NORTHWEST

NAVIGATOR
NORTHWEST
VOL. 7, NO. 4
Serving NAS Whidbey Island and Community
NEW CO
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010
www.northwestnavigator.com
Dream deferred comes true
for a singer and officer
By Dennis Connolly
For the Navigator
B
Black Ravens
command
changes
Page 2
SPORT
Oak Harbor
Silvers
Page 5
RECREATION
Archery aiming in
Page 11
efore she joined the
Navy, Lt.j.g. Ellen T.
Harper was a professional singer who performed
as a high soprano with the
San Diego Symphony and
San Diego Lyric Opera.
Now she’s the new Food
Service Officer at NAS
Whidbey Island and she
could not be happier.
One reason is because she
always wanted to be in the
Navy. Another, is because
she loves her new command and the squared-away
approach they take in the
galley and elsewhere. And
finally, she reported here
when the galley she is in
charge of is one step away
from winning the Captain
Edward F. Ney Memorial
Award for outstanding
large ashore general mess.
So reporting aboard what
Dennis Connolly
Lt.j.g. Ellen T. Harper stands beside the Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Award that culinary specialists won
for NAS Whidbey Island in 1995 for the best large ashore general mess in the Continental United States.
could potentially be the best
galley in the Continental
United States is a pretty
good thing.
Harper, who took over
Oct. 1, 2010, agrees, and
credits the chiefs, enlisted
personnel, civilians and Lt.
Grant Knorr, the former
Food Service Officer, with
Admiral Nimitz Hall’s success.
“They love what they do,”
Harper said. “My team and
Lt. Knorr got us to the Ney
finals by working hard and
by caring about the product
they provide our base three
times a day, every single day
of the year.”
She singles out her team
of Navy culinary specialists:
Culinary Specialist Master
Chief Noel Beltran, Culinary
Specialist (CS) Senior Chief
Sammy Beauchamp, CSC
Penelope Lancaster, CSC
Vicente Mayoral, CS1
Matthew McFarlane and
CS1 Kenneth Adkins for
making the NAS Whidbey
Island galley one of the
best.
See DREAM > Page 3
Fair prepares families for winter, natural disasters
By AM3 Maricela Diaz
NAS Whidbey Public Affairs
Strong winds, power outages, snow and black ice
as well as the occasional
earthquake are inherent to
Whidbey Island. The fourday island power outage in
December 1991 is proof of
that.
With that in mind, the
Fleet and Family Support
Center hosted Operation
Prepare Fair Sept. 30 at the
Chief Petty Officers’ Club.
People had the opportunity
to speak with experts ranging from disaster relief and
community response areas,
to learning how their family
can be better prepared.
Over 60 people showed
up to the third annual
Operation Prepare Fair as
part of September’s National
Preparedness Month. There
were raffles and prizes,
AM3 Maricela Diaz
Operation Prepare Fair draws a crowd at the CPO Club recently as
part of NAS Whidbey Island’s effort to educate personnel and their
families on what to do and what to have on hand if Mother Nature
should strike a blow.
such as one which contained three days of food
and water supply.
There were nearly 18
booths. Among these were
Island County Medical
Reserve Corp, Puget Sound
Energy, NAS Whidbey
Island Child and Youth
Programs, Cascade Gas
and Naval Hospital Oak
Harbor.
“Red Cross was my favorite because they had candy,”
said Brook Sorenson, a
5-year old boy as his mother Christa explained to him
that the Red Cross helps
people in emergencies.
Navy- Marine Corps Relief
Society (NMCRS) was one
of the booths. In any emergencies, they can assist service members and retirees
with an interest-free loan
or grant depending on the
situation.
Service members should
always try and be prepared for anything to happen when they’re gone and
ensure their families have
the resources to get help.
“I highly encourage service members to have a general attorney or a NMCRS
Pre-Authorization Form
Before going on deployment so their families
can receive assistance and
to keep it in their emergency prepare kits,” said
NMCRS Whidbey Island.
Many people wait until
it’s too late to get information. Here’s something to
think about. If there is some
kind of disaster, do you
have a plan? Do you have
a three-day supply of food
and water for you and your
loved ones?
Maybe it’s time to be better informed.
For more information
on disaster preparedness,
contact Jeff Kirkey, base
Emergency Management
Officer at 257-9020; or Peter
Harris, Fleet and Family
Support Center at 2575267. Remember, the NAS
Whidbey Island Command
Information Line phone
number — (360) 279-1080
— is updated by NAS Public
Affairs and Naval Hospital
Oak Harbor Public Affairs
in any emergency and when
snow and ice causes gate