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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Leader

Honored by:
Mr. Thomas Rindflesch

?»?Eugene K. Speth represented the American ideal: a self-sufficient, salt-of-the-earth, rock solid type, who was generous, open-minded, and robustly capable in all aspects of life. His most salient characteristic was his intense passion for flying and everything connected with aviation and aircraft.

After growing up on a farm in northern Iowa, Gene spent twenty years in the Navy, including a tour as a boiler technician on a nuclear submarine, the U.S.S Robert E. Lee. Upon retiring from the Navy in his forties, he met and married the great love of his life, Joyce. He built his own ?€?green?€? house, alongside a creek on his farm in southwestern Minnesota, where he appreciated the wildlife of the prairie ecology.

Gene dedicated the major part of his retirement to flight and flying. After receiving his pilot?€™s license, he bought a Cessna and took flight-instructor training. He had an airstrip on the farm. He took every opportunity to fly, to the dismay of Joyce, who didn?€™t share his passion, although she often accompanied him. He also loved to travel on land, and every trip included stops at local aviation museums. He was particularly enthusiastic about the National Air and Space Museum.

One of Gene?€™s most noteworthy accomplishment was the establishment of a small, private museum dedicated to aviation in a converted industrial building on his farm. The main display comprised hundreds of model airplanes of every conceivable description, organized by material and style. This was accompanied by a library of flight-related books, periodicals, and art, all meticulously cataloged and indexed.

He died unexpectedly of cholangiocarcinoma, and is fondly remembered by his son Kerry and family and by Joyce and her sons, Tom and Bruce, along with Bruce?€™s children and grandchildren.