Master Chief Journalist Dennis Stanley Reinke Passes Away

I just learned tonight that retired US Navy Master Chief Journalist Dennis Stanley Reinke passed away a few months ago. He was 71 years old. Below is Master Chief Reinke’s obituary. RIP, Shipmate.

Dennis Stanley Reinke was born Jan. 4, 1942, in Worthing, S.D., to the late William Stanley Reinke and the late Matie Stroman Reinke. He grew up in Hill City and graduated from Hill City High School in 1960. He attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology until he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1961.

During his 26-year career, Reinke served in assignments as a journalist at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, Alameda Naval Station, San Francisco, Calif., was a journalism instructor at the Defense Information School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., served two tours in Vietnam; public affairs officer at Naval Air Station, Capodochino, Naples, Italy, and manager of the public affairs office at Naval Support Activity, Naples, Italy. He then served as detailer of the journalist and draftsmen communities in the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. His final assignment was in the Directorate of Freedom of Information and Security Review, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Master Chief Reinke retired from the Navy in 1987.

Following his Navy retirement, Reinke served as an operations research specialist in the Department of Defense, offices of the Joint Staff, Directorate of Information Management. He retired from that position in 2000.

Reinke was a member of the Little White Church and regularly attended Immanuel Bible Church (IBC) in Springfield, Va., until he became home bound. He co-managed the Treasure Chest Ministry at the IBC for two years. He also was a member of the Fleet Reserve Association and Naval Order of the United States.

Reinke died Sunday, March 10, 2013, at Potomac Center, Arlington, Va. He was 71.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon, of 43 years; sister, Sharon Paschke; brother-in-law, William Paschke; nephew, Rodney (Julie) Paschke, of Jordan, Mont.; niece Karla Paschke, of Murray lowa,; two grand-nieces; and one grand-nephew.

A committal service with military honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

A New Class

Well, this “old dog” took the first of I hope several classes today, free at my local library.

Today, I attended a class in Basic Excel. The second in this series of Basic Excel classes will be next Thursday. After that, there are classes in Advance Excel.

Although I have used Excel for several years, I have never made extensive use of it and thought it was time I learned more about using spreadsheets. The only real practical usage I have had was about 10 years ago when I used Excel to maintain statistics on a team I managed. That spreadsheet was set up by my boss and I merely maintained the stats in it. This time, I am learning how to CREATE the spreadsheet and perhaps use it in some every day applications.

At any rate, whoever said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” was wrong. Although I had a brief exposure to Excel 10 years ago, most of this morning’s class introduced this “old dog” to new information.

I’m anxious to learn more and see how I can apply it to some information in my daily life.

Our Church

Our church, Fellowship Baptist Church of Longview, Texas, continues to grow. Lots of new families have joined our church in recent months, many of them young couples with very young children.

I firmly believe that without new members with growing families, a church is destined to die. I am so grateful that our church is attracting new young (and older) members.

I think a great deal of the attraction to our church is our young, forward-thinking pastor, Reverend Galen Herrington. Galen and his talented wife Angie and their two young children are the type of people who attract other like-minded worshipers. Angie created and maintains our church website, Fellowship Baptist Church of Longview. Additionally, we have two terrific young couples, Jason and Kimberly Kingston who are our Youth Directors and David and Liz Londeau who are our Children’s Church Directors. That, coupled with a variety of music that includes the old gospel favorites and contemporary Christian songs provided by our Music Director, Reverend Dennis Harris, all contributes to a growing church.

Our older members are well-cared for also. Our Pastor Emeritus, Reverend Ben Clayton, is our Pastor to Senior Adults and leads our monthly “Young At Heart” meetings, consisting of songs, a program, and a potluck lunch the second Tuesday of each month.

One of the things I especially appreciate is our church’s decision to now offer the Sacrament of Holy Communion the first Sunday of each month. It’s good to be able to plan on when Communion will be offered and to be able to depend on being able to receive this important Sacrament frequently.

Our church offers Sunday School for all ages each Sunday at 9:15 a.m. Morning worship follows at 10:30 a.m. Children’s Church is held during the second half of Sunday morning church services. Sunday evening worship is at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday night Prayer Meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday nights is also the time for our youth meetings, including Royal Ambassadors (RAs), Girls in Action (GAs), and two Mission Friends groups,

Looking for a dynamic, growing faith-oriented church in the Longview, Texas, area? Give Fellowship Baptist Church, located at 1818 Spring Hill Road a try. We think you will like what you see. See you there Sunday.