Here is a couple of shots from round' 1977 with The Fancher & Emmett clan.
Hey Bob! (Is that expression is what you thought of that beautiful Ares of Ted's or was that what you thought of me as a photographer..
OK!
I'll post another photo without the wiggleee Emmett tongue...and the next one has Peggy Parker coming into the photo session to poke that tongue back in Bob's chops?

Wow, Schultzie.  These bring back some memories for sure.

Folks in the pix are:  Big brother Gary with whom I spent many thousands of hours flying toy planes as kids.  We lost him a few years after the pix were taken; Shareen in the green shirt and glasses on her head; My Mom Maxine with the baby on her lap (don't know whose baby, may be a grandbaby of Peggy's?); Shareen's mom Helen (both Moms lost to us in the last few years); my lovely cousin-in-law Sandy Young who's married to my cousin David.  Ginny and Bob Emmett (with Peggy in the one shot); and my younger brother Chip who builds homes in the Renton/Kent/Auburn area of the Northwest.

I'm totally blown away because I don't have many (any?) shots of such a cluster of blessed friends and family.  Many, many thanks to Don for sharing these.

Ted

Edit:  Just a p.s., Don.  Your memory is probably as bad as mine.  The pix were likely taken about 1988 or '89.  Gary was still doing pretty well in '77 and the green Ares wasn't built until just before the very first VSC in LA in 1988.  It's still hanging on my den wall but looks all green because every bit of the colored tissue trim (plyspan) has faded away to almost total invisibility.

Ted,

I remember this contest. It was in the Boeing Space Center West Parking Lot back in the days when we could fly there. And I remember the Ares. Didn't you build the Chizler right after that? This would indeed be 1988. I think a few years earlier you would come up to fly the Black Dragon That Bob kept around.

Hi Randy,

No, I think the Chief was my next VSC airplane.  Flew it in two of the early ones but don't remember which.  The Chizler came along a bit later when Keith and I decided to build one apiece for VSC.  I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in a hot place that Keith would actually do so because he was talking a lot more toy airplanes than building or flying in those days (a bit of a downer period for him immediately post retirement from the Air Force).  He called me about a month and a half before VSC and said his was ready for paint and how was mine coming along?  Well, mine was no more than a vague memory of our agreement to build them at the time.  And that's my excuse for its very "ordinary" appearance and finish (there are actually finger prints from Shareen and I on the still drying clear coat that were the result of us putting the flaps on at the hotel halfway to Tucson).

More good memories.

Ted