I’ve often wondered about these plaques on the walls of government and civic buildings. Now my name is on one of these things! This plaque will be mounted on the brick wall in the background. It apparently arrived this week and there wasn’t time to get it mounted before the big ceremony today. What ceremony? The ribbon cutting for the new passenger waiting area at the Pocatello Airport. I’m on the Airport Commission and thus get my name in brass hanging on the wall for decades to come, or at least until the building gets torn down. What happens to these things when that happens? I’ll bet they’re melted down for scrap metal. As usual, click on the picture for a larger image and some more details.
I’m in a less-busy period in my new job. The past three months I’ve been working a lot of hours getting a Request for Proposal ready to be sent out for the project I’m leading. The Thursday before Christmas we finally got the document out the door and the vendors have until the end of January to respond. As a result, I’ve taken a couple of days off to conserve some of my time for later in the year when I’ll definitely need the time. It has been fun having the day available to kind of catch up on things and be at the big shindig out at the airport and to attend my Rotary Club meeting this evening.
I met up with an old friend and hero this afternoon. After graduating from High School I went into the Air Force, married Nina, and two years after graduation we were in Japan stationed at Yokota Air Force Base. Our only means of communication (that is, the only means we could afford) was by letter. One day we received a letter from Roger Sorenson. He had been Student Body President and all around great guy in Soda Springs High School when I was a freshman and a sophomore. He probably was one of the most well-liked people in the school. His family ran a large ranch north of Soda Springs, a ranch that Roger still operates. The Blackfoot River runs through that ranch and once as a Boy Scout we were camping on the Sorenson Ranch and doing some fishing (I was and still am a very poor fisherman in every sense of the word). I fell into the river, Roger fished me out, and scrounged up some clothes from the ranch house for me to wear.
Roger’s letter said that he was flying for Northwest Airlines and flew into Tokyo on a regular basis and he invited Nina and me to meet him in Tokyo on one of his trips for dinner. I’m sure he’d gotten our address from my mother when he was home in Soda Springs one weekend. We were very excited to have the invitation! We exchanged a couple more letters getting dates and locations set up. All of these arrangements took several weeks for the mail to go back and forth.
Nina and I had a lovely dinner with him at the top of one of the fancy hotels in downtown Tokyo. It was an evening that I’ve always remembered. Not for the food, the locale, or the conversation (none of which I remember). It was because he had gone out of his way to set all of this up for some kid from his home town. It’s kind of a small example of how he’s lived his life. He flew airliners for Northwest for 35 years and has been active in aviation ever since.
Another example: A fellow who was doing his Masters work at Idaho State University studying the soda water springs that dot the landscape around Soda Springs was interested in doing an aerial survey. I’ve never met this fellow in person, just through Twitter. I suggested on Twitter that he give Roger a call. He did. Roger picked him up and flew him all over the area in Roger’s airplane. No charge … he just wanted to help someone out.
It was good to chat with Roger this afternoon and catch up on things. He’s still one of the truly great guys.