This piece originally ran in the April 2022 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Lee, EAA 355459, and Paula Crevier, EAA 477989, began volunteering with EAA in 1991 and have helped out in a variety of areas, including Pioneer Airport, the Ultralights area, convention headquarters, and basically anywhere else needed.
“From ’91 to ’97, we only did convention and various things in the Ultralights area at that time,” Lee said. “Then I became a chairman of what we call two-up operations, which was handling the vendors that were giving their demonstration rides and waivers and stuff like that. In ’97, a two-place trainer was donated to EAA, a Flightstar. We started with EAA at Pioneer Airport, flying the Flightstar to get it ready for convention.”
Lee said the first year Paula flew the Flightstar for EAA, Tom Poberezny had her take a CNN reporter up to film a live broadcast of the opening sequence of Oshkosh ’97 from the back of the ultralight-type trainer.
“We called her Miss Hollywood after that,” Lee said. “Then she got to fly a lot of dignitaries over the year, including the FAA administrator and others that would come down, and she’d take them up in the Flightstar. She did that until 2003.”
Over time Lee served many roles, including chairman of the Ultralights area until he retired from that position in 2019. He currently volunteers his time to help with preconvention setup, including acquisitions, and budget and tent requests.
Paula also served as co-chairman of the Ultralight Barn for a while before she began volunteering at convention headquarters where she’s been assisting with issuing golf carts, scooters, and Gators for the past five years.
Having been involved as volunteers for three decades now, Lee and Paula have developed strong friendships, which, along with genuine enjoyment of their duties, has kept them coming back to Oshkosh.
“Good people,” Lee said. “We have a lot of friends … I mean there was just a lot of people that we met that we knew, and we didn’t know they were up there like that until we went up there. Then we ended up with the camping group, and it’s like, ‘Okay, you go there, you get to camp, you get to see the friends that you made from Canada.’ It’s like an annual thing to go up there and touch base with people you’ve made friends with for years and years.”
Volunteers make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — and just about everything else EAA does — possible. This space in EAA Sport Aviation magazine is dedicated to thanking and shining the spotlight on volunteers from the community. Sadly, it cannot capture all of the thousands of volunteers who give so much to the community every year. So, next time you see a volunteer at AirVenture or elsewhere, however they are pitching in to make EAA better, be sure to thank them for it. It’s the least we can do. Do you know a volunteer you’d like to nominate for Volunteer Spotlight? Visit EAA.org/Submissions.