GOOD LIVING
5
Summer Edition 2016
BlueRibbonNews.com
Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation recently
provided a group of seven Rockwall senior
citizens with the thrill of a lifetime that left
them on cloud nine – literally.
Liberty Heights Gracious Retirement Living
residents Bob McKinney, Dorie Stanley, Kevin
Wall, Bob Macguire, Mary Kymes, Olis Lewis
and Lila Seida were in for an unforgettable
experience as the Foundation treated each of
them to a short “Dream Flight” in its two-
seater Boeing-Stearman airplane at Terrell
Airport (200 Silent Wings Blvd) last month.
Ageless Aviation Foundation members Mike
and Diane Winterboer and volunteers with
Sport Clips Haircuts of Longview welcomed
the residents and thanked the war veterans in
the group for their service and sacrifice.
“Our mission is to give back to those who
have given,” Mike said. “Through your work,
sacrifice and service to our country, you have
made our country what it is today. You’re the
reason this foundation exists and the reason
we are here.”
Mike flew each resident over the surrounding
area and even let those residents who had
experience flying planes take a turn at piloting
the aircraft. For Korean War veterans Bob
McKinney and Bob Macguire, piloting the
Stearman brought back old memories of
their time in the service.
Fighter pilot Bob McKinney served in the Air
Force for four years during the Korean War but
never had to serve abroad. He did, however,
experience an inverted spin in his F100
which resulted in a crash landing over south
Texas. Bob was miraculously unhurt.
“This was a memorable and unique event,”
Bob said of his Dream Flight experience.
“I’m glad that others will have the opportunity
to experience what I had during my years
of service.”
“Seeing that plane brought back great
memories of when I was in the service,”
said Bob Maguire, who played the tenor sax
in the 314th Army Band in Frankfurt am
Main, Germany, for local towns and military
celebrations during the Korean War. “I’ve
never been in a small plane like that before.
I’m grateful for the wonderful experience!”
Perhaps none of the residents found the Dream
Flight experience more moving and more
fulfilling than Olis Lewis, who last had the
opportunity to pilot an aircraft nearly 60 years
ago. Olis worked to lay steel for the Florida
railroads, and later worked for a company that
contracted with the Navy for power supply,
with Collins Radio for airplane radios that
served in Vietnam, with TRW and later his
own company. He knows how to fly and
also loves to golf.
As he situated himself inside the Stearman
and prepared for liftoff, tears of joy filled
the veteran pilot’s eyes.
“Prior to this, the last recording in my flight
log book was 58 years ago,” Olis said. “I’m
thankful for the opportunity I had to fly again.
I’ll never forget this experience.”
Like several of the Liberty Heights residents
who saw their dreams take flight at Terrell
Airport, William Fisher and son Darryl realized
their lifelong dream when they founded the
Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation in the
Spring of 2011. They traveled throughout the
United States, giving war veterans and seniors
in long-term care communities an opportunity
to fly in a newly restored Boeing-Stearman
aircraft. Darryl and his wife, Carol, were so
moved by the positive feedback and emotions
they experienced during the trip that they
decided to establish the nonprofit organization –
Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation –
to honor seniors and war veterans
throughout the country.
William Fisher’s parents, William L. and
Dorothy Fisher, started the family’s aviation
heritage in 1940, which has since transcended
through four generations of pilots. William L.
bought (and later sold) a Stearman for $1,200.
The Fisher family has since relocated and
repurchased that Stearman in 1965, William
and Dorothy opened a senior health care
facility in Roseburg, Oregon, beginning a
lifetime commitment to aviation, senior
care and service spanning three generations
of the Fisher family.
The Foundation owns three Stearman
airplanes, each manufactured for the Army
by the Boeing company in Wichita, Kansas,
and each having its own unique history. The
aircraft which the Liberty Heights residents
had the honor of flying was built in 1944 and
was stationed at Ogden, Utah, as well as five
different locations across California: Sequoia
Field (between Vilisa & Dinuba), Tulare,
Lancaster, Bakersfield, and Sacramento. Bill
Fisher purchased the plane in 1982 after it was
used as a spray plane for a family-operated
business in California called “Meek Dusters.”
After the Fishers restored the aircraft, it gave
the Foundation’s very first Dream Flight on
March 29, 2011 in Oxford, Mississippi.
Ageless Aviation provides its Dream Flights
free of charge to seniors and war veterans,
thanks to generous donations from a multitude
of organizations: SportClips Haircuts,
Matrixcare, Direct Supply, Alliance Insurance
Group, Creative Media Group, Oregon
Health Care Association, Florida Health Care
Association, Air Choice One, Oregon Aero,
and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United
States.
“We are so grateful for this wonderful
opportunity!” wrote Liberty Heights Events
and Activities Coordinator Julie Claudio on
the Foundation’s Facebook page. “A HUGE
thank you to Mike and Diane Winterboer for
the countless hours spent for volunteering
their time and talents and to Sport Clips for
making this dream come true for our residents!
Gail and Joyce from Sport Clips were soooo
awesome! We will never forget this
special day!”
For more information on Ageless
Aviation Dreams Foundation visit
agelessaviationdreams.org.
Story and photos by Austin Wells,
Blue Ribbon News editor.
Liberty Heights residents fly Terrell skies in restored war plane
Soaring to new Heights