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