Remembering Shawn Lavery – Our Day to Celebrate his life…
July 29, 2023: What a great day!
Well attended and a happy bunch of people!
Shawn Lavery passed away and left us with many memories and a bunch of stories to tell. He was the most enthusiastic member of the Golden Eagles RC Club. All that he wanted was for us to be the BEST! Shawn kept pushing from the inside to make our club more popular, more comfortable, more responsive… simply the best.
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Shawn was our primary public contact and our chief flying instructor for several years. He personally taught many of our members to fly RC. He used his own aircraft to do his training. He rode right along with the student during those lessons… advising, teaching, yelling! Always in a positive way. He expected his students to learn how to fly RC and he stayed with them until they did learn. Shawn liked those airplanes with the Spektrum AS3X “Safe” receivers. All of his students learned to fly on SAFE. His main pet peeve that I remember was that he wanted his students to land with SAFE “on” so that the airplane would remain level as it settled to the runway during the landing AND he wanted the student to use the rudder to steer the ship towards the runway while the SAFE kept the wings level. (I don’t know if more than a few students actually followed that instruction: used to drive Shawn crazy!)
Shawn had airplanes… !
Shawn purchased model airplanes whenever he got excited about a new product. So, he had MANY airplanes. When a student needed an airplane, Shawn could usually work with him to get him an airplane… sometimes at a great price… sometimes for free! Shawn also sold the models he was tired of to our club members… usually for a great price but, sometimes, as a gift. Once in awhile Shawn might crash his airplane and he’d give it away on the spot: “Anyone want it?”
Pastor Joe Walker spoke for our service… very nice.
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Ashes delivered from on high!
One of Shawn’s last requests was to have his ashes spread upon the winds over the Golden Eagles RC Club field.
Many of us experimented with possible bomb-bay mechanism for our aircraft so as to make Shawn’s request a reality. It was our Jim Simo who came up with the best device and the largest aircraft to deliver the ashes. After Pastor Joe’s service was concluded, Jim fired-up his engine and took to the skies!
Our Harold Marshall had his cell phone at the ready and shot that video. Eric assembled the video bits into what you see there. It was Fast Phil and Pauly who were hoping to blast “Highway to the Danger Zone” at full volume during the ashes drop.
Is that “smoke” or “ashes” in that video?
ASHES! Jim Simo’s ashes canister began spreading the ashes as soon as he lifted off! So what looks like smoke trails is actually the ashes being released from on high! He got the job done with a fantastic flight (and a hard landing… but that’s another story!) … Thank you, Jim… Simply Awesome!
Shawn had out of state family and friends at the Celebration!
It was great to meet the family and friends. They were most impressed with our club and our hospitality. We were proud to be showing off! After a bit of cake and some more wild flying, the visitors headed for home.
The Kingman Railroad Museum connection…
Our Don Bosco reported that Shawn’s brother, Tom, stopped-by at the Kingman Railroad Museum:
As some of you know, I volunteer at the Kingman RR Museum. Well guess what, Shawn’s brother with his wife stopped in after being with all of you. As we were talking (some visitors just want to see the museum and trains) he mentioned the AMA and being at the field. I mentioned I was a member and fly there and the discussion was off. He was extremely happy and impressed at the turn out, the demonstrations, spreading the ashes (he showed me a picture of the spreading of the ashes on his phone), the Shawn associated airplane display and the friendliness of everyone.
He told me that someone there mentioned checking out the RR Museum and obviously he did. That was a very nice visit and discussion with him and his wife and they were very moved by what everyone there did.
Well done, everyone,
Don
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