons, David Newman Johnson in 2010. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Gloria Johnson of Auburn, Alabama and two sons Jeff Johnson of Plano, Texas and Andy Johnson of Marietta, Georgia. Jack preferred not to have a memorial, but instead encourages anyone who wishes make a donation to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Those close to Jack and Gloria may also send flowers to Gloria at Morningside of Auburn, 871 Twin Forks Ave. #112 Auburn, AL 36830. Gloria loves flowers and would love hearing from all KSA’ers that she has known throughout the years.

Thank You,
Andy Johnson

 

And a note from resident Historian John Champion:

Andy,

Thanks for the note letting us know. Jack and Gloria both were a delight to be around. I have been reviewing a lot of our old photo and story archives over the past two months and have thought a lot about Jack and all the others of his era who built the foundation for KSA to become a great company. Jack was recruited to the firm in 1953 and here is a picture from his retirement in 1984. The beaming Jack is how we will always recall him. [Click on the images to view a more readable copy.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also did a profile on Jack in June 1979.

2017 Alumni Dinner Followup

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Our 2017 dinner weekend is in the history books. It was good to see friends and catch up on their activities since last year.

The weekend was full of activities.

  • Bridge competition at Josh and Jeanne’s on Friday was fierce as usual.   Players included Elaine Moore, Kline Reed, John Caldwell, guests Jerry and Gudi Noonan, and Josh. Kline and Elaine were the top scorers.
  • The Financial Braggarts Breakfast Club gathered Saturday morning in Roswell to celebrate Bill Beckemeyer’s 2016 winning investment portfolio and kick off their 20th year of congenial competition and breakfast conversation.
  • Our dinner gathering at Dunwoody Country Club Saturday night was good. We missed a few of our regulars, but welcomed new faces from the Atlanta Office. I won’t repeat program details here as you can see the powerpoint slides used for the program by clicking here. Speakers included Bill Beckemeyer, Dave Cole, and Kline Reed (remembrances of those we have lost); Mike Gregory (KS – Accenture Transition); and John Champion (History Project).

Thanks to Libby for her behind-the-scenes work that keeps the event running smoothly, to Butch Price for enabling us to use Dunwoody Country Club, and to all who had suggestions for and supported our program.

2018 Alumni Dinner

Our 2018 Alumni dinner is scheduled for the fourth Saturday in 2018 – January 27th, 2018  first Saturday in February – February 3rd, 2018 – at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta. Put it in your calendar now. We look forward to seeing you there.

History Project

Here is a quick overview of the History Project for those of you who did not get to hear John Champion’s comments at the dinner.

Collecting copies of memorable documents from KS offices has been a topic of conversation for some time. A project actually began shortly after the 2016 alumni dinner with an inventory of photos and documents available in the Atlanta office, and a survey of resources available to capture and display the project’s output. Calls to this group for photos and documents yielded some fruit, such as a nearly complete collection of KSA Observers sent by Hal Wilson. Project activities continued at a leisurely pace until Accenture’s acquisition of KS was announced in the fall, then kicked into high gear as John and his team learned of plans to relocate KS AO staff to Accenture’s offices early in 2017.

The rest of the story is documented on our web site at www.kurtsalumni.com. Click on “History” in the menu and settle in for a delightful walk through our history. The collection is divided into photos and PDFs for technical reasons, and there are lots of photos throughout the PDF section. The “Group” PDF section is noteworthy as it includes some group pictures and our comprehensive set of individual pictures in the 1988 Family Album.

Be aware that many of the PDFs are quite large (25 – 30MB) so be cautious about opening them if you have a slow internet collection.

Also be aware that the “search” link in the site’s menu bar takes you to a page that gives you the ability to search photo titles, file names, and captions for specified content. Handy if you are looking for photos of “dean” or “ken”.

If you have photos or documents not included in our history collection, please send them to John or Bill.

As you go through the year, if you become aware of news relevant to the Alumni community, please email it to Bill. We will add it to the web site and, if appropriate, distribute it to those on our mailing list.

Best regards,

Bill & the Alumni Dinner Team

2016 Alumni Dinner Followup

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KS alumni at the 2016 dinner

Below is the content of a followup email sent to those on our mailing list after our January 2016 dinner:

I think that this year’s Alumni Dinner was one of the best yet. It reminded me how much I — and assumedly all of our participants — enjoy the annual visiting with our good KS friends and being reminded of the company and leaders that fostered a culture that supported our careers and families.

Evelyn Ullman and her family were special guests this year. She was joined by Mark Ullman, Susan Lipstein, Nancy and Tom Miller, and Bryan and Nicole Bernier (Nancy’s children). Ev, thank you for coming and bringing them. They were a great addition to our group.

Attendees who traveled the farthest distance were Fran and Joe Fowler (2,736 miles), and Denys and Nicole Williamson (1,224 miles). Other first time attendees included Rob and Anne Brown, and Howard and Mary Cooley. It was good to see them all after a long absence! You will recognize the other attendees from photos of the evening available in the Gallery.

Our programs were excellent. John Champion spoke to the group for a few minutes about the current state of Kurt Salmon and then turned the microphone over to Dave Cole for comments about Jack Ullman’s history with Ev, his family, and his Kurt Salmon family. After Dave’s discussion, we opened the microphone to anyone who had a story about Jack. Stories were many and thoughtful, bringing out a good mix of laughter and tears as we relived our history with Jack. One story highlighted his wartime job as a bomber navigator in the Pacific, and this recalled many memories of his navigational challenges in an automobile.

Photos of the evening are available in the Gallery.

If you didn’t receive the email, click here to jump to our mailing list page and subscribe to the list.