Carlee, Janice and Susan at the McClellan Formation Flying Clinic(see trip report below)
Chairman’s Message
By Dana Davis
Greetings SLO 99s,
I hope you all saw Jill’s email which read:
“I am sad to announce that I am resigning from my position as Chapter Chair. With my business, I have been accepted as a vendor at the Pismo Beach Farmers Market, which is every Wednesday night starting March 30th. Therefore, I will be unable to lead the meetings or uphold my Chapter Chair responsibilities. I hope to join flyouts and other 99s events as my schedule allows.”
Jill has asked me to help fill in until we elect new officers at our May meeting. Officer elections is at the most important item on our agenda for April.
Last month, you asked for job descriptions for the offices, and here is a synopsis:
Job Descriptions
Chair: The Chapter Chair shall be Chairman of the Board, shall preside at all Chapter meetings, shall carry out the collective wishes of the membership, be their spokesperson on matters of Chapter Policy, and shall have the responsibilities and duties as set forth in the Standing Rules.
Vice Chair: The Vice Chair shall assist the Chapter Chair in the performance of her duties, shall preside at the Chapter meetings in the absence, resignation or removal from office of the Chapter Chair, and shall have the responsibilities and duties as set forth in the Standing Rules.
Treasurer: The Treasurer shall be responsible for all monies and shall make a complete report at each meeting of the receipts and expenditures. She shall present a budget at the May meeting of the Chapter for approval by the membership. She shall further have the responsibilities and duties as set forth in the Standing Rule, including filing all required state and federal tax documents in a timely fashion to maintain tax exempt status.
Secretary: The Secretary shall be responsible for the accurate and timely account of all transactions of the Chapter meetings and shall assist the Chapter Chair in the performance of her duties, and shall have the responsibilities and duties as set forth in the Standing Rules.
Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Chair: The Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Chapter Chairman is responsible for promoting and keeping chapters up to date on deadlines and requirement for local Scholarships and the AE Scholarships. The Chairman is responsible for receiving and reviewing scholarship applications and selecting qualified applications to the AEMSF Section Committee for review.
If you are interested in serving in any of these roles, please contact Susan Steeb, our Immediate Past Chair who serves as Chair of the Nominating Committee.(see email on the right)
In other news, the Spring Southwest Section Meeting of the 99s will be April 7-10 in Chandler, Arizona. The theme is Bloom and we have four members planning to attend in person, and you can still sign up to attend via zoom.(see email on the right)
Congratulations to our newest pilot, Emmi Sturckow, who passed her Private Pilot Check-Ride on March 10. Emmi is our fall 2021 scholarship recipient. Can’t wait to see you in the skies!
I look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting, April 6, at ACI Jet Conference Room. Arrive at 5:30 for Social Time with the Meeting starting at 6:00.
Blue skies,
Dana Davis
Acting Chair, SLO 99s
Local 99s Life Member Annette Orton:“Determined is My Middle Name”
By Grace Crittenden
After a wonderful 33 year career of teaching chemistry and physiology in the Los Angeles area, Anne and her husband wanted to get away from the crowded city. They loved the Northwest and for the first few years they did the snowbird thing with 6 months in Idaho and 6 months in Palm Springs.
In 1996 they purchased 10 acres in Idaho and settled into gardening and Anne decided to learn how to swim and wondered if she could do a triathlon. Her first competition was a 2 mile swim in the cold waters at Sand Point. At 65, she was the oldest swimmer and she says“They made a big fuss”. From there she jumped into senior fitness and started doing masters swim events and did her first triathlon at age 66 in Denver. In all, she did 33 triathlons, including several Wonder Woman events in Spokane and her last two at age 82.“I was always the oldest and I always finished”. There were several articles written about her and she was pleased that she inspired other women to do the triathlon. She enjoyed the competition and training at the Athletic Club. Her husband loved driving her to the competition but was not a competitor.
During that time, she heard that the local school district needed substitute teachers, so she went back into the classroom. She loved teaching without the paperwork.
At age 76 one of her neighbors, a retired Air Force pilot, took her up in his gilder. She was enjoying the view when he told her to take the stick and maneuver the glider.“That was it! I was hooked!” She was flying with him regularly and found she was very good at finding the lift so they could stay up for long periods of time. She did find that she was getting tired of going round and round to get altitude. She wanted to go places.
She did take some flying lessons, but her husband was not fond of airplanes. After his death, she decided to get her license and as soon as she could, she joined The Ninety-Nines. Initially she was flying a red and white Cessna 150 but found that is was a problem to fuel a high winged plane, so she bought a Piper Cherokee. It was the perfect plane for her and she loved flying around the Northwest. Her children lived on the Central Coast and she would fly down every year to visit. She loved flying summer and winter.
She had heard of the the United Flying Octogenarians(UFOs). As soon as she turned 80 she joined the group and loved the meetings. The members were all such interesting people, and she took an active role. Since then, she has been on the Board of Directors and is in charge of planning meetings.
Several years ago, she started coming down to spend the winters here in SLO with her daughter and came to some of our chapter meetings. While she was here she met a couple of UFOs at SBP who had never been to a meeting, so she planned a meeting here at KSBP that has become a very popular annual gathering in the spring.
From that meeting planning, she made a connection with a wonderful pilot who was a year younger than herself and lived in Red Bluff. She really enjoyed talking to him on the phone. She met him on a stop on her way home to Idaho, and after that they talked on the phone for a couple of hours every evening. He lived in an aviation community/airpark with a hangar right next to his house. It was not long before she left Idaho and sold her plane to live and fly with him in his Cessna 182 for a wonderful 5 years until his health failed.“It was hard leaving him” but she was able to when his son came to do the caregiving.
She moved back here just before the COVID shutdown and moved into The Villages near her daughter. She is still healthy and getting back into her exercise routine. She is feeling fine and looking forward to her 91st birthday in May.
Dana Davis, her mother Carol Mackey, Anne, Grace Crittenden, Therese Theiler
The photo was taken when Dana Davis, Therese Theiler and I had lovely lunch with Anne at the end of January at The Villages, with Dana Davis’ mother who also lives there.
Anne has lived an amazing life with resilience and determination!
Chairman’s Message
Local 99s Life Member Annette Orton: “Determined is My Middle Name”