Just after we opened the Craft store I noticed a couple using the store more frequently than the regular customers.  John's spouse would be seeking out material for her current craft projects and John would just head for the RC department where he would drool over the engines, kits and radios in my department.  I'd always ask him if I could help him and his answer was always, "just looking".  I asked him if he flew models and his answer was always, "some day."  He would always ask to see an engine up close and I would always oblige by letting him examine one close up.  Lo and behold he'd say, "I'll take it".  At first it seemed strange to be buying an engine without any idea what he was going to put it in.  Later on he bought many kits, not just any kits but usually ones that would make any pro envious.  His spouse never complained as long as she got what she was shopping for.  He owned more engines than anyone I know!

     As I got better acquainted with John, I asked him about himself.  What did he do for a living, where did he reside, what were his goals.  He said that he worked for the Medtronic Company and spent a lot of time in Europe at some of their overseas offices.  He was a Liaison person representing his firm in company products such as their famous Pacemaker and host of other cardiac products that they specialized in.  I then got more personal and inquired about what kind of kits has he built so far and his answer was always, "I've never built a kit in my life, I don't even know hot to get started."  I volunteered to get him going as I had a classroom with plenty of tables, building boards, -(2 X4 foot ceiling tile, etc. He took me up on it and I gave him a list of what all was needed to assemble and put together a fuse, in the next session a rudder, half a wing, the next was the other half of the wing, etc.  He was the best student that I had and was a meticulous builder.  I never built it for him, I started him out and he would need to bring it to the next meeting and go on to the next part of the project.  I worried a little about the wing and surface covering so when we got to that stage I would start him out and make him do the rest and I must say, he was the best

student that I ever worked with.  If a wing was a tad warped, I showed him how to straighten it out when it was finished.  All of his projects turned out well.  I got him into trainer type planes.  About the time it was ready to learn to fly them, The ACORN HANDICRAFT Dept. of my store was going belly up and was on the verge of bankruptcy.  I was in the throes of a divorce and I got left with a building to dispose of and a lot of headaches associated with disposing of tons of Styrofoam balls and bird's eyes and feathers and all things associated with a craft store.

     After seeing my empire go down the tube, all bills paid, everything settled, I just wanted to get out of town where I could build and fly my planes in peace.  I moved north in 1987 and worried about what happened to my friend John.  I went back there and found him among a hanger of planes of all types, all ready to fly and no one around to help him so I turned to Dan Beckstrom again, who had just retired from the phone company and was in the process of moving just east of Princeton.  I asked Dan if he would mind teaching John to fly as he was the closest, and he accepted the challenge and was told that John was an ideal student and soon advanced to a World Engines, "1/5th scale Robin Hood" with a Maloney engine in it, built a hundred percent by John and flown like a pro, which he was.

     I always told John that he should've been in show business as we had a lot of fun with him!  We kept in touch through the years via e-mail with an occasional get together at a favorite food emporium!  Wherever friend John is, you can bet that he's flying with the best of them!

     Oh, and John loved his Angels too, to the very end!!

I'll never forget him..…      ...............Dick Pollock

P.S.  I miss many of the flyers that flew while I was active and I want to say HI! to anyone that remembers the fun times!