Randy Rentz was one of the organizers and first president. It was Bob Baird’s idea ( according to Randy ) to Start the chapter and he wrote the newsletter. Among some of the first members, were current members, Randy Rentz, Jim Jacobson, Joe Landy, Jim Martin, Dale Neddeau, and John Ryder. We met in various airport buildings, the east maintenance hangar, the room attached to the community hangar and the office attached to the east maintenance hangar. Our original goal was to build a hangar, and to that end we began having fly-In breakfasts in the community hangar. Some years we sold as many as 500 breakfasts, other years were fogged or rained out. By 1995 we had enough money to purchase the materials from Midway Engineering in Dowagiac. On Oct. 11, 1995, we received permission from the MDOT to begin construction of our hangar (it sounds so simple now, but took a lot of paperwork). Under the guidance of Dick Haigh and the tenacity of then president, Jim Thompson, we were able to muster enough members to get the job done. Dick Haigh did most of the building of the door.
| Thanks to a donation by Dave Thompson, we were able to pour the concrete floor. We’ve had members come and go over the years. Many of our former presidents are no longer members. Mike Davis, Ed Hawthorn, Larry Clough and Marty Mottweiler come to mind ( I’m not sure what that means ). Some members who have passed away are, Bob Surgeon, Bob Petro, Larry Miller, Ray Staniford, and George Lounsbery. On January 29, 1999, we incorporated as a Michigan Non-Profit Corporation. The next step would be to file with the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit. We now have an excellent facility, dedicated officers, a few less members, but many neat projects, some finished and some ongoing, to be proud of. Recently we’ve made an effort to camp together at AirVenture and have really enjoyed it. I hope that the current members can appreciate the hard work and dedication, put forth, by those who came before, to build the fine chapter we have today. |