Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Gene Zale stayed on the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners for decades because he made a promise he would remain until the power lines to the east of the airport were lowered.
With the power line obstruction mitigation project completed earlier this year, Zale’s last regular board meeting was Tuesday as he’s retiring at year’s end. He served a total of 45 years, from 1980 to 2025.
“I’m going to say the lowering of those power lines,” Zale said as to what the biggest accomplishment of the board has been in the 4-1/2 decades he’s been on the board. “That’s why I stayed on the board. To get that job done. I promised one of the pilots from Zimmer. He was a head pilot at Zimmer, Jim Police. He said the biggest problem we’ve got out here is coming in on this landing on (runway) 27. He says, ‘I’ll take you up in the aircraft and show you what I’m talking about.’”
The pilot called Zimmer and told them he was taking a flight check with the aircraft and they OK’d it. They took off, and as they came back in, Police told Zale to take a look at the power lines.
“He says, ‘25 feet down, we’re hitting them,’ and I said, ‘Jim, I’ll get that job done.’ I thought I was going to get it done in ’85, and it just fell through. All the guys from FAA retired that year, and they wouldn’t allow everything that we had done to get it ready to move forward - (it all) stopped. And they said you’ve got to start all over, and that happened again to me. We had to start all over again, besides that one,” Zale recalled.
He said it took a long time to get the power line lowering done.
“I told them I would be on the board until it’s done, if I live that long. I never thought it was going to go this long. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that could happen, but it did,” Zale said.
He had a pilot come up to him within a week of the power line lowering project being completed. The pilot thanked him.
“When you’re in a small aircraft, you’re coming in and instead of having a nice glide all the way through, without any worries, they’d come in like this and then drop and then come in. He says, ‘It’s always a little scary.’ He’s not a pilot anymore, but he said it needed to get done. That job needed to get done,” Zale said.
“I’m happy I got it done.”
Going forward, he said the Board of Aviation Commissioners needs to get the tunneling of CR 100E done.
“And getting the county to come in and helping with this airport. It should be a city-county airport. It shouldn’t be run totally by the city. The county’s got to get involved, and they’re starting now. They’re coming in now, but I’d like to see it become a city-county function, and then we would get more revenue from the state and the fed,” Zale stated.
Zale recalled when he began serving on the board, Mike Hodges was mayor. He also served with Max Silveus and Phil Lowe, a pilot in World War II.
The reason he got on the aviation board was because his wife wanted to learn how to fly.
“We got busy with the kids, and her going to college and finishing up and becoming a school teacher, and it just fell apart. She never got to take any air flight lessons,” he said.
Zale, however, has learned a lot about aviation over the years by serving on the board, he acknowledged.
In presenting a plaque to Zale at Tuesday’s meeting, Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose told him, “I’m holding a plaque here that says 1980 to 2025, 45 years, and as mayor, absolute privilege to say thank you for your service on this board. It’s probably safe to say unmatched.”
Grose told Zale his impact and influence on his family and countless other families was big, from the aviation board, to his drug store (which he sold in 2009) and everything else he does.
“It’s an absolute privilege to thank you for all that you’ve done,” Grose said.
Airport Manager Nick King said he’s in his 13th year as airport manager.
“But I’ll never forget, it was my first or second board meeting. Gene looked at me and said, ‘You know, I’ve been on this board for a long time, but I’d sure like to retire in the next couple years. Can you get those damn power lines lowered?’ So I’m glad we were able to get that across the finish line for you,” King said.
“I was really wondering if we were going to get it done,” Zale said, adding they had Wally Stouder on the board and he tried to get the power line lowering done. “He was flying people all over to get those power lines lowered. He never did get anywhere with that. So, it’s amazing.”
King thanked Zale for all of his guidance, and told him he was only a phone call away.
