The next JCCVA reunion will be held in Lexington, KY from Wednesday September 23 to Saturday September 26 2026. Donald Rinthen Blue crew 73-79 and his wife Loretta are hosting the reunion.
Don is planning to do a few things differently and we would like to share all of our plans, so far, with everyone.
First of all, there are several possibilities for outings near Lexington. As we get closer to the dates we will refine them. An email will be going out to everyone in the near future. Please reply to the email to give us feedback about your choices.
- There is the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. It is a bit of a hike ( 4 hours total in travel time.) so let us know if that suits you or not. https://www.corvettemuseum.org/
- There is also The Creation Museum which is less of a trip at 2 hours total travel time. https://creationmuseum.org/
- And of course there is the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Do we have any Makers Mark Ambassadors in the group? https://kybourbontrail.com/
- We also have the Ark Encounter very close to us. https://arkencounter.com/
- Both Lexington and Cincinnati are well known for lots of attractions. This will be right in the beginning of NFL football so maybe we’ll be lucky with a great Bengals matchup on Sunday after the reunion.
Don also plans to visit the Cincinnati Submarine Memorial in the next few weeks to see how it is progressing. He will give us some updates as we get closer. https://subcincy.org/
Current plans are to complete the Cincinnati Submarine Memorial and have the opening dedication on October 13, 2025 for the Navy’s 250th Birthday! As we get closer to the start of the reunion, we will be better able to predict what may be possible during our reunion. For example, would it be possible to have tolling of the bells ceremony for our shipmates on eternal patrol?
Don and Loretta would also like us to explore some new ideas for this reunion:
For example, instead of having a pizza party on Friday what if we were to have some selected food trucks known for barbeque and other Southern food staples.
They are also considering to host the Saturday Night Banquet with a Southern Buffett too.
Let the countdown clock begin! We will plan to provide updates approximately every 3-4 months from now until the reunion start date.
Hope everyone is doing well. Please let us know what you think and if you know of other activities that you would like to share with all of us.