By: Catherine Cunningham Turner

Catherine Cunningham Turner — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:15:49 +0000

It was so nice to see such a fond tribute to the Oklahoma Aviator. My father, Joe Cunningham, originated the paper while serving as the longest member of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission in an attempt to unify the activities of aviation in the state of Oklahoma. Originally, all pilots received a complimentary subscription with the newspaper being solely supported by advertising. And it was printed on newsprint. My father typed the paper on an old typewriter and did the mock-ups in his apartment in Tulsa, OK. I remember visiting him and serving as a stand-in proofreader during the 1980s and again in the 1990s until his death in 1999. Eventually he had to charge a nominal subscription fee but the spirit of the paper remained: a chance to promote and talk about aviation. If there was an airshow in a little community, you can bet that Joe covered it. In later years Joe and his wife Mary Kelley operated the grass strip runway in Cookson, Oklahoma on Lake Tenkiller. One of my last memories of time spent with Joe was of making the drive out to the airport and proofreading the paper, all while visiting with the various pilots who stopped by to sit a spell, drink a cup of coffee, and, yes, to talk aviation. My sister and I were thrilled that Mike and Barbara Huffman and then, Earl Downs and his wife Mimi, kept up the legacy of the Oklahoma Aviator, but like many things, The Oklahoma Aviator had to shut down. I have met many folks throughout the years who read the paper but never knew the men and women behind its publication. There was a sign in my dad’s office for many years that read: airplanes spoken here. Thanks to Mike and Barbara and Earl and Mimi, to Mary Kelley and Joe Cunningham, airplanes were indeed “spoken there.”

Comments on: So long, ‘Oklahoma Aviator’

By: Catherine Cunningham Turner