As frequent readers of the DOG Aviation Blog
know, rarely is there personal content within the Blog, but the recent passing
of a long time friend warrants deviation. DOG Aviation morns the loss of
longtime friend Marty Dippel.
Marty at AirVenture 2009.
I met Marty in 1970 through a mutual friend
while attending a well known electronics school in Chicago. Marty married his loving wife Kathie
and remained in Chicago.
Although I moved away from Chicago,
we keep in touch over the years. During the mid 80’s, we began to share our
mutual aviation interest … and attended the EAA air show at Oshkosh. This began, what turned out to be, a
much looked forward to annual pilgrimage to Oshkosh to attend AirVenture.
For many years Marty was my Oshkosh travel companion. Prior to being diagnosed with stage four
cancer (shortly after our 2011 pilgrimage to AirVenture), we had only missed attending
the show a couple of times since the mid 80’s.
Marty admiring the wonderful crafstsmanship that went into this bird. After the show, we discovered this Skyraider won the grand champion award.
Marty was raised on a farm in Illinois and had a “salt of the earth
quality”. His Father was a pilot, which rubbed off on Marty. So many single
words describe Marty, but I’ll begin with brilliant. Marty had a keen intellect
which was exhibited by his ability to design savvy electronic circuitry and
manage large networks of Unix computer systems. Although Marty was easy going
and soft spoken, he was very articulate and spoke with a deep soothing voice
that was unassuming, yet exuded wisdom. Marty was very well rounded and could
discuss most anything … electronics, shop tools, farming, airplanes, philosophy, classical
music or high energy particle physics. He was a kind, gentle, honest and caring
man, with a wonderful sense of humor. Simply put, he was the nicest guy you
would ever want to meet.
When at Oshkosh, even a rainy day couldn't keep the smile off Marty's face.
Marty looked forward to every new DOG Aviation Blog
posting so he could closely follow the progress of the RV-12 project and as he
so eloquently said, “live vicariously through me”. I was ever so hopeful Marty
would be able to contribute to the building of the DOG Aviation RV-12 … setting
a rivet, drilling a hole … anything. Sadly, that was not to be because travel
quickly became difficult, then unfeasible and lastly impossible.
Marty Dippel 1951-2015 We will miss you Marty.
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