Biographical Notes reCharles A. (Chuck) StonePage 2 of 2 Pages, of Chapter 14,A FINAL FLING |
||||||||
| In 1997, we were asked to begin research and development work relating to the planned Minnesota Labor Interpretive Center in St. Paul. This facility was to be installed in the soon to be vacated Old Science Museum Building in downtown St. Paul, near the Capitol. Our first task was to build a scale model of the city block that illustrated, in three dimensions, how the Old Science Museum Building might look converted to the Minnesota Labor Interpretive Center. We were given a forty five day time limit. We delivered in forty days.
Our next task was to research the history of work in Minnesota, design two portable exhibits on the subject. The design criteria stipulated that one of the displays could be carried in custom-built cases, by one person, set up for display in five minutes on a table and taken down in the same time frame. The second exhibit was to be a bit larger and less portable. When these exhibits were delivered, we were then given a sequence of research projects where we would manage brainstorming groups of our choice, consisting of about six selected individuals. |
 |
|||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
| Our tasks would be to figure how to economically use the space in that city-block-sized building to permit compliance with their planned mission. We also developed a comprehensive draft exhibit plan sequence and layout for the building. This was based upon our earlier research on the history of work in Minnesota.
Soon, thereafter, we were asked to create a web site for the project. Having developed a relationship with artist and web site designer Chris Welch, who was a member of our brainstorming group, we proceeded to do that. Related projects followed until our new Governor of Minnesota, Governor Ventura, chose to abandon the entire project through use of his line item veto on the Minnesota 1999 State Budget Plan. This stopped us cold in May of 1999. Currently, although this program still exists in State Statute, the funds have been eliminated until further notice. If you would like to view our History of Work in Minnesota Exhibit, please click here and return with your back button. |
||||||||
| During the 1990’s the Lindbergh Fund conducted a variety of symposiums and related events in cooperation with the community of Little Falls. In 1997, they asked Nell and me to serve as Parade Marshalls for one of their scheduled activities. Here you see daughter, Sandie, standing in for her mother as we see the town from a new point of view. |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
| Our next large project involved work for the Blandin Foundation. The work illustrated here, and also including the related web site identified below, represents collaborative work between Bill Angelos, Chris Welch and myself. The collage work and coordinative efforts involved are primarily represented by my input. Bill and Chris are the real brains behind these particular products. Our first task was to assist the Blandin Foundation in creation of an education package that has, by this writing, been published in 8,000 copies for distribution to people in Minnesota communities that are working on projects based upon the Blandin Community Investment Partnership (BCIP) concepts. This was followed by the creation of an interactive web site, permitting two-way communications and sharing between involved communities, with each other and Blandin Foundation. Special Note: The Blandin Foundation has since changed the focus of this program and the web site is no longer available. In the spring of the year 2000, my RB-29 crew of the 1953 and 1954 era, decided we needed to get back together for the first time since we said good-bye to each other at the Davis Monthan Aircraft Boneyard. We had a wonderful reunion in June of that year. Our gathering is recorded in pages of this web site. Click here to visit and return to this page. |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
Education Packet envelop cover page for BCIP Project. The photo collages, of which there are a total of 17 in this entire packet, are made from more than 950 digital images clipped from video tapes recorded at related meetings of about eight of the initial participating communities. Below: Cover page for BCIP Education Packet |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
| Unspoken, thus far, is to say that Nell has been battling stage four lymphatic cancer since 1992. We have had wonderful care from an oncologist we love and respect. Nell is still in the fight after successive sessions of chemotherapy and imunotherapy and is currently again in a recovery mode. I had a heart attack in 1994 and have been a faithful rider of my exercycle ever since and take my pills with regularity. In September through November of 2000, I went through an upgrade that gave me a battery powered heart. It was during the medical workup for this event that a neurologist discovered that I had a significant stroke in my medical history that had not been detected at the time. (This refers to the loss of my flight status in June 1964 and the comedy of medical confusion that followed.) My last scheduled computer check on my pacemaker, completed a few days ago, says it is purring along like a kitten. Our son, David, and wife Cheryl have given us two fine grandchildren, Allen and April. Both are currently studying in their universities of choice. Our daughter, Sandie, is a critical care nurse who, after more than a decade of work in San Diego, has chosen to continue in that service back here in Minnesota. In recent months, I have given up formal efforts to continue doing commercial work. I will be 79 years young in November, 2003. Nell and I donated our entire basement shop equipment resources, including photo lab, woodworking shop and exhibit fabrication equipment, to the local Great River Arts Association. This equipment will go into a Great River Arts/Technology Center that this organization is striving to establish in the downtown section of Little Falls. Nell and I will keep our computer equipment for our own use, until further notice. Beyond keeping the lawn mowed, snow shoveled, and family taken care of, my main goal in the days to come will be to keep building this USAF WW II, Korean War and Early Cold War Reconnaissance Web Site in a healthy and growing condition. If you are not aware of it, as yet, know that we have made arrangements so the history we record and share on this web site will have continuity after I am unable to continue this work. It is destined to become a part of the Cold War Museum web site system established by Francis Gary Powers, Jr. His site is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. I have made a statement on this subject that you can read by clicking on URL: http://www.RB-29.net/HTML/54newsnotes.htm You may visit the Cold War Museum web site by clicking on URL: http://www.coldwar.org/index.html I have a standing request for any of you recce and other troops out there, regardless of your past military rank and nature of your experience. Submit to me your own recollections, your long stories, your short stories, your images, and your biographical notes (in whatever length you may choose to record them) and I will strive to help document your part in this history. Our efforts are but a small blip on the radar scope of our Nation’s history, but it is our history and I am damned proud to have played a small part in it, and I know you are too. Peace and good health to you and those you love. Chuck Stone End of Page 2 of 2 Pages, Chapter 14 — End of these Bio Notes Click below to select a destination Go to Page 1 — 2, this Chapter Chapters 1 — 2 — 3 — 4 — 5 — 6 — 7 — 8 — 9 — 10 |
||||||||