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M-F: 8am – 7pm • Sat: 9am – 1pm 828-645-3066 www.weavervillefamilymed.com Doug Theroux, right, in his Navy days with Jack Chiocca.


By Matt Tate Seven U.S. presidencies and


four decades have come and gone since Doug Theroux and Jack Chiocca last saw each other in September 1964 in Whidbey Is- land, Wash. But for these two old Navy


friends, it seemed like nothing more than a weekend had passed. “It’s like there was no gap,”


Theroux, a Weaverville resident, said of his April rekindle with Chiocca. The two spent the weekend at


Theroux’s home, filling in the many blanks from the past 45- plus years of their lives. They discovered how their


paths could have crossed so much sooner. Chiocca, currently a resi- dent of New Brighton, Pa., lived in Denver during a period Ther-


8 THE TRIBUNE - May 6 - May 12, 2010


oux visited the area twice a year, and Chiocca also has a daughter who lived in Morganton that he often visited. They even had nearly identical


yin/yang t-shirts. “It kind of tells you how simi-


lar we are,” Theroux, 67, said. A proposed reunion of former


sailors aboard the U.S.S. Mid- way, the ship they once called


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Navy men reunite nearly 46 years later


home for several months of their lives, led Chiocca to reach out to Theroux last fall. Chiocca, 68, found a North


Carolina phone number for Ther- oux, but wondered whether the Minnesota native would have re- located to the South. “I saw North Carolina and


I didn’t know if that would be Doug or not. I remembered the ‘yah’ he used to have in his ac- cent,” Chiocca said of Theroux’s indigenous dialect. The two have now planned


several get-togethers, including Theroux and his wife Bonnie taking a trip to Pennsylvania this summer where Chiocca promises to build the Therouxs a bonfire. It was nearly 50 years ago when


Theroux and Chiocca became fast friends in basic training at Great Lakes Training Center in 1960. Upon completion, Chiocca went to Georgia and Theroux went to


Continued on page 9


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