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the year to our family as pilots, as well as to our business,” said Jim Irwin, pres- ident of Aircraft Spruce. Jim’s parents, Bob and Flo Irwin, started the company in 1965. In 1967, they flew the company – which at the time included them and their two sons – to Rockford in their Navion Rangemaster.
aspects of aviation, including home- built, factory built, classics, military and light sport/ultralight aircraft. It is an aviation experience like no other.”
Avemco Insurance Company was just 9 years old when it attended the first fly-in at OSH in 1970. While un- derwriters will write new business, the company’s focus at the event has shifted from hard sales to brand aware- ness, safety education and building partnership relationships with groups like Women in Aviation International (WAI) and the National Association of Flight Instructors. Avemco also brings a few newer hires each year to give hands-on lessons on why and how to rate aircraft.
“We take 5 to 6 staff every year,” said Marci Veronie, vice president of sales and marketing for the company
Attendee,
Traditional
VFR Arrival
The late Paul Poberezny, EAA’s found- er, is often quoted as saying of the fly-in: “You come for the airplanes and you come back for the people.” This rings true for Ben Lee, a dentist in Wichita, Kansas, who will be marking his 27th straight fly-in convention this year.
His passion for aviation brought him to OSH with a buddy for the first time in 1992, where he geeked over the war- birds and homebuilts. He has returned for nearly three decades because the annual trip offered precious time with his family and newfound friends.
Aircraft Spruce founder Flo Irwin with son Jim at the company’s booth at Oshkosh in 1970.
The company hasn’t missed an EAA fly-in since, growing from a staff con- sisting only of family to adding a couple employees in the 1980s, to moving in 1995 to the new Hangar A sponsored by the company and bringing 20 staff members to work their exhibit.
Jim, attending his 42nd consecu- tive fly-in this summer, cherishes the memories of sharing time in the right seat with his dad, first in the Navion then in Jim’s Cessna T210. His father’s last trip to OSH was 1987, and Jim con- tinued to fly to Oshkosh each summer as he moved up the Cessna ladder to a 340, a 421C and then to his current air- craft, a Cessna 425 Conquest, in 2000. Now he is making memories with his three sons, all active in management at the company.
“The love for aviation is handed down from generation to generation, and tak- ing kids to Oshkosh is the best way to get them excited about flying,” Jim said. “AirVenture brings pilots and their families to Oshkosh for a week each summer to experience many different
For longtime attendee Ben Lee, Oshkosh was family vacation as his kids grew up.
10 • TWIN & TURBINE / July 2019
and chair of WAI’s board of directors. “One year we awarded a trip to OSH as a door prize to one employee at our holiday party. She has since gone on to take flying lessons and joined the local Ninety-Nines and WAI chapters.”
Veronie has worked for Avemco 33 years and has attended Oshkosh at least 20 times. She calls herself an ambassa- dor for the event, urging even non-pilots to attend at least once.
“It is better than watching the ball dropping in Times Square or attending Mardis Gras,” she said.
“Oshkosh is a very, very special place for me,” he said. “This will be my son’s 23rd straight year, and he is 24 years old. My daughter, who is 20 years old, stopped coming when she was 17 after 17 consecutive years. It was our family vacation for many years as our kids grew up. I have met some of my best friends at Oshkosh. The ca- maraderie of everyone in attendance is second to none.”
From walking the grounds until the kids fell asleep in their strollers to stock- ing up on a year’s supply of cheese at