Precious Stone
AKRON — In the 1970’s, Mary Hruby became a pilot when a lot of women wouldn’t dream of it. It was a joy that she shared with her husband. Then icing over the Sierra Mountains forced them down, and when rescuers finally found the airplane wreckage, the snow had been falling for days. The Sierra Mountains had claimed a life, but miraculously spared two others.
Hubble Repairman’s Daughter
WADSWORTH, Oh. – She can’t drive a car, but this 15-year old girl traveled from Holland to a small country airfield in Ohio to learn how to fly an airplane. The proud father snapping photos of her from the taxiway is one of our nation’s leading space-based telescope repairman.
An Unusual Gift
MADISON, OH–Forty-six years ago, Gretchen Reed was picking someone up from a small airport in Painesville when she first saw Charles Reed, a diehard pilot she knew through family friends. She was 21 and “he was just the ultimate cool,” she says.
A Lot of Hot Air
SUN BEAU VALLEY FARM — Every September, crowds of people jam the city streets and the pastures of this farm for the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair. They come for the parade and to enjoy the festival atmosphere and to watch balloonists launch ships with names like Kaleidoscope, Whale Boy, Second Wind, Kilroy, Boo-Lou-Noodles and Diamond Girl into the skies. Lynee Bixler always has a Sublime experience.
Sleights of Humble Pie
PORT CLINTON — Local aviation enthusiast and Ford Tri-Motor historian, David Hirt gets a seat at the table with the beautiful, accomplished aviatrix and former airline captain, Julie Clark. Hirt dodges a knife, and a daredevil waitress saves his life.
Seat For Your Pants
RAVENNA — Pilots often refer to their innate skills in the cockpit as “seat-of-the-pants flying.” Nancy German is a local business owner who sews the seats for airplanes and wonders if she might be a 21st century dinosaur.
Whether Girl
MEDINA, Oh. – Whether girl pending. Vestibulum ac ante. Cras nec nunc varius mauris aliquet dictum. Vivamus pellentesque sodales nisi. Mauris porttitor dolor nec dui. Maecenas suscipit, enim sed imperdiet mollis, nulla metus condimentum ipsum, nec dictum felis felis in odio. Donec lobortis nibh non felis. Nulla sodales erat ac nulla. Donec interdum fermentum metus. Cras euismod, erat et vehicula semper.
Hubble Repairman’s Daugher | Photoessay
This photoessay accompanies the feature story, “Hubble Repairman’s Daughter.
