Hi All
My Dad (John Thomas) 91 Headed West Thursday Morning about Sunrise!
He taught me to Fly and gave me the Bug!!
He started his flying the year I was born in a 65hp Tcraft he bought in Spokane for $650.
He had it on skis and wheels and flew it out of the farm strip above Daisy Washington, In 1958 we moved down the road 6 miles to a spot that had some flat ground and he had a level strip 900' long that went out under the powerlines and over the field fence. Was a big improvement from the one that had about 200' of level and about 300" of steep hill and a flat spot on top to park! My Hangar set next to the old strip, but I was able to pruchase the next 1/4 mile of ground so have a decent strip know, no fence but the powerlines are still there.
He put an 85 in the tcraft then traded it for a 170 that he had for about 2 weeks, he traded that for a 135 supercub which he had for years, He was a logger and flew it back and forth to logging roads, beach on the river, skid trails and ran back and forth to Spokane for many parts. He knew how to patch fabric!!
In 1969 he had about 900 hours on his student ticket and he traded the cub for a M4 210 Maule and got his private ticket in Troutdale OR.
In 1971 he was taking off and got a little close to the top of a pine tree and tore the engine and both wings off the M4, his forehead took the radio stack out and it pretty much pulverized all the bone there! They could never get a plate to stay for long so the last 35 years he had no forehead just skin there!! Took him a year to heal up and get a new Maule a M5 210. When he went to get it Mom and He stayed With BD and Mrs Maule at there house for a couple of days while they finished his plane. He did a lot of traveling up and down the west coast and the NW with the Maule until someone in Kalifornia offered him more than what he paid for it, so that was the end of his Maule, He knew where a 150-150 was that needed the wings put back on so he flew that until he quite flying one day when he figured out the airplane was just way to far ahead of him.
I want you to know he was one of my Hero's and one of the toughest SOB's I have ever known, With a gentle hand, and a helping hand for anyone that needed it, just as long as they didn't expect it!!
All this history is to let you know some of his passion for flight, Nothing fancy, nothing fast but just being in the air.
He was in a Nursing home for the last 5 years with Alzimers and finally gave it up.
If you guys and gals could find a good peom or suggest a song that would be fitting I woud appreciate it.
Either post it here or PM me and I will give you my email.
I need it by Monday so sorry for the hurry.
GT

Very sorry to hear about your dad, GT. My condolences to you and your family.

The preacher read this at my Dad's funeral.

High Flight by John Magee



Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things

You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air,

Up, up the long delirious burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,

Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of god.

He sounded like a great man GT, sorry for the loss.

I'll Fly Away - Alison Krauss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wZXg5744aw

Sorry to hear about your loss GT. Blue Skies John!

At my father's funeral, we played Spirit In the Sky by Norman Greenbaum.

Sounds like a life well lived. May God bless him and your family. Take these next weeks as slow as you can. I know with my Dad, we got all the hard work done before he died, but he has not yet left me. Never will. That's the good part. I imagine your situation is the same.

GT
Even encountering similar feelings nobody knows exactly how you feel. It sounds as though you have many great memories.
My Dad was always unconfortable with flight but went with me anyway. My wife's Mom on the other hand learned to fly in a Fleet. We just scattered her recently and I read the already mentioned "High Flight" . It was penned during WWI after a memorable flight. The author was killed soon after.
I join the others in expressing sorrow for your loss.
______________________________
Chance

Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm sure you will find something thats fitting & embody's your fathers personality & spirit. My condolences

Rest assured he is in a better place and and will always be with you. My condolences.

Sorry for your loss. Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease. To watch a love one go back to the cradle is heart breaking. It took my grandmother 8 years. When I go I hope I prove to be as much of an inspiration to my children. Just got back in from a sunset cruise with my 8 year old son who never turns down a ride in the airplane. My farm strip is 900' wire and high tensile cattle fence at one end, and 50 ft trees at the other

My condolences to you and your family. Lost my dad five years ago and still miss him dearly, best man I ever new allways had time for his family, taught me right from wrong. What more can you say about great men He will always be in your heart and mind. Blue skies and tail winds

As for a poem, what you just wrote is far better than what I could imagine, and it is HIS poem. Reminds me some of my father.
For a song, "Silver Wings" By Merle Haggard has alwas been a favorite. It's a leaving song, an I'm gonna miss you song, and that's appropriate. I'm glad to know you recieved some of the same gifts from your father as I did from mine. It's something your father would be proud of, and that's something for you to be proud of.

Best wishes
KB

George, I am sorry too, and I agree with Tejasflyer - your story is great. I'd go with that. I'd be surprised if you don't find him in your right seat sometimes when things get hairy helping you navigate through the tough spots.

Sorry for your loss....don't know who wrote this but I have had it up in my office a long time, if nothing else I hope it helps ease the pain abit

Flight is freedom in it's purest form
To dance with the clouds which follow a storm

To roll and glide, to wheel and spin
To feel the joy that swells within

To leave the Earth with it's trouble and fly,
And know the warmth of a clear spring sky

Then back to earth at the end of the day
Released from the tensions which melted away

Should my end come while I am in flight
whether brightest day or darkest night

Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain
Secure in the knowledge that I'd do it again

For each of us is created to die
And with me I know..........I was born to fly

George
My sincerest condolences, High Flight to me is one a poem that expresses the feelings that most of us feel about what we do in our planes.
GG

My heartfelt sympathy George. God bless.

The man who brought me here to earth is finally headed West.
Of all the fathers that I’ve known, I‘m sure that he’s the best.

He made me what I am today and raised me to know best.
God take his soul and cherish him, he surely needs the rest.

Anonymous

This is what my grandfather has on the backside of his tombstone:

"As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare yourself to follow me"

Thanks for all the thoughts.
Silver Wings, Snowbird, Cool Water, Ghostriders in the Sky was what we went with.
Had a great Grave Side as 4 of the local pilots were in the air all through the service (DAD Loved Airplane Noise!) and did 2 passes, first one was great, and the second one was a missing man as one turned west right over us and flew away! I have no words that I can say to thank them enough. Sure did make our Mom happy!
One of those interesting things that come up, was looking at the old pictures of Dads airplanes, I went ahead and did some of the N#'s.
Dads old supercub is in Alaska, and our own SuperMaule has the one my Dad bought new from BD Maule. I have to get him a copy of his Maule with BD and his Wife in front of his M4. James was going to make it up and do a fly by but the weather was pretty bum where he was at. Thanks for trying James!
Again thanks for the help, and thoughts
GT

Thinkin of you and yours.... May He Rest in Peace...