Autobiography William B. Cook

CHAPTER VI
Retirement and Cook’s Air Taxi; 1977 to 2001
June 3, 1977, I retired after 28 years of Federal service. A little over a month later, July 15th, we received a call from Mom McCray saying my mother had suffered a heart attack and was in the Bellevue Memorial Hospital in critical condition. After securing things here in Covelo we flew up and arrived at the house only to find she had passed away an hour or so prior to our arrival. Her funeral was held at Green's Sunset Hills Chapel and internment was in Sunset Hills Memorial Park. I delivered the following eulogy at her funeral:
My mother was born in a log cabin in Ridgeway, Colorado, October 8, 1898, one of five children, daughter of Gust & Flora Lischke. She was adopted as a young child by the Spanglers when her mother died giving birth to her younger sister Thelma. She was crippled by polio when a young girl.
She taught in a one room schoolhouse at the age of 16 in Atlantic, Iowa. She survived midwest blizzards, subzero temperatures, and frostbite. She saved enough money to move west to attend San Francisco Normal School.
She was employed as a private tutor in San Francisco and later in Seattle where she married my Dad and they began residing in Bellevue in 1925. (the Dorothy Perkins roses in the floral spray on her casket were planted at the back door trellis about that time.)
I was born in 1926 and twin sisters, Leila Louise and Grace Genevieve, were born on mother's birthday October 8, 1929. (Yet, I still would forget her birthday but the twins didn't.)
My mother saw the Eastside and Bellevue grow from an isolated ferry served community of less than 1,000 which included the American Pacific Whaling fleet in Medenbauer Bay to it's present metropolitan status.
She was a dedicated mother, arrowhead collector, rockhound, gardner, tincrafter, rug maker, and history buff.
She had an obsession that her children should know how to swim. She would herd us three kids into their 1926 Buick and drive to the Medina ferry where she would park the car, board the ferry and cross Lake Washington to Leschi, transfer to the Yesler Way cable car to the Seattle YWCA where we attended professionally taught swimming classes for an hour or so before beginning the long trip home.
She demanded high ideals from her children, and I being of a rather recalcitrant nature, became well acquainted with the backside of her hairbrush. She occasionally reminded me that she would be very pleased if I became president of the United States. (Mom, I'm sorry I let you down.)
Although her health was gradually failing for years, she was a born optomist and cheerful to the end.
She revered the American pioneers and the pioneering spirit. (Mom, in my book you stand as tall as the rest of them.)
The long journey has ended. May she rest in peace."
Sister in law, Olive Lockard, was soloist and sang "How Great Thou Art" and "Nearer My God to Thee". Bearers were Harry S. Cook, Eric Martin, Grant Cook, Bill Lockard, Gordon Lockard, and myself.
When I retired, older daughters Joy and Gail, had already flown the coop. Dawn had graduated the summer of 1975 but was still living at home and was employed by the California Division of Forestry one summer as a fire inspector. She became the first teacher for the Covelo Christian School, a multi denominational institution. Dawn was very active in the Presbyterian Church and was forever borrowing cookware and utensils that seemed to loose their way home! This problem was partially rectified with the use of Magic Markers and adhesive labels.
Youngest of the brood, my son, Grant Stuart was entering his junior year in high school when I retired. He monopolized my Honda CB 200 motorcycle for transportation while he and buddy Bob O'Farrell strived to become basket ball pro-atheletes! We took in high school basket ball games, football games, and then he became obsessed with tennis. I found it difficult to understand why it took a dozen balls to play tennis! Probably because the other eleven were scattered around the house!
In his senior year he persuaded the graduating class that they should go to Squaw Valley to do some skiing on their field trip. I was requested to assist in the transportation with our newer 1966 International Travelall that could accommodate eight or more with its two wide bench seats plus the rearward facing third seat I had improvised. This went off fairly well until the evening I was approached about a trip into Reno to see the bright lights! I was told that the casinos were very well policed and quite sensitive about minors so with some misgivings I consented. The boys wanted to go to the top of the new MGM Grand Hotel to see the view. After dropping them off I parked and followed them in. After a half hour I told one of the many security guards that I had lost my boys and he started laughing. He said he heard on his handheld radio that they had just accidentally let an emergency exit door lock behind themselves on the fire escape and they had to walk down a dozen stories in the cold and dark to the ground floor where they had to convince another guard to let them reenter the building.
In the early morning hours of 28 April 1978, when Cousin Dale Leo Martin Jr was here visiting, we were awakened by a terrible crash right in front of our house. A yellow Chevy pickup truck had turned to the left across the centerline in front of his buddy who had been screaming down Howard Street from the opposite direction on a Honda Goldwing motorcycle. It was done as a playful gesture but with terrible consequences as it nearly killed his friend. Michael George had been disturbing the neighborhood with his actions previously and I felt no sympathy for him. I received the following letter from the sheriff:
Dear Mr. Cook:
This letter is to thank and commend you for your actions and assistance to Deputy Sheriff Scott Baker in Covelo in the early morning hours of April 28, 1978, during the apprehension and arrest of Michael George for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, resisting arrest, and driving while intoxicated. Your assistance to Deputy Baker, through your help in identifying the suspect vehicle, remaining at the scene and helping prevent the escape of the suspect in his vehicle by blocking his path with a wire rope spool, and assisting in his apprehension and arrest was done at personal risk to yourself and is highly commendable.
Your unselfish willingness to help in the arrest of a violent felony suspect was a great service to Deputy Baker, the Sheriff's Department, and your community.
Please accept our thanks and commendation.
Sincerely,
s/ Thomas W. Jondahl, Sheriff

Wally Edwardson, a local logging truck owner and driver, was the one that should have received the foregoing commendation because he wrestled Michael George out from behind the wheel of his pickup and helped the deputy subdue him. Son Grant Stuart (who witnessed the accident from our upstairs bedroom window) and I were subpoenaed to testify for the prosecution in the subsequent trial but the suspect who was overwhelmed with grief over his buddy who lost an eye, among other disabling injuries, pleaded guilty in plea bargaining.
November 15, 1977, I traded the runout red and white 1963 Cessna 205 (N8165Z) that had accumulated 1,000 hours of flying in the last seven years for a pretty yellow and white 1975 Cessna Skyhawk II (N29262) with full IFR capability and a runout engine. My reasoning was the C-172 would be less expensive to major and fly, and it had the necessary equipment for me to get an instrument rating.
In the meantime, people were asking me to fly on various missions; the longest being to Grand Junction in the C-205 to pick up Wilbur Cloud a week after my retirement Graydon Daylen, who had a good Cessna 182 he called the Green Dragon, and Arnold Enge who flew a 1965 Mooney that he had purchased brand new, were doing the same for people. We charged our expenses for the flight and enjoyed the recognition and satisfaction that came with pleasing people. The Federal Aviation Agency frowns on this "bootlegging" and began to put pressure on us three to either cease and desist, or get a FAR part 135 Air Taxi Certificate.
Arnie didn't help things any when he brought the Feds attention to us on three separate occasions. He landed at Weaverville with his retractable wheels up when he was distracted by a non-radio airplane setting at the north end of this one-way strip in the canyon. Arnie wanted the man to take off and he was determined to let Arnie land first; each trying to be a gentlemen. The FAA learned of this because Arnie's insurance company required it be reported before they would repair his airplane.
The second incident occurred at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa under the supervision of the FAA's own ground control. The sun was setting and a Cessna 172 and Arny were taxiing out for departure on converging taxi ways. All three principals were looking into the setting sun when Arnie's propeller began chewing up the 172's wingtip. Of course the Feds had to investigate this one.
The third incident was at Redding, where Arnie had a carburetor fire, which is usually more spectacular than dangerous. The prescribed treatment is to continue cranking the engine to draw the flames into the intake but in this case an over zealous lineman shot white fire extinguisher powder into the engine as Arnie was attempting a restart. This necessitated the complete tear down and reassembly of the engine, a time and labor intensive operation. The Redding control tower reported this as an unusual incident and the FAA again responded.
We all three met the FAA at the Round Valley Inn and they laid it on the table. Get legal or they would start legal proceedings against us! Gradon was the best qualified with an instructor's rating, commercial license, and instrument rating. Arnie didn't have the commercial rating and was not motivated to get one. I followed through with the necessary paperwork and found that my principal asset was Clifford Gibbons of the FAA. May 11, 1978 he signed off my part 135 check ride in Cessna Skyhawk N29262. He confided that I was doing this little community a great favor by setting up an FAA approved air taxi operation.
It was only a year or so later that the FAA decided that an instrument rating should be part of a commercial license and would be required for all air taxi commercial operators. I had several years previously tried to get an instrument rating at Aviation Training Enterprises (ATE), Santa Monica, but was unable to graduate in the two weeks allotted time; having run out of money, time and determination in about that order.
February 26, 1979, I started taking instrument flying lessons from a new instructor by the name of Jim Weiant at the Willits Airport. I was his first instrument flight trainee. Jim was a good, patient instructor. I owe him a debt of gratitude, along with many others!
March 26, 1979, my father, Albert Roland Cook, died from general deterioration of his body in the Bellevue Memorial Hospital. We were at his bedside at the time. When I called "Daddy" as I so often did as a child, his eyelids would flutter. I delivered the following eulogy at Green's Sunset Hills Chapel:
My father was born November 18, 1891 at Madison, Ohio, son of Wilbur Genung Cook and Genevieve Bidwell. He was the third of four children, two boys and two girls. The family moved west to Delta, Colorado, when he was eight years old. His father, a pharmacist, owned a drug store and Dad made deliveries on his bicycle.
He played football while attending Delta High School where he graduated in 1912. He entered Colorado College at Colorado Springs in the fall of 1913. He started working his way through electrical engineering by unloading forty ton gondola cars of coal with a scoop shovel for the college heating system. He received the princely sum of twenty five cents a ton or ten dollars a car load for this back breaking labor. (I was reminded of this occasionally when complaining about being overworked and underpaid). He left college the second semester of his sophomore year to go to YMCA auto school and worked for a J.I. Case dealer in Denver in 1915. In 1916 and early 1917 he helped build power transmission lines in Utah and Idaho with the Phoenix Construction Company.
World War I intervened and patriotic young men were joining the military to defeat Kaiser Wilhelm. Dad enlisted in the United States Navy in the spring of 1917. In July he was sent to Bremerton where he started in the engine room as a fireman 3rd class on the coal burning heavy cruiser, the U.S.S. Saratoga (soon to be renamed the U.S.S. Rochester). In December 1917 they went through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S.S. Rochester escorted seven convoys of troops and cargo eastward across the North Atlantic before the war ended. They saw additional duty in between ports in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Azores, Lisbon, Brest, and England. He finished active reserve duty and left the Navy with the rank of Chief Yeoman at Newport, Rhode Island, November 13th,1920. (In the course of growing up, I crossed the German U-boat infested stormy North Atlantic with him many times and each time the ice on the rigging got thicker and the waves got higher.)
After his discharge, Dad went back to Delta and worked for the County assesor where he met my mother in the summer of 1921 when she was visiting her sister Thelma and family who lived next to the Cooks. In May 1923, he went back to work for the Phoenix Utility Company, building power transmission lines in Minnesota and in late 1924 to Aug 1925, in Cuba, as camp foreman where he earned $200 a month and all expenses paid. (As a child, I relived the minus fifty degree F. winters in Hibbing, Minnesota, and he showed me pictures in his "treasure" chest of twenty four ox teams dragging huge power transformers on rubber tired lowboy trailers through endless mud that trucks could not operate in Cuba. He told me about his language problems with the natives and logistical problems of keeping a mobil work crew fed and happy, living in tents under primitive conditions.)
After four years of correspondence without seeing each other, he returned to Seattle by ship through the Panama Canal and married my mother, Fay Spangler, September 20, 1925. He then worked for Sam Krueger who was building homes around the East Side. They purchased one of the newly built homes on a dusty gravel road in stump land later known as Enatie Heights. I arrived on the scene in 1926. My two sisters, Grace & Leila, arrived as twins on my mothers birthday, Oct 8, 1929; preceeding the big stock market crash of 1929 by about three weeks. Fortunately Dad had gone to work for Puget Sound Power and Light Company in 1928 as a substation manager at Wayne, before returning to Bellevue as an outside serviceman.
The next twenty eight years were dedicated to raising three kids with the aid of a large garden, hauling tons of our own heating coal from the Newcastle and Bianco coal mines with an auto trailer, and lots of sympathy and love from supportive neighbors.
During this period my Dad gained a reputation for knowing where everybody lived on the East Side and Mercer Island (there were less than 1,000 accounts in Bellevue) and knowing everything about electricity and appliances. The phone was constantly ringing for help and advice. For years, I can recall hearing the phone ring at 2 AM during a storm. It would be the load dispatcher with news of a major power outage that required immediate action. I would hear him start up the cold truck and depart in the night with his orders to start climbing poles to open and close the required pole top switches to isolate the damaged section of line before restoring service. He stood ten feet tall in my eyes and was admired and respected by all my contemporaries as a real superman able to ascend to mind bogling heights with the agility of a cat; which incidentally were his nemesis; I imagine because he was asked to retrieve so many of them from pole tops. He retired in 1956 at the age of 65.
He was of a family and an era when honesty, dependability, and integrity mattered more than wealth, and your success was measured more by the number of friends, family and associates that depended on you. My observation of this august gathering leads me to believe that my father was a very successful man. May he rest in peace; his work is done.
Ritualistic services were conducted under the auspices of the Masonic Service Bureau as Dad was treasurer of the Masonic Lodge for many years. My daughter Dawn Cook (Lewellyn) was organist, and Harry S. Cook, Dale L. Martin, Glen A. Scatterday, Eric R. Martin, Ralph E. Swenson, and Eugene Barrett were honorary bearers.
He was interned alongside my mother in the Sunset Hills Memorial Park on a hillside overlooking the area they loved so well.
June 25, 1979, Joe Gilley, FAA designated examiner, gave me the long sought instrument check ride and passed me with the admonishment, "Now don't go out and do something stupid and get us both in trouble!"
October 18, 1979, I purchased another (red and white)1975 Skyhawk II (N6572H) IFR certified with long range tanks because N29262 didn't have enough range to make Seattle or Los Angeles non-stop.
March 1980 I ordered a Port-A-Port Hanger from Paso Robles for about $6,000 to become number five in a row of four at the Round Valley Airport, Covelo. The Covelo Flying Club owned an old wood hangar that would house four airplanes and I had been using two of the empty spaces. However, I missed a Flying Club Meeting one evening and my compadre and arch enemy, Arnold Engie, got a resolution passed that commercial operators be barred from using the Club hangar. I had seen him do a similar thing to Bill Robertson of Dos Rios. Virgil Frye and I opposed the action which was vindictive more than anything else and was probably the reason he pulled this on me.
About February 1981, I picked up Richard Wilson with N29262 at the San Francisco Airport and departed IFR into stratus and darkness and arrived Covelo about 10 PM after a nearly ten hour flying day. After seeing Richard off I attempted to start the airplane but the lights had drained the battery. Betty who had ridden down with me to pick up Richard advised me to leave it till morning but I was determined to put it in the hangar. I set the controls, chocked the wheels, and pulled the prop through. The engine responded with a roar and by the time I got around the prop and into the door to retard the throttle, the airplane climbed over the 2 x4 wheel chocks and ran into a parked car. On the way past me the horizontal stabilizer had hit me on the shoulder breaking my collarbone and bloodying my face. The ambulance crew, with Gary Bowman attending me, took me to Howard Memorial Hospital where Dr. Bill Bowen checked me over and put my arm in a sling.
The next morning I called Dave Kratzer and asked him and Walt Frick to put N29262 in the hangar. The hospital released me that afternoon. When I appeared at coffee the next day there was a stunned silence; partly because my face looked so bad and partly because I think they thought they were looking at a ghost!
The car had a series of propeller slashes through the right rear fender up to the frame where it stopped. The insurance company paid the owner $1,000 for the fifteen year old Chevy, which hadn't moved for two years, and he subsequently gave away.
Dave Kratzer, Willits, didn't want to undertake rebuilding N29262 so it sat in my hangar with a collapsed right gear leg and nosewheel, and cowling damage for a while before I managed to drill out the sheared bolt in the tubular gear leg. I raised the airplane and swiveled the gear back into position, inserted a new bolt and nut and it looked much better.
In the meantime, Dave Kratzer and Hannah sold the business in Willits to Bob who was trying to drum up business and he looked at N29262 and said he had repaired much worse damaged aircraft. He gave me an estimate and he and Walt Frick removed the wings and moved the airplane on a flatbed truck to his Willits airport shop. The FAA mandated an engine tear down at which time it was determined the crankshaft had cracked from the sudden stoppage.
Bob located a used crank, rebuilt the engine and nosewheel, mounted a new propeller and about February 1983 and $12,000 later it was ready to fly. I also am more sympathetic to the FAA arbitrary limit of eight hours flying in any 24 hour period. I had been in violation but the FAA did not cite me.
In the meantime, I had flown N6572H almost 2,000 hours in the two years that N29262 had been down. Dave Kratzer had installed a factory new Lycoming engine in N6572H shortly prior to my accident with N29262. It appeared that the need for two airplanes had been justified!
Several memorable events occured with N6572H that were written up by Grace O'Farrell and published in the Round Valley News in 1981 as follows:
Bill Cook of Cook's Air Taxi service has just returned from a job of flying observers of the Pacific gray whales on their migration from Baja, CA to the Bering Sea. This is a project of Michael Poole, a graduate student from Sonoma State.
Bill was given special permission to use the Hearst Airport on the Hearst Ranch at San Simeon. The students who are doing this study use the Piedros Blanco Lighthouse to do most of their study and statistical analyses on ocean life, but for going farther out to sea the plane was used.
Two observers and a recorder went with Bill to count and log where the whales were sighted, the time, and bearing and if they were breaching or spy hopping, terms used in this particular project. This is Bill's second trip for this project. He spent a week there in March and at that time they counted over 500 whales. On this last trip (April 19-25) they are beginning to taper off in their migration.
The whales travel in groups known as pods and whales are called bulls, cows and calves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Dept. maintains a station at the Piedros Blanco Lighthouse, occupying the quarters that the Coast Guard once used.
On one occasion a Wild Life Film Co. from Toronto, Canada, went up with Bill With their crew and photographers, taking pictures of different ocean fish as well as whales. Bill was asked to sign over permission to use shots of him and his plane when it would be used by the British Broadcasting Company..
On one trip out over the ocean they came upon a USSR research vessel and flew low over it. The ship did not respond in any way. Obviously the U.S. Coast Guard must have known about them, in Bill's opinion.

LOCAL PILOT HELPS RESCUE CRASH VICTIMS:
Two men are alive and recovering from their injuries because of Bill Cook.
On Aug 24, the Round Valley airman was passing over the Ashland, OR, area on his way home when he saw a small airplane well below him fly into a narrow wooded canyon. Shortly afterward, the plane disappeared from view and Bill circled his aircraft to look for it.
After a few anxious seconds, he tuned one of his plane's radios to the aircraft emergency frequency and heard the loud and clear tones of a distress signal. He then called Ashland airport over the radio to report an emergency. As he was doing that, he saw black smoke and then a raging fire in the rugged forest below. As the fire was starting, the emergency signal he heard on his radio stopped. Bill reports he could not see wreckage or sign of life from his altitude and advised Ashland to call the fire bomber base at Medford.
The local airman then orbited over the scene until the aerial tanker arrived. Then, he landed at Ashland airport to give a report on what he saw. While on the ground there, he was told a small Cessna had landed at the airport, fueled and took off shortly before the incident he witnessed.
Last week Bill was flying over Ashland again and was advised that the two men aboard the airplane had been rescued under extremely difficult circumstances and were recovering from their injuries and burns.
Earlier this week, Bill Received a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration's Eugene, OR, General Aviation District Office which, in part, said: "Thank you for your quick and accurate response to an urgent situation. Your actions may have saved the lives of two fellow fliers as well as many acres of timber from being destroyed by fire...Your help was very much appreciated."
In March 1983, Dennis M. Berkson became a second pilot for Cook's Air Taxi. The FAA requires an operations manual for more than a single pilot operation. I was not motivated to write the manual but Dennis said he would. It was a rather tedious undertaking but he did a good job and the FAA approved it with some minor changes. Dennis flew the repaired airplane N29262 and was really overqualified as he was also a flight instructor and had been flying as captain and copilot on C-47's, C-54's, and CV-240's in Vietnam, Beech D-18's in Mexico, Dourniers and Cessna 0-2 air attack planes for the U.S.F.S. Dennis and FAA principal, Terry Gordon, got along very well, but when Jim Ford replaced Terry and wanted the manual rewritten, Dennis said it wasn't worth it and quit. He was as competent as they come and I am sorry there wasn"t more work for him. I tried to introduce the White Lightening Fuel Company to Dennis because he would have been far better qualified to fly for them than I but this idea did not set well with them, so I dropped it.
White Lightening Fuel Company was involved in a government alternative fuels program promoting the growth and harvesting of Jerusalem artichokes for alcohol production. I had been doing considerable flying for them to Yakima, Washington, Carson City, Nevada, and Apple Valley, California, where they had large farms growing artichokes on a percentage basis. In spite of my advice for a Cessna 205 or 206 airplane, they felt the need for something faster and paid for twin engine training for me with Mike in Lakeport. March 1, 1983, I passed my twin engine check ride with Joe Gilley in a Beech 95 commonly known as the Travelair.
White Lightening Fuel Company, a partnership of Paul Lambert and David Milner, had anticipated the need for a large, new Port-A-Port hangar, which I helped them order and erect starting December 1982. With their permission I began using the opulent big hangar immediately pending arrival of their new airplane. Unknown to me at the time, they had flown to Chicago to Byerly Aviation where they put $50,000 down on a nice Seneca twin. In August 1983, they told me they had a cash flow problem and wanted to borrow $10,000 from me. I had reservations but said I would if I could have the hangar for collateral. This was agreed upon and David prepared a better lien note than the one I had prepared. Apparently the whole artichoke venture fell through because November 10, 1983, David Milner signed the title to the hangar over to me and White Lightening Fuel Company forfeited the $50,000 deposit to Byerly Aviation. Paul Lambert paid his share of the flying bill he owed me and I ended up with the twin engine rating which I have never used as David Milner's share of the flying bill they had accumulated.
September 16, 1984, I purchased a nice clean blue and white 1974 Cessna Cardinal 177/RG (N2180Q), with retractable gear, from Dr. Bertrand A. Vipond, in Ukiah. Dennis Berkson gave me five hours of dual as required by the insurance company and signed me off Sept 28th. Not long after on a black night in Ukiah, I inadvertently taxied into a drainage ditch which did extensive damage to the empenage. After it was repaired I flew it to Leo and Mary Martin's wedding in Butte, Montana. The Cardinal was a nice airplane and I flew it about 400 hours on air taxi but I wanted to solicit the U. S. Forest Service business and they had a regulation that it had to be at least a Cessna 182 with 230 HP minimum.
October 1984, I purchased hangar number three for $5,500 from Polly Frye, Virgil Frye's widow, after he passed away. Arny Enge appeared critical of my action and I asked him if he wanted it for his Mooney and he shook his head. No one else had approached Polly and she approached me first after Virg's death and set the price. I really needed the extra hangar to house my growing fleet!
November 12, 1986, I found and purchased another (gold, brown, and white) 1963 Cessna 205 (N8394Z) from Robert Flanagan, a crop duster in Willows, California which coincidentally is the Mendocino National Forest headquarters. Ben Baber, A&P, Willows, had been signing off the annuals so I continued going to Ben until he left. I kept the hangar that N8394Z had been in to store N6572H and paid the low monthly rental to Glenn County.
Chief White of Corning, who had a nice Cessna 182, was retiring and told me I could have all his Forest Service business. The following spring the Forest Service staff flew into Covelo in a Beech Baron and inspected my special Forest Service radio antenna installation under each wing, checked the logbooks and carded the airplane. Then they checked me out and carded me for low level reconnaissance and personnel transport. Judy Brazzi introduced me to the paperwork which requires both clock and tachometer readings on each landing and departure, plus date, personnel carried and contract number.
I suddenly realized I owned four airplanes, so I loaned N6572H to Grant in Eugene, Oregon, to use, as he had acquired his private pilots license and was enrolled in Lane Community College studying aircraft maintenance and repair. A year later, after an expensive annual inspection, Grant returned the airplane. After an engine overhaul I leased N6572H to West Air Express after they solicited the lease back. They went over it with a fine tooth comb before accepting it. They later went into bankruptcy and I had trouble getting the airplane back, let alone the money they owed me for 700 hours of flying at $20/hr. I ran into the lawyer that was representing some of the other creditors and hired him to represent my interests. When I finally was able to regain possession of N6572H I flew if from Oakland to Hayward and turned it over to California Aircraft Sales for them to sell. After replacing three worn out tires, reupholstering both front seats, and a lot of paint and trim detailing, they finally sold it and sent me a check.
August 21, 1987, I sold the Cardinal RG to Peter Laws at the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport and I checked him out on the flight back to Covelo. He departed afterwards in the dark for Oakland where I saw the airplane tied down on a couple subsequent trips. Now I was back down to two airplanes and I rented the empty hangar to Phelps Dewey.
February 17, 1988, I found another nice green and white 1963 Cessna 205 (N8404Z) at Pete Wolfe Aviation in the Warbird Hangar, Aero Nostalgia, Stockton Airport, and traded N29262 in for credit.
An interesting sidelight is a one hour video that has since been aired on the Discovery Channel, about a Billy Mitchell B-25 bomber that was restored in the previously mentioned Warbird Hangar and then ferried across the Pacific to the Canberra Air Museum in Australia. Paul Weston, an Alaskan bush pilot, that spent several winters in Covelo, helped restore the airplane and was copilot on the long historic flight. It was a dramatic video narrated by Glenn Ford, and I feel fortunate to have a copy of it.
Mollie and her husband Charley Haun, who had a Cherokee 160, were managing the airport when I first arrived about May 1965 in N8030A. Charley and Mollie left a couple years later under divorce proceedings. Clara Rash then moved her trailer onto the site and took over as manager about 1968. Frenchy and Clara married shortly after that and Frenchy had some words with Arny Enge, Virgil Frye and the County. To spite the County he talked Clara into resigning in protest. Francis Black then moved her trailer onto the site and her ex-husband George joined her later. After a number of years ill health forced Francis to give it up and Mollie took over again with a new husband, Leon Terry who was working for Joe Brundage in Arizona. In Sept 1988, when Leon retired and returned to Covelo to run a ranch and a walnut orchard that they owned, Mollie resigned again. I had been helping Mollie keep the monthly record of rainfall and high and low temperatures every day for the National Weather Service. The equipment is located at the airport and the record keeping goes with the manager's job. I voluntarily took over this responsibility with her retirement and I have continued with it since. The State of California Flood Control and Round Valley View also solicit this information for their use.
Mendocino County advertised halfheartedly for a new manager but the $400 monthly income plus trailer space did not attract any serious applicants. Part of the problem was the need for capital to buy fuel, or a good credit rating and collateral. The County contract required the manager to be present 60 hours a week to pump fuel with Wednesdays off. I tried applying but couldn't guarantee that I would be available all the time. After nearly two years the Covelo Flying Club petitioned the County to take over the facility so we could at least have fuel on the field. The County responded favorably on the condition that we make fuel available to the public. The Club considered selling shares to raise the capital necessary to fill the 12,000 gallon fiberglass fuel tank at $1.50 per gallon or $18,000. It appeared that since I lived nearest the airport and was generally available I could pump the gas. This was OK except I wanted some compensation for pumping other peoples fuel. This idea met with a general lack of enthusiasm so I suggested that I would put up the necessary capital if I was guaranteed a fair return on my investment plus $.06/gal for administration and maintenance, and allowance for county mandated insurance and other expenses. When I produced some figures and showed we could be competitive, the members endorsed my proposition. I was suspiciously regarded because as Covelo Flying Club president and Cook's Air Taxi owner and operator it could be argued that there was a conflict of interest but on the other hand there was mutual concern and potential benefit which the members seemed to understand.
Basically, the Covelo Flying Club has signed a contract with Mendocino County to use the fueling facility on the condition that we make fuel available to the public on call at competitive prices. Cook's Air Taxi is a subcontractor to the Covelo Flying Club and responsible to the Club without any binding document.
December 1990, Standard Oil filled the huge (12,000 gal) under- ground storage tank and the County had an EPA testing contractor there to pressurize the tank to determine the amount of leak down over a period of time. The tank passed the test and every December since, we have refilled the tank with another tractor trailer load (8,000 gal) of avgas for the EPA mandated test.
I early determined that it would be desirable to give each club member a key and then a 10% discount for pumping their own fuel. The pump price has been $2.10/gal less 10% equals $1.89/gal for club members, which is competitive. We have a note pad with eight columns where the date, amounts in gallons and dollars, N number of airplane, the author, and the pump master beginning and ending totals, and miscellaneous column are logged. This has worked quite well with no complaints. Whenever I or any of the other club members pump fuel into the publics tanks we get the 10% discount for our time and labor. We have a list of Club members and their phone numbers posted on the office door so anyone that flies in and needs fuel can use the nearby pay phone to call. So far it has worked well and people seem to be quite honest because the books balance!
I purchased the Challenger II ultralight kit about January 1992 and informed Phelps Dewey that I would need my hangar back when I got the ultralight assembled. He was unhappy to hear this and when I learned that hangars were available in Willits I suggested he take one of them. He was still displeased so I suggested he rent one there and let me use it so he could continue using my hangar in Covelo. He seemed to go along with this but when the City of Willits found out I would be using the hangar they said I would have to rent it. So that is how I ended up renting hangar #16 in Willits for $95/mo which Phelps pays for the use of my hangar in Covelo! This is no great hardship for me because I have my maintenance work done in Willits anyhow and they have access to the plane in the hangar when they want to work on it. Willits Airport has suffered vandalism in the past and airplane avionics are always being stolen out of the airplanes at airports so I have more peace of mind with it locked up.
July 9, 1992, I started taxi runs with my Challenger II, FAR 103 ultralight trainer, which I assembled from a kit over the preceding six months. Except for an unscheduled off airport landing, caused by my own inattention to detail, that required disassembly of the aircraft to ferry it home and repair the landing gear and lower longerons, it has been a joy. I taped FLY COOK'S AIR TAXI in four inch wide black tape to the undersides of the yellow wings so the letters are about three feet high and quite visible from the ground. I have opened the FFA field day parade on Memorial Day the last two years by flying the parade route just above the treetops and power lines.
I received a call late August 1992 from a gentleman by the name of David Macleod who ownes a ranch on the Mina Road about an hour's drive north of Covelo. He and Bob and Lauri wanted to fly to South Lake Tahoe (TVL for Tahoe Valley) and thus began an interesting relationship. While on one of his sojourns to TVL he became infatuated with an attractive limousine driver by the name of Carol Crosby who had been married to one of Bing Crosby's boys; the band leader as I recall. On one of the many flying trips to TVL with David and an equal number with Carol from TVL to Covelo to visit the Macleod Ranch, Carol, who had a disarming frankness and sense of humor, confided to me that she was a Malibu beach bum!
September 5, 1993, we were invited to a wedding reception at the Macleod Ranch. This being a Labor Day weekend, Joy and Dawn were visiting Betty and I, so we all loaded up and made the dusty drive to a gala celebration which focused on David's new wedding gift to Carol, a red Nissan 300ZX convertible sports coupe. It was a beautiful warm day with guests relaxing around the swimming pool that overlooked the North Fork of the Eel River. Lauri had set a lavish refreshment table and there was no shortage of hospitality. David's brother, a retired engineer, and his sister, Mary, a retired school teacher, were present along with many neighbors and friends. Carol's mother, who resides in Santa Monica, was there also.
From this fairytale, whirlwind courtship, things began to rapidly deteriorate. Carol could not cope with the solitude and isolation of the Ranch and returned to the excitement and bright lights of South Lake Tahoe with her expensive red sports car. David pursued her but she refused to stay at the ranch for any length of time. David began running out of money flying back and forth and Carol's sports car was repossessed. Carol drove her long black Lincoln limousine from TVL to the Macleod Ranch a number of times; even getting stuck in deep snow one winter when Roger O'Farrell helped extricate her. She would stop by our house to visit and on one occasion had to borrow money for groceries and booze for David. One time David tried to hold her hostage by forbidding me from flying her out so she had to call her grown daughter, Jennifer, from a neighbor's phone to come rescue her after the deputy sheriffs refused to intervene because there was no violence involved.
On one occasion I flew David to Santa Monica to pick up Carol, who had been staying with her mother, after an operation on her knees. It was about dusk when we arrived and Carol was not at the Typhoon Restaurant where we had agreed to meet. I located a phone booth to call her mother, who assured me Carol was on her way. Sure enough, Carol showed up and in the meantime David had disappeared. I called the airport security police and was informed that they were dealing with "some drunk" who had attempted to cross the Santa Monica airport runway after dark; a prohibited action even in daylight. Carol, her daughter Jennifer, and I were wondering what we should do when David appeared out of the dark and said, "Let's get the hell out of here; - I got away from them!" In order to do this, I had to listen to the ATIS on the radio, call ground control with my "N" number and acknowledge that I had the latest ATIS information, give my position on the airport, and repeat their taxi instructions. After taxiing to runway 21, going through my checklist and runup, I requested the tower for a clearance to take off. Surprisingly, my request was granted with my fugitive from justice aboard! David later revealed that they had his driver's license and I imagine his "escape" was a courteous concession on their part!
On another occasion, David was driving from his ranch to Covelo when he came on the county road grader operated by Lester Brown. David pulled off to the side at a wide, shady spot. Lester, who was operating in a cloud of dust and noise, and thinking that he was all alone, proceeded to turn the roadgrader around and backed into David's green 3/4 ton 4-wheel drive diesel pickup. Les and David agreed that in view of the extensive amount of damage to the radiator and grill of David's pickup, the California Highway Patrol would have to be summoned through the aid of a passing motorist, to make out an accident report. Les said he had been operating that grader for 16 years without an accident. While waiting for the highway patrol and a tow truck, David pulled a flask of brandy from his pocket "to steady his nerves" and help pass the time. When the highway patrol finally arrived, they cited David for "driving under the influence" which his lawyer was later able to beat!
In the meantime, David needed groceries so he resorted to an old unlicensed military jeep that he used around the ranch, and was caught and cited again. The jeep was impounded at Mike O'Neil's body shop where his pickup was awaiting repair! Undaunted, our hero then proceeded to come to town in his unlicensed 3-wheel offroad vehicle which he also used around the ranch. He hung around the Buckhorn Bar, his favorite watering hole, until closing time and figured that darkness and the late hour would help in his furtive run to the ranch. Unfortunately, the law, including FBI, CHP, and the Mendocino County sheriff's department were holed up at the California Division of Forestry Headquarters looking for another fugitive from justice, Bear Lincoln, who had been implicated in the shooting death of a deputy sheriff a few days previously. To make matters worse, Dave had decided to run with his lights off, so when he breezed by the CDF headquarters all blacked out, the law was sure they had their man! In their frustration with this man who wouldn't quit and probably smelled like a brewery, they incarcerated him in the Ukiah jail. He called me the next day and said they had released him but he was exhausted, sick, and penniless, and wanted me to fly to Ukiah to pick him up and then haul him to his ranch in my station wagon. He was so penitent it was pitifuI. I agreed and offered him some belated advice along the way but much to my chagrin he reached into his "ditty bag" and popped the pull ring on another Bud before we got back to the safety of the ranch.
My observation of this relationship was that both parties had been trying to impress the other with their wealth and prestige. I never saw Carol pay a penny for anything although David maintained that she was a very wealthy woman with apartments, limousine service, etc. Carol was habitually late which was very frustrating and led to some heated exchanges with David. David told me to bill Carol for a flight that I gave up on in exasperation after waiting four hours for her to show up. She never responded to the $231.00 I billed her and David has a balance of
$747.00 on my books. He has called me on a couple of occasions saying he has not forgotten me and then indicates he would like to see Carol in TVL. He is quite annoyed when I stall for a payment against the balance. April 12, I received the following handwritten letter from David:
April 12, '97
Dear Bill,
I wanted you to know that I'm still alive and have been feeling pretty good. You are the next up on my list of bills next to be paid. I"m sorry this matter is taking so long! It's not my way - I"m just having a bad time. I thank you for your patience and faith. I"ll have money for you A.S.A.P.
Hope you and Betty are fine and that your planes are OK. Lots of spring cleanup to do. It has been cold - hard to work.
As ever,
David
Saturday morning, June 6th, Keith Hurt stopped by to tell me that David's housekeeper, Monica, found him murdered with a bullet in his head. The house had been ransacked and his green Ford diesel pickup was missing although his guns were still there. Drug paraphernalia was found in the house. I will send a copy of my bill and his letter, to the executor and probate officer of his estate to seek payment of the $747 debt.
June 26, 1995, received word that son Grant Stuart has just passed his check ride and received his certified flight instructor's rating (CFI). This pleases me no end since he already has the little Grumann AA-1/C T-Cat trainer which will now earn it's way. Stu already has three students that were waiting his certification. He now has more ratings than I and they were probably all harder to get!
On the 4th of July weekend, 1995, the following was extracted from an item which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
EMERGENCY LANDING ON ALASKAN GLACIER,
AP, Anchorage, Alaska
"A sightseeing plane with five people aboard, including a Santa Rosa couple, flipped and broke up Friday while making an emergency landing in Denali National Park north of Mount McKinley. The pilot, PAUL WESTON, and four tourists aboard suffered minor cuts and scrapes, the National Park Service said. The reason for the forced landing on a glacier was not immediately known. The landing was at the 5,000-foot level below Anderson Pass. It was reported that low ceilings, heavy winds and downdrafts were in the area. Both wings had broken off and the tail section also separated from the Cessna 185 single-engine airplane when it landed."
I had flown with Paul Weston, November 13, 1981, in similar weather conditions when we we looking for the Double Eagle V balloon after it crash landed the night before in a terrible storm about 16 miles SE of Covelo. The balloon, under the command of Ben Abruzzo, had just completed a 5,208.67 mile trip across the Pacific from Nagashima, Japan, to Covelo. The next day a Japanese photographer persuaded us to fly so he could get pictures for the media. Paul flew a borrowed Maule as my airplane was grounded by bad weather in Eureka. In addition to getting violently airsick from the turbulence and circling, the Japanese photographer got his pictures which appeared on the front pages of most of the nation's newspapers; a bit grainy having been enlarged from the original 35 mm negative but they were the first and only photos available!

REMINISCING
I first flew N8030A into San Francisco International, July 25, 1967, after visiting the tower. I was surprised at their cordiality but they admonished me not to do like that Cessna 170 that just landed short on a two mile long runway and when they requested he make the first turnoff for landing traffic following, he announced "no brakes" so the big jet had to go around at considerable expense and lost time. Since then I have found SFO easier to get into and out of by air than auto. They like to have you come in as fast as you can and either take the high speed turnoff or land long because the general aviation terminal is at the far end of the two mile long parallel runways. They have top notch controllers that are a pleasure to work with. However, Signature Flight Support recently raised the landing fee and parking fee to $65 which is almost prohibitive.
The last time I counted 202 different airports listed in my logbook and 9,801 logged flying hours; most of it enjoyable! The Forest Service flying is especially dramatic over the Mendocino National Forest which includes 8,092 foot South Yolla Bolly Mountain in the Yolla Bolly Wilderness Area and Snow Mountain Recreation Area to the south. 14,162 foot Mount Shasta is visible 100 miles to the north beyond the Trinity Alps. Mount Lassen and the Sierra Nevada are visible across the Sacramento Valley to the east. Lesser peaks lie north and south along the divide of the North Coast Range of Mountains which are usually snow covered until at least July over which thunderstorms build to assault the forest with lightning strikes and rain showers. At the south end of the Mendocino National Forest lies beautiful Clear Lake, the largest natural body of fresh water within the state. It takes about three hours to fly a complete reconnaissance search pattern which is about 450 miles. The Forest Service sends at least one observer along and sometimes two or three. They use USFS maps to keep track of our position and plot the position of the smokes that we spot, by legal description for the ground crews. We also use Loran and Global Positioning System to determine the latitude and longitude of the "incidents", as they call them, for attack by the smoke jumpers and air tankers if necessary. A fire boss is now an "IC" (Incident Commander).
Having mapped a large part of the Mendocino National Forest when employed by the USGS, I enjoy the unique position of knowing the Forest quite well; having driven many of the roads and walked many of the trails, inking them on the aerial photos, enroute to the triangulation stations on the highest mountains.
The Forest Service furnishes an elaborate "radio package" to the "call-when-needed" operators who are required to mount special rigid communications antennas to the bottom of their wings so they can communicate with ground units, and other air units, through two radio transmitters and receivers that are capable of tuning a dozen other frequencies including "forest net" and "fire net". In addition they connect to the aircraft radios with patch cords so they can also monitor and listen on the 760 channels designated for the FAA which they call the "Victor" net. The forest service radio package has four person intercommunication capability with the use of headsets which makes speech between occupants of the aircraft comfortable. With all this capability in place and operating, the volume levels can be adjusted in order of priority so that essentially you have a four ring circus going with never a dull moment!
The core of all this action is a computer and radio center console in Willows called "Mendocino Dispatch" where all air and ground operations are supposed to be coordinated. Mendocino dispatch solicits and receives position reports and headings from the two call-when-needed contract aircraft every ten minutes. We are designated "Reconn #31" usually.
Art McChesney of Smith Air, Ukiah is the only other call-when-needed contractor for the Mendocino National Forest currently. We were switching the radio package the other day when he showed me some significant hailstone damage to his aircraft incurred when circling around some active storm cells watching for lightening strikes. He said without warning he heard something strike the airplane like a gunshot and then another, and another. Suddenly he said he became aware of these white objects about the size of silver dollars sailing past him like something out of "Starwars" and realized that he better slow down and get out of there!
During the summer of 1987, lightening storms started a series of wildfires over a large area of the Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, Six Rivers and Mendocino National Forests during a critically dry period when manpower and equipment resources were spread too thin to cope. Although many fires were contained and suppressed, several inaccessible smokes exploded into raging forest fires that devastated huge acreages of old growth timber and created so much smoke that visibility was less than a mile forcing me and the others to remain on the ground. Frank Aschert, who had retired from the U.S.G.S. to become the Hyampom Volunteer Fire Department Chief said he could appreciate the term "Nuclear Winter" because fog formed when the smoke screened out the sun's heat and it became dark and cold in August in the daytime! He said even the helicopters at the Hyampom fire base were grounded for lack of visibility but the fires continued to burn!
There are twenty five air tanker bases scattered around the state including Chico, Redding, Rohnerville, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Columbia, Chester, and Fresno, not to mention those in southern California. There is a monument and plaque at the Willows airport landscaped area that states:
BIRTH OF THE AIR TANKER PROGRAM
"Dedicated to the Pioneers who Started Aerial Fire fighting
The first operational air tanker was developed in Willows by the Willows Flying Service in 1955, at the request of the fire control officer of the Mendocino National Forest. A Boeing Stearman 75 "Caydet" agricultural aircraft was modified at the Willows Airport. This aircraft N75081 became the first registered free fall air tanker in the history of aviation. The first air drop was made on the "Mendenhall Fire" August 12, 1955 on the Mendocino National Forest".
"In 1956, seven agricultural aircraft were modified and formed the first operational air tanker squadron in the United States. Piloted by local aviators, this squadron operated out of the Willows Airport fighting wildfires throughout California."
"In 1959, heavy air tankers, capable of carrying 2,000 gallons of fire retardant were providing an effective tool in controlling wildfires. Aircraft having a retardant capacity of 3,000 gallons have contributed to successful wildfire control throughout the United States."
Joe Ely, Fire Control Officer Lee Sherwood, Air Attack Pilot
Harold Hendrickson Dale Nolta
Floyd Nolta Vance Nolta
Ray Varney Frank Prentice
L. H. McCurley Warren Bullock
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Mendocino National Forest
I met Frank Prentice when he repaired some damage I inflicted on N8030A. He was a fixed base operator occupying what is now Ace Aerial's hangar in Ukiah. The Mendenhall Hall Fire of 1955 created a fire storm that trapped and burned to death a dozen men in Grindstone Canyon east of Mendocino Pass and Covelo.
July 18, 1995, I flew three forest service employees from Willows to the air tanker base in Fresno, where I stood by for six hours and ferried them back to Willows before returning to Covelo. I watched them start up a C-130 four engine turboprop Hercules air tanker with a crew of three that was extensively used for troop transport in Vietnam. When it returned the pilot said they had made an air drop of 3,000 gallons of fire retardant on a wildfire near Monterey. Water weights eight pounds per gallon plus the retardant comes to about ten pounds a gallon or 30,000 pounds (fifteen tons) which when properly placed must be a significant deterrent to an ambitious wildfire!
August 5, 1995, Betty and I flew Stationair N8404Z to Renton, WA for our Bellevue High School graduating class of 1944 reunion. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bellevue which sits on property that Betty's family lived on 60 years ago next to Dr. Kardong's clinic. Bob Carlton and Bob Johnson put it all together and they did an excellent job. The class of '49 presented the class of '44 a Certificate of Achievement in commemoration of this wonderful occasion; the first class reunion in 51 years! A buffet breakfast was held at the Bellevue Inn the following morning for the classes of '44 & '45. A pouring rain failed to dampen spirits and all too soon it was time to leave. LaLoie Smith (Lee), who lived with her parents south of my folks in the Swenson house about 1930, came all the way from Maryland with her husband. LaLoie, and Rosie Pappenfus who lived in the house north of the folks, were my first play mates; a matter of convenience.
Veve Belote (Johnson) brought an excellent photograph of the kindergarden class of 1932. Six of the orginal fourteen students were present at the reunion; (top, l to r) Shirley Smith, Veve, Betty & myself, Tom Whitney, and Bill Lloyd (bottom row center).
A commercial photographer took a picture of the 1944 graduating class (which numbered 51) coincidentally reassembled 51 years later in which twenty graduates were present. Unfortunately, Bill Lloyd was not in the picture but was at the reunion with his wife and at the following breakfast Amazingly, Mr. Werner C. Dieckmann, our former principal was there and in the picture! He gave a little speech and said he was still enjoying life at 81 years!
Those in the picture were: Bottom row, left to right; Betty McCray (Cook), Bob Barnes, Louise Wright (Schmitt), and a dummy! Second row, left to right; Sheila Edwards (Davies), Shirley Smith (Cotter), Bill Cook, Ted Millett, Bob Carlton, Ethel Simpson (Marshall), and Bob Johnson. Third row, left to right; Principal Werner C. Dieckmann, Veve Belote (Johnson), Mary Lee Lahey (Ellis), Stan Donough, Dick Hinkle, Art Granberg, and Harold Nelson. Top row, left to right; Frank Messenger, Tom Whitney, and Hugh Somers.
There were two couples present that married into the same class ('44), Veve Belote and Bob Johnson, and Betty and myself. Three couples, Frank Messenger and Noel Nauman, Stanley Donough and Ruth Rowell, Bob Carlton and Marilyn Stevenson, joined the classes of 1944-45 in holy matrimony. Interestingly, the fellows were all class of 1944 and the girls were all class of 1945! Truxton Craven and Janet Dickinson, Curt Cruver and Betty Bird, and Bill Morton and Mary Elizabeth Hilton also married classmates (Class of 1945)!
Frank Messinger and his wife, the former Noel Nauman, were there. Frank made a career of Naval Aviation and retired as a Commander.
Bob Barnes retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and still flies a Piper Super Cub with a Sorenson belly tank and spray booms, in an agricultural spray operation out of Spokane, WA. I especially enjoyed Bob's resume in
"A Walk Down Memory Lane":
Fifty-two years of flying fun,
But missed you all,
Each and every one,
You guys were the neatest,
You girls were the sweetest!"
I talked to Dr. Bill Morton and his wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Hilton whom I admired for many years. Bill was superintendent of the Overlake School District years later and they eventually moved to Chicago where I lost track of them until now. I still haven't found the right opportunity to tell her how beautiful her vocal rendition of "O Holy Night" was when she sang it at the old Presbyterian Church during the Christmas presentations of our teen years.
The class reunion was scheduled during the Seattle Seafair weekend when I guess it was presumed that it would make the trip more worthwhile. As it turned out the Seafair was a disaster because nearly an inch of rain fell with strong winds that caused power outages and visibility so bad that they were unable to televise the water races. I was told that this has never happened before but I recall that the unpredictable weather was one of the reasons we left the Seattle area. I had to file an instrument flight plan and copy a departure clearance from Seattle Air Traffic Control Center to depart from the Renton Airport (RNT), Monday afternoon. It was still raining and the wind was gusting from the south at 20 to 30 knots with a ceiling too low for visual flight rules operation. Seattle Center cleared me in steps up to 7,000 feet while the freezing level was reported to be 6,000 feet which was the minimum enroute altitude (MEA) for which I filed. Another aircraft reported icing and Center asked me if I was encountering ice but I reported negative, so they did not make any effort to allow the other plane to climb. However, the outside air temperature was 30 degrees, two degrees below freezing. My Stationair N8404Z has an autopilot which makes it much easier to fly on instruments in the clouds where you loose your horizon and can experience vertigo.
When we flew north from Covelo, Seattle was forecast to be clear. However, at Portland we encountered a great ocean of undercast of about 4,000 foot tops with Mount Saint Helens and Mount Rainier majestically poking up through the clouds into the blue sky and brilliant sunshine. The Renton automatic terminal information service (ATIS) was reporting a 2,000 foot ceiling which meant it was about 2,000 feet thick. Seattle approach was quite busy and I called them three times before they acknowledged my existance. They gave me a transponder squawk code, an altitude assignment, and a radar vector heading. From then on they were very cooperative and helpful and cleared me for the Renton non-directional beacon and global positioning system runway 15 approach (NDB OR GPS RWY 15 IAP). It brings you up along the east shore of Lake Washington where they turn you left to the southeast (150 degrees magnetic) over the north end of Mercer Island where they start you down towards Renton. Of course you cannot see any of this when you are above or in the clouds. We broke out in the clear at about 2,000 feet as reported; minimums for the approach are a 900 feet ceiling and one mile visibility. Fortunately, they were well above this and I had previously reviewed the instrument approach plate (IAP) for Renton and it went off fairly well considering it was the first time I had ever shot it.
We had planned our trip so that we would spend the night with my sister Grace, and husband Glen Scatterday at Dallas, OR, on our way up and my return. The nearest airport is Independence State about half way between Dallas and Salem where I landed each time in good weather. The nearest instrument approach airport is Salem which was not needed. Grace and Glen met me at the airport and I gave them a report on the class reunion of '44. Grace and Leila were in the class of '47 which has had one or more reunions and their husbands were not motivated to attend this one.
We stayed two nights with my sister Leila and husband Dale Martin at their house in Robinswood, a few miles southeast of Bellevue. I had been concerned about hot weather this time of the year but it was delightfully cool and wet while we were there. Betty remained in North Seattle with her sister Olive who had her two daughters, Virginia and Jim Bono with their three children, and Winona and David Poole with daughter Kendra, visiting. The Bonos are in the process of moving from El Cajon, CA to Chicago and the Pooles were visiting from Albuquerque, NM.
A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE
OVERLAKE/BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOL REUNION CLASS OF 1944
FIFTY-FIRST YEAR REUNION
August 5, 1995
BELLEVUE HYATT REGENCY
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON
DIRECTORY OF CLASSMATES AND BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES
Whereabouts Unknown: Jane Crane, Margaret Daughtery, Ken Ford, Lorraine Green, Robert Koehnen, Oren Kruse, Bob Landis, Loie Marrow, Alvin Nelson, Barbara Smith, James Spencer, Ora Mae Stophilbeen, Eileen Syrett, Dick Rochester, Elwood Olson, Kenny VanKleek, Bob Wegner, Lee Wegner
BOB BARNES, 12410 E 19th Ave, Spokane, WA 99216-0323 (509) 924-2706: 1943-45 USAAF Fighter pilot training, 1946-49 WSC-Military Science Major, flight instructor crop duster, and charter pilot. 1950 married Joan, Air National Guard. 1951-68 USAF Fighter pilot stationed stateside, Europe, Korea, Canada, and Southeast Asia. Retired as a Lt Colonel. Presently an Ag-pilot. One wife, 2 sons, 1 daughter, and 3 dogs. Kept the wife, got rid of the kids, all dogs dead ! Fifty-two years of flying fun, But missed you all for each and every one, You guys were the neatest, You girls were the sweetest ! Love ya all, Bob Barnes
AL BOLST, 10131 Crestwood Rd, Kensington, MD 20895-4245, (301) 564-0153: Graduated Overlake June 1944. University of Washington graduate 1949. Teaching fellow and grad student 1949-52. Met Georgina Lancaster while a T/A to Dixie Lee Ray. 1952 OCS Navy Commission, New Port, RI. Oct 1952 Master of Science Degree, U of W. 1952-57 sea duty, then transfer to Navy Hydrographic Office in Washington D. C. Dec 21, 1957 married Georgina Lancaster. 1958-79 various Navy duty in Vietnam, staff CIC Atlantic mapping and charting emphasis. Retirement 1979. Time to spend with sons Bill, born in 61, and Doug, born in 65. Children mature. Wife worked for National Library of Mendicine. She passed away in l988 with cancer. 1993, son Bill and Roxanne produced grandaughter, Megan.
GERALDINE BOSTON LINDQUIST, 10014 NE 127th Pl, Kirkland, WA 98034
Attended University of Washington after graduation. 1948 married Ralph Lindquist. We have four children, Karen, a school teacher in Northshore District, Robert is a legal aid for a law firm in Seattle, Ralph is a high school principal in Alaska, and Kathryn is a corporate auditor in California. We have 12 grandchildren, the oldest of whom is getting married Aug 5th in Alaska. Ralph retire in 1984, and after getting the travel bug out of our systems, we now spend most of our time between Kirkland and Birch Bay. As Ever, Gerry Lindquist
BIRDIE CANFIELD PELTIER, 3746 W Mohawk Lane, Glendale, AZ 85308
We have been racing, raising and shipping race horses for 48 years. Ever since I've been around Walter. We never know when someone will want to ship at the last minute - so we hope to be able to attend the reunion. More to follow at the reunion.
ROBERT M. CARLTON, 9515 NE 1st St, Bellevue, WA 98004, 206-454-5938
OHS Grad 1944. Graduate of USMMA 1947. Service in South Pacific. BS in Marine Science. 13 years in Navy Reserve. Graduate of U of W 1950. BA in Economics. Married Marillyn Stevenson in 1949. San Francisco Security Bonding Special Agent - United Insurance Co. lst two children born in San Francisco 1952 and 1954. Returned to Bellevue with Hartford A & I in 1956. Built present home to house 2 more boys born in 59 and 60. All of our children went to Medina Grade School, Bellevue Junio High, and Bellevue High School. Marillyn and I relived our school years via the children and their activities. School system was great and greatly assisted our youngsters to qualify for college. One through U of W and 3 through Stanford. I retired in 1989. Now enjoying life and starting phase 3 with 10 grandchildren.
FRANK CHILDS, 1004 107th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98004, 206-454 2983
Biography not furnished.
WILLIAM B. COOK and ELIZABETH V. McCRAY, 23721 Howard St, PO Box 418, Covelo, CA 95428, 707 983-6542: Both graduates of OHS June 1944. Bill went into the Army after graduation - duty in the Philippines; after VJ day Korean occupation force. Returned to U of W, met Betty again and married June, 1949. Graduate of College of Forestry. Back to the Korean War as a 2nd Lieutenant. Upon return, Betty and new daughter, Joy, went to California and employment with Topographic Divison of the U. S. Geological Survey. In early years three more children, Gail, Dawn, and Grant, all born in different states. Moved to Covelo, CA in 1965, for mapping project, a frontier town, not unlike Bellevue before floating bridges. 1970 moved into family residence which we continue to renovate and occupy. While resting, Betty managed to acquire BSA Degree and teaching certificate at Humboldt State University. Still works mornings as teachers AID at the elementary school. Work for Bill exposed him to airplanes and helicopters. Purchased a plane, commuted between work and home. Later acquired a commercial pilot license and instrument ratings. Retired in 1977 and FAA helped him to acquire Air Taxi Commercial Operator Certificate. Upgraded through seven aircraft and accumulated 10,000 hours. He continues to contract with U.S. Forest Service transporting personnel and flying fire reconnaissance over the Mendocino National Forest, which he earlier helped map. Betty tolerates this worrisome activity and Bill can worry about Betty's horseriding on "Sandy". The Cooks feel life has been a great adventure!
RUTH DOME TREMPER, 2402 82nd NE, Medina, WA 98004, 206 455-9291
Biography not furnished.
STANLEY W. DONOGH JR, PO BOX 621, Anacortes, WA 98221
After many years as a building contractor in the greater Seattle area, I am just now getting completely out of it. It is a business I really enjoyed in the early years, but it has become increasingly comples. Ruth and I have lived in Anacortes for the past five years. We have five children and 9 grandchildren. Editors Note: Stan doesn't tell us any sea tales, but he has single handedly sailed the Western Carribean, and built a beautiful boat. He successfully stayed away from pirates !
SHEILA EDWARDS DAVIES, 2700 Queenswood Dr, Victoria, B. C. V8N 1X5:
Attended Bellevue Grade School and three years at Bellevue High with many of you. Finished my schooling in Victoria, B. C. where my parents retired in 1944. Soon set out to explore the world, bouncing between Canada and England, taking any job that would get me to my next destination. A highlight was the summer of 1949, when I hitch-hiked through Europe. Later traveled through Southeast Asia in a more conventional manner on freighters. A husband and two stepdaughters kept me in San Francisco for 25 years. Now it is our turn to retire to Victoria where we live in my parents home. A large garden curtails my travels.
ARTHUR GRANBERG, 9510 NE 42nd Pl, Bellevue, WA 98004, 206-454-4656
I had my eighteenth birthday at the end of Oct 1943. I was in the Army Air Force Cadet program on Jan 1, l944. Fortunately for me I had enough high school credits to graduate with the 1944 class, although I was absent (in Denver in Air Force). After training went to the South Pacific as a B-24 bomber crew member. I left the Air Force in the summer of 1946; 2 1/2 years later. After some time attending classes at the University of Washington, I left to work in the construction industry. Eventually, had my own company building houses. Fifteen years later I went to work for the City of Redmond, WA. Was there for 25 years, retiring Jan 1991, as Assistant Public Works Director and Building Official. Married, four children and 3 grandchildren. Have lived in the Bellevue area since high school. The last 33 years on Yarrow Point. Hobbies are boating, autos, sports, and traveling.
HELEN HILSE ALSKOG, 23603 Meridian N, Stanwood, WA 98292: Biography not furnished.
DICK HINKLE, PO Box 19111, Thorne Bay, AK 99919; was in the Army after graduation and was in the Philippines on Leyte. Worked in the logging industry until called back in the Army during the Korean War. Returned to work logging after discharge and worked in Washington, Oregon, and the Redwood area in California as high climber, foreman, and superintendent. Also, worked in Brazil on the Jari Project in the Amazon Basin as a logging consultant. Have been in Alaska for the past 30 years working for Ketchikan Pulp Company as Logging Co-ordinator. Retired in September of 1994, and am working on a consultant basis for them at present.
SETH JACKSON, Seattle, Mt Baker Neighborhood since 1961; Washington State College 1946-52, B Arch E, WW II military, US Army 3rd Air Force training command stateside. Licensed architect, Washington 1956; NCARB Certificate 1966. Principal Woo, Jackson & Edwards, 58-63. Staff Architect US Public Buildings Service, 63-86. Contrtact architect, BE&C Engineers (Boeing) 88-93. Member: The Construction Specifications Institute, C51, 62-95. Past president, Puget Sound Chapter, 68-69. Advanced to Fellow, 72. (Prof. Title: 5J, NCARB, FCSI). Married Colleen Fulton of Polson, MT, 1953. (MSU GRADUATE 51) Two children, Jordan, born in 59, and Gail, born in 64. 2 grandchildren, Iris, born in 84, and Bleys, born in 90.
ELINOR JENSEN COLEMAN, 19041 SE 271st, Kent WA 98042, 206 630-0806
Married to David for 41 years. I have one daughter and two sons. 4 grandchildren, 5th one due Aug 13th. Left the Seattle area in August of 1962, to various states where my husband worked on the Minuteman Program with the Boeing Company. Returned to Seattle area in December 1979, and now reside in the Kent/Covington area.
ROBERT L. JOHNSON and VEVE BELOTE JOHNSON, 1322 NW Woodbine Way, Seattle, WA 98177, 206-364-2560; Bob Johnson: I left good old Overlake just prior to the graduation ceremonies in order to enlist in the Army's ASTP program. After 4 1/2 years in the Army, I returned to civilian life. Just before dischage from the Army, I reaquainted with Veve Belote and we were married, November 12, 1948, and happily still are. We have two children Marcia and Bruce. Marcia lives in Vista, CA, with her husband Jeffery and twin boys, ten years old. Bruce lives in Brier, WA, with his wife Pamela. I went to work, under my Dad, at Benz Spring Co. for eight years. From there I went to Sweden Freezer Mfg Co. for eight years. I then landed a job with Jack Ogle and Co., as office manager. I went on to retire after thirty years as Vice President of Operations. I am now a participant in the SBA's SCORE program. This is the Service Corps of Retired Executives. Veve and I have lived in Northwest Seattle for the past 26 years.. Veve Belote Johnson: After leaving WSU in 1946, I returned to NW Bell Telephone Co. for approximately four years. Bob Johnson and I were married in 1948, and raised two fine children. Marcia is married to Jeffrey Manley, has 10 year old twin boys and lives in Vista, CA. Bruce is married to Pamela Sonderland and lives in Brier, WA. I am now retired from Seattle Public Schools.
MARY LEE LAHEY ELLIS, 2567 Meadow Lane, Juneau, AK 99801, 907-789-9260; I married Jay Ellis 1949 in Bellevue. Moved to Alaska June 1950. We have three beautiful daughters, four perfect grandchildren. Jay and I are now retired. We fish in the summer, shovel snow in the winter and travel a bit in our spare time. I've only seen a few classmates since 1944, and am really looking forward to seeing everyone.
ROBERT LE GATE, Rt 2 Box 230, Dayton WA 99328; biography not furnished
BILL LLOYD, 8115 So Sandy Hook Terrace, Clinton, WA 98236, 360-579-4370; after graduation in 1944, I was drafted into the Navy, got discharged in 1946, and went to work for The Boeing Company in 1947. I retired from Boeing in 1987. Over the years, I've enjoyed motorcycling, jeeping, hunting, fishing, boating, music, skiing (snow and water), scuba diving, golf, curling, and dogs. I also acquired the nickname of "Blacky". My wife, Carole, and I live on Whidbey Island at Sandy Hook with our Leonberger pup "Bos'n". We do a lot of cruising with Bos'n on our 41' powerboat "Penguin".
HARLAN LEWIS, 821 83RD NE, Medina, WA 98004, 206-454-4951; biography not furnished.
BETTY McCRAY COOK, 23721 Howard St, PO Box 418, Covelo, CA 95428, 707-983-6542; see biography William Cook.
FRANK MESSINGER, 2621 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-929-8068; graduated OHS June 44. Entered US Naval Academy, graduating class of 1949. Married Noel Nauman. 20 year career in US Navy/Naval Aviator. Got mixed up in several revolutions, a couple of wars and several minor conflagrations. Raised a son and daughter, lived in various places around the world. Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Spain, Afghanistan, Iran, avoiding winters whenever possible. Retired as Commander. Greatest challenge is keeping up with Noel, volunteer teaching San Francisco Public Schools and rooting for the Giants. In between consulting for American Bell and telecommunicating for Pacific Bell. All told, a most fortunate life - very exciting and fascinating at every turn.
TED MILLETTE, 4011 North Star, Anchorage, AK 98503; Graduated Overlake HS 1944. Joined the Army and spent 2 years as a prison supply sargeant in Japan with the US occupation forces. Attended the University of Washington. Married Pat Stewart 1948-65. Three children, Patti, Ted, and Jeffery. Moved to Anchorage, AK, 1963. Experienced the 9.2 great Alaska earthquake in 1964. Worked for Bradys Floorcovering as Sales Manager 1963-1993. Remarried 1968-75. Single for 16 years. Took up scuba diving and used underwater video and camera, photographing sea life and shipwrecks throughout the South Pacific. Active in ballroom dancing for 3 years. In 1987, appeared in Alaska Mens Magazine. Subsequently appeared on a number of West Coast TV shows, and participated in fund raisers for womens business groups on the East Coast. I was chosen to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Alaska Mens Show in 1989, where Linda Sheppard, a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines, saw me on TV while on a layover in Toronto, Canada. (See "The Story"). Married Linda Sheppard 1991. We have a little log cabin on a remote lake that we both enjoy; snow machining in the winter, boating in the summer, and we use our RV frequently to tour Alaska and hopefully will cruise down the Alcan next year.
AGNES MUSCATELL LAMB, 1606 Road 68, Pasco, WA 99301, 509-547-4059; biography not furnished.
HAROLD J. NELSON, 8437 Island Dr S., Seattle, WA 98118, 206-725-9309; I was drafted into the Army shortly after graduation. I saw service in the Philippines and was one of the first to do occupation duty in Japan. After getting out of the service, I attended the University of Washington for a year. During summer vacation I started working at Boeing and retired 40 years later. Over the years I have done some traveling to different countries in Europe and to Russia and Egypt. Also have an interest in older cars.
DELORES RUBY PALM, 191 Discovery View Dr, Sequim, WA 98382, 206-683-1303; biography not furnished.
ETHEL SIMPSON MARSHALL, 14212 228th SE, Issaquah, WA 98027, 206-391-4411; married in 1947 to a wonderful man. Had 38 years together. Had 2 children, Patti and Kenny. I have 3 grandchildren and one great grandchild. I took a trip to New Zealand and Australia in 1987. Went to Alaska on 2 separate trips and in 1992, took a cruise through the Panama Canal. Have been taking small trips and catching up on my crafting and yard work. Not very exciting buy satisfying.
SHIRLEY SMITH COTTER, 4505 31st Ave W, Seattle, WA 98199, 206-282-2773; I received information about the reunion and am excited to be attending. Jack was looking forward to attending with me, but I' m sad to say he passed away March 14, 1995. As for the 'Highlights" of my life- - Well !! I entered the 3 year Nursing Training School at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, graduating December 1947. I worked for a year before attending Seattle University for a BSN degree. That's where I met my husband Jack Cotter. We were married June 1949 at the then Chapel of Flowers in Bellevue. We have lived in the Magnolia district of Seattle 40 years. We have three children and 6 grandchildren.. I retired in 1988 from nursing at Virginia Mason Hospital.
HUGH SOMERS, PO Box 9056, Santa Rosa, CA 95405, 707-545-1734; March 1944, enlisted in US Navy. Discharged, June 1946. Sept1946 to June1950 attended San Jose State College. October 1950 began work at People National Bank in Seattle. March 11, 1955 married Jean Thorson and on March 2, 1956 we had our first child, Douglas. On September 18, 1958 along came our second son, David. We moved to California in Oct 1960 and began work for Bank of California. On April 23, 1962 our third son, Donald, arrived. In March 1986, I retired to enjoy the good life and spend more time with our 4 grandchildren.
THOMAS WHITNEY, 11634 SE 47th, Bellevue, WA 98006, 206-746-9947; biography not furnished.
LOUISE WRIGHT SCHMITT, 4503 224th Pl SW, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043, 206-776-1077; I worked for Columbia Pictures, MGM, and a Theatrical Supply Co. While working at Columbia Pictures, I met my husband. (His brother worked at Columbia also). We were married in 1950, and have two sons and one daughter. I have done the usual things being a Room Mother many times, helping with school activities, PTA, and a Camp Fire Girls Leader for several years. We have lived in Mountlake Terrace since 1962.
LEATICE YATES HANKS, 965 N Island View Dr W, Camano Island, WA 98292; after graduation I worked at Kirkland Bank and then on to the Seattle Port of Embarkation. Married a man with 2 children, and we had 3. I have 6 grandchildren, 6 stepgrandchildren, 1 great grandchild, and 2 on the way, plus 8 step-great grandchildren. I workedf at Boeing for ten years and we lived in the Burien area until my husband retired to Camano Island. We took a memorable vacation to the NW Territories. Our eyes and health keep us home now since I've ended up with diabetes.
DECEASED: Alice Boddy, Marjalu McDonough, Berniece Moore, Mary Ellen Naslund.
A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE
OVERLAKE/BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
CLASSES 1945 THROUGH 1950
WERNER C. DIECKMAN, Principal, 1943 - 1947: We were together for three years, I as a freshman principal with much to learn. What and how much do we remember? For me it is reading and re-reading the Beacon Year Books. They chronicle your progress from underclass status to becoming another outstanding Overlake graduating class! The year books also kindle fond memories about so many individual students, teachers, fellow administrators, school board members - all working together to provide high quality education to all students, kindergarten through grade 12. Those were the best years of my 37 years in education. I hope that memories of your Overlake High School years are as good or better and will be shared at the reunion.
ELAINE AVERY STRATHEARN
LA VERNE BEHRENS GREEN, 13015 SE 46th, Bellevue, WA 98005
DICK BERKEY, 23608 - 94th Avenue South, Kent, WA 98031
BETTY BIRD CRUVER, Husband Curt, 7261 NE William Rogers Road, Indianola, WA 98342; after a short stint at then WSC and some time at good old Puget Power, Curt Cruver and I were married in the fall of 1948. With the birth of our son in mid 1951, I retired from working everyday at the office to every hour at home. Involvement with school, church, volunteer social work and young people's organizations has been important. Home, always in Bellevue, mostly Clyde Hill and Yarrow Point, is now in Indianola where we have lots of beach right out the door.Our son and two daughters, all BHS graduates have given us seven extraordinary grandchildren, now eleven to sixteen. All live in the greater Seattle area so we see them often.
VASHO BLANA NOTKIN, (Husband Ben), 348 A Kallepulu Drive, Kailua, Hawaii 96734; married Benjamin S. Notkin, Mechanical Engineer. Children are Catherine, Marillyn and James B. 1981 moved from Seattle to Oahu, Hawaii. Interests: Golf, reading, community activities, bridge and entertaining old friends from the mainland.
BETTY L. PARKE BOYCE, 360 Sharry Lane, Santa Maria, CA 93455-3753; graduated midterm; only senior who was married. Moved to Santa Maria, CA in 1964 with husband, Jefferson and four youngsters. Began classes at the local community college; earned Bachelor Degree in Education, 1978, from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo - graduating with honors - and Master Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, 1980 also from Cal Poly. Married over 46 years when husband died in 1991. Contract with State of California (1982-91) providing statewide in-service workshops for high school and community college business educators on computer applications, curriculum development and assessment, keyboarding, and test writing. Research director for a California keyboarding project. Taught at Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Los Angeles, Allan Hancock Community College, Santa Maria and Cuesta Community College, San Luis Obispo. Author of 10 computer applications testbooks, published between 1981 and 19995. Developed several curriculum documents for California State; authored numerous articles appearing in state, regional, and national publications; served as editor for state and national publications. Recipient of the California State Department of Education, Business Education Division, Who's Who Award for Excellence in Business Education, in 1988 and 1990. Currently: consultant to school districts in California, including Los Angeles County Office of Education; independent contractor for Anthony Robbins seminars in various locations; and on Board of Directors for several nonprofit organizations. Member of Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Pi Epsilon, Delta Kappa Gamma, National Speakers Association, the Authors Guild, and other professional organizations. Betty says, "I like to travel - and I like to write," and recently became an indpendent travel agent; established her own publishing firm; and is working on new publications - some of which include co-authoring with two granddaughters. Following the Bellevue/Overlake Reunion, Betty will be gathering her six grandchildren (ages 11 to 17) for a week of adventures in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho.
MARK BOYCE, Box 924, Buckley, WA 98321; I joined the Air Force upon graduation, serving overseas. After being home for a while, and while searching for the right religion, I became one of Jehovah's Witnesses being a minister for many years here and in North Dakota, and still am, though limited now. I am sure sorry I won't be there, I just mentioned the other day that I have never heard about any reunion over all these years. My wife of 46 years is very ill. Although I am doing fine now I have had three cancer surgeries and two heart attacks over the years.
BARBARA (BJ) BRANN MILLNER, 4521 -170th Place NE, Redmond, WA 98052; Work - OIffice and Thompson Drug. Schooled at San Diego State, BA Business Adminstration. Married April 1951 great guy - Joe Millner. Worked part time at Frederick & Nelson; first and only child, Elizabeth, born Oct 1952. Oct 1955 went to work for Christmas at Sears Catalog Plant in Seattle as flunky office clerk in the employment office. Christmas wasn't over for me until Sept 1984 ! Long Christmas !! From 1955 to 1984 I held many positions, some of which included traveling Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. My positions were wonderful. My last was Personnel Manager of the plant and Anmnex of 750 employees. In March 1985 I became custodian of my two granddaughters, Megan was 4 and Heather was 1. I've been a Mom again since that time - so I'm busy. I volunteer at their schools and I volunteer at the Eastside Community Aid Thrift Shop in Redmond. All our profits go to eastside charities. I've been very blessed.
RUSSELL CODER, PO Box 1006, Zillah, WA 98953
TRUXTUN CRAVEN, wife Janet, 8912 SW 146th Place, Vashon, WA 98070; spent 20 years with Boeing, commuting from Vashon Island. Retired from Boeing and bought Olympic Instruments on Vashon - retired from there after 20 years and became a full-fledged snow bird. To date I have enjoyed one wife, four offspring and six grandchildren. Aside from becoming one of the Island characters, I find senior citizen status great.
CURT CRUVER, wife Betty, 7261 NE William Rogers Road, Indianola, WA 98342; after an involvement with the Navy and time at the U of Dub, I married Betty Bird in 1948. A career in the construction industry started soon after. The first seven years in residential, the last thirty five in commercial and institutional work. Responsibility for projects in most of the western and upper midwest states plus many in Alaska made near weekly travel very much a way of life. I retired in mid-1990 as vice president and division manager of Koll Construction. Along the way I enjoyed board membership and involvement in several non-profit social assistance organizations, Church boards and comittee as well as similar industry associations both local and nationally. Yarrow Point Town Councilman and King County Water District 1 Commissioner came with the territory.
DON DAVIS
JERRY DECKER TERNAN, 340 Sunset Drive, Reno, NV 89509; I was married for 28 years to my husband, Philip, a university professor. I passed away in 1974. I had 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl. I am still single and retired.
WANDA GILBERT SONNESON, husband Lester, 1016 "C" Street, Washougal, WA 98671-2248; married during my freshman year at the U of W, I have accompanied the same husband to engineering assignments in Oregon, North Carolina, British Columbia and Washington, where we finally settled in Washougal. My three children all grew up without causing any major traumas, and my five grandchildren have provided plenty of excitement over the years. We have been, and still are, involved in city government, library support and historical preservation. Our spare time is spent mainly in Reno or Honolulu.
BILL GREUTER
MARY ELIZABETH HILTON MORTON, husband Bill, (see Bill Morton)
ROY HOLMBERG, 9028 - 124th Avenue NE, Kirkland, WA 98033; from the class of 1945 I was drafted into the US Army Infantry in June, serving until the spring of 1947. At that time I returned to Bellevue and civilian life. I married in 1957, resided in Kirkland and had 2 sons by this marriage. Son Rick, 36 years of age, currently manages a business in Everett. Son Randy met untimely death at age 29. I recently retired after a 45 year career with Boeing.
AMY LEE HOYT IRWIN, 2411 - 209th NE, Redmond, WA 98053; 206-836-0120; after high school I attended the University of Washington, graduated in 1949, married in 1951 and have two married daughters and two wonderful grandchildren. We are very close! Career-wise, the most rewarding assignment was to develop and expanded program for hiring the handicapped in all Boeing Divisions (Puget Sound). Deaf, blind, paraplegics, amputees, a quadriplegic, etc. were successfully placed - matching skills, training and modifying equipment and the job environments. I worked for years in Industrial Relations, Personnel, Vocational Rehabilitation and operated my own business. A lifetime dream came true in 1988 when I traveled in Europe (7 months, 13 countries) - backpacking part of the time. Kept a daily diary "Gullible's Travels." Currently, I've resumed art classes, am a part-time property manager, work part time as a photographic model and am taking TV commercial acting classes. I have a home in Redmond. I would like to hear from anyone and hope that we'll have another reunion within the next few years.
PHIL JACOBSEN, wife Artie, 1407 NE Bellevue Way, Bellevue, WA 98004
ALICE JOHNSON KLUGE
FRED JONES, 408 Midway Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94402; I was born in Seattle at an early age, attending Magnolia Grade School for kindergarten and 6 years and Lawton Grade School for 2 years, and matriculated through 1 year of Bellevue High School and 3 years of Overlake High School ending in 1945 under the reign of Mr. Odle, Mr. Howard and Mr. Diekmann. We were a small high school, with about 312 students, but we helped put it on the map. We were the first to put into and ring the flagpole with truck tires, and to install a horse with bales of hay in the study hall over Halloween weekend. We took on Edmonds and Kirkland High Schools in football; we never beat them in those days, except maybe in debate. Frank Messinger demonstrated how sitting in hydrochloric acid can disintegrate the seat of one's pants. And Truxton Craven showed how to get a speeding ticket with a souped-up Model T Ford named Gracie. There was a war on, but most of us missed it, and somehow the teachers and education we got was of the best there is. I think Mr. Odle must have been a genius of a math teacher. After high school, I worked for a Congressman for a few months to learn how to make monumental measures out of Capitol Hill. I attended the University of Washington for 4 more years for a degree in Political Science with minor studies in Russian language and accounting. Later I managed to get through law school at Golden Gate Law School in San Francisco. The past 35 years I practiced law and accounting, mostly tax, in the San Francisco Bay area, trying to apply deductive logic to a tax return. Trying to make what's left of the common law work is a pretty good chore, too. I was married in 1954 to Carmen Miller, Renton High School 1946, University of Washington 1953. We have 3 children, not chips off any known block, who haven't figured why their parents work and save and pay bills so much. I wish we could leave for them the better world we thought we were making.
IRENE KARDONG JOHNSON, 1005 - 104th Avenue SE, Bellevue, WA 98004
BETTIE KREPELKA HANCOCK, husband Bill, 21841 NE 30th Place, Redmond, WA 98053; after graduating from Overlake I entered the University of Washington in the fall. I majored in Home Economics and minored in Art. After graduating, I married Bill Hancock in August of 1949. We moved to Tacoma, then Anchorage, Alaskal, back to Issaquah and currently we live in Redmond. We had a wonderful time raising our two boys. We now are enjoying our three grandsons and watching them grow up. I am an enthusiastic gardener and we have a greenhouse so I can keep busy the year around. We both enjoy traveling and we have traveled extensively for the last twenty years.
NORMAN KRONZ, 9428 - 171st Avenue NE, Redmond, WA 98052
WILFRED KRUSE
DAVID LANGE, 16315 SE 40th, Bellevue, WA 98006; my family consists or consisted of three wives, two children, five grandchildren and one great grandson. I have probably worked at at least 20 jobs. Main jobs timewise were Standard Oil Company, six years; American Can Company, two years; owned Shell station, two years; & Xerox Corp., 29 years, last 15 years as senior technician in Seattle area stationed in Bellevue. During this time did TV show - Political Satire on Channel 13. Retired from Xerox. At present work full-time for Journal American Newspaper in advertising department.
JIM LOUGHRAN, wife Paddy, 1871 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004; went into the Army for 18 months right after graduation. Married Paddy Durkee in 1948 and attended then WSC for 2 1/2 years, majoring in Architecture. Built a home in Bellevue on property that used to be my family's farm. Went into building trades as an eastside carpenter. Started own business doing custom cabinet and finish work. We have one daughter and one granddaughter who live in Bellevue. Retired now and seem to be busier than ever! Enjoy skiing, back packing, playing bridge, gardening and particularly enjoy traveling. Also, I do volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity and cooking & serving meals for the homeless.
DOROTHY McCRACKEN HERMANS, husband Marcus, PO Box 190, Carlton, WA 98814-0190; married 1950. Had three children, two boys and one girl. All are well and live in the Seattle area. Divorced in 1983. When my youngest was in high school, I went back to school and became an RN. I worked in various places from a small hospital in Cordova, Alaska, to a public health nurse in King County, then Fircrest for the retarded in Seattle. I retired in 1989. In 1986 I married Marcus. We moved to the Methow Vally in 1991. Now we have a 20 acre organic farm.
LLOYD MAXWELL, PO Box 86, Graham, WA 98338
BILL MORTON, wife Mary Elizabeth, 7220 Churchwood Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80918; we were married after the war and raised three sons, in Bellevue, and one daughter, mostly in Illinois. Early on we owned a "mom and pop" grocery store; but "pop Bill" decided to go back to college, and after "mom Mary" was held up at gun-point, the enthusiasm dimmed. Bill received his Bachelor and Masters degrees at Seattle University, and later we all six lived in college housing at WSU while he earned his doctorate. Before and after, he worked for the Bellevue Schools. In 1974, we moved to the Chicago area where Bill was Superintendent of Schools in the Village of Glen Ellyn, a neat place to raise our daughter. Meanwhile, I started to work for Sessions Records and when Bill retired the owners of Sessions asked if we'd move to Colorado Springs with the company. Since then we have both retired from our "real" jobs and work part time.
CATHERINE MURPHY O'CONNOR, 7222 East Taylor, Port Orchard, WA 98366
MARGARET NIELSON VIK, 9734 SE 40th, Mercer Island, WA 98040
BOB NORDLING
HORACE OLSEN, 20707 NE Union Hill Road, Redmond, WA 98052
EUGENE PINCKSTON
VINETA PORTER HAUSAUER, husband George, 30135 - 2nd Place SW, Federal Way, WA 98023
CHARLOTTE ROSE, 21916 - 82nd West, Edmonds, WA 98???
FRANK RUNDLE, 2124 Kittredge Street, Box 97, Berkeley, CA 94704; (Known as "Pinky" in high school, became Francis as a freshman at the U of W, changed to Frank after many professors, when calling roll in class, called "Miss Rundle." Ignoramuses - they didn't know Francis from Frances.) Graduated from U of W, BS in Psychology, 1949; MD from Northwester University Med. Center in NY City f1957-60. Thereafter, private practice at State Hospital in WI; community mental health center, WI; Chief Psychiatrist Soledad Prison, CA and others. Currently on assignments in Psychiatry, various places in US. Married in 1955, three sons now 39, 37 & 33. Six grandchildren (four boys, two girls), divorced 1970. Signal event was coming to understand that I am gay and coming to terms with that, which included coming out personally and professionally. The latter included cofounding in 1978 what is now the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists with membership of 450 and gaining official recognition from the American Psychiatric Association, of what it chooses to call CHIP - Caucus of Homosexually Identified Psychiatrists.
BLANCHE SCHONING, 1234 - 134th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
RODNEY SCOTT, 926 Federal East, Seattle, WA 98102
DAVE SHANK
GEORGE SHEARER, wife Helen "Sam", PO Box 707, Irrigon, OR 97844; drove a truck over the road for Consolidated Freightways for 38 years, 34 years without an accident. 3 million + miles. Never injured anyone who ran into me, ever. The highlight of my life was on February 27, 1969, when I married my present wife. She has been the one to lean on when I neede it. She has been the one to council me when I need it. Through all the years and seven moves, job related, she has been my partner.
VERNA SIEPMANN DAMLO
ARCHIE SIMPSON, PO BOX 1312, Crooked River Ranch, OR 97760
CLEONE SMITH FOURNIE, husband John, 5286 Cold Springs Drive, Forest Hill, CA 95631; From 1945 until 1958 I worked in the Seattle area. I worked for Hertz Rent A Car for 10 years, half of that time at SeaTac. In Jan 1958 my husband, John and I moved to San Mateo, CA. We both worked at SF Airport, he for PanAm, and I again for the Hertz Corp. After 25 years of working I said enough of this and decided to retire. We moved to Forest Hill, a tiny little town in the Sierra Foothills. We are about 45 miles east of Sacramento, on the way to Reno. We are quite content here. I have my garden which keeps me busy, plus a couple of cats and dogs. Our only fear we have living here during the summer time is forest fires. Otherwise we have no compaints.
DEANE SMITH, wife Charlotte, 16254 SE 24th, Bellevue, WA 98008; after graduation, I spent six and a half years in the Marine Corps, ending in Korea. Then I spent forty years in construction, a few years with Cahill Construction, working with Jim Loughran and thirty-two years with Howard S. Wright Construction, as a superintendent. My wife, Charlotte, and I raised five sons. And now in retirement, we are involved in the Cascade Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, are raising a twelve year old granddaughter, Melissa, and chasing geese off of Phantom Lake.
LALOIE SMITH LEE, husband Orv, Route 3, Box 554, Hollywood, MD 20636; greetings from Southern Maryland - the land famous for heat, humidity and the LITTLE blue crab. Forty seven years ago I married Orv Lee and we measure our wealth by four sons and their lovely wives plus eight (and 1/2) grandchildren. We do all the grandparenty stuff, a little volunteer work and a lot of hiking from our cabin in the Shenandoah Mountains (out here 3,500 ft makes a mountain!) in Virginia. Looking forward to visiting with you all back in beautiful Washington State.
LORETTA SMITH ALLEN, 3220 "K" Avenue, Anacortes, WA 98221; after graduating from high school I enrolled in nurses training. I attended Seattle University and Virginia Mason Hospital School of Nursing graduating in the spring of 1949. Shortly thereafter, I was licensed as a registered nurse. I worked briefly at Virginia Mason Hospital and then was married to Richard Allen. Subsequently I moved to Anacortes, Washington where I have resided since tha time. I have two children, a son and a daughter and two grandchildren, all residing in Anacortes. My husband passed away as a result of an irreversible heart condition at age 46 in 1972. I have been a widow since that time. I have enjoyed a full life and a very rewarding nursing career. Most of my forty plus years in nursing were spent in Nursing Administration at the local hospital. I retired in 1990 and am thoroughly enjoying my unstructured liefe and in particular having more time for family and friends.
MARILLYN STEVENSON CARLTON, husband Bob, 9515 NE 1st Street, Bellevue, WA 98004; I've lived most of my life in Bellevue with the exception of four years in San Francisco. After graduation from high school, I attended Mills College for two years and graduated from the University of Washington in 1949. Bob Carlton and I were married that same year. We have four children - three boys and a girl. When the children wer older, I returned to the U of W for a fifth year and teaching certificate. I worked for the Bellevue School District for twelve years in various positions - eight years at Bellevue High School and four in the Administration Building. Taking early retirement in 1982, I did substitute teaching for the next eight years. All of our four children attended Bellevue Junior High which was our old high school building plus added classrooms and facilities. They also all graduated from Bellevue High School. We now have ten grandchildren, two of which are attending Bellevue Schools - maybe third generation BHS graduates. We're enjoying our family and retirement, spending a lot of time at our summer place at Indianola, and traveling when we get the chance.
MAE SUGURO DEGUCHI
ROBERT TIMSON
MARY TREADWELL
LINDY WALLICK
MARGARET WAHAM RANDISH, husband Matt, 7704 Yeomalt Point Dr NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
JOHN WINGET, wife Shirley, PO Box 7763, Tacoma, WA 98407
DOROTHY WRIGHT
LORAINE WRIGHT HAIGHT, 137 -13th Avenue, Kirkland, WA 98033
Wednesday, September 13, 1995, I departed Covelo in the dark at 04:30 AM to ferry Stationair N8404Z to Tekoa, WA for an engine exchange. I was concerned about running into 14,162 foot Mt Shasta in the dark but when I got within 20 miles the snow on it's slopes made it visible in the partial moonlight. Landed at Pullman, WA about 08:45 AM to refuel and then proceeded another 30 miles north over the Loren & Val Fisher farm to Tekoa, WA arriving about 09:30 AM. Met Harold Morgan and I looked over the $8,000 exchange Continental IO-470-S engine (and logbooks) that belonged to John Habberstad that I was buying through Harold who had previously overhauled it and 180 hours later removed it from John's C-205 for an upgrade to a 300 HP IO-520 engine.
After removing the prop governor and oil cooler from my old engine Harold ferried me and the aforementioned accessories to Spokane where he UPS'ed them out for overhaul and I caught a 01:35 PM Southwest Airlines flight via Seattle to Oakland arriving at 04:45 PM where I caught the 05:30 PM Santa Rosa Airporter that was supposed to arrive in Ukiah at 09:00 PM. However, the bus broke down at the Rock House, about 20 miles short of Ukiah and the one other passenger and myself were given a ride on in, in an old unlicensed Cadillac which the bus driver, Bob Crawford arranged for us; where Betty met me for the Covelo leg of the trip home arriving about 11:00 PM. Needless to say, it was a long day!
Tuesday, October 3, I departed Covelo in Keith's Family Food Center's diesel truck at 03:45 AM to catch the 09:30 AM Ukiah Airporter for Oakland. After a transfer at Santa Rosa, and another at San Rafael, I arrived at Oakland in time to catch the 01:00 PM Southwest Airlines flight direct to Spokane. A violent thunder and lightening storm with two rainbows and 50 MPH winds was going on a few miles east of our final approach course on our arrival. This storm dropped an inch and a half of unwelcome early rain on the Fisher farm!
I called Bob Barnes, an old high school classmate that I sat next to in Mr. Raff's aeronautics class, and told him the "Eagle has landed"! He picked me up about twenty minutes later and we spent a very enjoyable evening with his wife, Joan, sister-in-law Jean, and potential son-in-law Jerry, who is an Alaskan bush pilot on his way to meet Bob's daughter, Roberta (Bob), is working as a RN in the Colorado Air Force Academy Hospital. They plan to marry soon and live in the big Fleetwood Flair diesel pusher that he drove down the Alcan Highway. After a congenial breakfast and farewells, Bob drove me about an hour south to Tekoa.
My nephew, Dale Martin Jr, had written his master's thesis in 1984 on the history of Tekoa, an important railroad divison point in eastern Washington (near the Idaho border), where two mainlines crossed, the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road (with about 80 feet of vertical separation and no interconnection). Where previously five railroad tracks radiated from the town like spokes of a wheel in all directions, now only portions of the old railroad grades and a large trestle NW of the town are evident. Where previously maintenance shops, roundhouses, and coal and water (and later oil) refueling stations had been situated, only empty spaces and weeds remain.
Harold had N8404Z outside ready to go so I gave him a check for $2,725.83 for installing the engine, a special new oil filter, brake line repair on the right gear leg, and to repair a dent in the left wing leading edge where I had previously pulled it into a partially open hangar door.
Dale's sister (and my niece) Valerie Fisher and her family live at Farmington, WA, a few miles south of Tekoa. I took Valerie and small daughter, Cora, for an airplane "test" flight over their farm while Bob Barnes and Harold Morgan were engaged in animated conversation as they were old acquaintences since Bob had crop dusted out of Tekoa in the past.
The flight which was accomplished without any complications although I did notice that the cylinder head temperature gauge was not functioning. On landing this was promptly remedied by removing the cowling and connecting the wire which had been overlooked when Harold had previously test flown the airplane.
About noon, after shaking hands all around, I departed Tekoa and arrived in Prineville, OR around 02:30 PM where I was met by Warren (Buz) Brown; another old Topo Div, USGS survivor like myself. Buz had been a confirmed batchelor while working for the Survey which simplified his life over mine. When I called him previously a woman answered the phone and I thought I might have the wrong number. When Buz was summoned to the phone I asked if he was married. "Almost" he said! He transported me from the airport to her home in his conservative grey 1994 Lincoln Town Car. He introduced me to Shirley who had lost her husband in the crash of a Mitchell U-2 flying wing ultralight. She said she was at the airport the day of the tragedy and saw him in the distance going lower and lower until he disappeared into the trees; apparently the victim of engine failure. Shirley put on an excellent barbequed steak dinner and convinced me to spend the night with them.
Buz is still flying his familiar Cessna 172 that he has owned for 35 years. He uses it to patrol his 6,000 acre ranch which includes a mountain with radio and microwave facilities which pay a montly lease to him for this vantage point. He introduced me to his computer room where he manages this empire!
After expressing my appreciation for their hospitality and the enjoyable evening and breakfast, I departed Prineville about 09:00 AM for Covelo where I landed about noon. It was an enjoyable trip with fair weather, gentle headwinds, and a lot of reminiscing with two old friends. The new engine performed exellently and had not consumned a measurable amount of oil nor was there any evidence of leakage. The engine ran cool and the oil pressure stayed in the green even when warm and idling.
Upon returning home Oct 5th, I checked the telephone recorder and among the five messages awaiting me was one from a former friend, Ernie Bean, saying that mutual friend Harry Campbell has passed away after losing a battle with abdominal cancer. Harry had worked with me on the Laytonville Project out of Covelo in 1966 where he moved his family and house trailer, and in 1969 the the Coalinga and Garberville Projects, and Barstow in early 1976. He and Ernie Bean were avid radio control model airplane builders and were collaborating on a 82" wingspan twin engine DC-3 when Harry became ill. Harry had once flown a Piper Cruiser to Mexico City. I was with him one calm, sunny, weekend morning on a dry lake bed east of Barstow when two of the models had a spectacular mid-air collision that intially stunned everyone until the irony of it became evident and even the owners joined in the laughter as bits and pieces fluttered to the ground.
23 Nov 95, all the family except daughter, Gail, (in Boston) made it home for Thanksgiving. About the same time a picture appeared in The Round Valley View with the caption: "These black walnut burls are headed to the mill where they will be sliced into thin sheets of high-quality figured walnut veneer for furniture and cabinet making. Once a producer of shade and walnuts, the tree belonged to Frenchy Adamsen, who sold it to B & J Burl of Santa Rosa for $6,000.00. The numbers indicate weight of the burl - altogether the haul weighed over 5,000 pounds." This computes to $1.20 a pound for the wood.
In the late 1960's, there was talk that the California Department of Water Resources was going to allow $500.00 compensation for each English Walnut tree that would be involved in the condemnation process towards making a water storage reservoir of Round Valley. The English Walnut grafts are made to the hardier Black Walnut root stock. Frenchy is our neighbor behind us on Greeley Street and the subject specimen was growing into the PG&E electric line which required constant attention by the contract tree trimmers. We were approached by the same buyers but I told them our two trees were worth more to us than to them.
30 April 1995, The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat Sunday edition carried the following article from Gaye LeBaron's Notebook titled:
ROUND VALLEY'S HISTORY IS NOT A BEDTIME STORY
Every book or story that has ever been written about Round Valley begins with the scenery. Lynn Carranco, at the start of his book, "Genocide and Vendetta," calls it "one of the most beautiful and peaceful valleys in California." Ted Simon, author of "The River Stops Here," writes of "a Shangri-La quality that has always fascinated newcomers gazing down from the surrounding ridges."
Shangri-La, it's not. Nor has it been, for any stretch of time, peaceful. While residents will say that the Wild West stories told of Covelo and the valley around it are grossly esaggerated, there's no denying that the rugged peaks that stand guard over the town, the cattle range, the orchards and one of the largest Indian reservation in California have seen some sights in the past 150 years.
"It was no worse than any other place in the early days," said one resident, weary of the bloody tales. "It's just that it's so remote, it has kept the mystique."
"MYSTIQUE" may be too delicate a description. And those who would have us see it as Everytown, USA, may be hoeing an uphill row. The annals of Round Valley, collected through the years from the storytellers and local historians, paing a picture of hostile Indian tribes and squatters' wars, hunters, trappers and at least one cattle baron, shootouts, ambushes and blood feuds.
Exclusive of current events - three deaths, including a deputy sheriff, and an ongoing manhunt - the history of Round Valley would still provide screenplay material for at least three action-packed Western epics.
THE INDIANS' STORY must be told first. And it is, as always, a story of displacement and death. The sad history of the Yuki Indians, who had the valley pretty much to themselves before it was "discovered," is almost a morality play.
The Asbill brothers, the first of a succession of overland emigrants who seemed to have left their consciences back home in Missouri, were the first white men of record in the valley. Im May 1854 Frank and Pierce Asbill had left their families camped at Bodega and ridden east in the company of Sam Kelsey and others to find a trail to the Trinity (Gold) mines. Frank is the one who first saw the valley. Then the white men rode down there and killed the first 40 Yukis they encountered.
Not an auspicious beginning. And not much got better for a good many years.
George White, who would play a huge role in the valley's settlement, was only a few days behind the Asbills. He and his party arrived from the east, coming from the Tehama trail that ran up the western edge of the Sacramento Valley to the Trinity mines. White staked a land claim, built a cabin - built two cabins, in fact, to enlarge the claim. The Yukis, terrified by the visit of the Asbill party, did not come forth to defend their land, which was about to be taken from them.
By 1857, White had returned with droves of cattle. Other settlers arrived, bringing their own livestock and establishing a town that C.H. Eberle, a Swiss, named for his village in Switzerland - Covelo. Eberle was the first justice of the peace. The first court action, in 1859, fined two Indians for theft.
The "Indian wars" continued. At the Horse Massacre in 1859, 240 Wylackie, who lived at the north side of the valley, died. At Bloody Creek, no one counted, but there were women and children among the dead. At Mill Creek, whites wiped out a camp of 80 Wylackie. Within 10 years, the Indian population of the area was reduced from 11,000 to 1,000. But it would soon rise dramatically. Indian agents discovered the valley.
THE SETTLEMENT of the North Coast's fertile valleys after the Gold Rush had displaced or destroyed the Indian population. Thousands died of white man's diseases. The rest were pushed north from the mission in Sonoma, retreating to the mountains of northern Sonoma County and Mendocino County, where timberland offered some protection from the advance of white farmers.
But frontier history would not allow Americans to leave Indians unmolested. The cavalry was called in. A military post, Fort Bragg, was established on the Mendocino Indian Reservation on the coast and from there, in the early 1850s, the government planned to control the Indian population of the entire area. Historians suggest the soldiers sent to Fort Bragg may have been charged with protecting the Indians from the settlers, rather than the other way around, since the whites were often more "hostile" than the Native Americans.
Word of the isolated range land to the east sent government agents exploring and in 1856, the government claimed some 25,000 acres of Round Valley, calling it Nome Cult Farm and intending to use it as stock range to raise cattle and sheep to fee the residents of the Mendocino reservation. But Fort Bragg and vicinity was about to become a highly desireable spot for commerce and industry. The reports from seamen of forests that stretched to the water's edge brought entrepreneurs to the area. Lumber mills sprouted like redwood seedlings in spring.
The Mendocino Reservation was on land where a lumber and port town would grow. So where to put Indians? Round Valley was a natural. Isolated, Self-enclosed. Big enough to solve a lot of "Indian problems."
Nome Cult expanded. By the 1870s, the reservation was 102,000 acres. The beleaguered Yuki were joined by other Indian groups, including Pomo from central Mendocino County, Cahto from Long Valley, Wylackie from the north, Nomlaki and Lassen from the east. Apparently little or no attention was given to the fact that several of these tribelets had been sworn enemies for generations. The fact that the word "yuki" in Wylackie language, meant "enemy," should offer a clue as to the relationship between those neighbors. The government brought them all to Round Valley and decreed they would live there in peace.
The range land of White, designated the "cattle baron," and the other ranchers became reservation property and something very like the range wars of the Great Plains was waged in Round Valley throughout the last part of the century. Settlers made no secret of the fact that they felt the land was "wasted" on the Indians and despite the efforts of the military, which now had a post on the reservation, Indians were enslave, abused, beaten and killed.
The reservation has taken on several configurations through the years - at one point being reduced to 5,000 acres, and at another, being turned over, briefly, to the Methodist Church. At last tally, by anthropologists, the land reserved for Indian families was back to 30,000 acres, not necessarily the same acres as the original Nome Cult Farm.
The number of Indians residing on the reservation also has changed. Many, particularly the Pomo, left as soon as they were able, returning to their original homes. Tribelets and language families mixed - and didn't mix. Many of today's Indian residents of Round Valley proudly trace their ancestry to specific groups.
THE OFT-TOLD tales of blood and thunder - of George White and his band of "buckeroos" (a term his descendants disdain, preferring instead to refer to their ancestor's hirelings by the more dignified Spanish word "vaqueros"), of White's foreman, John David Wathen, the formidable Wylackie John - are savored by historians and discounted by those who have lived in Round Valley for generations.
Nonetheless, White and Wathen are part of Western lore. White controlled more than 100,000 acres in three counties - Mendocino, Tehama and Trinity. His buckeroos, who dressed alike in Levi trousers and blue "jumpers," carried Winchester rifles and were, according to historians, the terror of settlers whose land White coveted as well as Indians.
Wylackie John, an Indiana native who had lived with the Wylackie, was polite, soft-spoken, and meticulously dressed but he was also the most feared man in the territory. Mothers, they say, frightened their children into good behavior with threats of Wylackie John. When he was shot down, in a Covelo barroom, in 1888, townspeople shouted "Hooray!" and when his killer was acquitted, in a trial two days later, it is said that the judge danced a jig in celebration. It's pretty hard to deny Round Valley a Wild West image. But it's beauty - well, everyone agrees on that.


July 15, 1996, I received a phone call about noon from fire control officer (FCO) Mark Roy of the Klamath National Forest to see if I was available for a fire reconnaissance flight. I departed after lunch in clear weather for Fort Jones - Scott Valley Airport and upon getting up to 8,500 feet noticed towering cumulous clouds ahead. Less than an hour later I was threading my way around rain showers where the visibility was poor and where damaging hail might be encountered. As I was passing over the Fort Jones VOR descending to land, lightning slashed the sky over the airport. A large storm cell was moving in and as I taxied up to the tiedown area, huge raindrops began spattering the windshield. I ran into the USFS dispatch office just as a tremendous bolt of lightning struck the airport beacon adjacent to the USFS firebase. We waited an hour and a half before the storm moved east and then departed to the west to video tape a landslide triggered by a cloudburst and to search for lightning generated smokes in the Russian Wilderness and the Marble Mountain Wilderness. We flew at 10,500 feet just below some ugly looking clouds and just above some very spectacular rocky peaks, white with hail from the recent storms.
After a couple hours we had to land with a minumum amount of fuel for me to return to Covelo. There was no fuel available at the Scott Valley Airport. By this time, 7 PM, the sun was getting low and the storms were dissipating. I arrived back at Covelo about 8 PM with the fuel gauges bouncing on empty. N8404Z and I had flown 4.6 hours with about ten gallons remaining in the 60 gallon fuel tanks.
The second week of August 1996 was very hot and dry with moisture pushing down from the Pacific Northwest as far south as the Yolla Bolly Wilderness Area. The hot thermals from the mountains triggered cumulo-nimbus build-ups with severe lightning storms that started a series of fires in the Shasta Trinity National Forest. Wednesday morning, August 14th, I went on a local reconnaissance flight with FCO Tom Cave, Covelo District, Mendocino National Forest, to check out a report of a smoke from Anthony Peak Lookout. It turned out to be drift smoke from the 2,523 acre Rock Fire on the south side of Black Rock Mountain in the Yolla Bolly Wilderness. On my return Betty had a message from the California Division of Forestry Air Attack base at Rohnerville. After contacting them, I departed after lunch for Rohnerville where I landed and made the acquaintance of Russ Gordon, Fire Captain, who explained that their Cessna 0-2 (military version of the 337 Skymaster) was down for an engine change and they desperately needed a plane for air attack. We flew 3.5 hours that afternoon. The following day we were assigned to the Redding Air Tanker Base where we were designated Air Attack #128.
For the next eight days Russ and I flew out of the Redding Air Tanker Base (on the northwest corner of the airport) usually doing a 3.5 hour shift in the morning when another air attack would relieve us to do their 3.5 hour stint before we returned for another 3.5 hour stint in the late afternoon.
While on standby, there was much to watch and a radio scanner monitered the airport frequencys on the intercom to keep us posted. I counted four Grumman S-2 (Tracker) airtankers, two Lockheed P-2 Neptunes from Albuquerque, NM, one Lockheed P-3 Orion, and four C-130 Hercules airtankers (one from Colorado Springs with Air Force Reserve Captain Luke Thompson who recognized me and shook my hand) constantly loading red fire retardant and flying missions, not to mention four air attack planes including mine. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees on the blacktop ramp under a baking sun with little breeze except from propwash which was usually laced with gasoline or jet engine fumes.
While standing by in the ready room, a voice on the intercom began paging Terry Johnson to take a phone call from his company. Terry Johnson had checked me out on my first Cessna 205 (N8165Z) in Gooding, Idaho on March 27, 1971, but I didn't recognize him until I heard the name. He remembered me and said it was nice to see one of his students still alive after 25 years. He was flying one of the two Lockheed P-2 Neptunes as chief pilot for the Neptune Company in Albuquerque, NM. He looked about 40 pounds heavier but had the same blond curly hair.
One of the air attack planes was a Rockwell OV-10 Bronco based normally at Ukiah and flown by Bob DeVaney, one of the pilots that greeted me by name. There was also a Cessna 337 Skymaster from Placerville and a Cessna 182RG Skylane in addition to us.
Thursday, August 22 we had accumulated 46.4 hours of flight time on several large fires (including the Butcher Fire north of Trinity Center and the Rock Fire) and were "timed out" by Federal Air Regulations requiring me to take a day off (Friday). N8404Z was also "run out"; needing a FAA required 100 hour inspection and this gave me a chance to get N8394Z on line. This meant calling AVEMCO to activate the commercial insurance, transfering the Forest Service radio package and wing mounted antennas, moving the Trimble Flightmate Global Positioning System receiver with its many wires along with the cellular telephone, the toolbox, the first aid and survival kits, and the current charts and airport directory.
Saturday, August 24, we (N8394Z) and I departed Covelo at 06:26 AM for Willows where I met Scott Stevens who was on loan from the Plumas National Forest. We flew an additional 21 hours in the next three days as Air Attack #l on the infamous Fork Fire north of Clear Lake. He directed and coordinanted the movement of all the helicopter, air tankers, media and VIP planes that entered Zone 1 of the restricted area. The fire had become so large that it was divided into two zones with Cache Creek designated as the common boundary. Visibility was so bad from the smoke that the threat of a midair collision was quite real and Scott acted as a mobile air traffic controller in a mobile tower. There was also an air attack on Zone 2 doing the same thing. There were two Aero Commander Shrikes and a Beech Baron in addition to us flying out of Willows as air attacks.
Thanks to a moist southwesterly airflow with accompaning stratus clouds that moved in from the Pacific Ocean during the night; the fire lost its vigour and was contained and controlled the following day. We were released from duty at 6:33 PM on Monday, August 26th. At that time a few snags and downed logs were still smoking but they were all well within the fireline and hand crews were working on them. There were 4,000 firefighters on the line during the peak activity including 640 Army troops from Fort Carson, Colorado.
The fire started near the Middle Creek Campground north of Upper Lake and burned about 20 miles east to Indian Valley Reservoir and the west side of Goat Mountain; an area of 83,000 acres. $17,000,000 were spent trying to contain and control this fire. This does not include the loss of 14 structures, timber, and watershed. To my knowledge there was no loss of life or life threatening injuries but there were several cases of heat exhaustion.
One of the interesting aspects of this adventure was that my wife, Betty, was helping our daughter, Dawn, move from Los Angeles to Seattle. The responsibility for feeding and watering her horse, Sandy, and two cats, fell to me. In addition her garden had to be watered. I also sleep better in my own bed so I elected to fly home every evening and return early every morning even though the government was paying me $66.00 overnight per diem. This pretty well covered my additional flying expenses but made some pretty long days. Fortunately, this extra flight time was not included in the time limit of 42 hours in six days. The Forest Service furnished our brown bag lunches which also sufficed for dinner on the way home.
Jim Cook, one of the Grumman S-2 pilots (no relation), a big, pleasant, young man, with a black mustach and a white shirt, was visibly upset one afternoon after a woman pilot flying a Piper Navajo called the tower about 20 miles out and 8,500 high for sequencing to land. The tower informed her that she was number two behind air tanker #77 (who had called in ahead of her). Jim said the next thing he saw was the belly of this Navajo passing over so close to his windshield that he couldn't see the wingtips! He didn't understand how she missed his vertical stabilizer! She obviously didn't see him and the tower apparently didn't have them in sight yet. When this happened, Jim was coming in for the third time in about as many days because the chip detector light on one of the two engines had come on warning of metal in the oil screen and he had shut the engine down. Grumman S-2's do not fly well on one engine especially when heavily loaded on a hot day. They had replaced the engine twice and he had come to the conclusion that the chips were coming from one of the accessories that they were transfering on the back of the engine rather than the engine itself. I saw Jim a month later at the Rohnerville air tanker base where he was on standby with old #77. The chips and the near miss (ten feet Jim reiterated) were just bad memories by then.
The afore mentioned trip to Rohnerville Airport was requested by Mendocino National Forest to ferry Bob Conner to the U. S. Forest Service shop in Fortuna where he picked up a repaired truck and returned it to Covelo. Bob told me he had been leading the mule pack string on the Rock Fire which Russ and I had wondered about at the time. They were concerned that the helicopter activity might spook the mules as they were hauling supples from the same advance fire base to the firecrews. Bob said the mules performed admirably as I would have expected because Bob's father was a U. S. Forest Service packer for the Mendocino National Forest when Bob was a boy. Hammerhorn Lookout and Indian Dick Guard Station were accessible only by trail not to mention the miles of single wire telephone lines that ran through the timber and had to be cleared after the winter snows. It was a seventeen mile pack up to the lookout which has since been decommissioned. A road has since been built by the loggers to Indian Dick where the pack animals are quartered for forays into the Yolla Bolly Wilderness Area (where roads are not allowed) during the summer and fall.
The Karuk Indian Tribe (Happy Camp, Northern California) owns timberland and has fishing rights to the mouth of the Klamath River. Through good fiscal management of their assets they have become quite wealthy. They have called on me a number of times to ferry members of the tribal council to Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in Sacramento and Reno. I look forward to these trips with mixed emotions because the trips are long (400 miles each way) and involve flying from Covelo via Ruth and Hyampom down the Trinity River to Willow Creek and Hoopa and then following up the Klamath River to Happy Camp where I pick up Bud Johnston, the tribal chairman, Crow Monk and usually a third party (after the valley fog burns off). We then depart back down the Klamath to the Forks of the Salmon (River) over the Marble Mountain and the Trinity Alps Wilderness Areas enroute to Weaverville and Red Bluff VOR. These areas have some of the most rugged, beautiful mountain ranges imaginable where one must trade his sense of security for an awe inspiring view of snow capped peaks that reach 9,000 feet, and beautiful blue alpine lakes nestled in glacial cirques. The trip out in the morning is usually smooth with great visibility (unless forest fire smoke has drifted in). However, the return trip in the late afternoon can be turbulent as the area seems to spawn thunderstorms. The moist air mass from the north pacific meets the warm updrafts from the mountains and propels towering cumulus to 30,000 feet or more. Options are limited since there are no runway lights and fuel is not available at Happy Camp.
I have tried using the Scott Valley - Fort Jones VOR route but this puts us over the Russian Wilderness and closer to Castle Craigs and Mount Shasta Wilderness areas which, while no less spectacular, is longer and still exposes one to some mighty inhospitable terrain on which to make an emergency landing.
16 Dec 1996, I flew a gentleman by the name of Louis Pascavage, from Sacramento to Covelo to help his sister-in-law settle his brother's affairs after he was killed in a hit and run accident here. His sister-in- law, Connie, said to page him as "Captain" Pascavage at the Sacramento Airport. This of course perked my curiosity and when the passengers disembarked, he was easy to recognize in his tropical white uniform.. He appeared a little uneasy as we departed Sacramento and explained that he "reads" a ship's interaction with the waterway through his legs. I guess a small airplane must be quite a contrast! When he was ready to return to Sacramento for the flight back to Panama, the weather had deteriorated, so we drove and this gave us five hours to get acquainted.
He came from a large immigrant Polish family. He served in the Navy as an enlisted man during the Korean War. When he was discharged, he said most of the fellows started drawing their unemployment entitlement of $52.50 a month but he was not comfortable with that and signed up at the merchant marine hiring hall for a job as a "wiper". Much to his surprise, he was immediately hired. He said he had lots of spare time so he signed up with the International Correspondence Schools for a course. He praised the ICS for having very thorough, well written, easy to understand courses that took him up through the ranks over the years, to captain. He said he had sailed in and out of every major port on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. At age 67, he could have retired two years ago but is having too much fun piloting ships through the Panama Canal for which he is remunerated $100,000 a year. He mentioned his grown children and grandchildren scattered around the "mainland".
I never read Horatio Alger but Grandpa Cook mentioned his stories often and this sounds like one of them! With no government grants and no formal education, a Pollock looser became a winner! He said he had to pay for his correspondence courses but "they weren't much!"
13 March 1997, I received a handsome Panama Canal Commemorative Album, a large color Pictorial Map, and a nice letter from Captain Pascavage whose address has changed from Box 5087, Balboa, Republic de Panama, to PAC 274, PO Box 37301, Washington D.C. 20013. Apparently the Captain has been summoned to Washington to aid in the transition of the canal ownership to Panama at the end of 1999.
July 2, 1997, I departed Covelo at 04:00 AM with Aloha Brown's 14 year old grandaughter, Grace, to catch a 6:00 AM commercial flight out of Sacramento to Oklahoma. The General Aviation terminal had not opened on our arrival at 05:00 AM, so the security police ferried Grace from General Aviation, to the commercial terminal and I tied the airplane down. I was able to get a Southwest Airlines flight to Seattle about 09:00 AM where I joined Betty and Dawn at the Lockards about noon! Dawn and I met Joy that same evening when she arrived from San Francisco on Alaskan Airlines.
The next day Dawn drove her nice 1995 Toyota Corolla 4 door sedan over the North Cascades Pass from Seattle, with Joy as navigator, and Betty and myself as passengers, to visit my old U. S. Forest Service haunts in the Okanogan country. We spent the first night in the Cedars Inn & Motel in Okanagon and got an early start down the road about 8 miles to Malott to visit the old lookout. About two miles south of Malott we turned to the right on a surfaced road up a steep hill to the west. About where the surfacing ends. the road, now heading north, turns abruptly west at a ranch road junction. At this point, we continued straight ahead (north) through some open fence gates, and along a fenced hay field with stacked hay bales and then up a steep incline along the west side of a ravine with cottonwood trees prospering in the moisture, past an old ranch site to a relatively large, level, flat hay field.
This was all vaguely familiar to me, even after 48 years. After another mile or so, the road again got steep, and so overgrown, and rutted, that we parked the car where a 4 x 4 post indicated and started hiking. It was relatively cool initially and in my impatience and excitement, I missed a switchback that lead to the lookout and after surmounting a couple other high points, determined my error. By this time Dawn and Joy had caught up to me and we had to back track to where Betty awaited us at the switchback I had missed and another parking sign. The original road had been closed to vehicles at this point by the authorities and was barely discernable now. On arriving at the old lookout site, I was, by now, hot, sweaty and tired. Only the old concrete footings and the eyebolt guywire anchors cemented into the bedrock remained, along with a few spent .22 shells that I had probably fired in 1948. A treetop observation platform to the southwest had survived and appeared to have suffered little damage in the ensuing 48 years. The sun was now getting hot and we enjoyed the gentle cool, breeze, wafting over the top. Betty took some video camera pictures of the site and views which would have been enhanced had the old 40 foot tower been available. Abundant wildflowers and tall green grass were mixed in with the sagebrush and dry brown grass that I remembered; the result of the unusually late, wet, spring the area was experiencing.
From Chiliwist Butte, we hiked back down to Dawn's car which according to Betty's comment, seemed to be moving away from us. After one of Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken dinners in Omak, we drove to Conconully to visit the site of our 1949 honeymoon. We were favorably impressed by the beautiful Conconully State Park and surprised by the number of recreational vehicles and people that filled the area, and both lakes, to overflowing. Our old forest service house had been torn down and only beautiful lush green lawn occupied the area where we had lived. The chain link fence had been replaced by a more appropriate rustic pole and split rail fence. The office building, crewhouse, oil and gas house and warehouse were in good shape with neat carved historical signs proclaiming the dates of construction which were predominately in the 1938 era. Obviously, they were well respected and being cared for. We drove up Salmon Creek to the U. S. Forest Boundary where Betty had painted the large carved wood sign for the Forest Service on our honeymoon. It had been repaced by a much less spectacular ground level sign.
We departed Conconully via the narrow dirt road that runs along the north side of Conconully Lake to Fish Lake and Blue Lake and the Sinlahekin Valley, to Loomis, a distance of about 24 miles. At Dawn's suggestion we stopped at inviting Blue Lake to soak our aching feet in it's cool water. The road improved considerably at the Washington State Game Farm and we made better time from there on into Loomis. The steep hill at the south edge of town and Garrett's old masonry stone garage building, abandoned some time in the intervening 48 years, were the first landmarks I recognized. The old frame structure that housed the forest guard and served as a bunk house for the fire crew had been replaced by a more modern log house that the Department of Natural Resources had been using. The small locust tree saplings that we had conscientiously kept watered previously, now towered over the premises furnishing abundant shade; a luxury sorely lacking 48 years ago. The Loomis General Store was still in the same location and apparently prospering as the rest of the town appeared to be. The landmark stone hill that abutted the guard station to the northeast, hadn't moved or changed at all in the last 48 years and probably won't for the next 48,000 years!
I had tried to get Frenchy and Cindy Swan to back me up on the weather observations at the airport during previous absences with less than enthusiastic response. I had also advised Jim Fahey, the National Weather Service volunteer observer coordinator that I wanted to resign as soon as he could find a replacement. On my return I found there had been no rainfall but no one had recorded the highs and lows for seven days. Cindy just showed N/A in the blanks in the newspaper and Jim Fahey found a new observer to replace me! The following article, with my picture on the front page, appeared in the August 1, 1997 edition of the Round Valley News:
BILL COOK, RADIO FLYER & LOCAL PILOT
RETIRES FROM COUNTY AIRPORT DUTIES
by Corey Fugman
Although in truth he is a flyer,we most usually see him perched upon his bicycle ringing its friendly bell or buzzing around the local airport lending a helping hand to pilots and travelers alike.
Bill Cook, owner and operator Cook's Air Taxi, and his bike have been well-known and oft-recognized fixtures in the valley for the last 31 years.
Since the financially strapped County of Mendocino eliminated funding for a resident manager in 1988, Cook has taken care of the Covelo airport as a public service for the community.
With no compensation save the thanks of grateful travelers, he has pumped gas, washed away vandals' graffiti from the public restroom, and kept weather records out at the airfield for the past nine years. (In fact, the biweekly weather report on page 2 of The NEWS is gleaned from this climate data.
However, that all ended July 22 when the popular airman left these caretaker responsibilities behind. While saying the job was fulfilling and worthwhile, he has decided to pass the torch to a successor, Jacob Joyner.
In order to get more information about his retirement from the airport, I sought out Cook at his cool, veranda-shaded house on Howard Street. He met me at the door with a firm handshake and pleasantly invited me in.
Smiling gently, he sat down leisurely and began to give me the short version of the already 200-page, unfinished autobiography he is writing. Cook and I conversed for about an hour and then took a quick trip out to the airfield to sneak a peek at the weather instruments and at his matched pair of planes.
While, in fact, I had come to get the story only of his departure from the airport, I soon found there was much more to Cook's tale. Along with the short overview about his retirement, I unexpectedly became privy to an expose on a well-lived, very beneficial life.
He and wife Betty - whom he met in kindergarten - daughters Joy, Gail, and Dawn, and son Grant moved to the valley in 1966. They wanted to come one year earlier, but the great flood of 1964 kept them and their mobile home in Willits after much of Highway 162 was washed down the Eel River. They made it across the windy and sometimes treacherous Covelo Road the following year, though, and soon settled at the trailer park downtown. At the time, Cook was an employee of the U. S. Geological Survey, Topographic Division, and he and colleagues were surveying Round Valley in order to study the feasibility of flooding it.
Cook's USGS job, however, kept him commuting all over the state each week, and he and Betty decided Covelo "looked like a nice place to leave the family."
Along with the breathtaking surroundings, Cook said the valley was a "safe place" where "everybody knew everybody," and this influenced his family's decision to make it their permanent home.
He said that the small town atmosphere made it possible for everyone to know "what their kids were doing," which was reassuring to the Cooks, who had curiosity-prone high school-age youngsters.
After 27 years of government service, Cook eventually retired from his mapping job in 1977. One year later, he founded Cook's Air Taxi and has been flying passengers and cargo ever since.
Additionally, he is on call for the U. S. Forest Service and was quick to inform me he might have to cut our meeting short if any thunderclouds came rolling over the hills.
This reconnaissance flight, in which he seeks the telltale smoke of lightning stsrikes, never came though, as the cloudless day brought stifling temperatures near the century mark, but no other adverse weather.
` Cook has been a flyer for many years. He earned his pilot's license in 1965, and bought his first airplane, a Cessna 170B, one year later. As of today, he has clocked over 10,000 hours in the air, quite a remarkable feat and a milestone among pilots.
Amazingly, in all this time Cook has never had an engine fail, which he explained is somewhat surprising as pilots typically experience this problem every 9,000 hours in the air. His stellar record also boasts no inflight accidents; his only fender-benders have been while taxiing on the runway after dark.
While some may say that he is blessed, the veteran pilot credits Sierra Pacific Aviation, who have done most of the maintenance on the seven planes he has used at various time for the Air Taxi, for his impressive safety record.
Back in his dining room, I watched Cook from across the table. Fondling his unfinished autobiography recently printed out from the Power Macintosh behind him, Cook's figure exudes industriousness.
Both pockets on his checkered buttondown shirt are stuffed to the brim, as a checkbook, some business cards, a map, two pens, an appointment book, and a flight schedule bristle from their tops.
Hanging from a belt, his infamous radio phone, which appears to be a modified, long-range walkie-talkie crackles from time to time. Frequently, his eyes sparkle, and thin, 71 year-old lips spread apart into a contagious grin.
While now free of his volunteer job at the airport, Cook's next few years will surely be far from idle. The air Taxi business is of course still around, but according to the owner, another retirement may be in sight.
Saying only that he "doesn't like to be tied down," he avoided commenting about his future plans, hinting only that he would likely do some traveling with his spouse.
Even with nothing more concrete than that, one can be sure to catch up with Cook at one place.
Those who are well acquainted with him know that he can be found down at the Burger Station almost daily, drinking coffee with confidants. In fact, on returning from our airport field trip, Cook bade me good day, mounted his trusty bike, rung the familiar bell, and pedaled off to the drive-in for his afternoon cup of java.
The author, Corey Fugman, is the son of two popular high school teachers and is in his sophomore year at Stanford University in Palo Alto. This story was part of a summer vacation writing assignment for the Round Valley News.
Adjacent to the preceding article under Covelo Comments the following relative item appeared: Jacob Joyner will be our new weather recorder with the retirement of Bill Cook from that position. Joyner is no stranger to the weather - he's been an amateur ham radio operator for almost forty years, and every day he logs on to SW band 3954 from 7am-9am to share weather stats with fellow shortwave radio buddies all over California. So if you've got a shortwave radio and can't wait for the next issue of The NEWS to find out just how much it rained yesterday, or how cold it got last night, tune in to the California Weather Net.
The following Christmas letter to our friends and relatives efficiently condenses the year 2000 activities.
TO OUR GENTLE FRIENDS AND DEAR RELATIVES ALL:
Seasons Greetings and Salutations from the William B. Cooks!
We present for your charitable inspection and contemplation another one of those Christmas letters which I will attempt to make as legible, brief, and to the point as possible. Your indulgence is solicited.
Betty and Dawn (our youngest daughter who now works in Edmonds, WA) made a trip with Betty's cousin Sam McKinstry and his wife, to Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England earlier this Fall. Sam was a AAA travel agent that conducted the tour for a group of 27 people. Bill held the fort in Betty's absence. Dawn's e-mail address is: Dlewellyn@hcwl.com
Gail (middle daughter) and husband Paul D'Angelo are busy with their family (Tina & Paulski) in addition to both working full time. They have purchased a nice place in Weymouth, MA and are making plans to visit Covelo next July. Her e-mail address is gail.c.d'angelo@fmr.com
Joy (our oldest daughter) resides in San Francisco and recently completed a flying trip as a tourist to visit New York City (We think she was comparing it to San Franciso!) Her e-mail address is: bidsf@msn.com
Grant Stuart (our youngest and only son) has a website: www.skyward-aviation.com where you can learn all about his flight school in Santa Monica, CA and also get his e-mail address and phone number.
Bill spent most of the last year trying to keep Betty's horse, Sandy, in hay, and the lawn & weeds mowed, with an occasional air charter for the U. S. Forest Service to break the monotony. What was a bad fire year for the rest of the country turned out to be a good fire season for the Mendocino National Forest with minimal timber losses and a subsequent lack of need for Bill's flying services.
However, Six Rivers National Forest chartered Cook's Air Taxi for two full days flying October 19 & 20 doing an entomological survey with eight different people out of five different airports (Eureka's Murry Field, Kneeland, Ruth, Gasquet's Ward Field, and Hoopa) running from Covelo north to the Oregon border and from the coast line east to the Shasta-Trinity National Forest boundary.
Brian Burke and his student Bobby Wilson set up a website for Bill Cook's Air Taxi at: www.covelo.net/covelo/cook.html
If you are still with us here's wishing you another Great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!
The William B. Cooks
Another Christmas letter for the 2001 aptly sums up the years outstanding events.
Dear Friends and Relatives:
Much has happened this past year! In addition to the agonizing events of 9/11, the W.B. Cook family has experienced their small share of highs and lows.
January 18th, Betty was in the El Camino Hospital in Mountain View for some surgery when she experienced difficulty breathing and summoned the night duty nurse. The nurse shortly said you are having a heart attack and immediately sounded the alarm. Betty was wheeled into the critical care unit and twelve days later received triple bypass heart surgery. She never experienced pain and has made a steady recovery. She feels that her guardian angels were with her!
In February our youngest daughter Dawn called in tears and said that her 80 year old landlord, Margaret Bernard, has passed away. Dawn had become very attached to the basement apartment that she was renting from Margaret and said she didn't want to move again! The house went through probate and after three appraisals, we purchased the house located at 705 Brookmere Drive, Edmonds, WA 98020-2609.
The latter part of June we left our Covelo residence and animals in the hands of neighbors, and with our old boat and motor in tow, headed north. The first night we spent with old Covelo friends, Gene and Lee Cox at their beautiful country home located a few miles SW of Grants Pass, OR. The second night we spent with my sister, Grace & Glen Scatterday,in their magnificent home on Bridle Trails hill, SW of Dallas, OR. The third day we arrived in the afternoon sunshine at our newly acquired house where we were greeted by Dawn.
We spent the summer visiting our numerous relatives and friends in the Puget Sound area including Paul & Mary Brower from Covelo, Sara (Garaway) Butler from Covelo, and Jackie Minta, a dear USGS friend we hadn't seen for 42 years when we were two families living in house trailers on the Campo Project near the Mexican border under less than ideal conditions.
While between visits and being visited, with Dawn's help we found time to refinish the deck on the north side of the Edmonds house, to clean the leaves out of the gutters and downspouts, to thin and trim the bonsai junipers that were used in landscaping the yard, and the Snohomish County PUD tree contractors trimmed two huge English Poplar trees in the front yard that threatened their power line and left us a huge pile of firewood for our two fireplaces that Dawn and a neighbor have been stacking.
We spent three days on Lake Washington on fresh water and one day out of Everett on Puget Sound in the boat that Bill purchased when we were living in Atwater, CA. It was a nostalgic experience as we had done that as a family of six during the period of the Seattle World's Fair in the 1960's.
While on the Burke-Gilman Scenic Bicycle Trail with Dawn, Bill developed a hernia that was repaired during October at the Stevens Hospital in Edmonds. This delayed our return until the end of October when the rains had arrived in Edmonds but it was still 82 degrees when we arrived back in Covelo. Everything was in good shape and the yard was covered with dry leaves waiting to be raked. Betty's horse, Sandy, and the two cats, Calico and Mouse, were in good shape. Our neighbors and friends said they were glad to see us back!
Cook's Air Taxi is now history. At Betty's request Bill sold his two 1963 Cessna Stationairs and hangars to local buyers. At age 75, it was becoming increasingly difficult to pass the annual FAA flight test and medical certification, and insurance premiums doubled about this time. He feels extremely gratified that he was able to get 36 years of exhilarating flying over the great western U.S. and accumulating over 11,000 hours of spectacular flight time in the process. The U.S. Forest Service laments that they have been unable to find a suitable replacement so strategically located.
We hope you have not found this unduly boring and look forward to hearing from you. Best Wishes for a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW 2002 The Cooks
I LEARNED ABOUT FLYING FROM THAT!
In the last 35 years and 10,450 hours of flying single engine Cessnas on my FAR Part 135 on demand air taxi operation out of Covelo, CA in Mendocino County, I have usually tried to respect that old wisdom that when one gets in a hurry, flying gets dangerous! I had arisen at 04:30, eaten a leisurely breakfast of granola and coffee, checked with the Oakland FSS for weather along the North Coast and filed a flight plan from Covelo to Ruth to pick up four passengers at 06:30, return to Covelo to drop off two children and pick up two more adults at 07:00 for Orland, drop off the latter two there at 07:30, and continue on to Sacramento International Airport where the remaining two passengers were scheduled to arrive by 08:15 to purchase tickets and check baggage on a SouthWest Airlines flight to Phoenix, Arizona, that was departing at 09:15. It was tight scheduling that was dependent upon my passengers being on time.
I departed Covelo, in my 1963 Cessna 205 (which basically is an early version Stationair) before sunrise and enjoyed a smooth and relaxing flight 30 miles north to arrive at the Ruth Flying Double AA Ranch just as the first rays of sunlight began streaking into the narrow Mad River Canyon. I broadcast my presence and intentions on Unicom 122.8 with no response. After overflying the airport and observing a gentle down river breeze, and no cattle, deer or bear on the runway, I flew a left hand pattern to land upriver on runway 13. As usual, with no passengers, and no one watching, the airplane greased itself on with a barely detectable transition to the ground mode. I taxied up to the loading area and shut down.
It was 06:25 and my cattleman passenger Tim, and his family, were not due for another five minutes. I complemented myself on my timely arrival and walked over to open the gate that hopefully keeps the animals out so that my passengers could drive in. It was very quiet and peaceful at that time of the morning and I could hear traffic coming a mile or more away. A couple rigs passed by at a leisurely pace without turning into the airport. About 06:45 I heard a rig coming that was really wound up! Sure enought, a flatbed truck turned into the airport in a cloud of dust with five people in the cab and a half dozen cow dogs bracing themselves on the bed in back! Tim apologized for being late saying he had gotten bad instructions on how to reach the airport!
We loaded up and I hurriedly went through my checklist, broadcast my departure on runway 31, and departed downwind and downriver with the hearty roar of the Continental I0-470's 260 horses resonating off the canyon walls. In spite of the load, the airplane climbed quickly in the cool morning air and I lowered the nose to make a steep 180 degree turn in the canyon to pass back over the airport and climb through a gap in the ridgeline to pick up our course back to Covelo.
We were running about 20 minutes late now but I figured we could make most of that up by flying at higher than normal power settings and reducing ground time. I decided to land downhill and into the rising sun on runway 10 on returning to Covelo to eliminate the need to back taxi thereby saving time. I delayed deploying the flaps, making a low fast pattern and when I pushed the electric flap control down, nothing happened. I knew that all I had to do was reset the circuit breaker but I was too low and too close to the hills on each side to divert my attention. I pulled the power completely off, trimmed the nose up and the heavy airplane settled gracefully onto the runway followed by a complementary comment from Tim! We still had 3,000 feet of runway remaining and the rollout was uneventful.
Our two waiting passengers, Chris and Norma, were delighted to see us and the two children, Randy and R.T., reluctantly deplaned to the waiting custodian with hugs and kisses from their parents.
With five adults and luggage onboard, the hot fuel injected engine obediently fired right up and I hurriedly went through the check list noting that the flaps were working when I selected 15 degrees for takeoff after resetting the circuit breaker. With 3,700 feet of runway and a warm engine, I elected to take off uphill towards the hill off the west end of runway 28 to save time! Again the cool morning air enabled the airplane to rotate and make a graceful climbing right turn away from the hills and on an easterly course to Orland. I am sure we woke up the late sleepers as we passed over the Piner subdivision and town of Covelo.
I looked at my watch and we were still 20 minutes behind schedule so I elected to fly low through 5,000 foot Mendocino Pass and then make a gradual high speed descent to Orland. I was advised that they were using runway 33 so I flew a tight fast left hand pattern and landed in a stiff breeze right down the runway and quickly exited the runway for a Cessna 182 that was following us in. I apologized to Chris and Norma about our late arrival and he responded with "This is perfect!"
We hastily departed Orland for our final leg to the south with Tim & LeAnnd. About 30 miles north of SMF I put on my David Clarks and monitored SMF ATIS and then tried to call Sacramento Approach on 134.8 but got no response!
I then tried 119.1 and again got no response. I begain to get panicky and grabbed the hand mike and switched to the cabin speaker. Immediately Sacramento Approach responded loud and clear and gave me a squawk code. By this time we were ten miles west of the airport inside of the radar service area and was about to descend through the 4,100 foot roof. The controller switched me over to the tower with the admonishment that I should have contacted them sooner. I replied that I had been trying to and inferred that we (?) must have a radio problem! He bid me a pleasant "OK, good day".
We landed on runway 16R and exited gracefully on the high speed turnoff and ground control cleared us to general aviation where a van met us and whisked Tim and LeAnn off to the SouthWest Airline terminal 45 minutes prior to their scheduled departure. We had picked up exactly five minutes out of the twenty.
I began to relax and reflected on the radio problem. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had some time previously set the transmitter selector switch on the U. S. Forest Service radio package between the seats to number 2 to close a USFS flight plan on their frequency and had neglected to return to number 1, the Victor airways FAA frequencies. Since the two Forest Services radios were not on my transmissions were not heard by anone. During a lull in the communications as I departed Sacramento International, I told Sacramento Departure that I owed them an apology when they were ready but they had changed personnel and the new man didn't seem to be concerned!
Air taxis are supposed to preceed their call signs with the code words "Tango" which I was reluctant to do initially because I did not hear anyone else doing it. I assumed incorrectly that the FAA was closely monitoring all air taxi operations and were ready to pounce on any luckless pilot that might display any thing less than perfect professionalism. When flying the ubiquitous Cessna Skyhawk years ago, I felt that I had been ignored on several occasions when radio traffic was heavy so I started using the "Tango" identification. In spite of less than perfect professionalism I have found that it kind of "greases the skids" and I automatically get flight following without requesting it. The call sign seems to stick in the controller's memory and it helps me to recognize my call sign when they call me. For the record my call sign is "Tango Cessna 8404 Zulu".
When I reflect on the past, it seems that most of my races against time are passenger induced, weather related, or impending darkness. Darkness exposes one to the vagaries of the electrical system of the aircraft and the radio controlled runway lights. I have experienced failures of both but fortunately not at the same time, yet! While flying the river canyons below an overcast is acceptable in daylight, it becomes suicidal after dark when the canyon walls and the river become invisible.