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Twining School celebrates 50 years

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Susan L. Davis
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Students, faculty, senior leaders from the base and community leaders gathered in the Nathan F. Twining Elementary and Middle School gymnasium here Oct. 1 to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary.

Dr. Mary Koopman, Twining principal, gave the opening remarks for the event. The program also featured a presentation of the flags by a Grand Forks Public School District Army Junior ROTC unit and the singing of the national anthem by Erika Leathermon, daughter of Ch. (Capt.) Todd Leathermon, 319th Air Base Wing Chaplain Corps.

Col. Tim Bush, 319th Air Base Wing commander, and Grand Forks Mayor Mike Brown, were honored guest speakers at the event.

"Twining is a great place to learn and grow here at Grand Forks Air Force Base, and the people are the ones who make it great," said Bush. "Military parents know it's not just about the members serving in uniform, and so do the teachers and support staff, and they show it in the way they care so much about the students and their futures."

Brown, who spent his childhood in Okinawa, Japan, and came to Grand Forks as an Air Force officer, offered his congratulations and happy birthday wishes in a short address to the assembly.

The school's namesake, Gen. Nathan F. Twining, was born Oct. 11, 1897, in Monroe, Wis. He was the third chief of staff of the Air Force, and the first Air Force member to serve as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

He died March 29, 1982, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Following brief remarks from other guest speakers was a folding of the flag ceremony by the Junior ROTC unit. Those who attended the assembly also received Twining 50-year anniversary commemorative challenge coins at the end of the ceremony.