May 2000

So, here is the scoop. Fly or drive in to the breakfast at PaPa Bob's across from Gainesville Municipal Airport at 9:00 A.M. Saturday, the 6th. After the fly-in gaggle has departed (somewhere around 11:00 A.M.), we will fly the Young Eagles from Mr. Mike Ragain's Science class. We can expect about eleven Young Eagles. What is great about this group of YEs is that we can also expect at least ten parents to accompany them to the airport, along with Lutie High School Principal, Cindy McKee.

Following the conclusion of the YE Rally, you can just hang around until about 3:00 P.M., when we will meet at Jerry Luna's lake cabin for our chapter meeting and cook-out. Hopefully, many of you will make a day of it and attend all the activities. If you are only able to attend the meeting and cookout, directions to Jerry's cabin are as follows: Go north on highway 181 past Gainesville Airport to highway AA. Turn right on AA. Turn right at first gravel road, then left to the cabin.

"Following his stint in the Army, Orv finished college and began teaching high school science, biology, and chemistry.

"He also restarted the upholstery business that he began while in college, and was able to supplement his meager teacher's salary enough to purchase a 1956 Cessna 172, in which he took flying lessons and earned his Private Pilot Certificate. Looking for a greater challenge, Orv quit teaching and opened an alternative energy business. The company was the first to install wind-powered electrical generators for homes and businesses. During this time, while driving home from work at 10 P.M. one night, Orv was hit by a drunk driver that suddenly swerved across the double yellow line and hit his truck head-on. He had amnesia for over two years and nearly lost the business but, by the grace of God, it survived.

"When the energy tax credit was repealed, the company changed its focus and began building swimming pools and spas. Orv sold the very first swimming pool to a major in the United States Air Force, whose husband had recently died of cancer. The major and Orv became good friends and in a year and a half they were married.

"Sheila was born and raised in Brandon, South Dakota. She attended nursing school after high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force. She was a MedEvac nurse and was stationed in many locations around the world.

"When the POWs were released at the conclusion of the Viet Nam war, Sheila was on two of the flights bringing them out from Hanoi, North Viet Nam. After her husband passed away, she decided to have a swimming pool built and chose Orv's company to do the job. This pool was Orv's first but Sheila did not know this at the time.

"Orv and Sheila raised their two children in Vacaville, California, where Orv continued his successful swimming pool business and Sheila was a nursing supervisor at David Grant USAF Medical Center at Travis AFB, California. Sheila encouraged Orv to renew his pilot certificate, which he did, and they purchased a 1975 Cessna T210L airplane. They used this plane for family vacations, weekend outings, and visiting family and friends around the country.

"In 1990, Orv purchased a Rotorway helicopter kit and within four months was flying it. He was the first student to graduate from all three phases of Rotorway International's flight school where he received his private helicopter rating. They both enjoyed flights around the Napa valley, the Sierra foothills, and along the California coast. Orv was elected president of the Sierra Rotorcraft Club and held that position for several years.

"In 1987, while at work at the hospital, Sheila collapsed and was rushed to the emergency room. She had gone into congestive heart failure. A virus had attacked her heart muscle and destroyed around 75% of the heart. She was medically retired from the Air Force and became a stay-at-home-mom. In 1994, Sheila had a stroke caused by a large clot forming in her malfunctioning heart. It broke loose and blocked blood flow to her brain. She miraculously recovered from the stroke and was placed on the Stanford Medical Center heart transplant program at Stanford University. On August 3rd of 1995, Orv awoke at 1:00 A.M. to find Sheila had experienced a full cardiac arrest in her sleep. She had no pulse and was not breathing. He called 911 and then, with the help of their daughter, began CPR on Sheila's lifeless body. It took the ambulance 30 minutes to reach their remote property and the paramedics shocked her numerous times, trying to bring her heart out of ventricular fibrillation. After being rushed to the hospital and being declared brain dead, the family gathered around her and opted to discontinue life support. While friends and family were praying, after eight hours of confirmed brain death, Sheila suddenly sat up on the gurney and asked what had happened to her. She was MedEvac'ed by helicopter to Stanford and made a remarkable recovery.

"Orv and Sheila decided that it was time to stop and smell the roses of life so they sold their home, airplane, helicopter, and toys and began to tour the country by motorhome. They landed in West Plains, Missouri, and fell in love with the area and it's residents. Orv has built a runway on his property, and a hangar in which their 1959 172 is parked. Orv earned his Commercial Rotorcraft Helicopter rating two days before Christmas of 1999, and is now working on his helicopter CFI rating. He is also in the process of building an UltraSport kit helicopter."

Again we are reminded by Orv and Sheila's experiences how precious, and at times, tenuous, life can be. ..........................................

Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3, 2000: Biplane EXPO 2000 will be held at the north end of Frank Phillips Field in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

July 26 through August 1: AirVenture 2000 to be held in Oshkosh.

That's it for this month. See you on the 6th.