Magazine
Runabouts to Rockets
President's Message
Runabouts to Rockets
Volume 39 #11-12
November/December, 2020
This will be my Ode to Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and the Holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and others). Thanks to all our members who are Veterans. Stacy and myself express our gratitude for your service to this country. I, for one as an Air Force veteran, forgot about it most of the day and was never able to get my free breakfast at Denny’s but nonetheless that is not what it is about, getting freebies. Being significant moviephiles (is that a word?), we watched “Sergeant York” last night which was pretty representative of what war is and can be (WW1 was not a pleasant experience; none of them are). Joan Leslie, Sgt. York’s wife in the movie, was 16 when she played the part; June Lockhart of Lassie fame among others, played Rosie, Sgt. York’s sister and was also 16. She is still with us at 95 although Joan Leslie passed at the age of 90 in 2015. There is one vintage car in the movie but I could not ascertain its make. It looked like a phaeton. Of course Gary Cooper won the academy award for best actor for portraying the life of the Medal of Honor recipient.
The election is over, I believe, but continues to trek on and on. I am hopeful that by Thanksgiving we can all be in agreement with its resolution and give thanks that the US of A will persevere and remain a guiding light for the rest of the world.
COVID has not left us and in fact is surging through most of the country. I just recently received word from Judy Badgley that we lost Jan Hummer to COVID. Jan had been married to Tom Hummer for 59 years. Tom had been sick from the virus and was hospitalized as well but improved and was discharged. Almost every time I traveled to Lansing I met and visited with the Hummers. They lived in Dimondale and were fixtures at the pre Homecoming festivities which were held annually there and I would see them often at the RE Olds museum. I last visited with them at their home while attending Homecoming in 2019; they had just completed a new garage to house their cars. They took their 1933 convertible to Oldsmar a few years ago when the parade was rained out for the only time in its history. Our thoughts and condolences go to Tom and the family.
I also became aware just recently of the death of Don Spieldenner in January of this year. Don was one of the 5 charter founders of the National Antique Oldsmobile Club, along with Hank Pinckney, Carlo Cola, Charlie Degges and Al Sandy. Don was nationally recognized for his restorations, primarily of Oldsmobiles. He really liked models with side mounts. Later he became recognized for restoring antique pedal cars. In recent years he had been constrained by macular degeneration (reported by Bud Guyer) and age. He was just shy of 88 when he died in January. This leaves us with 2 Founders, Charlie Degges and Hank Pinkney. Charlie remains very active and appears like clockwork at every meet usually in his 1938 Oldsmobile 4 door that he drives from Manassas, Virginia.
Greg Minges and I, with others, are working on the next Meet (we hope) which is to be held in (Spokane) Coeur d’alene, Idaho in June. We hope to have most of the details outlined in the Runabouts soon. Since we now have bimonthly magazines the most up to date information might be found on the website.
I did finally pick up my 1923 touring car in Wisconsin; it is beautiful and runs like a Swiss watch thanks to Mark Santos. The story of the road trip I made to get it begins in this month’s magazine. Thanks for supporting the NAOC; Happy Holidays and Stay safe.
—Rick Winn (#914)
Slaton, Texas