Walt and Barb's Family Update — January 2025

Here are the contents of this month’s newsletter:

Top Posts of 2024
Our Amazing 2024 in Review
Special Christmas blogs
Last month’s family blogs
Last month’s health blogs
Honoring my father’s 100th birthday
My father was chosen for the 2025 Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame
Signed 1st edition copies of “At First Light” available
“Vaccine News You Can Use” column in Colorado Family Physician journal — Fall 2024
List of last month’s WWII blogs in my continuing series: “Where Was Phil Larimore 80 Years Ago Today?”

We pray you and yours have a warm, memory-creating, family-filled, healthy, happy, abundant, fruitful, and blessed New Year.

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1. Top Posts of 2024

The votes are in (in the sense that you voted with your clicks). Here are the dozen most popular of my blog this last year.

2. Our Amazing 2024 in Review

Back row (L2R) Charles, Kate, Jennifer, Scott. Front row (L2R) Katherine, Walt, Barb, Sarah

A week ago, I posted our Christmas Message and 2024 Year Summary. Items covered include: Our family and marriage, medical practice, my writing of books, blogs, a devotional, and magazine columns, our marriage enrichment and personal ministries, and last, but not least, all thanks to the Lord for the incredible 35-year history of a wonderful ministry to health professionals that has literally spread around the world. If you missed it, you can read it here.

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3. Special Christmas blogs

4. Last month’s family blogs

Our Amazing 2024 in Review
Honoring my father on his 100th birthday (see below)
My father was chosen for the 2025 Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame (see below)
Signed 1st edition copies of “At First Light” available (see below)

If you want to sign up to receive an email about each blog when it’s posted, sign up for free here.

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5. Last month’s health blogs

6. Honoring my father’s 100^th birthday

Yesterday, January 4, would have been my father’s 100th birthday. He was an amazing man—a teenage war hero, a beloved professor, a revered Boy Scout leader, and a loving husband, father, and grandfather. If you missed it, I posted a brief biography in remembrance of him yesterday that you can view here.

After spending over 15 years researching his past exploits and adventures for my book about him, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse, I ended that book with these words: “Dad, I always loved being your son. Now more than ever, I’m honored by it.” Happy heavenly birthday, Dad!

7. My father was chosen for the 2025 Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame

Last month, I received some great news. A wonderful thing is happening because of my over-15-years of research for my and Mike Yorkey’s book, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse. My dad, MAJ (Ret) Philip B. Larimore, Jr., (3rd ID, 30th IR, 3rd BAT) was chosen to be inducted into the 2025 Army Officer Candidate School (OCS) Hall of Fame at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), Georgia.

The folks at OCS have confirmed that as far as the current records that are available show, he was the-only-ever 17-year-old graduate of OCS and thus is the youngest-ever-graduate of OCS. He was nominated by General David Petraeus, who was an early and enthusiastic supporter and endorser of the book (in fact, part of his endorsement is on the front cover). You can read more about it here.

8. Signed 1st edition copies of “At First Light” available

I’ve had some folks request a signed copy of my and Mike Yorkey’s award winning book, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse. Read here how you can get one for yourself or for special friends.

9. **“Vaccine News You Can Use” column in Colorado Family Physician journal — Fall 2024**

I ’ve been honored to write a quarterly column, “Vaccine News You Can Use” for the Colorado Family Physician journal for several years. The vaccine updates that are listed below were contained in the fall 2024 edition on pages 22-24 and can be found here:

For your patients: The vaccines they’ll need this fall and winter
Best practices for improving immunization rates among minority adults
US transitioning from quadrivalent to trivalent flu vaccines
Enhanced influenza vaccines benefit adults > 65 and older
Measles cases in US triple from last year
As measles makes a comeback, Colorado vaccination rates are ‘an accident waiting to happen
COVID reinfections likely to be as severe but less likely to cause long COVID
Patients vaccinated against COVID less likely to develop long COVID
COVID still deadlier than influenza
Maternal RSV vaccination: Recommendations and guidance
Routine RSV vaccination for older adults recommended

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10. List of last month’s WWII blogs in my continuing series: “Where Was Phil Larimore 80 Years Ago Today?”

I’m continuing a blog on most days following my father’s exploits and adventures during WWII. Each blog will represent what he and the men with whom he was fighting were doing 80 years ago on the exact day of the blog. Here are last month’s blogs:

If you want to sign up to receive an email about each blog when it’s posted, sign up for free here.

PAST BLOG LISTS

Please let friends and family who are WWII aficionados know about the blog? They can sign up for it for free at www.DrWalt.com.

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11. Last Month’s Happenings

We were home for the entire month and enjoyed a Colorado Christmas season.
We hope you and yours had a Christ-centered, warm-memory-creating, family-filled Christmas season.

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12. Upcoming Events

We’re home a second month in a row. Hallelujah!
We pray you and yours have a Blessed New Year.

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13. Past Three Editions

December 2024
- My Thanksgiving 2024 Prayer
- Last month’s family and health blogs
- “Vaccine News You Can Use” column in Colorado Family Physician journal
- List of last month’s WWII blogs
November 2024
- How to change your preferences in my blog notices
- My September’s column in Today’s Christian Living magazine
- Some of my Dad’s favorite Infantry Quotes
October 2024
- Understanding Your Health: Six Questions to Review with Your Family Physician (“Ask Dr. Walt” column in September’s Today’s Christian Living magazine