By Barbara A. Schmitz
Photo by Gary Sternberg
Rose London, EAA 1327983, says it was serendipity.
She and her husband, Phil Weber, EAA 856621, were at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Main Gate, waiting to get their admission tickets Sunday. They stopped to put their service dog harness on Isabella, Rose’s 10-year-old miniature dachshund, when they met Lost and Found Chairman Gary Sternberg, EAA 811075. He joked that if they lost Issie, she’d end up by him, at Lost and Found.
No, they didn’t lose Issie. But they lost her bag, filled with her official service dog harness, service dog pouch, Mutt Muffs, and much more.
“I left it on a tram by Warbirds, and I realized it too late,” London said. While all the things could be replaced, it would have been difficult to do so immediately, such as the dog’s headset that they put on her when she flies with them in their Piper Comanche or during the air shows.
Her first thought was to go to Lost and Found, but she thought it was located at the front gate. (It isn’t. It is just west of the Brown Arch.) They called the tram headquarters, who said they had it, but took it to Lost and Found. The problem was Lost and Found didn’t have it.
But that’s when Lost and Found volunteers went into action. They discovered the bag had instead been taken to the North 40 registration. They called London on Sunday to let her know it had been found, and she picked up the bag Monday morning.
“People at EAA are amazing,” said London, a 9/11 survivor who was working about four blocks away in Lower Manhattan when the first airplane flew into the World Trade Center tower. “I can’t thank the EAA volunteers, the staff, the tram drivers, and Lost and Found enough. Everyone was incredibly helpful and there to serve.”
A part of the September 11 World Trade Center Health Registry for both asthma and PTSD, London said she got Issie to help her when she travels.
Sternberg credited the entire Lost and Found team for the find, and encouraged AirVenture vendors and others to get lost and found items to their building as it comes in, instead of waiting to the end of the convention.
“Most of the time we’ll have an item before someone even knows it is gone,” said Sternberg.