This piece originally ran in the June 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
Each summer, the EAA convention grounds turns into a pop-up city for AirVenture, making the thousands of visitors feel right at home with grocery stores, mail delivery, and even church services. Like most things at AirVenture, we couldn’t offer many of these services without dedicated volunteers. Since 2009, Rev. William Hower has volunteered his time to lead Catholic Mass on both Sundays and the Saturday of AirVenture.
After becoming an ordained priest with the Madison Diocese in 1964, Bill eventually joined the Wisconsin Air National Guard in the late ’70s. “Father Phil Conlon, late priest and retired brigadier general of the guard, came to me and said, ‘Billy, Col. Tom needs a Catholic chaplain in Milwaukee,’” Bill said. “By January, I was in uniform, I was in chaplain school in May, and away we went.”
Bill served in the guard for 23 years, based in the United States, Europe, and Cuba, and he retired in 1999 as a chaplain lieutenant colonel. He retired from ministerial priesthood in 2008 and moved to Oshkosh to be closer to friends, and he continued to serve as a confessor for the Sisters at Franciscan Courts in Oshkosh.
After moving to town, it didn’t take long for Bill to catch wind of the need for his services at AirVenture. “The [local] parishes were taking care of this Mass, and they just found it too difficult because they cover [the nearby towns of] Omro and Winneconne, which have two Masses each on Saturday and Sunday,” Bill said.
After his first year as a volunteer, he decided to come back for another 15. “They needed me. It’s either me, or they don’t have anybody to do it,” he said. Of course, it’s all been worth it to him. “Seeing the satisfaction in people who realize they’ve just been to Mass, and they walk away happy, satisfied, and sanctified.”
On Sunday, July 28, during the last Mass of AirVenture 2024, Bill announced that this Mass would be his last at EAA. At 85 years old, he is ready to pass the torch to the next generation of leaders. Bill will be missed at AirVenture next year, but EAA is thankful for his 15 years of service.
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.