Not too long ago, Patricia (Dearolf) Lee posted a note about what she
has been doing since high school graduation. She asked that we all
do the same, but so far the response has been minimal. In a recent
email to me, she mentioned the lack of activity on the Dalton59 Yahoo
site, so I promised to try getting the ball rolling again with my
update. So here goes……
After high school graduation I went to work at the Mardigan
Corporation in Wooster. I did electrical maintenance work. I
continued the flight lessons I had started during my senior year in
high school.
In 1960, I obtained my Commercial and Flight Instructor pilot
licenses. I began giving flight instruction part time at the
Orrville Airport while continuing to work full time at Mardigan. One
of my students was Suzanne Scallon, a girl I would fall in love with.
The fellow who wrote the insurance for Orrville's airport asked me to
go into the insurance business with him. I started my insurance
career in June of 1962. Later that year I married Suzanne and we
moved to North Canton, Ohio, where our insurance office was located.
I did a fair amount of flying in conjunction with our insurance
business. I also continued to give flight instruction part time at
McKinley Air Transport at the Akron-Canton Airport.
In 1966 Suzanne and I attended the Reading (Pa) air show where United
and American Airlines were recruiting pilots. That stirred my
interest in airline flying. February 1, 1967 started my airline
career with Allegheny Airlines (which changed its name to USAir and
then USAirways.) Suzanne and I moved to the Pittsburgh area later
that year with our two young children, Christopher and Rebecca. Our
youngest child, Deborah would come along about 10 years after Rebecca.
We lived in the Pittsburgh area for 27 years. We loved to vacation
on large inland lakes and were always looking for that "dream
location" where we could retire. When the merger between USAir and
Piedmont occurred it presented the opportunity to move to the
Charlotte, NC area. We settled in at our present location on Lake
Norman, about 25 miles North of Charlotte.
I retired from airline flying in July of 1999 and enjoy boating,
golfing, and my hobby of 51 years, Amateur (Ham) Radio.
Christopher and his wife Toni and grandson Antonio, live in Hebron,
Ky which is near the Cincinnati Airport. Chris is a mechanic with
Delta Airlines. Antonio is four years old.
Rebecca and her husband Rob and our grandson Sam, live about 25
minutes away from us here in NASCAR country. Sam wants to be a race
car driver and has started driving quarter midget racers. Sam is
eight years old.
Deborah is still unmarried and lives in Baltimore. She is a Doctor
of Pharmacy and teaches at the University of Maryland.
So there you have it, the highlights of what I have been doing for
the last 49 years. Everyone is waiting to hear what you have been
doing. Don't keep us waiting any longer!
Paul Sturpe
Paul Sturpe