President's Perspective
This has been a month of emotional highs and lows.
Hall of Fame presentation for John Grigg
One of the nice things I get to do as AMA president is present the Hall of Fame awards to many inductees. This is one of the things I look forward to. Unfortunately, sometimes this means making a posthumous presentation to the family of the inductee.
John Grigg, with whom I served on the Executive Council for many years, died in August 1996. He was voted into the Hall of Fame this past year, and a celebration banquet was held in Lockport, NY, for the presentation. It was great to see how many people attended.
I presented the plaque to John's wife, Joan Grigg, among a flood of pictures and memories of John's life in model aviation. It was a great success, and it kindled a lot of fond memories of my travels with John while he was AMA president.
Some of the pictures were somewhat incriminating! If you see any of that gang, perhaps they can explain the gorilla, or maybe they will show you that picture of District III VP Bob Brown wearing the wildest pair of bell-bottoms you have ever seen!
It was a great evening, even though it was difficult in many ways to accept John's passing.
Remembering Frank Garcher
When I arrived home the next day, there was terrible news on my answering machine: Frank Garcher of Midwest Products had died of a heart attack on Saturday morning. AMA, and all of aeromodeling, lost a great friend on May 22.
Few have any idea of the contributions Frank made. Any time you heard a program introducing kids to aeromodeling, Frank's name was not far away. He supported programs for kids in more ways than I can count and was a strong supporter of AMA.
Frank was the point man for almost every cooperative program between the aeromodeling industry and the AMA. When it came time to raise funds to support various AMA programs, Frank was leading the effort.
Frank was a big man in the industry, both figuratively and literally. His wisdom and experience will be missed by the entire industry. He was nicknamed "Big Stoop," after the character in the old Terry and the Pirates, as a tribute to his dogged loyalty and reliability. It was a moniker that he wore proudly.
At his funeral, his son-in-law said it best: "Frank had three loves in his life beyond his family: airplanes, music, and people."
As Frank had requested, some Dixieland music was played at the funeral as the final tribute. That was so much like him, as he was the consummate party person. Frank never saw a piano or banjo player he wouldn't get up and sing with. The parties he hosted at the Toledo show were legendary and always featured a banjo player and Dixieland jazz.
During the calling hours, someone said it quite well: "If anyone proposes a moment of silence for Frank Garcher, it would have to be someone who didn't know him."
Ironically, right after hearing the news on my answering machine, I opened the mail and found the July Model Aviation. In Joyce Hager's column was a picture of Frank, along with Ralph Warner, presenting me with checks from RCHTA in support of AMA's education programs. Frank always supported any effort to get aeromodeling into the classrooms. His company, Midwest Products, is one of the only companies in our industry to have a full-time education department.
That picture of Frank was probably the last "official" photograph taken of him. It showed him well, smiling up a storm, and presenting the results of a fund-raising effort to support aeromodeling.
I think Frank's son-in-law got it close, but not quite right. Frank loved people first, followed by airplanes and music, in whichever order. Frank was the biggest "people person" I've ever known. I'm sure if St. Peter asked Frank what he wanted, Frank would answer: "Balsa, a banjo player, and an audience." That would define heaven for Frank Garcher.
We'll sure miss him.
Dave Brown AMA president dbrown@dbproducts.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
