My oldest son, Dr. Steven Hackley, got bored in high school and dropped out at the end of his Junior year. Luckily, he was accepted at MU without a high school diploma. He is now a Professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia in the Psychology Department. He does research and also teaches undergraduate and graduate students. He is the Past President of the world-wide Society for Psycho-physiological Research.
When Steve was a young boy he helped my dad milk cows. He was paid $1.00 per milking and he saved virtually every penny he earned. He had quite a bit of money saved up and decided he would like to take lessons and learn how to fly. He rode his bicycle four miles to the East Kansas City Airport located at Grain Valley. He had parked his bicycle and was looking in a plane parked next to the airport office when the management came out, ran him off, and told him not to come back. He talked his mother into driving him once a week twenty-one miles to the Higginsville Airport, located off I-70 and operated by Marshall Branson, who took an interest in Steve. Marshall was a compassionate and patient instructor and got Steve ready to solo on his 16th birthday, which was the legal age.
I called the Kansas City Star and told them my son was going to both solo an airplane and get his driver’s license on the same day. Branson flew the Cessna 150 from Higginsville to the Grain Valley airport to meet Steve. With the Kansas City Star reporter and Steve’s family watching from the ground, Steve completed his solo flight. The next stop was the Independence License Bureau, where he took his driver’s test, once again with his family and the Kansas City Star reporter looking on. Upon completion of the driver’s test, the examiner announced to the onlookers that the newly 16 year old pilot had flunked the test.
1 comment:
Your son was a teacher of mine last year at MU. I was very fond of him as a person and a scholar. Cheers to you , your family, and your memories!
Post a Comment