Feeling His Oats
By Gordon Baxter
August 1999
 Dear FLYING:
I was in Beaumont earlier this month and stopped by to visit our mutual friend Gordon Baxter. I have known about his illness for some time now and wanted to see him. I am so glad I did.
We took a ride in my Skylane. I was surprised at his response. He seemed to come alive. I wish others would stop by and take him flying. He loved it.
I wrote the following story about that flight.
Sincerely,
Mike Trahan
It was so subtle. He stopped answering my letters. I figured he was just too busy to reply. His Christmas cards were sporadic. That had happened from time to time, so no big deal. Then I noticed his Bax Seat articles were now reprints of past articles. I realized something was very wrong. My old friend Gordon Baxter was fading away and I didn’t know why. I got my answer at EAA AirVenture 98.
My wife Sheila, my son Jim and I were attending Oshkosh for the first time. We were looking at the program and I noticed there would be a presentation of the Gordon Baxter Aviation Spirit Award that night in the theater. I assumed Gordon would be there for the occasion, so we stopped by the FLYING Magazine tent to say hello. The person at the desk told me that Bax was ill and at home in Beaumont.
A few days later I called Gordon’s wife Diane. Sure enough, he was ill, and had been for a long time.
I will never forget the day I met Gordon Baxter. I was on the flight line at Brown Airport in Orange and Bax came walking by. I went up to him and introduced myself. I told him I was the line boy and asked him if there was anything I could do for him.
He smiled and said, “No thanks, I’m just looking around.” And then he added, “So, Mike, what are you doing out here at this little old airport?”
I told him I was a student pilot, that I had recently soloed. My flight instructor Clarence Feuge had given me the line boy job to keep me out of the way. And I wanted to be a professional pilot when I grew up.
“Well,” Bax said, “Hang in there. I have a feeling you’re going to make it someday.”
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