Phillip Allison Blum

PHILS STORY November 2016 I was born June 6, 1933 in a little house near what is known now as the Blimp Base. We lived there until I was about 4 years old. Then we moved to a little town called Dawson where I went to the first grade. We lived there one year and then we moved to Alpine where I attended second and third grade. Then we moved to Sweet Home where I attended 4th, 5th and 6th grades. In 1946 we moved to Nampa, Idaho and I went to 7th and 8th grades at Northwest Nazarene Grade Schoolours was the last class this school hadmy teachers name was Mrs. Blackwell. In the 8th grade, we put on the Stephen Foster play I Dream of Jeanie. Clarence Kinzler was the lead who sang I Dream of JeanieI sang the Camp Town Racetrack. I then attended NNC High School for the 9th, 10th, 11th and some of the 12th grades and finished high school by correspondence. I went to work full time laying bricks with my dad in 1948. April 25, 1951, I joined the U. S. Air Force and took basic training at Parks Air Force Base near Fairfield, California. After basic trainingabout 3 monthsI was sent to Lowry Air Force Base near Denver, Colorado where I took training to be a weapons mechanic. I learned there how to maintain and repair small caliber handguns as well as 50-caliber machine guns which most of the fighter jets used and 20 millimeter cannons which were mounted in the B29also bomb racks used under the wings of fighters and bomb bay of the B29. After I completed weapons training, I was transferred to Travis Air Force Base in California where I worked on B29sit was there that I helped load an atom bomb (the only atom bomb I ever sawit was a big sucker). I was there about a year and then was transferred to Fukuoka, Japan, which is on Kyushu Islandthe name of the Air Force Base was Itazuke. The island was 50 miles to the east of Korea. There I worked on bomb racks, machine guns and jado hooks (two rockets used to launch fighter jets on short runways). As I was preparing to leave Travis, Lois Emerson contacted me and we decided to get married during my 30-day pass. Lois had had twin boys (Daniel and David) and we got married and I adopted them as my own sons. After the 30-day pass, I got on a troop ship and went to Japan. As soon as we got off the ship in Japan, we got on a train which took us straight south to the Itazuke Base. While I was at Itazuke, the Korean conflict ended and in a few weeks I was sent back to the States where I was discharged. I went right to work raising a family in Nampa, Idaho and laying bricks with my dad. In the winter when its cold, bricklaying slows up a lot. I decided to use the GI Bill to take training in on-the-job car upholstery. I did that for several years in Boise, Idaho, and then moved to Coeur dAlene where I upholstered cars and boats for several years. In 1958, I started an upholstery assembly line for Fiberfoam Boat Company in Spokane, WA. By this time, we had three more childrenBeverly, Alan, and Lorris. Life was very busy with work and raising five children but we always found time for church and some recreation (camping and boating). We were members at Shadle Park Church of the Nazarene in Spokane, WA where I led the congregational singing, sang in the choir and taught Jr. High Sunday School. In 1960, a friend and I bought a J5 Cub airplane in order to learn to fly. A year later, he wanted out and we sold the J5 Cub and I bought a Taylorcraft. I finished getting my private pilots license, sold the Tcraft and two other guys and I bought a Piper PA16. In June of 1967, I and three of my children (Dan, David and Beverly) went to Manzanita, OR for a family reunion. When the reunion ended, I and my dad (Herbert) and brother-in-law (Ed Manley) went to the Airport to fly to Tillamook. At this point in my flying career, I had about 175 hours of flying time. We took off, the wind had picked up and scattered clouds were rolling in from the coast. The wind drifted me quicker than I thought into a cloud and we hit the mountain that was obscured in the cloud. My dad died that day. I was severely injured and pinned in the wreckage. Ed was able to get out and climb down the mountain and sent back help. My life was radically changed that dayalso my familys. The accident happened about 4 p.m.volunteers from the community removed me from the plane about 9 p.m. and took me to the Manzanita Hospital which happened to be one of the best hospitals for orthopedics in the area. I was there for approximately two weeks during which time they put me in a body cast and casts on both my arms and set my right leg (a little crooked). I was then flown to the VA Hospital in Spokane by air ambulance provided by Paul Lawrence (an old friend from high school days). I was in this hospital for several months. During this time, one of the bright spots was when a ladies quartet from Shadle Park Church came and sang to me (this quartet included my current wife Barbara). They took the body cast off and after a few weeks of trying to figure out what to do next, they sent me to the VA Hospital in Seattle via ground ambulance (a very long ride). I was there for 3 months while they did my first hip surgery called an orthoplasty. They put a metal bearing on top of the ball of my femur and put my leg in traction for six weeks hanging in a sling. I had casts on my right leg from the knee down and the right arm from the elbow down and the left arm from my hand to armpit. They helped me start walking after six weeks. I came home to Spokane and went back to work in my upholstery shop. My right wrist still needed to be fused which they did in 1969. In the years following 1969, I just tried to make life work. That included building a roof shake millspent one summer trying to make a go of it and decided that was not the way I wanted to go. In 1975 I went to the Salton Sea to recover from hip replacement surgery. In early 1976 I built a shell of a house on my mothers property in Lake Havasu, AZ. In 1976 I also went through a divorce. In the summer of 1976 I found an RV Park for sale and traded the house for a down payment on the Park. Later in the year I married again and for eight years we managed rentals (I did the repairs) and traveled extensively including the Yucatan in Mexico, all the Hawaiian islands, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean islands and the Philippines. In the winter of 1977, I found the Glider Airport near Lake Pleasant in Arizona and took my first glider ride. In the summer of 1978, I built a hangar on the Airport and later became a glider flight instructor. After eight years, another divorce. After the divorce, in the winter of 1984 I decided to go to Arizona to live and fly gliders. On my way there, I stopped in Boise to take Barbara (Kay) out to dinner. The next day I flew my small airplane to Arizona. We have a long way to go for the rest of the story but Im going to have to complete it without Philthe above part he actually talked to me as I typed it. He just became too ill to continue it. When we did talk about it, he said just to say we got married and lived happily ever after! The good thing here is that Edwards will allow me to add more later so if you want more of the story, please check back. I do want to share this before I send this to Edwards Memorial Center. About three weeks ago, Phil had an epiphany and he has shared it with everyone who has been in this house since. It always varied a little but this is the gist of it: I have been thinking about the greatest gift that God gave man back at the beginning of timeto know the difference between right and wrong. He (God) made a plan that works every time. So in Romans 5:17 it is written that by one man (Adam) sin came into the world and by one man (Jesus) we have forgiveness. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever (we are the whosoevers) believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life through Jesus Christ. I say thank God for the plan of salvation! IT WORKS EVERY TIME! And that was his main pointit works every time!! Memorial service will be Saturday, April 22 at Harbor Covenant Church in Gig Harbor at 1:30 p.m.