"Stella Starr" wrote in message
...
I don't come to the groups much any more, for reasons including a move, new
job, and loss of newsreader program. I miss the days when I found good
company here, though, and many fine people willing to answer questions and
engage in entertaining conversation.

Among my favorite friends I never met was Highflyer, and I finally got to
meet him at a antique airplane fly-in and then his own annual event. I
actually met my new husband at Pinckneyville, and he proposed on the
runway, under the stars one night in May 2006.

Highflyer's on Facebook, as many of my geezer friends are these days, and
though he seldom posts there either, one of his daughters just posted
photos of his hangar after a fire that did extensive damage this past
week.

Sadly, the Red Lady was inside when it happened, and is badly damaged
also. No one was hurt, and even the hangar cat seems to have escaped
harm. Still, I have many fond memories of beer, barbecue and good company
in that hangar...and of rides in that wonderful plane.

Here's a story about the fire.
http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details...=9703&type=top

This is truly a sad state of affairs. A terrible loss of most of a lifetime
of restoration and preservation work. I am very sorry to learn of it, and
still hope that one day I will have the privelege to meet some of the people
who used to attend that annual event--and who perhaps still do.

Peter