Congrats to Warren Tiahrt Keeper of the Flame

[Bob Hunt]

I wanted to give a shout out to my old buddy Warren Tiahrt for being proclaimed this year's Keeper of the Flame at VSC. This high honor could not go to a more deserving and service-oriented person.

Warren and his terrific wife, Barbara (who has a delightful, wicked sense of humor...) moved from North Carolina to Tucson several years ago to be a part of the model airplane culture there. Bill Werwage, Bob McDonald and I stayed at the Tiahrt's home during many of our visits to VSC, and we always had a great time, great food, and great laughs with them.

Warren was the Nats Event Director for twelve years and he also served as the Director of the Team Trials on nine occasions. He did this service quietly and without need to call any attention to himself. That's just the kind of man he is.   

Warren is also a great builder/finisher and he has produced several very period-accurate Classic and Old Time models. Several that come to mind are the Lou Andrews-designed Trixy Invert Junior, the Walt Musicano-designed Stunt Rocket, the Art Pawlowski-designed Lunar, the Jim Ebejer-designed Venus, and the Gene Schaffer-designed Stunt Machine. All of these models were virtually flawless replicas of the originals. That alone is worthy of Keeper of the Flame status! 

So, congrats to Warren. Long may he run!

Bob Hunt

[Dan McEntee]

   A fine gentleman and worthy recipient of "The Keeper" award. I first met Warren many years ago through a mutual friend here in St. Louis at The Great Race R/C soaring competition in Chicago during my R/C soaring and electric days. I hope to get back to VSC maybe next year and catch up with him.
  Congratulations Warren!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[MikeyPratt]

Hi Bubba,
I agree 100%, welcome to the brotherhood Warren.

Mike Pratt

[Jim Kraft]

I was fortunate enough to have Warren, Bob Hunt, and Billy Werwage come and sit at the table I was sitting at with my wife at our first VSC. We had a great time. Since that time I have witnessed the kindness and good nature of the man. Congratulations Warren. I know you will keep the flame alive.

[Ted Fancher]

Beautifully put, Bob.  Warren's selection is not only appropriate but dang near mandatory given the  quantity and quality of roles he has fulfilled for our stunt family.  Nobody knows the level and excellence of his commitment to the tasks he accepted than does Shareen who worked side by side with Warren (and Barb) for so many of those hours, weeks and, ultimately months of conscientious and professional leadership at our Major Events.  She could only nod and say "...yup, 'bout time..." when I told her just now.

Congratulations to the perfect example of what it takes to keep our flame alive.

Ted and Shareen

[BillLee]

Nobody has mentioned that Warren was the F2B event director for the 2004 World Championships.

What an appropriate choice!

[Randy Cuberly]

I also cannot think of a more deserving person for the "Keeper of the Flame" award than my friend and fellow Cholla Chopper member Warren.  He is a Kind and Gentle man who is very quiet about his accomplishments and always ready to help anyone who needs it.

His demeanor while accepting the award was typical of his true nature...With tears in his eyes and a choking, breaking voice, he declared it was all of we (as he pointed to the audience) who kept CL alive and attended events like VSC that were indeed the true "Keepers of the Flame"!!

Warren is truly one of the "Greats of our Game"!

Randy Cuberly

[Brett Buck]

Warren is truly one of the "Greats of our Game"!

     Warren is at the top of a  very short list of people without whom stunt could easily have been dead, or unrecognizable. Mike Keville is one of the others.

   Whether anyone understands or not, we owe the success of the current event to maybe 4-5 individuals who worked tirelessly so the rest of us can act like prima donnas for one week a year. Most people have no idea how close we came to total collapse on multiple occasions.

     All of those I would name also were also mercilessly abused for their efforts, in the nastiest possible ways, for years, by a handful of miscreants- all of which would have been tossed out of the event for sportsmanship, or lack thereof, had I been king of the world at the time.

      Brett