Old Pilots Log Jan-March 2018
Old Pilots Log Jan-March 2018
VAHS is now more-or-less settled into our new home at Shannon Airport (KEZF) and the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame is proudly displayed inside the new Shannon Air Museum. Your Board of Directors has been quite busy with several projects:
1. The Captain Earl Worley Scholarship fund is now well over $200,000 and the Scholarship Committee will make its first recommendations for Fall semester 2018. The scholarship will be awarded to high school seniors who are committed to educational goals in aviation, aerospace or related engineering fields. The award will be based upon academic achievement, need, and other factors demonstrating good citizenship and maturity. The award will be a four-year award but must be renewed each year that the student remains in good standing in the appropriate curriculum.
2. As mentioned above, the Aviation Hall of Fame is in a new location and we will be working on enhancing this exhibit with additional artifacts and displays from the VAHS’ archive. We will also organize several Saturday work sessions after the New Year to bring other artifacts into the new office building. The local Civil Air Patrol has offered to assist these efforts, but we need our members to take part. The “tribal knowledge” of VAHS’ membership is vital.
3. Planning has begun for a fund-raiser this spring or early Summer. I urge anyone to volunteer to assist with this effort. The more people we have to help, the lighter the load on us all.
Regretfully, two people who have played large roles in VAHS have left.
Linda Burdette has resigned after 12 years on the Board, including stints as President and Chair. Linda also has provided much content for this Newsletter, served as Chair of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee and as Chair for many special events. We are enormously grateful for her contributions and wish her well in her work with other Fredericksburg community organizations.
Jennifer Melton, VAHS long-time Office Manager, has resigned to take another position closer to her home. Jen has been a steady and strong organizer with seemingly limitless energy in promoting and operating the day-to-day machinery of VAHS. We will miss her enormously in the office, but she intends to remain an active member. We will surely be able to use her knowledge and experience in myriad ways!
On a happier note, we have a new Office Manager, Sue Baker, who started on Friday, December 1. We were under considerable time pressure to get her on board so we could have some “handoff training” for Sue with Jen. Sue is one of those Jack (Jill?)-of-all-trades persons. She has been an office manager, a business owner, a Customer Service Manager and other things that paint a picture of someone who is multi-talented and learns fast. She also admits to loving aviation and worked for Allegheny Airlines at DCA Hangar 11 a few years ago. We are excited to have found her! Fast transitions are always hard on everyone, but we think Sue is well able to handle this one.