It's Time for Residents' Forum
Come with your own team of eight or just show up, find old friends or make new ones. Join any table and make up a team. Hope to see you at Team Trivia Night, Wednesday, April 11, 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. It’s all good, it's all free, and it’s all for great prizes!
Sun City Set to Amp Up Art
The Las Vegas Art Commission’s AMP public art project took a giant step forward April 3 when 11 Art Club members headed downtown to the Las Vegas Academy to meet with their sponsored student artist, who will be conceptualizing and painting utility boxes surrounding Sun City Summerlin this fall.
Sun City residents Lydia Cutter, Carolyn Muse Grant, Pat Kuramoto, Anu Raizada, Debbie Resnick, Jackie Long, Linda Schwartz, Sue Gilbert, Quwatha Valentine, Susan Neiry and Steve Brenner are volunteering their time and talent to help cultivate the visions of budding artists.
“The Las Vegas Art Commission is giving each student $800 and supplying all the paint, brushes and protective finishes,” said Art Club member and LV Art Commissioner Sandy Karpel. “It was very exciting to see each team work together and listening to each other’s ideas. It was artists collaborating their ideas as equals. Everyone was listening and learning from each other.”
According to Sandy, the students will present their final designs this month. Following Commission approval, the boxes will begin their transformations in the fall.
“I’ll let everyone know when the painting will be done so we can all be there to encourage, pamper, feed and spoil these wonderful young artists,” Sandy said.
Stay tuned.
Sun City residents Lydia Cutter, Carolyn Muse Grant, Pat Kuramoto, Anu Raizada, Debbie Resnick, Jackie Long, Linda Schwartz, Sue Gilbert, Quwatha Valentine, Susan Neiry and Steve Brenner are volunteering their time and talent to help cultivate the visions of budding artists.
“The Las Vegas Art Commission is giving each student $800 and supplying all the paint, brushes and protective finishes,” said Art Club member and LV Art Commissioner Sandy Karpel. “It was very exciting to see each team work together and listening to each other’s ideas. It was artists collaborating their ideas as equals. Everyone was listening and learning from each other.”
According to Sandy, the students will present their final designs this month. Following Commission approval, the boxes will begin their transformations in the fall.
“I’ll let everyone know when the painting will be done so we can all be there to encourage, pamper, feed and spoil these wonderful young artists,” Sandy said.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday Is Prime Rib Night at Tavern at the Falls
Take a break from cooking one night this week, or take them all off as Tavern at the Falls at the Highland Falls Golf Course presents its dinner specials for the week. Specials are priced at $11.99 each and are served starting daily at 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday -- Midwest pepper steak over white rice with steamed vegetables, or breaded chicken Parmesan with spaghetti noodles
Wednesday -- Prime rib with roasted red potatoes and broccoli
Thursday -- Chicken Alfredo pasta, or beef ravioli tossed in marinara sauce
Friday -- Beef stroganoff, or pecan-crusted trout with rice pilaf and mixed vegetables
Saturday -- Beef ravioli tossed in marinara sauce, or breaded chicken Parmesan with spaghetti noodles
Sunday -- Homemade chicken pot pie, or meatloaf with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables
Tuesday -- Midwest pepper steak over white rice with steamed vegetables, or breaded chicken Parmesan with spaghetti noodles
Wednesday -- Prime rib with roasted red potatoes and broccoli
Thursday -- Chicken Alfredo pasta, or beef ravioli tossed in marinara sauce
Friday -- Beef stroganoff, or pecan-crusted trout with rice pilaf and mixed vegetables
Saturday -- Beef ravioli tossed in marinara sauce, or breaded chicken Parmesan with spaghetti noodles
Sunday -- Homemade chicken pot pie, or meatloaf with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables
Get Your Tickets Now for the Musicmakers' Spring Concert
Ready for something different? Come to hear the Musicmakers’ Spring Concert, “Music Thru the Decades.” The concerts will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, April 27, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 29. The location is the Starbright Theatre located at 2215 Thomas Ryan Blvd. Tickets are $10 each, and may be purchased at the door, online or from the Social Monitors at Mountain Shadows, Desert Vista and Pinnacle community centers. We have two directors, Joey Spinella and Eddie Fluellen, this spring teaching all of us the proper way to sing chorally and get the rhythms correct. Hope to see you there!
Get the Conversation Started on Facebook

The Link magazine introduced its Facebook page last week, Facebook (Sun City Link Magazine), where residents can follow what’s going on in the community. Posts include short stories and videos on upcoming events and club activities. Link Social Media Coordinator Darlene Fadem is eager to hear from you and collect your comments on what keeps you busy in our beautiful community. If you are looking for a new way to promote your club, reach out to Darlene. Be sure to like the Link page and let's get the conversation started!
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Thank You for Your Service -- Paul Lightfoot
Navy veteran Paul Lightfoot was assigned to the 3rd Preventative Medicine Unit, 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. Paul’s main job was as an instructor in food services. His responsibilities took him all over the northern half of South Vietnam.
Whether on the barren slopes of Mount Suribachi, the frozen wasteland of the Chosin Reservoir or the mosquito-infected jungles of Vietnam, whenever a wounded Marine called “Corpsman Up,” a Navy corpsman was there. We’ve all seen it in hundreds of movies, but there is a lot more to being a Navy corpsman than being a battlefield doc. Take, for instance, the career of Sun City resident Paul Lightfoot.
Paul’s 20-year career started with a visit by a Navy recruiter at his high school in mid-state Illinois. He already had been accepted to pharmacy school at the University of Illinois, but that was really his parents' idea; Paul just wasn’t up for college at that point.
“So, when the recruiter told me that the Navy would make me a pharmacist, I was hooked,” he recalled. It took some doing to convince his parents, but he was 18 and, in the summer of 1957, he enlisted.
After completing boot camp, he got his promised assignment to Corpsman School at Naval Station Great Lakes. Sixteen weeks later, he began his on-the-job training at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. There he would undergo two specialty rotations; medical/surgical and communicable disease. That was followed by yet another four months studying EKG and basal metabolism testing.
Next up, assignment to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the major Marine Corps base on the East Coast. And it was there, on New Year’s Eve 1960, that he met Patricia, the future-first Mrs. Lightfoot, who was a Wave (member of the Women’s Auxiliary) also serving as a corpsman. They married 21 days later. Soon pregnant, she left the service and Paul was sent to Guam for a three-year tour. She later joined him and their first two children were born there.
More education was to follow with Paul completing Instructors School.
“I really didn’t want to teach, but they made it pretty clear that I didn’t have much of a choice,” he said. But, he really liked it and after graduation taught for five years, 1963 to 1968.
Then even more education, as he was assigned to Preventive Medicine School in Oakland, Calif. By this time, they had four children and even as an E-7 he had to work nights at a McDonald’s to make ends meet. That was followed by Field Medical Service School at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. For a kid that didn’t want to go to college, Paul was getting a very thorough education!
But the year was 1969, the Vietnam War was raging, and it was time to put that education to work. Paul was assigned to the 3rd Preventive Medicine Unit, 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. A modern military unit is somewhat akin to a small city. The troops had to be supplied and fed and that meant field kitchens, which, in turn, needed to be inspected. (Think “Dirty Dining” on Channel 13.) Paul’s main job was as an instructor in food services along with insect and rodent control. His responsibilities took him all over the northern half of South Vietnam.
Travel to the various fire bases was usually by lone Jeep, occasionally in a helicopter or swift boat and sometimes in a convoy.
“Some of those journeys were uneventful,” he recalled. “But others were not. One time three of us were driving to a forward fire base, FB Vandergrift. The route required us to ford three streams. We crossed the first two with no problem, although they did slow us down a bit. It was getting late but we decided to push on. We arrived at the third stream just as VC patrol were entering the area. They spotted us and a short fire fight ensued. I was in the passenger seat and had my M16 fully loaded. I emptied the clip as the driver hit the gas and we took off.
(CONTINUED FROM LINK, PAGE 32)
Fortunately, none of us were hurt. But it does show you how things could have changed if our timing was slightly different.
“Another time, an M.D. and I were part of a convoy that came under attack. We dismounted and used the vehicle as a screen. The doctor kept peeking up to see what was happening. I tried to convince him to keep his head down and finally he did after I said, ‘Doctor there are only us two medics here and these boys may be needing us when this is over. We must stay alive.’ That convinced him.”
There were numerous other instances where the old hand NCO had to advise newly arrived junior officers. Vietnam was a tough place for on-the-job training.
In November 1969, the 3rd Marine Division was withdrawn from Vietnam and sent to Okinawa, Japan. The division had been in Vietnam for four years and had lost 6,859 men killed in action (KIA).
Although the division is still based there, Paul’s stay was short. After three months of training local prostitutes in VD prevention, he was off to San Diego, Calif., to be followed by a tour in Oakland, Calif. By then, Paul had been promoted to senior chief (E-8). His hitch was nearing its end. The Navy elected to send him back to Okinawa; he elected to retire.
The retirement decision was made easier because his training in entomology gave him easy access to a new career in the pest control business, where he held a number of sales positions.
In 1993, he got married for the second time to Raquel Morales and they have been residents of Sun City Summerlin since 2003. Paul divides his time between website development and teaching Bible study classes via the Internet. He also preaches six or eight times every year at his church.
Paul’s 20-year career started with a visit by a Navy recruiter at his high school in mid-state Illinois. He already had been accepted to pharmacy school at the University of Illinois, but that was really his parents' idea; Paul just wasn’t up for college at that point.
“So, when the recruiter told me that the Navy would make me a pharmacist, I was hooked,” he recalled. It took some doing to convince his parents, but he was 18 and, in the summer of 1957, he enlisted.
After completing boot camp, he got his promised assignment to Corpsman School at Naval Station Great Lakes. Sixteen weeks later, he began his on-the-job training at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. There he would undergo two specialty rotations; medical/surgical and communicable disease. That was followed by yet another four months studying EKG and basal metabolism testing.
Next up, assignment to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the major Marine Corps base on the East Coast. And it was there, on New Year’s Eve 1960, that he met Patricia, the future-first Mrs. Lightfoot, who was a Wave (member of the Women’s Auxiliary) also serving as a corpsman. They married 21 days later. Soon pregnant, she left the service and Paul was sent to Guam for a three-year tour. She later joined him and their first two children were born there.
More education was to follow with Paul completing Instructors School.
“I really didn’t want to teach, but they made it pretty clear that I didn’t have much of a choice,” he said. But, he really liked it and after graduation taught for five years, 1963 to 1968.
Then even more education, as he was assigned to Preventive Medicine School in Oakland, Calif. By this time, they had four children and even as an E-7 he had to work nights at a McDonald’s to make ends meet. That was followed by Field Medical Service School at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. For a kid that didn’t want to go to college, Paul was getting a very thorough education!
But the year was 1969, the Vietnam War was raging, and it was time to put that education to work. Paul was assigned to the 3rd Preventive Medicine Unit, 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. A modern military unit is somewhat akin to a small city. The troops had to be supplied and fed and that meant field kitchens, which, in turn, needed to be inspected. (Think “Dirty Dining” on Channel 13.) Paul’s main job was as an instructor in food services along with insect and rodent control. His responsibilities took him all over the northern half of South Vietnam.
Travel to the various fire bases was usually by lone Jeep, occasionally in a helicopter or swift boat and sometimes in a convoy.
“Some of those journeys were uneventful,” he recalled. “But others were not. One time three of us were driving to a forward fire base, FB Vandergrift. The route required us to ford three streams. We crossed the first two with no problem, although they did slow us down a bit. It was getting late but we decided to push on. We arrived at the third stream just as VC patrol were entering the area. They spotted us and a short fire fight ensued. I was in the passenger seat and had my M16 fully loaded. I emptied the clip as the driver hit the gas and we took off.
(CONTINUED FROM LINK, PAGE 32)
Fortunately, none of us were hurt. But it does show you how things could have changed if our timing was slightly different.
“Another time, an M.D. and I were part of a convoy that came under attack. We dismounted and used the vehicle as a screen. The doctor kept peeking up to see what was happening. I tried to convince him to keep his head down and finally he did after I said, ‘Doctor there are only us two medics here and these boys may be needing us when this is over. We must stay alive.’ That convinced him.”
There were numerous other instances where the old hand NCO had to advise newly arrived junior officers. Vietnam was a tough place for on-the-job training.
In November 1969, the 3rd Marine Division was withdrawn from Vietnam and sent to Okinawa, Japan. The division had been in Vietnam for four years and had lost 6,859 men killed in action (KIA).
Although the division is still based there, Paul’s stay was short. After three months of training local prostitutes in VD prevention, he was off to San Diego, Calif., to be followed by a tour in Oakland, Calif. By then, Paul had been promoted to senior chief (E-8). His hitch was nearing its end. The Navy elected to send him back to Okinawa; he elected to retire.
The retirement decision was made easier because his training in entomology gave him easy access to a new career in the pest control business, where he held a number of sales positions.
In 1993, he got married for the second time to Raquel Morales and they have been residents of Sun City Summerlin since 2003. Paul divides his time between website development and teaching Bible study classes via the Internet. He also preaches six or eight times every year at his church.
Bob Cohen/Link