Donald WECKHORST

CHANUTE AIR FORCE BASE HISTORIAN: Donald O. Weckhorst was born 4 February 1932 in Appleton, Minnesota. He enlisted in the Air Force in January 1951. He earned associate degrees in Liberal Arts from Saint Leo College and Work Center Management from the Community College of the Air Force. He subsequently earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Career Occupations and Technology Education in 1977 and 1980, both from Eastern Illinois University. Following basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas he completed the Aircraft and Engine Mechanics School at Sheppard AFB, Texas and Aircraft Hydraulics Course at Chanute AFB, Illinois. During his 30-year Air Force career, his assignments at several U.S. bases, Japan and Germany included: 10 years as aircraft mechanic, 8 years instructor duty teaching Atlas Hydraulic and Titan III missile propulsion systems, 5 years with USAF Recruiting Service, 3 years instructor duty at the Tactical Air Command NCO Academy and 4 years as Senior Enlisted Advisor at Chanute AFB. He retired from active duty on 30 September 1980 in the grade of Chief Master Sergeant. In addition to completing numerous advanced technical training courses on aircraft and missile systems, he completed several professional development courses. They include the ATC Technical Instructor Course, USAF Recruiter School, TAC NCO Academy, USAF Senior NCO Academy, USAF Academic Instructor Course, and in 1976 he earned the prestigious Certified Manager certification from the Institute of Certified Professional Managers.

Immediately after retiring from the Air Force, he joined the Parkland Community College instructor staff. As a member of the affiliate faculty, he teaches management courses two evenings per week at off- campus satellite locations. In 1981, he started a second career with the Air Force as a civil service instructor in Chanute's Automotive Mechanics School. He became Chanute's Historian in 1983. He has authored numerous scholarly papers, weekly news column and special studies for the Air Force. They include: Position Papers on Management, Sensitivity to Nonverbal Communication, Chanute AFB Seventy Year History, Chanute AFB Aircraft History roll Call, Chanute AFB Memorialization of Place and Street Names, and the history of organizational Command and Control in Air Training Command.

His hobby is restoring antique Model A Fords and Mustangs. He is a member of Kappa Delta PI, an honor society in education, Chanute's Speakers Bureau and the past president of the Air Force Association Illini Chapter. He is the founder/charter member of The Antique Auto Club of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Egyptian Antique Auto Club of Southern Illinois and the Chanute Heritage Foundation. He considers his nine year research and publication of Chanute's 75-Year Pictorial History to be the highlight of his two Air Force careers. After Chanute AFB closes in 1993, he plans to continue teaching and assist the central Illinois community in developing and maintaining the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum and Air Park.

Chief Weckhorst is married to the former Marie Doudera, of Alma, Illinois. They have three sons, Donald (USAF Major, F-16 Pilot), David (Pressman at Champaign-Urbana News Gazette), and Dale (Sales Supervisor for Tombstone Pizza) and two grandchildren (ed. note: This piece written in 1992). He resides with his wife in Paxton, Illinois.

Copyright 1992 by Chanute Heritage Foundation

MISS LILLIAN DOUDERA, DONALD WECKHORST WED

1955

Miss Lillian Marie Doudera, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Doudera of Alma, and Donald O. Weckhorst, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Weckhorst of Bellingham, Minnesota, were united in marriage on Saturday, April 2, at 2:30 p.m. in the Alma Methodist Church. The Rev. Frank Treadway officiated at the double-ring ceremony in the presence of about 80 relatives and friends. The altar was decorated with candelabra, palms, and baskets of white pom-poms. The traditional wedding march was played by Mrs. Wayne Robb. Lloyd Bailey sang "Because" and "O Promise Me" and at the close of the ceremony he sang "The Lord's Prayer." The bride, given in marriage by her father, wore a ballerina-length satin gown. Her veil of illusion net was held in place by a coronet of lace and seed pearls. She carried a white Bible topped with a white orchid, and pink rosebuds.

The bride chose as her maid of honor Miss Betty Jean Fox, of Sandwich. Miss Fox wore a pink faille dress, styled from the bride's and carried a bouquet of pink rosebuds and white pom poms. He hat and other accessories were pink.

The bridegroom chose as his attendant Robert Doudera, brother of the bride. Both wore navy blue suits. Ushers were Sgt. John Wetzel and David Harr both of Chanute Field, and friends of the groom.

The bride's mother wore a light blue suit with navy accessories and a corsage of pink carnations. The bridegroom's mother wore a wine suit with brown accessories and a corsage of pink carnations.

Immediately following the ceremony a wedding reception was held in the church parlor.

The bride's table was centered with a three-tiered wedding cake topped with a miniature bride and groom. The cake was served by Miss Evelyn Doudera, assisted by Miss Laura Doudera. Mrs. Rada Caldwell and Mrs. Joseph Polanka poured punch. Miss Patricia Bailey was in charge of the guest book and Mrs. Geraldine Newport and Miss Coylene Gray were in charge of the gifts.

For going away the bride chose a navy blue suit with navy accessories, and a white orchid corsage. The newlyweds left on a honeymoon trip to Minnesota.

The bride is employed at the I.B.M. office at the University of Illinois in Urbana, and the groom is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force, having recently re-enlisted for four years, and is at present stationed at Chanute Air Force base.

Years ago, Don tried to track down the Norwegian branch of the family and visited the Bamble (Norway) graveyard : that of the Odegaarden family.

The family that plays together...

Don and Karen's Toy	David and Lynn's Toy
Dale and Patty's Toy	Grandpa's Toy (1929 Model A Ford)

From the NEWS-GAZETTE June 17, 1996

Historian 'by accident'

By TIM MITCHELL News-Gazette Staff Writer RANTOUL - One person's trash can be someone else's treasure. Don Weckhorst of Paxton saved a large collection of military artifacts from a landfill and ended up becoming curator of the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum. Weckhorst smiled as he carefully sifted through reams of documents, patches and old photographs filling three rooms in the back of the museum. "I call this my gold mine," said Weckhorst. "It's hard to believe these treasures	Don Weckhorst sits in the library named after him at Octave Chanute Museum. He was at the museum at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul recently. The Paxton man calls himself a reluctant historian.
could have been lost forever in a landfill." Weckhorst, 64, calls himself a reluctant historian. "I didn't train myself in history, " he said. "I was just an aircraft mechanic and instructor who became a historian almost by accident." Weckhorst was a career Air Force man. He first came to Chanute Air Force Base in 1952 to take a hydraulics course. "That was when I met my wife, Marie," said Weckhorst. "I was an airplane mechanic, and I had a part-time job as a soda jerk at the old McBride's Drug Store in Urbana, where Marie was my favorite customer. We were married a year later." The Weckhorsts spent the next 22 years at various assignments around the world. Don had a key role in the early days of the U.S. space program at Cape Canaveral, Fla. "I was an instructor on Titan 3 missle propulsions systems, which launched satellites," he said. Weckhorst returned to Chanute in 1976. He spent his final four years of active duty as senior enlisted adviser to Gens. Edwin Robertson and Norman Brown. After retirement, Weckhorst returned to Chanute as civilian chief historian beginning in 1983. That same year, Gen. J.D. Moore asked	Weckhorst to compile a pictorial history of Chanute Air Force Base, a project that would take nine years to complete. "It took much longer than I thought it would," said Weckhorst. I originally thought I could put the history together in no time. I guess I was naive." As Weckhorst began doing his research, he discovered that materials from the mid-1920s to the 1940s were missing because of fires that destroyed Chanute buildings and records. Weckhorst made inquiries in Air Force, Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion publications around the world. Local veterans and area farmers supplied photos they found in drawers and closets. When Weckhorst discovered the current addresses of Chanute personnel, he went to their homes and tape-recorded oral histories of their experiences. "I sat down and visited with folks who were already 80 or 90 years old," said Weckhorst. "Sometimes people would call me about items they found in grandpa's attic, and i would come running. Along the way, I collected thousands of pictures and other memorabilia." Midway trhough Weckhorst's research, the Pentagon announced that it was closing Chanute Air Force Base. "When the base was closing, a team of historians from Maxwell Air Force Base was supposed to copy everything here at Chanute, but, with budget cuts, they didn't have funds to send anybody," said Weckhorst. NAME: Don Weckhorst HOME: Rantoul PROFESSION: Retired from U.S. Air Force. OF INTEREST: Military historian and curator of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum He soon discovered, to his horror, that many of the old Chanute documents were slated for a local landfill. "We were forming the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum at the time, so I suggested that we preserve the collection and transfer it to the museum library," said Weckhorst. The Paxton man desperately looked for a way to save the Chanute treasures in the final months of the base's existence.	"The base commander was going to declare a duty day off because of all the hard work everyone was doing evacuating the base," said Weckhorst. "We asked for volunteers to assemble to move everything into the museum building. Then we treated them to a picnic lunch." When the dust had cleared, Weckhorst was left with more than 200,000 negatives and photographs, the best of whcih he assembled in a hardback book covering the 75-year history of Chanute Air Force Base. Weckhorst became the museum's first volunteer curator. He has spent the past several years filing and organizing photos, documents, magazines, military patches, newspapers, biographies, old training manuals and other materials in the library. The museum board named the library after Weckhorst a few years ago. Weckhorst said the most difficult part of his job is dating old photos. "I get out my magnifying glass and look for telltale signs," he said. Weckhorst is proudest of his collection of materials chronicling the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first all-black air squadron in the United States. "The technical training for welders, mechanics and clerks for that squadron starts right here at Chanute," said Weckhorst. "Chanute helped to open the door to prove that blacks could perform the mission." Weckhorst had to go to Washington, D.C., Navy Yards to uncover photos of that historic air squadron. Weckhorst said he gets satisfaction from compiling the history of Chanute Air Force Base. "For me, this is a fantastic journey," he said. "I have a chance to relive some of my own experiences when I was stationed here as a young man."

Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Link

A Christmas Essay by Don and Marie to their sons, Donald, David, and Dale

This album is a collection of photographs copied from slides and prints in family albums from the time you were born till you left our nest. In retrospect, we like most parents, say "you grew up too fast". There has never been a question of who loves whom the most -- we all love each other most -- explained better by using writing style of Erma Bombeck in her ESSAY ON CHILDREN:

Dear First Born DONALD CARL "Donny" ("Tinkey" in Bitburg)

We love you most because you were our first miracle. You were the gensis of a marriage and the fulfillment of young love. You sustained us through the hamburger years in our apartment at Bitburg AFB, Germany. We should have known that you wanted to be a pilot when you tried to flex your wings, at 18 months, on the window ledge of your 4th floor bedroom window. How relieved we were that you delayed your solo flight years later. You were new and had unused grandparents and enough clothes for a set of triplets. You were the original model for a Mom and Dad trying to work the bugs out. You got the strained ham, the open safety pins and 3-hour naps. You were the beginning.

Dear Middle Born DAVID GEORGE "Davy"

We love you most because you drew the tough position in the family and it made you stronger for it. You got fewer spankings and had more patience. You wore the hand-me-downs. You cried less - content to suck your thumb. You were the one we relaxed with and realized adog could kiss you and you wouldn't get sick. You could cross a street by yourself long before you were old enough to get married. And you helped us understand the world would not collapse if you went to bed with dirty feet. You were the child of our busy ambitious years. Without you we never could have survived the job changes, transfers, tedium and routine of marriage. You changed "Donnys" name to "Donn-ya".

To The Baby DALE ALLEN "Daly Boy"

We love you most because while ending are generally sad, you were such a joy. You readily accepted the milk-stained bibs, the bed with the worn-out mattress, the cracked baseball bat, the baby book with nothing written in it, except for a graham-cracker pie crust that Donny or Davy left between the pages. You are the one we held onto so tightly. You quicken our steps, square our shoulders, restore our vision and give us a sense of humor that security, maturity and durability can't provide. When your hairline takes the shape of a quarter moon and your children stand taller than you -- you will still be our baby.