The Memorial service for Vernon Stairs will be

Tuesday, August 30, at 10:00 am for family only.

 

The location will be:

Florida National Cemetery

6502 SW 102nd Ave

Bushnell, FL  33513

http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/florida.asp

 

Travel time from Tampa is approximately 60-90 minutes.

Upon arriving at the guard house and providing Vernon's name, each family member will be given the designated travel lane (there are six lanes). Promptly at 10 a.m., an escort will arrive and begin the procession leading the hearse, followed by family members. We will stay in our individual cars following the procession to the designated pavilion where we will park and participate in the service.

 

We are alotted 30 minutes for our service as they have many others and must stay with a strict schedule.  Chuck will do the talk and prayer and the Honor Guard will do the presenting of the flag and the taps.  We will not be able to go to the grave site at this time but can go later after 3 p.m. or thereafter any day and time.  It will take about 90 days for the headstone and they will let us know when that has been placed.  We are planning on the 30-minute service, lunch and then back home and returning later when the headstone is there.  I feel it will be easier to ride with someone so we don't have so many cars.

 

Love,

Mom/Grandma/Nana/BarJean

 

Looking in the Mirror My Hands Don’t Seem Like My Own

 

They feel my face, my hair, and it’s as if they are discovering me for the first time.  Yes, Dad, this is your face. (We look so much alike)

 

All day my hands seem to be moving at his will.  It sounds creepy, but was comforting.

 

In his latter years his hands were always in motion.  Not the shaking of Parkinson’s but constantly rubbing the steering wheel of his golf cart, of the fabric of his plain jacket, or his own hands.  I have found myself doing the same thing over the last couple of years and wonder, when I catch myself, if it is neurological or learned.  I try to minimize it, for fear of freaking Jamie out, but it starts out as an unconscious act.

 

Later Note:  Mina Johnson [email protected] Fri, Feb 26, 2021 at 9:58 AM

To: Carole Baskin [email protected]

 

Wanted to also tell you that your father was a gold seal instructor.  From an aviation perspective, you should be very proud of him!

 

GOLD SEAL FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATES. The specific requirements for the gold seal flight instructor certificate are contained in FAA Orders 8700.1, General Aviation Operations Inspector’s Handbook, and 8710.3C, Pilot Examiner’s Handbook. Flight instructor certificates bearing distinctive gold seals are issued to flight instructors who have maintained a high level of flight training activity and who meet special criteria. Once issued, a gold seal flight instructor certificate will be reissued each time the instructor's certificate is renewed. Applicants for gold seal flight instructor certificates must meet the following requirements:

 

a. The flight instructor must hold a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating (glider flight instructors need not hold an instrument rating) or an ATP certificate;

 

b. The flight instructor must hold a ground instructor certificate with an advanced or instrument ground instructor rating; and

 

c. The flight instructor must have accomplished the following within the previous 24 months:

 

(1) Trained and recommended at least 10 applicants for a practical test, at least 8 of whom passed their tests on the first attempt;

 

(2) Conducted at least 20 practical tests as a designated pilot examiner, or graduation tests as chief instructor of a 14 CFR part 141 approved pilot school course; or

 

(3) A combination of the above requirements. (Two practical tests conducted equal the credit given for one applicant trained and recommended for a practical test.)

 

Back when my father learned I was taking flying lessons, he dropped over 100 pounds and passed his airman’s physical so that he co