Above: The basket from Eddie Clements balloon at the at Clements services. Eddie Clements was a pilot and the founder of a High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids. Aviation-full funeral at Mack airport. Courtesy and Copyright Grand Junction Sentinel, Christopher Tomlinson, Photographer
As four planes approached the Mack Mesa Airport Saturday night in a V-formation, one broke rank, pulling up while the other three continued on.
A fly over in honor of Eddie Clements. Eddie Clements was a pilot and the founder of a High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids. Aviation-full service at Mack airport. Courtesy and Copyright Grand Junction Sentinel, Christopher Tomlinson, PhotographerThe “missing man” formation was a worthy tribute for Eddie Clements, a man who dedicated much of the last years of life to educating youth in aviation. Shortly after, a trumpeter belted out “Amazing Grace” in what was to be a fitting end to Clements’ memorial.
The only problem was attendees just had too much to say about the man.
Around 100 people attended a service for Clements at the airport Saturday to say goodbye to their friend, husband, father and mentor. Clements died July 22 at age 69 while attending … more
Founder and general manager of High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids (HAWK) leaves behind extensive education legacy
By Beth E. Stanton
Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture Jack Fleetwood, Photographer
Courtesy and Copyright 2018 EAA AirVenture Jack Fleetwood, Photographer
Eddie Clements, EAA 841022, a founder and general manager of the High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids (HAWK) at Mack Mesa Airport in Colorado, died unexpectedly on July 21 shortly after arriving at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 with the HAWK students and mentors. He was doing what he loved until the end: flying airplanes and passing along his passion for aviation to the next generation.
HAWK Aviators (whose story was featured in the April 2018 issue of EAA Sport Aviation, “Spreading Their Wings”) is a nonprofit organization that is the brainchild and extension of EAA Chapter 800. HAWK mentors expose youths to multiple facets of aviation: building, repairing, designing, and flying airplanes and balloons. Participants earn flight time in exchange for assisting aircraft maintenance or building. “The reason why we are where we are today is because we had Eddie who put in so much time and effort,” volunteer John Caldwell said.
Eddie’s aviation career spanned decades and a variety of capacities, creating a vast network of contacts he was able to draw upon for resources to help support the HAWK program. His enthusiasm for hot air balloons was all consuming, and he competed and instructed in them for more than 30 years. Eddie recited the Balloonist’s Prayer to his passengers countless times over the years. Now those whose lives he touched say it for him:
The winds have welcomed you with softness.
The sun has blessed you with its warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well
that God has joined you in your laughter
and set you gently back again
into the loving arms of Mother Earth.
Eddie’s son, Tres, was one of the reasons for the founding of HAWK. Tres, a former Scaled Composites employee, owns an aircraft engineering firm in San Luis Obispo, California, and is the pilot and caretaker of Burt Rutan’s Boomerang. In an interview, Eddie said, “I started HAWK because I watched Tres grow up around aviation and watched the effect it had on him. If I can pass the good aviation does to other kids, then HAWK is a success. I have had a front row seat as to how aviation improves kids’ lives.”
It is my sad duty to report that Eddie Clements has passed away while at AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI. As Eddie was our founder and the visionary leader behind HAWK, we are all feeling his devastating loss. It will take some time to determine how to best carry Eddie’s vision for HAWK into the future. We will provide updates as they become available. As the HAWK board, we ask you to give his family the space they need to be together and grieve.
Sincerely,
John Wilson
Secretary, HAWK
We would appreciate receiving any memories you have of Eddie. Please email them to hawkaviators@gmail.com
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