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Neighbor
Notes: Veterans Day honors, fighting disease and a stage debut
Published Saturday, November 11, 2006
A Murieta aviator is selected
to lead a Veterans Day parade honoring flight veterans,
local real estate agents collect change for a good cause, and
a Pleasant Grove High School freshman discovers a talent for
acting. Read
about your neighbors here.
On Veterans Day,
honoring a Murieta veteran
Chuck and Donna Lentz
won a Veterans Day weekend trip to Vegas.
Murietan Chuck Lentz, a retired Navy commander,
is one of six military aviators from across the country selected
to lead today's 36th annual Las Vegas Veterans Day Parade.
The theme
this year is the history of military flight, and the parade
honors flight veterans of all eras. Astronaut Eugene Cernan,
the last man to walk on the moon, is the grand marshal of the
parade, which is sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post 1753. The parade is expected to draw 20,000 spectators
along a route through downtown Las Vegas.
Lentz competed
in a contest conducted by the national VFW organization to
win the honor. He and his wife, Donna, are being flown
to Las Vegas for a VIP weekend that, fittingly, includes an
air show as part of the Veterans Day activities.
It will also be something
of a family reunion, with adult children joining them for the
event. He has three children and Donna also has three. The
couple has been married five years.
Lentz,
76, learned to fly at the age of 15 in his hometown of Kansas
City, Mo. After high school, at the age of 17, he enlisted
in the Navy, embarking on a career that took him to Korea on
three tours of duty, and, later, to Vietnam, where he served
six tours. He flew a total of 400 combat missions before retiring
from the military in 1969.
Commander
Chuck Lentz in 1968.
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At the Lentz
home, a picture of the plane he flew in Vietnam hangs
in a cozy corner above an easy chair. The picture is
inscribed simply, “Many thanks for a job well
done.” It’s the date of this tour of duty – 1967-68 – that
gives the tribute from his commanding officer its depth
and nuance.
But pictures, metals, ribbons and other
memorabilia only begin to tell the story of the man’s
career. You need that gravelly voice filling in the details
in a rapid-fire commentary to begin to appreciate the
history Chuck Lentz has seen close-up. |
Not that it was all combat and
the turbulence of the times. There’s also his story about
a 1959 training session for the newly minted astronauts. Lentz
tosses off the names Scott Carpenter and Gene Cernan in the
course of describing the retrieval exercise that tethered the
astronauts to his plane.
Between the Korean and the Vietnam wars,
Lentz commanded an aircraft in Airborne
Early Warning Squad Four, better known as VW-4, the Navy Hurricane
Hunters. He
chased hurricanes for two years, penetrating the eye 87 times
in 27 storms.
His abiding
love for flying has been a constant in his life. Still a pilot,
Lentz keeps his plane at the airport, where he’s a member
of the Rancho Murieta Aviators Club, a group of local pilots
who meet every Sunday. On the first Sunday of the month, they
invite the public over to have a look at vintage aircraft.
Raising funds
to help fight muscular dystrophy
ERA
Town and Country Real Estate held its first fundraiser for
the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the Gazebo last month
in conjunction with an autumn open house event and raised $300
for the cause. ERA associates Peggie Miller, Ina Semrau, Carole
Thames and Jane Rosetta were on hand when Troop 633 Boy Scout
Jake Wolhart collected Sandy Boal’s contribution.
As a last-minute tryout, she wins
a lead role
Chelsey Moore won the role
of the neatnik half of "The Odd Couple."
Murietan Chelsey Moore’s freshman year at Pleasant
Valley High School is off to a fine start after the 14-year-old
tried out for a part in the drama club’s production of
the female version of “The Odd Couple” at the last
minute and won the part of Florence, the female version of
fussy Felix.
It was the first play put on
at the school’s new Black
Box Theater. It was also Chelsey’s first stage experience
since she played a mouse in “The Nutcracker” when
she was in first or second grade, said her mother, Gloria Moore.
As it turns out, Chelsey and acting
are made for each other. Throughout rehearsals, teachers
commented on Chelsey’s
comedic timing and her stage presence, and she thrived on the
challenge of mastering her role. “She kind of just fell
into this and she’s a natural for it,” her
mother marveled.
The play opened in late October and concluded
its two-weekend run last Saturday.
Residents can support the
drama club by attending plays, and also by donating props and
costumes for future productions. “They’re
starting with nothing but a theater and lights so we have been
trying to get donations for future shows,” said Gloria
Moore.
What’s needed are clothes and
wigs, kitchen and dining room furniture, books, pictures,
pots and pans, kitchen utensils, dishes, silverware, curtains,
bedroom furniture and a working refrigerator.
Contact the school at 686-0230 if you
can help.
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