Student's art displayed on Capitol Hill

Award-winning artwork by Carson City fourth-grader Nathan Tripp will be displayed until Wednesday in the U.S. Senate's historic Russell Rotunda in Washington, D.C. His work will be shown along with 25 other winning pieces from the Armed Services YMCA's annual art and essay contests. Nathan, 10, is the son of TSGT Michael Tripp (Ret.), who is stationed at the Reno Air National Guard, and Lupita Tripp, and received a $500 U.S. savings bond for his artwork.

"The annual art and essay contests give the children of America's service men and women an important creative outlet," said Executive Director Frank Gallo, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.). "ASYMCA is proud to share these students' heartfelt expressions of their patriotism and pride in their families. Their artwork and essays serve as important reminders of the many sacrifices our military personnel make for this country. I hope that seeing this exhibit will inspire Americans to give back to the military families that serve us every day."

The art contest, sponsored by GEICO Direct, asked children of service men and women from all branches of the military to submit illustrations of their military families. Winning pieces will be featured on a poster for Military Family Month (November), which will be distributed to members of Congress and the Department of Defense, and displayed on ASYMCA's Web site. First and second place prizes were awarded for each branch: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, National Guard/Reserves and Navy. A list of winners and samples of winning artwork and essays are available at http://asymca.org

50 years of friendships renewed

The Carson High School class of 1956 celebrated its 50th class reunion last weekend with a dinner at the Station Grille and Sunday brunch at Casino Fandango.

At dinner, classmates renewed friendships and shared memories around old school photographs and pictures of Carson City from the early and mid-1950s.

The class photo from 2006 includes, from left to right in the top row: Charles Gatten, Joe Peroglio, George Allison, Bernard Allen. Second row: Les Motevaldo, Peggy Conklin Wright, Nancy Samuels Matthie, Rosanna Parker Debusk, Ernest Johnson, Doug Klawsnik. Third row: Dudley Kline, Andy Mathiesen, Pat Morrison Burgess, Dorothy Day Sedegren, Tom Pardini, Joe Baxter, Lester Patterson, Paul Brown. Seated: Bill Hann, Sondra Peden Baxter, Magaret Reil Perazzo, Jo Ann Martin Ellis, Beverly Cole Gilbert, Nina Richards Barry. Attending but not pictured, George Williams.

The organizing committee was led by Pardini and included Ellis, Klawsnik, Allison, the Baxters, Johnson and Barry. Old photographs were supplied by Debusk and Allen.