European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 03, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday May 3. 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 with help lost brats find one another reunion Hobby Furns into texan s Job by Ron Jensen suit writer How do you plan a High school reunion when the High school was in Tehran Iran or Saigon. South Vietnam or Guam Berlin or Tokyo Joe Condrill is inc answer. As founder of overseas Brots. Condrill spends 50 hours a week helping to plan the reunions of. Well overseas brats those military offspring who at tended International and department of defense dependents schools in places Many students in America can t even find on a map. The difference Between stateside graduates and army brats. Air Force brats Navy juniors and others is that those stateside have a Hometown to go to for a reunion but the brats after they graduate they leave the military environment and sometimes Are  the 33-year-old Connll said. From his san Antonio Home Condrill publishes a newsletter and serves As a Clearinghouse for reunions a task that started As a pan time Hobby and evolved into a full time occupation. In fact. Condrill will be leaving his Job in advertising this fall to de vote himself exclusively to overseas brats. It began out of my own alumni group affiliation in 1981 said Condrill the son of an army officer and a 1973 graduate of Tehran american High school. When that group started growing he was asked to help form a similar group for the International school of Bangkok Thailand which he attended As a Sophomore and Junior. By the Spring of 86,1 had two organizations that were Well on their Way to being a Success Condrill said in a Telephone interview. Former students from other High schools began asking Condrill to help organize their reunions something he was glad to do. When these people wrote to him they often told stories of climbing Japan s mount Fuji or cruising on the Rhine River stories Condrill thought should be shared. In 86, when it All came together i said Fine Well do two newsletters a year eight pages each " he recalled. Condrill vastly underestimated the desire for overseas brats to get in touch with other brats. Let ters poured into his Home. He was bombarded with Telephone Calls. It has now grown to a full time Job of 50 hours week he said. It now averages Between two and three dozen inquiries each  Condrill set up workshops in 1987 and 1988 to help people organize alumni groups and plan reunions. Sixty people attended each of them and 100 arc expected for this year s workshop in Denver. He said 150 alumni groups representing different classes at 96 High schools in 36 countries have been formed. His newsletter which runs 20 pages or More and comes out three times a year is mailed to 1.400 people around the world. It includes everything from information about upcoming reunions to reminiscences to personal ads seeking former ass match. Above and beyond these people being subscribers they be become a unique group of friends said Condrill who has been made an honorary alumnus of several schools. One subscriber has become More than just a Joe Condrill a think Joe Lias be Noah Central source in this there was a desire to y hold reunion but there s been a need for some one to be a Central source. No one had the initiative John Brokaw Friend. Condrill will marry a former overseas brat Eva Ananiewicz this fall. It s grown from Hobby into occupation into marriage for me he said. These reunions arc different from the typical stateside variety Condrill said. For one thing they Are reunions for the entire school not specific classes. Moreover they arc usually More expensive re Quiring travel and weekend hotel slays. To attend a reunion Condrill said people May pay As much As $800. An indication of the interest in renewing acquaintances with those who shared a special experience. The overseas school experience makes it More of a family reunion he said. These people had to draw upon each other for  the reunions draw not Only former students. Just like class members overseas teachers lose touch with students who move or graduate. There s a degree of satisfaction in knowing what happened to the students said John Brokaw Prin Cipal of Patch High school in Stuttgart West Ger Many and a 27-year Dodds Veteran. Once the kids go. We always wonder whatever happened to so and so " that s Why a number of teachers were among the 1,300 people who attended a reunion in Houston last summer of former students from Kaiserslautern High school in West Germany. Sandra a. Hope a business teacher at bad Kcruz Nach High school attended the Houston reunion. It was so much fun she said. I saw students i had no idea who they were. I did t recognize  that s the Joy of the reunions said Hope who has Laught for 26 years in nine Dodds High schools. The seniors right now probably Don think keeping in touch is too  she said but 10 years from now they too will wonder whatever happened to so and so. Brokaw an Early subscriber to the newsletter said Condrill s Effort has filled a void. I think Joe has been a Central source in this he said. There was a desire to hold reunion but there s been a need for someone to be a Central source. No one had the initiative to do  Condrill agreed. He said nobody has had the Lime or the ability to put together one source for information until he inadvertently found himself doing it. One o her reason he added was the anti military feeling that evolved from the Vietnam War. He said one brat told him that she tried to organize a reunion but met with contempt from friends who were unrelated to the military. Before 1980, we did t Sec anything in the Way of a major reunion that is More than 100 people coming together for a few Days he said. When former president Reagan took office in 1981. Condrill speculated the accompanying hag waving and military Pride created an environment comfortable for the reunion of military brats. In 1982, we had five or six reunions he said. That grew to 30 reunions last summer. For the 90s, i think we re going to Sec some Good things come  editor s note the address for overseas brats is .  29805, san Antonio. Texas 7s229. People Are asked to include a self addressed stamped envelope win their inquiries Arlington rites held for colonel slain in Philippines Washington a coi. James n. Row went to his resting place near a Grove of flowering Cherry Trees at Arling ton National cemetery 10 Days after the former Green Beret and prisoner of War was gunned Down in his car in a Manila , whose military career included numerous decorations and an escape from a Viet Cong prison was buried monday on an Arlington Hillside after private protestant services attended by Secretary of defense Richard b. Cheney and Secretary of slate James a. Baker  estimated 450 mourners followed an army Caisson bearing the Flag draped casket from the service at it. Mcyr me Morial Chapel to inc grave site in the military burial ground. The fort and the v cemetery Are across the Potomac rive from Washington. On the slope below the burial site an eight Man firing party saluted the slain officer with three volleys from their rifles. Under a canopy where members of the family sat Rowe s widow Mary placed a Rose on his casket. Then maj. Gen Donald c.  of the army s military District of Washington presented mrs. Row with the american Flag from Rowe s casket. He then presented a Sec Ond Flag to Rowe s oldest child from a previous marriage Debra 16. Others attending the service included Rowe s first wife Jane c. Benson and the younger child of that marriage Christina 6. Rowe and his second wife had two children Brian 5, and Stephen 2, who were not brought to the service. A driving rain fell through much of the Day but it had slackened to occasion Al sprinkles by the Lime the Brief final  were held in the Grove of flowering Trees past their Peak of Bloom. Rowe was killed on april 21 As he was driving to work at the joint . Military advisory group Headquarters which provides training and logistical support to the philippine military. His assailants sped away. The communist new people s army general command claimed responsibility. Row was taken prisoner by the Vietcong on oct. 29, 1963, while serving with the army special forces or Green berets in Vietnam. He spent the next five years in a primitive Jungle prison near the Gulf of Spain escaping on dec. 26, 1968, by knocking his guard unconscious and signalling a . Heli copter that was operating in the area. He wrote about his ordeal in a Book five years to Freedom published in1971