Orville’s, (from childhood, his nickname has always been “Snap”)interest and fascination with aviation has been lifelong. It started at an early age when he and his friend Don built model airplanes from scratch.

Orville served his country in the Air Force, attending Syracuse University and later being stationed in Japan.

After starting a family, Snap passed his love of aviation on to his children, who to this day fondly recall the trips to the Dairy Queen and then off to the airport to watch airliners take off and land. An easy chair and a pair of workshop goggles transformed the typical suburban living room into a sky full of adventure and make-believe for Snap and his three children.

He returned to his youth, again in his fifties by building model airplanes, this time as part of a model radio airplane club.

Throughout the years, Snap and his family attended airshows. Snap was a regular at the annual EAA AirVenture, as well as other fly-ins and air museums. For many years, he worked as a volunteer at the Planes of Fame Air museum in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

In his retirement, although he can no longer fly model airplanes, he still is an avid reader or Air and Space Magazine and delights in telling the tales of his aviation experiences.