Our beloved friend and air traffic control colleague,  passed away tragically and unexpectedly last week.  A Navy Veteran with a heart of gold and willingness to help anyone who asked, he was the kind of guy you’d bring home to Sunday dinner and laugh the whole way through it.  Many of us would consider him more of a brother than a friend, and we all miss him dearly.  The news of his death was a terrible shock and it will take a long time to get over the feeling that a good man has been taken from us too early.  Any buddy of his, had a chance to meet and get to know his sweetheart of a girlfriend Al Nichols.  And if you gave her five minutes of air time, you’d come away from the conversation understanding that he was everything to Al.

When he was selected for Allentown ATC, Al left her life and family behind in Michigan to come with him.  Though Al’s role as they built their life in Allentown was primarily to take care of him and make his house a home.  Please join us as we band together in support Al while she’s struggling the sudden loss of the love of her life, and the hardship of moving across country and having to start a new life over again. The house will be put on the market nearly immediately and Al will return to a borrowed room in Michigan.  Al was also enrolled at Northhampton Community College but her plans to start school have been put on hold while she starts over.  Any help we can give her through the course of her relocation and to make the possibility of her starting school a reality, would be worth every penny because just as he did-Al too has a heart of gold, and did not deserve to suffer this tragedy.