After Larry and Maxine
Durst appeared Wednesday night to receive the EAA Young Eagles Horizons
award from Chairman Harrison Ford, they began to walk off the stage when
Executive Director Steve Buss stopped them. "Take center stage if
you would," he said.
Buss, who alluded to a
surprise announcement earlier in the program, explained that just the
night before the 1.25 millionth Young Eagle milestone had been reached,
as hoped for, at Oshkosh.
"Larry, you don’t
happen to remember flying Tucker Morey from Little Creek, Oregon, do
you?" Buss asked. Larry acknowledged he did remember.
"Well, Tucker is
1.25 million."
The capacity crowd
erupted in applause as Ford congratulated Larry and Maxine. Larry made
the flight on July 15 in his Cessna 182. Coincidentally, today is Tucker’s
15th birthday.
"This sure has been
a whirlwind for me," Larry said. "The Young Eagles program has
become a real passion in my life. In what other program can you provide
flying and working with children?"
