Retired flying buffs find hangar first, then house in Minden

I like how Jeremie Cathey says the word Nirvana. Her slight New York accent makes it sound like she's saying Nevada.

The retired Culver City-area teacher and pilot has lived in Carson Valley for about six years.

When she and her husband retired, they went all around the country looking for a place to spend the rest of their days.

One of their criteria was the place had to be close to an airport.

"We knew we had to live within 15 minutes of an airport," she said. "We went to Carson City, but I'm not as good a pilot as my husband and I didn't like the field."

What she really didn't like was the big hill at the end of Carson's runway.

"We were getting ready to leave and I was looking at the map and saw there was an airport to the south," she said. "I didn't even know Minden was there. I stood on the runway and knew instantly, this is it. I can land here."

Jeremie and her husband put a deposit down on the last south-facing hangar at the airport and then set about finding a home.

"We loved our lot, we could look out on the Sierra," she said. "The more we were here, the more it looked most like out Nirvana."

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Harrah's employees are putting on a rummage sale Sept. 11 and 12 at Carson Valley Middle School here in Gardnerville.

The sale is to help Erika Cassels and Sandy Peacon, both of whom live in the Gardnerville Ranchos.

Both women were sidelined by medical problems. Erika had a brain tumor and Sandy had open heart surgery, according to co-worker Sharlene Irete. Erika's son is going into the eighth grade.

Sharlene said organizers are looking for items to sell and are collecting donations.

They've established a bank account at the Gardnerville Bank of America. The account is under the name of the Erika Cassels and Sandy Peacon Medical Benefit Fund. The account number is 004968993941.

Both women are longtime Harrah's workers, Sharlene said.

"They've all been there for 20 years or more."

Sharlene, who grew up in Las Vegas, is one of my students at the college.

The sale is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone wishing to donate money may call Toni Boddy at 265-9180 or Carol Hill at 265-2765. In Carson City the contact is Trudy Hinz at 885-0706 and at Lake Tahoe, the number is 573-0902.

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Gardnerville motorcyclist Tom White is recovering according to his mother, Pat Kappel.

"One day he looked horrible and the next he was sitting up," she said. Tom hit a bull on Highway 395 on July 27.

An account has been established for tom at Nevada State Bank, under the name Friends of Thomas White. The account number is 0440041721.

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We've had some wild weather over the past week. The Record-Courier Linda Monohan said Mount Siegel in the Pine Nuts was covered with white last weekend.

The white wasn't snow, though. It was hail.

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Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121.