Hello Fellow Comsat Graduates.
You will see a new section in this newsletter- keeping in touch. Do you know who has gone to the Ukraine? Whom to call for fine wine? If you have news to share, we would love to hear from you.
Until then, please save October 13 for our annual meeting, and let us know by September 1 if you have nominations for three Board members. We'll send the ballot out after nominations are in. If you are not interested in joining the Board but would like to volunteer on a specific project, please let us know. If you would like to submit a nomination, or volunteer, please contact Ellen Hoff at 301-654-1144 or email to e.hoff@wlpco.com.
New information on benefits includes the results of Jack Hannon's research on pension eligibility, long term care insurance, and life insurance.
Ellen Hoff
President, for the COMARA Board
Dick Arndt, Denis Curtin, Irv Dostis, Ron Garlow, Jack Hannon, Ellen Hoff, Bob Kinzie, Walt McKee, Peter Weiss
By popular demand, COMARA will again hold its Annual Meeting and Election of Board Members at the Brickskeller Restaurant in D.C., commencing at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13, 2004. SAVE THIS DATE. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served. Cash bar. The Brickskeller is a short few blocks from the Metro red line Dupont Circle Station/Q Street exit. However, if you are interested in carpooling to the meeting, let us know and we'll try to facilitate travel groups.
Several Board seats will be up for election. If you have a former colleague that you think would make an excellent member of the COMARA Board, please contact him or her, obtain their consent to stand for election, then forward the name and contact information to COMARA President Ellen Hoff (e.hoff@wlpco.com). We'll send the ballot out after nominations are in.
If you are not interested in joining the Board but would like to volunteer on a specific project, please let us know. Help in updating mail/email addresses, and arrangements for the spring 2005 get-together would be terrific.
You May Be Eligible for a Lockheed Martin Pension - Did you work for COMSAT after 1984-86 for five years or more and leave prior to age 55? Did you work for COMSAT for ten years prior to or including part of 1984-86 but leave before age 55? You are probably eligible for a pension. The ERISA vesting requirement for pension eligibility changed from ten years to five years somewhere in the 1984-86 time period, so some cases will require individual review of the facts and circumstances.
But the simple fact is that if your period of COMSAT service meets the vesting requirements, you are indeed eligible for a pension from Lockheed Martin. Under the Pension Plan as I understand it, you would receive the full amount at age 62, but you could start drawing benefits as young as 55 if you are willing to accept a 6% per year reduction from age 62. So at age 62 you receive 100%, at age 55 you receive 40%; get the idea? There's no point in waiting after age 62 to begin collecting; you'd just be leaving money on the table. The size of your pension will depend on total years of service and highest salary levels. Note: see clarification at end of newsletter.
By end 2004 the Lockheed Martin Service Center should have the necessary data to work this out for you; call 1-866-562-2363. Before then, or if the Service Center can't help you for whatever reason, call Cathy Roos of Lockheed Martin HR, at (301) 214-3761. And of course Lockheed Martin has the final say on all of this. Don't sue me, call them!
Jack Hannon
Benefits Chair
You May Be Eligible for Life Insurance - I also understand that a small number of former COMSAT employees who left after age 55 but without electing retirement at that time may also be eligible for paid-up life insurance. If this remotely applies to you, follow the same contact chain as stated above.
Long-Term Care Insurance - Did you know that at least 40% of Americans over age 65 may spend some time in a nursing home, and 75% of retirees over 65 may need some type of home care? Or that the average stay in a nursing home according to MetLife is 2.6 years? Or that the cost of a Nursing home in the D.C. area may exceed $60,000 - 70,000 per year? You may wish to consider placing long-term care insurance, if you haven't done so already. A MetLife team has already made a presentation to the INTELSAT Retirees Association, and the response was generally positive. They would be prepared to do so for COMARA members if we gather ten or more. If you are interested, contact Jack Hannon, Benefits Chair (jackhannon@verizon.net) or call (703) 356 2181. And now the disclaimer: We are not selling insurance, and we make no representations as to the quality and competitiveness of any offering, including that of MetLife. (This is what happens when you have a lawyer as your Benefits Chair!)
Dave Belanger (originally at Andover, then COMSAT HQ, now back at Andover as an MCI employee) has completed a power point presentation that documents a replay of the "first TV via satellite " (TELSTAR) program on July 11, 1962, at a commemorative program held at Andover on July 11, 2002. Participating earth stations for the original and commemorative program included Andover, Goonhilly and Pleumeur Bodou. Surviving dignitaries from Bell Labs, AT&T and Western Electric were in attendance. The power point presentation includes Early Bird as well as TELSTAR and covers the approximate time period of the Andover Horn antenna and radome and includes documentation from its construction through decommissioning and disassembly. Dave says the Pleumeur Bodou antenna and radome are still in place as a museum and that the Goonhilly antenna is still in service. As part of the 2002 commemorative, identical plaques were mounted at all three locations (located at the Andover town common for Andover and at the antenna sites for Goonhilly and Pleumeur Bodou).
After a couple of decades of Discounted Cash Flow analysis and Strategic Planning (including two stints at COMSAT and two at GE), Paul Chaconas claims to have succumbed to his bench-warming, brown-bagging proclivities and has joined the team at TOTAL WINE & MORE. When Chaconas realized that the chain had surpassed 30 superstores in six states (including the four Total Beverage stores acquired a few years ago) he knew it was time to join. (Some of you may know that Paul worked in the wine business after college but before business school, and that he was sometimes consulted to choose wines for COMSAT's Board Meetings.) Paul is busying himself as the chain's Bordeaux Buyer/Category Manager in addition to performing some business analyses. He has recently returned from a buying trip to Bordeaux and is very excited about the quality of the four most recent vintages there. COMSAT alumni Denis Curtin and David Preiss recently attended a tasting Paul conducted entitled: "The Best Bordeaux You Have Never Heard Of" and everyone left smiling.
Denis Curtin is the Chief Operating Officer of XTAR LLC which is a joint venture between Loral Space and Communications and HISDESAT, a Spanish company owned by Hispasat, the Spanish government and several Spanish aerospace firms with a goal to build and operate commercial X Band communications satellites to provide transponder services under commercial terms to the US Government and its allies. XTAR-EUR, the joint venture's first satellite is nearing completion at Space Systems/Loral and is scheduled to be launched into a Spanish orbital slot at 29 EL by the reflight of the Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle at the end of October. XTAR EUR will have twelve high power 72 MHZ transponders, two global beams, one fixed spot beam and four steerable spot beams capable of being put anywhere in the coverage area. A second satellite, SPAINSAT, totally funded by HISDESAT and the Spanish Ministry of Defense (SMOD) will be launched in the second half of 2005 to 30 WL. It contains a payload for the SMOD plus eight 72 MHz transponders, global, fixed, and 3 steerable spot beams owned by XTAR. The combined coverage of the two satellites will extend from Singapore to Denver, Colorado and include the western Indian Ocean, Europe, Africa, the eastern half of the US and all of South America.
Keith Fagan reports that he still can't decide whether he is unemployed or retired. He currently lives in Damariscotta Mills, ME, in a house that dates back to the 1780s and overlooks both fresh and salt water. He says he spent most of the winter "just trying to keep the house warm," but lately he has been doing some volunteer legal work for Maine Rivers, an environmental organization. He also sang during the spring with a local 30-member choir, and plans to spend the summer hiking, canoeing, and planning his next move.
Judith Elnicki left Telcordia, returned to Washington, and decided to try something completely different from the telecommunications industry! She is now a sworn-in Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine, working hard and having a wonderful time.
Lou Early
To help you get an early start on the new year, membership dues for 2005 January- December will be $25 for new members, and $10 for renewing members. Please mail your check to COMARA at PO Box 34594, Bethesda, MD 20827.
ClarificationThis clarification was added Aug 23, 2004 after the newsletter was emailed.
Please add a note to the website, relating to the Newsletter published today, that the 6% reduction in pension per year starts downward from age 62, not 65, so, for example. if you retire at age 55, you will get 58% of the pension you would receive at age 62, not 40%. I regret the error, which was speedily pointed out to me! The point was supposed to be, and still is, that it's not worth waiting until age 65 to collect your Lockheed Martin pension, because you won't get any more than you would at age 62.
Jack Hannon