Back In The Day, Part 15 - A Photo Of Bill Roe

I have this old photo which I took in April, 1978 of none other than NAR pioneer Bill Roe (NAR #13).

Sorry for the bad image – at the time, I had a really cheap camera, and did not possess much in the way of photography skills.

The club I belonged to – Skywatchers / ROMAR, held an annual Spring demonstration launch at a shopping center at one of the busiest intersections in Colorado Springs.  The demos were sponsored by the Ru-Jan Party and Hobby Shop, located in the strip mall.

Bill would occasionally make a rare appearance at some of our club launches, but we were particularly delighted when he showed up at this public demo.

Sporting his familiar grey jumpsuit and red NAR cap, Bill had a great time, hanging around and enjoying watching the model rocket demo flights.

For this photo, I caught Bill being Bill – kneeling down and helping a young club member with prepping one of the demo birds.  Mr. Roe was all about that – making sure that rocketeers young and old alike, did things the proper way.  He was such a great guy to know and be around, as he exuded such a huge love for the hobby and sport of model rocketry.

I never saw Bill again after this demo event.  In fact, I am reasonably sure that this demo launch may have been the very last rocketry event Bill attended before he passed in 1980.

I feel very privileged at having been there.

And, I’m very glad I still possess an old blurry photograph of Bill to share with the model rocket community….