For some reason, the ideas for my various blogs pop into my mind when I wake up in the “wee” hours of the morning; somewhere between 2-3 a.m. Other times it might be 6:30 or 7:30 a.m., when I wake up a second time. This morning, my “memory chip” was thinking about both Fred Wiseman and Bill Soberanes. For my longtime readers, this is the 17th post that is categorized as Remembering Bill Soberanes, and the 20th in my series about Fred Wiseman. It’s just a coincidence, but the last Bill Soberanes blog was dated 2-16-2010 and reported on the revival of the current Petaluma First Airmail Flight Centennial Celebration Committee on February 17, 2006 in the Petaluma Airport administrative building. The important thing is WHY did I think of both of them at the same time?

After I reflected on that question, I also remembered the cover to the current issue of the Sonoma Historian, The Journal of the Sonoma County Historical Society (2011 #1), that has two photographs pertaining to the various centennial celebration events honoring Fred’s “first airmail flight in the U.S.” on February 17-18, 1911 from Petaluma to Santa Rosa

As you can see on the cover, the top picture show the Wiseman Walkers who hiked along a flight path on land (2-18-2011), while the bottom picture shows Postmaster Irma Zine carrying the airmail bag from the reenactment flight plane in the background at the Santa Rosa airport. One of the letters was from the Petaluma Postmaster in 1911 to the Santa Rosa Postmaster. (2-19-2011).

Obviously, the lower photograph reminds one of Fred Wiseman, while the “walk” from Petaluma to Santa Rosa picture reminds one of something Bill would have organized if he were still alive; just like his “walk-a-thons” from Petaluma to Sonoma, years ago

Stay tuned for Part II – Hopefully, tomorrow

 

(Visited 9 times, 1 visits today)