Jerry Foster - Earthbound Misfit

EARTHBOUND

MISFIT

JERRY FOSTER

with

DEE DEES

Digital Conversions and E-BookPreparation

Dr. John Myers

LifeGuidesPress

Earthbound Misfit

Copyright 2013 Jerry Foster

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-9667829-5-0

No portion of this book may bereproduced

in any form without expresswritten consent of author

Book design by DeeDees

Cover design by DaveBoehmer

Website: www.sky12.tv by AndryeaFoster

Published by

LifeGuidesPress , Gilbert, AZ 85295

480 703-1244

Smashwords Edition

Photo Credits:

Cover photo by TomStory

Superstition Mountains - p. 448Photo by Jeff Lewis

Lake Powell Moon - p. 509 Photo byDave Boehmer

DEDICATION

For Linda who has stood byme,

Mom and Dad who were myheroes

and Steve Ward, who contributed somuch

and then left us toosoon

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There is no doubt this book wouldnot have been completed without the nudging and support of myfamily, especially my wife Linda, who patiently let me bounce ideasoff her, and my daughter Andryea, who encouraged the idea of thebook from the beginning.

I also thank my extended family;my Aunt Wanda Foster Ward, cousins Steve and Jane Ward, and ex-wifeDianna Conklin, for bringing back so many memories and helping meget the facts straight. Thanks to my good friend Buzz Stalcup foralways being there.

I appreciate so much my formerco-workers and partners, for their input and support; especiallySusan Sorg and Bryan Neumeister. Also thanks to John Bass, ChuckEmmert, Bill and Bonnie Leverton, Al Buch, Jim Willi, Kent Dana andEd Sharpe, for contributing their memories of our times together.Many of the photos in this book were taken by Bryan, Chuck orJohn.

Thanks go out to Dr. Jim Schamadanfor his help with the AMES section, former DPS officers ClarenceForbey and Tom Armstrong, former MCSO deputies Larry Black andDavid Paul, former Police Chief Fred Dees, and pilot Len Clementsfor their contributions, and to Arizona Republic columnist E.J.Montini for the insightful quote from his column.

A special thanks also to MichaelGoldwater for his proofreading expertise, and Ed Mell and DaveBoehmer for their assistance with the cover design.

I so appreciate Dee Dees, whostuck with me when the project became much bigger and took muchlonger than either of us anticipated. The book could not have beencompleted without her.

There are probably someI vemissed, and if so, please know that I thank you all for your love,support and help throughout the process.

Jerry Foster

Thanks first to Jerry Fosterfor trusting me with his story. When I only knew him from his TVnews days, I saw a hero because of his life-saving adventures. Isaw a celebrity, because he was known throughout the state ofArizona. I saw a role model because our kids adored him and our sonwent on to become a helicopter pilot just like Jerry. Through this process of workingwith Jerry and discovering the man behind the myth, none of thosevisions have diminished. However, I discovered that he is also awriter, as he actually wrote the stories, while my role was to helphim turn them into a book. More importantly, I now know him as anordinary guy who made mistakes along the way, owned up to them andaccepted the consequences. I know a man who is more gentle andsensitive than the hotshot flyboy image the medialabeled him. And I know a man I m now proud to call afriend.

I also thank my husbandFred, who was immensely supportive and offered insight from acop s point of view, and my kids, Joel and Jennifer, for beingsupportive of all my endeavors throughout theyears.

Thanks to Lana Swearingenfor her proofreading expertise, and to Bryan Neumeister for beingpatient when I struggled with the techie part ofphotographs.

And I add my thanks to all thosementioned by Jerry, who were so forthcoming with their stories andput up with my endless emails and questions.

Dee Dees

FOREWORD

Of those who could be called Arizonacelebrities Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt,Mo Udall, Rose Mofford, and my own father, BarryGoldwater there is a man youwon t find on any national list, but whois well-known to anyone who lived in Phoenix during the 1970sand 80s: Jerry Foster.
For two decades Jerry flew aroundthe state reporting the news, and often making the news as heplucked hikers from mountains and victims from raging waters. Hewas often a hero, and just as often a heretic, as he occasionallyskirted FAA regulations.
Jerry was a reluctant celebrity,having come from a background of rough miners and poverty, yet hegrew into the role and was able to comfortably hobnob with actors,musicians, politicians and others. One of his favorite anecdotesrelates leaving a New Years Eve party at Dad s home, changing from his tux into jeans, and going on a latenight ride with the Dirty Dozen motorcycle clan. As he puts it,he walked both sides of thestreet.
I came to know Jerry in 1970 when he taught mydad, who already had licenses for a wide variety of aircraft, tofly a helicopter. From that point on the two became good friendsand flying buddies. While Dad got a kick out of watching Jerry landthe helicopter on the driveway in front of the house, Mom wouldoften get annoyed at the noise and the dust being kicked up.
Jerry often flew Dad around Arizonaon campaigns, or to take a break from politics and enjoy the quietbeauty of Lake Powell and the Indian reservations. I went along onone exciting flight where Jerry flew low and fast over the desert,demonstrating how pilots flew missions inVietnam.
Though his FAA issues wouldeventually contribute to his retirement, Jerry always had the bestof intentions and never flew in a way that was a danger to himselfor others. Dad flew with him for over 20 years and trusted Jerrywith his life.
Jerry sstory is one of overcoming his past, moving on to a bright future,and then doing it all over again. It s notjust the story of a hero, it s also thestory of an everyday guy who made mistakes and rose above them. Ispoke with Dad one time about Jerry sproblems with the military and he said, ...that happened a long time ago and he was just a kid. I didthe same thing when I was a kid, I justdidn t get caught.He s a grown man now andI m proud to call him afriend.

So am I.

MichaelGoldwater

Times of trouble, thats the best way I candescribe how I met, and got to know, Jerry. I was a volunteerfireman, and, using a dirt bike, a volunteer in search and rescueoperations. Jerry was a man in a news helicopter that did thingsnobody else would have attempted, or had the skills to do.

People survived because Jerry was there.There, and willing to step in and do the seemingly impossible. Onesuch incident will stay with me, and many others in attendance,forever.

The Gila River, south of Buckeye, AZ,normally a placid trickle of water, had become a raging torrent,like every other waterway in the Valley of the Sun. It had breachedits banks, inundating fields, farms, homes and communities. And, ithad done so in a manner well known to those who live in the desertsof the world, in a flash, leaving many with no safe exit, trappedin, or on, their homes.

We used ropes, rafts, haul lines and boatsto rescue those we could. There were, however, those we couldntreach through conventional methods, and no small amount of heroicsby many involved.

One such family had managed to climb from asecond story window onto the roof of their house. Because of trees,and other obstacles, we could not get to them by boat. Because ofstill live power lines, we could not set up a drag line. There wassimply no way for us to get these people off this roof.