The 2014 reunion was attended by 16 shipmates. It was small but went well. New officers were elected. 

2014 REUNION

The USS Betelgeuse reunion is scheduled for April 24-27 2014 at the Best Western Plus, 2470 Prospect Dr. North Charleston SC.

The reservation number is 1-843-574-0186. Cost for the rooms are $99.00 plus tax with a choice of one king bed or two queen beds. Reservations are required to be made by April 1^st. Also, when you call for a reservation be sure to tell the attendant that you are with the USS Betelgeuse Reunion. If you need a handicap room let them know.

We will begin at about 5PM Thursday April 24^th in the hospitality room of the hotel with a Pizza party meet and greet welcoming.

The cost of the reunion this year is set at $40.00 per person attending.  Plus Association member's dues which are $10 per year and should be made payable to:

          Dues are also due by the 1^st of April. So for the shipmate it is a total of $50.00 plus the $40.00 for a spouse or significant other.

Schedule for the weekend is;

Thursday: 5pm Welcoming at the hotel hospitality room.

Friday: 6:30 Dinner at the hotel

Saturday:  We will have an all hands on deck meeting at 9 AM in the hospitality room to discuss reunion association business.

Saturday: Dinner at the hotel at 6 PM.

Due to lack interest our 2013 reunion has been cancelled. See Bobby Cribb's email below:

And from Walter Tucker:

Reunions are held annually in Goose Creek, SC. The dates of our 22st annual reunion are April 19 - 22, 2012. 

Scroll down for Details.

Please note that the reunion association mailing list is not generated from the web site.

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 15th annual reunion:

  Our 15th annual reunion was enjoyed by 62 in attendance. Of course many of our shipmates are unable to attend due to illness. Mr. Ray Riedel has taken the task of notifying everyone about our reunion. His letter is very truthful as to how we conduct ourselves at our reunions. We allhave a good time and that is the way we like it. Of course the price is very reasonable compared to other reunions. We had Mr. Danny Sterling who performs as Elvis and he put on a great show. He will be backfor our 16th reunion April 20, 21 and 22 2006. The Clarion Hotel is very nice to us every year and I want to thank them for it. (You are always welcome here Arthur, CW).
 
   We had a photographer who took a group photo. They were very nice and did a good job. I also want to thank Elmer Brown and Bobby Cribb for their  work on the internet. Also, A big thanks to Mary & Bobby Cribb for the Betelgeuse Cake. Finally yet importantly, I want to thank my wife for the food on Thursday night. As Ray Riedel stated in hid letter, we always have plenty of food.

  You are welcome to make any comments concerning our reunion. I hope everyone and more will plan to be with April 20-22, 2006.

God Bless,
Arthur

PS: Thanks again to all who came and thanks to Ray for the nice letter.

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 14th annual reunion:

   Our 14th annual reunion was a great success with 60 people in attendance. We all realize that a lot of our shipmates are too ill to attend, and we wish you all well. We have a lot of great memories and hold you all dear to our hearts.

    We have a lot of great things planned for the 2005 reunion. It will be held April 21st - 24th at the Clarion Hotel Charleston Airport. It will be a time that you will not want to miss. Please try and contact as many shipmates as you can to let them know what a great time we have at the reunion. A thank you to Elmer Brown is in order for his work on our web site because without it, we would not be able to reach many of our shipmates. If anyone has any ideas on how we can improve anything, please feel free to call me.

    I would like to thank Bobby Cribb and his wife, Mary, for the delicious and beautiful cake. Also I want to thank my wife and all the people that helped with the food. As always, I feel that there is plenty of food from Thursday to Saturday. It was a shame that the weather kept us from having the Luau by the pool. However, it was just as fun and beautiful in the ballroom.

    If you need any additional information on the coming reunion, please do not hesitate to call me.
God Bless,
Arthur L. Miller

    PS: Mrs. Barbara Tollison would like to hear shipmates that have served with her husband Melvin Tollison. You can write her at 1205 Pine Ridge Drive, Daytona Beach, FL 32117.

Included in Arthur's letter were additional articles. One was a newspaper article about the Betelgeuse and how the ship was used for resupply of the Polaris submarine base in Holy Loch, Scotland. The other article is from a  1976 newspaper in Milton, PA. about the Christ Episcopal Church in Milton, PA. needing a bell to ring in the bicentennial year and the Betelgeuse's ships bell was then given to the chruch on indefinite loan from the Navy Department. I would like to post both of these articles on the web site when I can get better copies.

Names of those who attended our 14th annual reunion:

Henry E Allen,   Jerry Elm,   Thomas E. Allen,   Robert L. Brittian,   Bob Baumhower,   Larry Brown,   Richard M. Clark,
Paul F. Darrah,   Buford Fortson,   Norman Gray,   John Harper,   Herman K. Jestes,   Bill Jernigan,   Jerry Kiefer,
Thomas G. Lilly,   William LaRosa,   Harry A. Leiniger,   Richard C. Lowe,  Denis Madsen,   Dale E. Powell,
Henry W. Varnadore,   Russell Van Blair,   Harry E. Williams,   Walter Williams Jr.,   Lonnie Decell,  Dale Shepperd, Thomas Dougherty, Bobby Cribb &  Arthur Miller

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 13th annual reunion:

    Our 13th annual reunion was enjoyed by the 36 members in attendance. We all had a great time and as always, we vowed to work harder for our 14th reunion at the Clarion Hotel on April 22-25, 2004. The hospitality room was enjoyed by all, and many thanks to my wife who prepared all the food and planned the menus for Friday and Saturday nights. The luau on Friday night was a great success, and the food was just delicious. The program was put on by the employees of the hotel was just outstanding and it really caught me by surprise. The attire worn by our shipmates and wives was so colorful. The new name tags and the leis blended in very well. As always the Clarion Hotel is really accommodating and gracious to us each year, and I want to thank them for all they do for us. They always make my job a lot easier. Howard Letts, the General Manager and Alastair James, the Director of Sales were named honorary members of the ship. I hope that our reunion in 2004 will have more shipmates and wives attending. We may be small in numbers, but I feel that we could not find a better group of people anywhere. We have a lot of shipmates and wives that are ill, and I want everyone to remember them in their prayers. I also hope that everyone will plan to be with us in 2004. 

God bless,
Arthur L. Miller
Secretary/Treasurer

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 12th reunion:

    Our 12th annual reunion was enjoyed by the 43 in attendance. We all realize that a lot of us are getting older and are unable to attend every year. I want to thank Dale Powell for his gifts that were auctioned off to help our association. I also want to thank Bobby Cribb for all he does with the music. We purchased a CD player to make things easier. Elmer Brown has arranged our own web site at www.ussbetelgeuse.org. Elmer has been a lot of help to our association. I also want to thank my wife for all the hard work that she does in selecting our menu and for the food that is provided in the hospitality room, without her it would be a lot harder for all of us. We were unable to to have our fish fry on Friday at the Air Force Base due to security reasons, instead we did a cook out by the pool at the Clarion, which everyone enjoyed. Saturday evenings "Pig Pickin" buffet was also a great success. 
    Please let me know if you have any suggestions before our next reunion on April 24-27, 2003 at the Clarion Hotel, Charleston Airport in North Charleston, South Carolina. I hope all of you will make plans to be with us.     

God Bless,
Arthur Miller

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 11th reunion:

  Our 11th reunion was enjoyed by the 56 in attendance. We all realize that a lot of us are unable to attend due to illness. My wife and I want to thank everyone for the gift. We enjoy having people apprpreciate the work that we do, especially my wife. Without her it would be hard to have all that good food. I also want to thank Bobby Cribb for all he does on the internet and also for putting on the music on Friday and Saturday night. The Smokin Gun had to slow down his activities due to heart problems. I also want to thank Tom Lilly for the speech concerning Captain Thatcher. Shipmate Elmer Brown has placed our ship on the web and we want to thank Elmer for his hard work. I realize that this newsletter is a little late. Everyone this year that pays dues will receive an up to date listing of shipmates. There will also be a list of sick and deceased shipmates.
    Our 12th reunion will be held April 25-28, 2002 at the Clarion Hotel in North Charleston, South Carolina. I hope everyone will make plans to be with us.

God Bless,
Arthur Miller

PS: if you need any information, please call me at 1-843-797-7727.

Following is Arthur Miller's letter about the 10th reunion:

    Our tenth reunion was attended by only 47 shipmates, wives and friends. We all had a wonderful time. Everyone enjoyed the food, entertainment and the renewal of old friendships. For those of you that were unable to attend, I hope you be able to be with us April 26-29, 2001 at the Northwoods Atrium Inn in North Charleston, SC. We have several shipmates that formed a group on the internet to find new members, as we all know reunions are not for everyone and it is hard to convince some of our shipmates to attend. Of course we have alot of shipmates and wives that are to sick to attend. We should all remember them in our prayers for a speedy recovery.
    I have been in contact with the Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial and I intend to place all of our Association Members names on their mailing list. It was voted on at our 10th reunion that our reunion board along with other artifacts be placed in the memorial when space is available. Our ship will get alot more exposure as people visit the memorial.
    I still have patches for sale at $2.50 along with hats, which are just $11 mailed. I would like for everyone to please help the sale of the hats and patches. If you have not paid your dues I encourage you to do so. As you know it takes funding to run a reunion. We have alot of hard working shipmates that contribute alot of time to make our reunion strong, and I thank them for that.
    Election of officers were held as stated above.

Very Respectfully,
Arthur Miller

PS: if you need any information, please call me at 1-843-797-7727.