Featured Member Archives - Recreational Aviation Foundation

Our Newest RAF Member

Welcome, Cooper! Cooper’s parents, Shauna and Edward Kronfuss both call Bozeman home. Edward owns Pro-Phase Electric and splits his time between Montana and Minneapolis. Shauna is in the last months of her OB/Gyn residency at the University of Minnesota. After a one year surgery fellowship (2011-2012) in southern California, we plan to raise Cooper in…

Former Senator Carmine Mowbray

RAF Featured Member Carmine Mowbray If there was ever an individual who epitomizes volunteerism for the Recreational Aviation Foundation, it is Carmine Mowbray, from Polson, Montana. She has volunteered her time to publish the RAF Newsletter, sent out press releases and RAF Briefs, worked on the pilot shelter at Ryan Field, swung a Pulaski cutting…

Ty Thoreson – The Next Generation of Back Country Pilots

I have lived in Montana my entire life, other than the year I spent in Iraq, and have wanted to learn to fly my since I was a little kid. It all started when I was about 6 years old. Bill Meeks from Geraldine took me on a fishing trip in his Super Cub to…

A Very Special Passenger

Sharing Special Places With Special People I’ve been flying throughout MT with my father since my earliest memories as a child and have been flying throughout the state and elsewhere since I was 17. Like all aviator fathers, I search out opportunities to share that passion with my kids. This weekend for me posed the…

Poster Child

The RAF can’t say enough about Jo Schumacher and all she does for the organization. “Jo works her fanny off at Sullivan Lake, Sun ‘n Fun and other events, helping “man” the booths, cooking for RAF crews, cleaning, and organizing,” says RAF’s Tricia McKenna. “She is just a great cheerleader, supporter, and hard worker. And…

Ben Ryan

Ben Ryan Autobiography Early Years I was born in Belleflower, California in 1923. My father was an oilfield worker and wildcatter. Mother graduated from college at age seventeen with an engineering degree from Penn State University. Teaching was her first career but much later, she went into the contracting business. At one time was…

Carol Strong, Vice President in Charge of Appreciation

Carol (aka Pinky) and I have been together for 20 years and one constant in her life has been her willingness to help others. Whether it is animals in need, people in need, or organizations in need, she will bend over backwards to lend a hand.…

Sue Mann, Data Entry Volunteer

For a woman who works full time as a surgical nurse for the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Portland, OR it’s amazing to consider all the other things Sue Mann manages to accomplish. Each year for the past dozen, Sue and her husband Jeff have…