“Tribute To A Mentor & Friend, Harland “Sedge” Sedgwick

by Pete Schoeninger

Two days after his funeral service, I learned that long-time fixed base operator, Harland “Sedge” Sedgwick, left this earth on January 8, 2013.

In 1958, “Sedge” and Dale Crites hired me, a 14-year-old Delafield, Wisconsin farm boy, to be a Saturday helper with their business, Spring City Flying Services, Inc. at Waukesha County Airport, Waukesha, Wis. There I learned how to wash and fuel airplanes, cut grass, plow snow, and hand prop an airplane from Cubs through Wacos. My pay was mostly in flight lessons. On my 16th birthday in 1959, Sedge got out Cub N3676K and allowed me to do my first solo flight on Runway 28. What a thrill!

While working there, I was introduced to legends in aviation including Duane Cole, Steve Wittman, Grover Loening, Paul Poberezny and others. Little did I realize at the time, I was working for two legends in their own right, Sedge and partner Dale Crites.

Later Sedge and Dale would sell Spring City Flying Services to Dave Pabst of Oconomowoc, Wis. Sedge was hired by Dave to be the fixed base operation manager and airport manager for about 10 years. Spring City lost the FBO contract with Waukesha County in about 1979. I felt Sedge was never recognized fully for his aviation expertise and devotion to the airport and the industry.

25 years after leaving Waukesha Airport for college in 1961, the U.S. Air Force, and lots of other things, I would return to Waukesha Airport in 1986 as minority owner and manager of newly established Waukesha Flying Services, Inc., and also serve as airport manager. What a thrill to the farm kid who used to clean bellies on rental airplanes to now be “the boss!” Sedge was still an active pilot and flight instructor, but had relinquished his FAA-designated examiner ticket. Throughout my tenure in the 1980s and 1990s, Sedge was a great help to me with airport management, relations with the county, difficult customers, and provided tailwheel checkouts for us in two Super Cubs we owned.

Thank you, Sedge, for teaching me to fly, but more important, you set an example of how to be an ethical, hard-working business man with a good sense of humor. May you rest in peace!

Pete Schoeninger
Belmont, Wisconsin

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