This piece originally ran in the January 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Coming from Alaska every year, Judy Knight is a proud volunteer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and has been for 29 years. Judy started working with the Hospitality Tent for a few years, then Protect Our Planes (POPs) requested some additional help, so she moved there and was assigned to Vintage to patrol the area. When the POPs program disbanded, Judy went to volunteer at the Volunteer Center in 2014 and became the chairman in 2015.
“I’ve been there ever since, and I have a great group,” she said. “They really are outstanding volunteers.”
The Volunteer Center serves as an information center, giving directions to anyone who asks and answering as many questions as possible about the event that they can, but it is mainly a place for individuals who come to EAA eager to volunteer their time but are unsure what areas need the most help or where the best fit would be.
“That’s one of the things that we try to do here at the Volunteer Center, is to find an area that people want to come back to [volunteer] and become part of that family,” Judy said. “We have several volunteers that don’t want to be stuck in just one place, who want to experience different things. They’re my roamers.”
After being named chairman with only a year of experience, Judy knew that it would be a challenge in the beginning.
“That first year it was definitely a learning situation on what to do and what not to do, and hopefully handle things correctly,” she explained.
Judy said she continues to return year after year because it’s fun and she’s made many connections with volunteers who come year after year.
“I enjoy meeting the people here, seeing my friends here. This is like a homecoming, and I really enjoy being here,” Judy said. “When one doesn’t come back or you find out there’s health issues, it kind of breaks your heart because you’re not going to see them again. And that’s happened obviously within 29 years.”
Throughout her years at EAA, Judy said she has also seen families and generation after generation of volunteers continuing a legacy.
“Something that I really like about EAA, just because we’ve been around for so long and you get to see that so often. And that spirit of volunteerism is what runs this whole show. That was something that Paul encouraged a lot. And it brings people closer together,” she said.
Outside of Oshkosh, Judy is a pilot who has owned a variety of aircraft throughout the years, and her husband, Dan Knight, is a flight instructor. Judy’s father was a P-61 Black Widow pilot in the Pacific, and when she was in college, she went for a ride with him and fell in love with flying. The aviation bug never left her, and it’s turned into a family affair.
Volunteers make EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — and just about everything else EAA does — possible. This space in EAA Sport Aviation 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.