Capt. Robert Stebbins (TWA, retired)
My Girlfriend, Lover, and Wife—Thank You
In 1959 I met the girl I have been married to for 53 years. At the time when we started dating I found out she was taking flying lessons. When I went out to Auburn, CA airport to watch her I inquired how much it would cost and if I too could learn to fly. It was something I had always wanted to do.
The FBO operator, airport mechanic, and flight instructor was Ace Hibberd. He said it would cost $12.00 an hour wet for my instruction in a 7AC Champ. I reached into my pocket and had $6.00. He agreed to give me my first 30-minute lesson. At the end of that 30-minute lesson Ace gave me my first log book. I was going to college at the time, so every time I had $12.00 I would go for a lesson.
Both Sharon and I soloed. She in her dad’s Cessna 170A and me in the 7AC Champ. I eventually got my private license in our first airplane an 8A Luscombe. I went on to fly for TWA, Nippon Cargo Air, and privately.
Sharon and I have owned 18 different airplanes in our 53 years of marriage. We currently own an LA-4 turbo Lake Amphibian that we have had now for 13 years. We are both active pilots (she flies as much as I do).
We have four sons who have all soloed at the age of 16. Two are airline pilots, one is a retired Navy air traffic controller who is currently tower manager at WJF, and he also has his CIF and flies air watch, and our other son is a flight dispatcher.
I am so blessed to have met, dated, and married the perfect woman who loves flying as much as I do.
