ECHS class of 1966 holds mini-reunion at David’s Catfish House
Published 9:30 am Wednesday, May 1, 2024
- Seated, L to R: Rita Salter,Nelda McMullen, Frances Beightol, Linda Ellison, Delois Carver, Eleanor Flowers. Standing: Margaret McMullan, Susan “Stump” Moorhead, Betty Weaver, Pat Weaver, Bonnie Latino, James Carver, Rodney Boone, “M.J.” Weber, Annette Jones, Sandra Hare, Don and Thelma Robinson, Joe Dellaccio, and Honorary ‘66 Classmate: Rob Faircloth. Graphic by Mickey Salter. | Submitted photo
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By Bonnie Bartel Latino
Pat Weaver returned to this area from his home in Alaska last weekend for a family reunion. Several weeks before he arrived, Escambia County High School classmate Nelda McMullen sprang into action from her home in Mississippi.
Email, phone calls and texts flew fast and furious. The result was a recent gathering of about 25 members of the ECHS class of 1966 at David’s Catfish House.
Weaver told his old friends that after high school he joined the U.S. Coast Guard.
While stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, he met a fellow Coast Guard member named Catharine.
A year later, the young couple married. Twelve months later, Weaver was reassigned to Coast Guard Air Station Annette Island, Alaska, near Ketchikan.
There, the Weavers began their great love affair with America’s 49th state. Catharine, who exited military service after two years, gave birth to their first son at Annette Island in 1973.
Later, Weaver was transferred to Kodiak and then to Sitka, where Catharine gave birth to their second son.
Weaver eventually retired after 26 years of working primarily in helicopter rescue in the Coast Guard.
During that time, the Weavers spent 15 of those years in Alaska.
After military service, Weaver built a civilian career in construction.
He and Catharine still love Alaska and living in Sitka.
