Covid is starting to ramp up. Be diligent. Alice and Bret Bowling have Covid as well as Mary Ellen Myers

Barbara Cowgill : Bypass surgery a few weeks ago. As of August 25th, she is still having some episodes with POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia, a blood circulation disorder .) She has a doctor's appointment on September 12th. She is having dialysis on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She is HOMEBOUND until September 30th. She still needs to regain her strength. She has home healthcare, dialysis appointments, and doctors' appointments.

Mike Farris – From Raye Ann Farris : For those of you who don't know Mike was diagnosed with Stage 4 Throat and Neck Cancer Tuesday March 28. Mike was supposed to begin his Chemotherapy/Radiation combo treatments September 18th, however his lab work didn't allow him to have his chemo treatment but he was able to have Radiation treatment each day. Fast forward to today, he is having his Chemotherapy treatment, but was unable to have Radiation due to swelling. I'm not allowed in the Radiation area so I'm not sure if his mask would not fit properly, or if the mask along with the swelling made it to difficult for him to breath. We will see the Radiation Oncologist tomorrow. Hopefully he will be able to have Radiation treatments the remainder of the week. He is scheduled for Chemotherapy every Monday, Radiation Monday through Friday for the next 7 weeks. Good news is his tumors have shrunk. He’s even ventured out into the yard. (Hopefully not to try to do any yard work in this heat.) Second-hand information from Rae Ann through his in-laws: One tumor is down from 12.0 to 5.7. The other is down from 9.2 to 5.4

Carrol Bunch : In rehab with a broken ankle and messed up knee

Gary Shaffer Mull

September 15, 1945 ~ August 12, 202

Gary Shaffer Mull was born on September 15, 1945, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, to Park and Alma (Shaffer) Mull

Upon graduating from Somerset Area High School in 1963, Gary immediately enlisted into the United States Air Force at the age of 17. During his 5 years of service in which he obtained the rank of Staff Sergeant, Gary was stationed in Illinois, Nevada, Hawaii, The Philippines, and Nebraska. Throughout his time in the Air Force, Gary forged life-long friendships which he cherished greatly until the end.

Gary married Sharon Tysor on February 1, 1969, at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa. While living and working in Omaha, Gary and Sharon welcomed their three children before moving to Plano, Texas, in 1974. Their move was a result of Gary taking a position with E-Systems, where he would enjoy a nearly 30-year career. At E-Systems, Gary traveled extensively, both domestically and internationally, completing nearly 30 trips to Alice Springs, Australia, before eventually moving there with Sharon in 1997 for a four year Outback adventure.

Obituary: Click here

James Pope

July 22,1943 - August 10, 2023

Jim left for heaven on August 10, 2023 surrounded by family and friends. He passed away peacefully from multiple heart complications at the age of 80. Jim was born July 22,1943 in Weston, TX and later moved to McKinney, TX.

He graduated from McKinney High School and went on to the "only" college the University of Texas Austin. After graduating in 1965 he returned to Dallas and began his career in the financial world. Starting with LTV then E-Systems/Raytheon he ended his corporate career as Vice President - Chief Financial Office. After 33 years in the corporate world he retired at age 55 to follow his passion...golf

Obituary: Click here

From Stacey Gore:

I know a lot of E-Systems Employees and family members got RK in the 80's, this repost from my account is for you... I have been waiting until everything was completed before I posted about this. Recently I was informed that I was developing cataracts (isn’t getting old fun). I had noticed that my night vison wasn’t very good. The only issue is that back in the early 80’s I had Radial keratotomy (RK) done and we had always heard that cataract replacement would be complicated.

I went to a well-respected local eye surgeon Patrick Sweeney ( https://sweeneyeye.com/ ). Now it is in my nature to not be that guy that says “I sure wished I had done this sooner” so I decided to go ahead and get them taken care of. Glad I did because even though my eye didn’t seem that bad, they informed me that my lens was starting to get hard and if I had waited another year there might not have been anything they could have done to correct it. He indeed informed me that traditional cataract done with lasers and replacing the old lens with a new corrective lens was not a good option for RK patients. However, in recent years a new technology called Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) has been developed and it should be perfect for RK patients.

The process does take a little longer. After each old cloudy lens is removed (which due to the RK, would have to be the older way of cutting into the side of the cornea and digging the old lens out) it is replaced with the new special LAL lens. At this point there is no correction in the lens. After a few weeks of letting everything settle out which required weekly eye test, a prescription is determined and the eyes then are “Programmed” via intense, directly focused UV light waves for about 2 minutes each.

After a few days, the eyes settle out and additional adjustments can be made. All levels of correction can be programmed including astigmatism, nearsighted and farsighted. The programming can be done a few times a week apart until it is perfect before the final stage of locking it in (which takes 2 treatments at least a week apart)

My procedure did not go without some complications. On the left eye, one of the original incisions opened and my eye bled and turned completely black. They had to add a stitch and it took about 10 days to clear up. Looked a lot worse than it felt and with RK, it wasn’t unexpected but did delay the next steps. My first programming treatment resulted in a blocked tear duct which delayed things yet again, but the results were amazing

There was a lot of interest in my case at the clinic which prompted me to ask, “Was I the first RK Patient to try this?” and the answer was “Yes”. This meant they were going to take it slow and methodically, which I was totally ok with

One negative was that I had to always wear UV protected glasses (or should I say goggles), inside and outside, because they didn’t want a stray UV light wave to either program or look in my eyes

After 12 weeks and 14 appointments, I can say that my eyes are near perfect. My eyes in tandem are 20/20 and I see colors like I haven’t seen in years. Isn’t technology great!

I am posting this to encourage my aging friends to not wait for your cataracts to get too bad and to let you know that there are some cool alternatives available that haven’t been there in the past, especially if you had RK in the past.

From Jalee Gill

I don't know if there's a good place to save this, but I got an official copy of the retirement document and have run OCR on it. Hopefully it will be helpful to some of you. It's not the whole document but should have all the E-Systems pieces: E-Systems-Salaried-Employees-Retirement-Plan.pdf

Raytheon Technologies changes name to RTX (June21, 2023)

Raytheon Technologies, one of the world's largest defense contractors, is changing its name to RTX, per an announcement from the company on LinkedIn.

The company previously announced a corporate restructuring earlier this year into three businesses -- Raytheon, Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney.

“This is more than a new brand,” the company said on its website. “It is a signal of the next step in our company’s transformation. Now, three market-leading businesses -- Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon -- are working as one to answer the biggest questions and solve the hardest problems in aerospace and defense.”

The corporate rebranding as RTX comes three years after The Raytheon Co. merged with United Technologies Corp., changed its name to Raytheon Technologies and moved its corporate headquarters from Waltham, MA, to Arlington, VA.

Raytheon was founded in 1922 in Cambridge, MA

Click here fore the article

RTX Stock Plunges After Revealing Pratt & Whitney Engine Inspection Issue (July 25, 2023)

'The continued safe operation of our fleet will always remain our number one priority,' said CEO Greg Hayes.

RTX Corp. (RTX) - shares plunged lower Tuesday after the aerospace and industrial group said that a 'significant' number of its Pratt & Whitney engines would need to be removed from Airbus A320neo airplanes for urgent inspections.

The so-called GTF engines, which are used by Airbus clients such as Delta Air Lines (DAL) - were said to have been affected by a "rare condition in powder metal used to manufacture certain parts", according to RTX, and will require an "accelerated fleet inspection" over the coming year.

Click Hereto read the remainder of the article.

Medical Claims for reimbursement can be mailed to:

Alight Smart Choice Solutions
PO Box 64009
The Woodlands, TX
77387

Medical Claim reimbursements must be submitted by October 31st for 2022 claims!

From Alight:

About the Defined Dollar Benefit (DDB) Plan The Defined Dollar Benefit (DDB) Plan is for eligible employees who terminate employment and retire on or after January 1, 1991, under the Normal, Optional Early, Early, Late or Disability provisions of the heritage Raytheon Company Pension Plan for Salaried Employees, Exhibit B: E-Systems, Inc. Salaried Employees Retirement Plan. If eligible, at retirement, you receive a one-time DDB credit that can be used for medical and/or dental premiums or certain other eligible medical and/or dental expenses. The amount of the credit is based on your: • Length of benefit service in the heritage Raytheon Company Pension Plan for Salaried Employees, Exhibit B: E-Systems, Inc. Salaried Employees Retirement Plan, and • Marital status at the time of retirement. If, at the time of retirement, you are: • Single, the credit formula is: $1,145 x your years of benefit service, • Married, the credit formula is: $2,290 x your years of benefit service. For example, if you retire at age 62 after 12 years of benefit service, and you are married when you retire, your DDB credit would be calculated as follows: $2,290 x 12 = $27,480. Once your total DDB credit is determined, it is converted to the annuity option you elect (single, single level, joint and survivor, or joint and survivor level) based on your and, if applicable, your spouse’s current age using the 1971 Group Annuity Table projected by Scale D to 1975 and an interest rate of 7%. The annuity is then converted to a monthly amount, which is credited to your account. Note that if you elect the single or joint and survivor annuity option (not one of the “level” options), you will receive a higher monthly credit in the months prior to you and/or your spouse becoming Medicare-eligible, a beneficial feature since the medical plans available to retirees who are not yet Medicare eligible are more expensive than those available to retirees who are Medicare eligible. Note If you are rehired prior to commencing your pension and simultaneously your retiree medical and/or dental coverage, you lose your eligibility for heritage Raytheon Company retiree medical and dental coverage, including the DDB. If you are considering a return to Raytheon Technologies employment, call the Raytheon Technologies Benefits Center at 1-800-243-8135 to learn more about the effects of Raytheon Technologies re-employment on your eligibility for retiree medical and/or dental benefits, including the DDB.

Again, the DDB credit is used to pay for Raytheon Technologies retiree medical and/or dental premiums if you elect coverage. Under certain circumstances, if you do not elect Raytheon Technologies retiree medical and/or dental coverage when your pension commences, or if there is money remaining in your account after paying for Raytheon Technologies retiree medical and/ or dental coverage, you may be able to use the DDB credit to pay for qualified health care expenses that are not reimbursable by any other plan, including Medicare, for you and your eligible dependents, whether or not they are covered by your retiree medical and/or dental plan. See below for exceptions and call the Raytheon Technologies Benefits Center at 1-800-243-8135 for guidance regarding your situation. Important Note If you are married and elect either the single or the single level annuity option, your DDB credit may only be used for your qualified health care expenses, not those of your spouse or eligible dependent child(ren). (In the event of your death, your spouse (but not any remaining child(ren)) may use any remaining DDB credit for his/her qualified health care expenses.) In addition, because the DDB credit is calculated on the basis of your marital status, if you are married and elect either the joint and survivor or the joint and survivor level annuity option and later divorce, your monthly DDB credit will be reduced to reflect the corresponding single annuity option, effective on the first of the month following the divorce. If applicable, any remaining DDB credit may only be used for qualified health care expenses for yourself and any eligible dependent child(ren), not for those of your former spouse.

Benefits Administrator Change

This info was posted on our Facebook group.

Alight has a benefits "Gateway" website that will be used for benefits administration. If you haven’t created an account yet you can use this link to do so, (https://rtxhealthyyou.com/enrollment-2"). The instructions indicate to go to www.yourtotalrewards.com/rtx and select "New user?". The "New user?" selection links to a couple of identifying questions and then steps you through the account setup. It recognized me and I was able to set up my account so I could create my profile and preferences. There’s also an online chat feature to talk with a benefits representative and find out additional details about benefits changes. They had my old employee email address in my profile and I had to call Alight to get that corrected (800-243-8135). Be sure to check your beneficiary information. This was blank for me so I corrected that.

Alight will manage the medical reimbursement and (if it works like intended) we will be able to check our DDB balance, submit claims, authorize direct deposit, etc. online.

RTX is also moving the 401K administration from Fidelity to Alight. The 401K change to Alight will not impact you if you've rolled over your 401K to personal IRA. www.yourtotalrewards.com

IF YOU NEED HELP SETTING UP YOUR ALIGHT ACCOUNT, REIMBURSEMENT CLAIMS, DIRECT DEPOSIT, ETC. PLEASE EMAIL ME AT emmawahlstrom@aol.com. TERRY GAUS HAS OFFERED TO HELP THE RETIREES WHO MAY HAVE QUESTIONS. I CAN ALSO HELP NAVIGATE THE SWAMP IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE.