well, I think I figured it out. here are logs for one that works and one that does not:
Fri Oct 2 07:55:39 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1 Firmware changed to 'KA.15.17.0007'.
Fri Oct 2 07:55:19 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB2SSW1 Status changed to 'OK'
Fri Oct 2 07:55:19 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB2SSW1 Up
Fri Oct 2 07:55:13 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 2S-PortS97-9c:1c:12:c2:31:ac Updated upstream device to HMMB2SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:55:13 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 2S-PortS174-9c:1c:12:c2:32:1e Updated upstream device to HMMB2SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:55:12 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 2S-PortS98-9c:1c:12:c2:32:70 Updated upstream device to HMMB2SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:52:35 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 3S-PortS122-9c:1c:12:c2:30:72 Updated upstream device to HMMB3SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:52:35 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 3S-Port175-9c:1c:12:c2:32:3a Updated upstream device to HMMB3SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:52:35 2015 System Device Aruba AP 135 3SE-PortS123-9c:1c:12:c2:2f:c6 Updated upstream device to HMMB3SSW1
Fri Oct 2 07:52:35 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB3SSW1 Updated upstream device to HMMBCore
Fri Oct 2 07:52:21 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB3SSW1 Configuration verification succeeded; configuration is good
Fri Oct 2 07:52:19 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB3SSW1 Status changed to 'OK'
Fri Oct 2 07:52:19 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Stack HMMB3SSW1 Up
Fri Oct 2 07:52:03 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB3SSW1 Firmware changed to 'KA.15.17.0007'.
Fri Oct 2 07:51:53 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB3SSW1 Configuration change submitted
Fri Oct 2 07:51:52 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB3SSW1 Authorized
Fri Oct 2 07:51:51 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB3SSW1 Created
Fri Oct 2 07:51:51 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB3SSW1: Updated
Fri Oct 2 07:54:56 2015 System Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1 Firmware changed to 'KA.15.17.0007'.
Fri Oct 2 07:50:23 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1 Configuration change submitted
Fri Oct 2 07:50:23 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1 Authorized
Fri Oct 2 07:50:22 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1 Created
Fri Oct 2 07:50:22 2015 gibbonr1 Device HP ProCurve Switch HMMB2SSW1: Updated
The part that I thought was odd is that the APs on the switch that is working suddenly figured out their upstream device. This made me wonder what else the three that are working have in common. They are the only three that are connected directly to the 6509 core, whereas the others are connected to a distribution layer Nexus 5k. The 6509 is in AW, but the Nexus is not. Not that the Nexus is blocking anything per se, because AW is getting SOME info from the non-working switches; it just isn't getting EVERYTHING from the non-working switches. We have a project going to move the switch stacks from the Nexus back to the 6509, so I'll have to see if that alleviates the issue.
Thanks for the direction,
Russell