Nick Thomas paralleled his mother’s early years through his pursuit of hang gliding, which was in a similar state of evolution in the ‘70s as gliding was in ‘30s. As a young man he introduced many to soaring while living on a wing and prayer to make ends meet. Winters were spent working as a ski instructor and racing coach.

Under his mother urging, and ATA pilot Ed Hering’s guidance, he became more professional about his flying and earned an Aircraft and Powerplant mechanics license as well as pilot’s license. Nick has worked in general aviation and in a turbine overhaul repair station. He didn’t begin flying sailplanes until the year 2001 and by 2010 had accumulated over 30,000 miles cross country in his medium performance Schweizer. Upon discovering the contribution his mother has given to the sport he loves, he felt inspired to share the wonderful stories he found in diaries and letters.

In Nick's later years he continued to work in the ski industry, but in a management position more in tune with his graying hair. However he never fails to inject the spirit of a ski bum or enthusiasm of an air junkie to the events that surround him.

And now back to the first person...

Writing has not been a life long passion for me. I began to enjoy writing as a contributor to a discussion group about hang gliding. There I made many mistakes greater than spelling and grammar in the form of criticism and debate. In the end, the best writing of mine and others was always colorful stories of interest to the audience. When discovering my mother's diary I truly appreciated it as such story telling. However the main purpose of writing this book was simply to get the historical information down before it was lost forever. I just hoped it would also be interesting reading. I have been very pleased how many simply enjoyed the book although they themselves did not fly. This has to be because of Naomi's writing which I include as direct quotes from her diary. I have done my best to keep my own words as a generic narrator telling only the facts needed to string together her diary entries.

Where my literary skills may only be moderately improved, my computer education has been truly enlightening. Many features of Word are needed to format a book. Adobe's Acrobat is needed to make it press ready. The graphic software is remarkable and I was able to fix up the many old photos. Self publishing and making this websites has empowered me to make the book available. It has all been interesting, even learning about library sciences. Have you ever heard of a MARC record? So the real success of this venture are the skills I can take away and the enjoyment of the history lesson .

Dedication

To my mother of course, but also to all siblings who thermal in the shadow of their parents. To thermal is to fly upwards on the currents of air the sun creates by heating the earth. Shadows make thermalling difficult; therefore thermalling in the shadow of a parent is a soaring pilot’s way of saying living in the shadow of a parent can be difficult.

However relationships of respect go both ways, even with parents who are part of the "greatest generation". Here is a poem she kept amongst her things:

A Growing up Son

It seems like such a little while

Since he was playing at my knee

And when I spoke to him, my eyes

Would downward see;

And now in just a few short years,

(Oh God, how short the years can be!)

My eyes must upward turn, for then

He will be looking down on me.

Dear God, if in the years gone by

I have been in some measure fit

To merit childhood’s upturned gaze,

And only quail a little bit,

Please help me in the coming years

A nobler woman yet to be –

That when his eyes must downward turn

His soul will still look up to me.

— Dorothy Markham Brown

Copyright © 2010 by Nick Thomas