Leonardo Da Vinci was quoted as saying, “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skywards.” Holding one of the highest pilot certifications, Craig Sanderson spread his wings upward to serve as director of operations for Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines and mayor of the small but bustling town of Tusayan. Sanderson acquired the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certification at 28 years old. It is one of the most advanced certifications a pilot can obtain and … [Read more...] about Flying High
Community Profile
Going It Alone Together
Artist and entrepreneur Melanie Banayat has emerged victorious time and again as unforeseen challenges disrupted her world and forced new beginnings on the canvas of her life. Loss of family, scuttled dreams, depression and debilitating physical pain have left their mark, but her buoyancy has encouraged others fighting fear, isolation, loss, loneliness and pain. Banayat’s award-winning book, Stretch Your Brave, Hack Your Story, Break Through Chronic Disease with Storytelling, documents her … [Read more...] about Going It Alone Together
Making Later Life Easier
With the number of people living to the age of 85 and beyond expected to double from more than 6.4 million today to 14.6 million by 2040, companies like Comfort Keepers are expecting the demand to continuously increase for those needing day-to-day assistance. Comfort Keepers provides as much or as little help required to enable the elderly to live in their homes as long as possible. Services include providing meals, doing shopping, running errands, reminding about medication, performing light … [Read more...] about Making Later Life Easier
Women Wranglers Managing Mules, Rugged Terrain, Treacherous Weather
The bravado of the women wranglers at the Grand Canyon is a fascinating account of courage, strength and travails, sometimes under severe climatic conditions that can develop in the famous canyon. Chelsea Plumb and Kricket Scheerer are two of the eight female wranglers employed by Xanterra Grand Canyon South Rim Mule Operations. “We get up around 3 a.m., head to the barn, clock in, load up the mules with panniers [bags] and pack supplies for Phantom Ranch,” said Plumb, who has worked at the … [Read more...] about Women Wranglers Managing Mules, Rugged Terrain, Treacherous Weather
World Traveler Builds Career Out of Sending Clients on Vacation
Monika Leuenberger loves what she does and does what she loves. Her expansive world is all about travel. Having sojourned to more than 20 countries (she has lost count), this Switzerland-born wanderlust, travel advisor and co-owner of Avenues of the World Travel has tips and suggestions for situations you would not dream of happening and back-up support for when they do. “Several years ago, we traveled to New Zealand via Flagstaff to LA. On our flight back, we landed at the LA airport and our … [Read more...] about World Traveler Builds Career Out of Sending Clients on Vacation
Footsteps and Tire Tracks – On the Moon?
Calling it “…the biggest challenge I ever had was when I was asked if we could build a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) to be used by astronauts,” Bill Tinnin and his colleagues said, ”Sure, why not?” At the time, he was a mechanic at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in Flagstaff That was 62 years ago. It was a small piece of the now world-famous Project Apollo that put the first man on the moon. It all started when then-President John F. Kennedy told Congress in May 1960 that the … [Read more...] about Footsteps and Tire Tracks – On the Moon?
Building Bridges for Business, Customers
Wendy Bridges is creating and fostering a climate of opportunities for businesses and for customers. Bridges is the economic development coordinator for the City of Prescott. Bridges views the challenge of creating such a climate as similar to that facing other Arizona communities. She uses, as an example, the need for a skilled and ready workforce. “Employers across the country are being challenged by a low unemployment rate, which leads to fewer job seekers. But in Prescott, because of our … [Read more...] about Building Bridges for Business, Customers
‘Thanks for All You Do’
Thrusting his hand out in warm handshake, he smiles broadly. “Hi, I’m Harold Viehweg. Thanks for all you do for the community.” That is a pretty typical greeting most people get when they meet Viehweg in his tightly-organized, uncluttered ground-floor office in the Prescott Chamber of Commerce building on Goodwin Street. Not everyone who enters the Prescott C of C sees Viehweg, for his office is at the rear of the tall skinny two-story building. However, Viehweg has been a chamber official … [Read more...] about ‘Thanks for All You Do’
Teller Continues Looking Up
As a youngster, Arlando Teller stood in the yard of his Chinle home on the Navajo Reservation and looked up at an azure sky pebbled with popcorn clouds and jet contrails. He wondered where those white streaks crisscrossing the wild blue yonder were headed. When he graduated from Chinle High School in 1991, his continuing curiosity prompted him to find out. He wanted to become a part of that high-flying adventure. He enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – home of the Eagles – in … [Read more...] about Teller Continues Looking Up
Attorney Finds Satisfaction, Freedom Through Law Practice, Gun Shop
When Don Grier first discovered Prescott in the early 1990s, he was with an adventurous motorcycle group from Southern California that often spent weekends and vacations exploring communities in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states. A practicing attorney who graduated in 1986 from Pepperdine University, a Christian university with the main campus in picturesque Malibu, Grier He explained, “We hadn’t been in town long when I figured out it was a conservative small community with traditional … [Read more...] about Attorney Finds Satisfaction, Freedom Through Law Practice, Gun Shop