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Welcome to the Official El Mirage Soaring Center "Family Reunion" web page.
The 2017 Reunion is a go!
For more info, e-mail me
This Page Last Updated:
September 30, 2000 E-Mail Addresses Updated: Oct 2, 1998
The reunion will start at 5:00 pm, with dinner starting at We need your help in spreading the word to other alumni. Registration for this event is required, along with pre-payment. A form is available for you to print, fill out and send in with your check. The registration fee is FULLY REFUNDABLE if you are unable to attend and can give me at least 3 days notice. So even if you are not sure if you can make it, registering will keep a seat open for you (we are limited to 150 persons) and it will help us with the start up costs. This will not be an event that children will enjoy. Although we won't say that kids can't come, we would ask that you not bring them. But don't let this discourage you. If you have no alternative, by all means bring them. Perhaps we can put them to work. T-Shirts are now available, and you may order them with this same registration form. They are available to whom ever wishes to order, attending or not. You have to order them in advance, and they will be delivered to you at the reunion. If you are not attending the reunion, a small shipping fee will be added.
To print the form click
The Log Book is the official list of those planning to attend. It is very important that you sign up, even if you are not sure that you can make it or not. So if you haven't already done so, sign the Log Book, then get someone else to do likewise.
Thanks! Pat
Ok. You've asked for them, now here they are! Alumni Stories.
My Favorite Links:
Caracole Soaring
**Be sure to read and sign our Log Book**
Email: panzera@cnetech.com
Ok, who is this Pat dude, and what's his connection with El
Mirage? or What's 'ol Pat been up to the past 20 years?
Well, I was a lineboy there, from 1974 to 1977. In 1977 at the
age of 17, I joined the U.S. Navy, where I met my future (and
present, and only) wife, Veronica. We were married in 1980, shortly
before I received an honorable discharge as a Pattern Maker Third
Class.
After Getting out of the Navy, my wife and I moved back to
Victorville where I started an antique restoration business that
later became a cabinet shop. Shortly after returning to
Victorville, and my wife gave birth to my only son Antonio Lee
Panzera. (Middle name taken from my good friend Frank Lee Harris,
El Mirage Flight instructor and Tow Pilot.)
In 1982 we were
blessed with another child, Angela Lucille Panzera. In 1988 I
closed my cabinet shop, and moved to the central valley of
California, In a wonderful little city called Hanford.
Hanford is located about 40 miles south of Fresno,
and about 20 miles west of Visalia. Now I have a drafting
business, drawing house plans, and I'm a full time building
inspector for the city of Hanford.
A little over 4 years ago, I
was able to resume my flying addiction, that I had to leave
behind when I left El Mirage. I decided to get my power license,
and I'm currently building a Dragonfly in my garage.
El Mirage
is in my soul. Those were incredible days for me as a young man,
the influences, the role models I had, people like Frank
Harris, Ted Schirtzinger, Leonard Sharpe, Diane Sharpe, Barbara Sharpe,
Richard Lewis, Herb and Ellen Tipton, Danny Pierson, Jim Chapman, Gus
and Ann Briegleb, Steve Slaughter, Pat Philbrick and Vicky,
Newt Johnson, Diane Reichman and the good
friends I made, the kids at the airport, like David Chapman,
David Sharpe, Dara Sharpe, Nancy and Diane Tipton,
Patty, Gayle, and Karyn Anderson, John Wigle... way, way too many
people to list all in all. (sorry for the misspelling of any names)
I keep a jar of
real El Mirage dirt on my desk, as a reminder of those days. This
may be the very same dirt you exhaled 20 years ago.
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