By Barbara A. Schmitz
Bob Herman has been attending the EAA fly-in convention for 51 years, and volunteering for 50 of those years.
“But I didn’t realize I was volunteering those first years until Women Activities’ Chair Jenny Dyke told me that was what I was doing,” he said, smiling. “I helped several years before I knew I was volunteering.”
Bob, of Fostoria, Ohio, said he was a handyman who fixed whatever needed fixing when AirVenture first moved to Oshkosh. He fixed flat tires or buses that wouldn’t run. He has also volunteered at SUN ’n FUN in maintenance for 30 years.
At Oshkosh, he’s volunteered driving the Welcome Wagon for the Homebuilts area and worked for Operation Thirst. A retired engineer, Bob has also volunteered as an EAA adviser, answering questions from welding to how to read blueprints.
In recent years, he’s been helping in the information and lost and found booth. Hats and sunglasses are regular items turned in, as well as the most popular, cellphones.
“It always amazes me the number of credit cards we end up with,” he said. They usually get a number of wallets, too.
This year, one man lost his wedding band. “He was afraid to tell his wife,” Bob said. “But luckily, it was one of the first things brought in, just as we were setting up the booth. He was in shock.”
Another woman lost the key fob from her rental car at the Wednesday night air show. She came to the booth, left her contact information, and called a friend to come pick her and her family up.
“I doubt they were even off the grounds before the key fob was turned in by one of our volunteers,” he said, adding that the woman was back Thursday morning to pick it up.
“We don’t get everything back to their right owners, but people are shocked at how much we do get to them,” he said. And that makes working at the booth fun.
“You’re making people happy when their items are returned to them,” Bob said. “Some people will come back year after year. They can’t thank you enough.”
Bob usually arrives a week in advance of the convention to help set up, and will stay after a few days to help put things away when he can.
Why does he come back each year?
“I haven’t figured that out yet,” he said. “I don’t move as fast as I used to. I’m trying to figure out when I should call it quits. Probably when I drop dead.”
But Bob said he enjoys the people on the grounds and those he volunteers with. “I like to agitate people, and try to talk them into helping,” he said. “I give them a hard time just for the fun of it.”