The North American Aviation T-6 Texan two-place advanced trainer was the classroom for most of the Allied pilots who flew in World War II. (Photo by Dave Rees)
In 1991, the infamous Tailhook convention scandal took place.
“There was some harassment of female pilots at that convention in Las Vegas,” said Dave Rees, Milford resident, business owner and former Navy pilot. “The whole thing got turned upside down. A lot of people didn’t get promoted because of that convention. I was not in attendance at the time.”
Since then, things have changed for the better at the Tailhook Symposium, and Rees recently returned from Reno, NV, where he attended the convention that celebrated the 100th anniversary of aircraft carrier aviation and reunited former Marine and Navy fliers.
CHERRY VALLEY – Edward “Bud” Fitz Randolph Garretson of Cherry Valley, a former dairyman, pilot and father of four sons, passed before the dawn broke on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. He was 92.
He was born in Westfield, N.J., on July 22, 1928. His life changed when he took a job on a neighbor’s farm in 1945 and discovered a strong love for farming. In Stillwater, N.J., these farmers became cherished mentors to Bud and the skills they taught him became the foundation of his life.
UNADILLA — Joan C. McLaud, 89, founder with her husband of the Douglas M. McLaud Insurance Agency in Otego, and also pursued a wide range of interests, passed away in her home on Nov. 6, 2019, with her devoted daughters, Mary McLaud and Susan Van Cott, by her side.
Joan was born on Dec. 19, 1929, in Oneonta, at the beginning of the Great Depression, the daughter of Stewart Crandall and Grace Matteson Crandall of Laurens. Her father was a musician and jazz pianist who filled her life with music. She loved playing the piano, organ and sang with a voice like Ella Fitzgerald and could scat with the best.
COOPERSTOWN – Peter James “Pete” Farmer, 61, conservationist and pilot, died unexpectedly of a pulmonary embolism on Wednesday morning, April 25, 2018, at UMass Memorial Leominster in Massachusetts. He maintained homes in Lancaster, Mass., and Cooperstown.
He was born on June 5, 1956, in Cooperstown, a son of Dr. Edward Truman Farmer, DDS, and Gretchen Schweickhard Farmer.
