Spokane7
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February 26, 2011 in City
Air traffic control tower named for WWII veteran, FAA retiree
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, left, presents Ray Daves with a copy of the Act of Congress it took to get the Spokane airport tower named after him Friday at the Spokane International Airport.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
There apparently is only one federal air traffic control tower named for anyone, and Spokane has it.
By act of Congress, the tower at Spokane International Airport was named for Ray Daves, a retired air traffic controller and World War II veteran who survived the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the 1942 sinking of the carrier USS Yorktown.
“By naming the control tower after Ray, we will remind all those who come here of this great patriot who represents the best of our nation,” said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who on Friday presented Daves with an official copy of the bill.
Daves, 90, a Navy radio operator during the war, went to work for the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Spokane in 1946 and retired from the renamed Federal Aviation Administration in 1973.
Surrounded by family and friends in the tower’s ground-floor offices, he accepted the honor on behalf of all FAA employees, “past, present and future.”
“I am deeply grateful to all those who made today possible,” Daves said. “This is a great honor which I accept with a humble heart.”
The dedication was the idea of FAA employee Tom Torvik, who was inspired by the 2008 book about Daves, “Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor and World War II in the Pacific,” by Spokane author Carol Edgemon Hipperson.
“I’m big on history and I realized I am following in his footsteps,” Torvik said.
He and his sister, Stephanie Yanuszeski, a teacher at Windsor Elementary School, began a letter campaign promoting the dedication.
McMorris Rodgers introduced a bill in the House and Sen. Patty Murray a companion measure in the Senate. On Dec. 22, President Barack Obama signed into law what is apparently the only such dedication of a federal control tower.
“This is the first one that we are aware of,” said Michelle Skomars, the FAA’s air traffic manager at the 271-foot tower, which began operation in August 2007.
Also in attendance Friday were representatives of the U.S. Navy, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and Ralph Virene of the Lilac City Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, of which Daves is a past president.
“We are very proud of him,” Virene said.
Rights panel poorly understood 
DickAdams on February 26 at 8:12 a.m.
I agree, its an honor. The only sad part is Ms. Cathy Rodgers is still in office to present the award. Rodgers` strings are pulled by the elite movers and shakers. Rodgers refused to go after individuals who refunded (refinanced) the contaminated muni (Spokane) bonds used for the Convention center expansion. Her office in Spokane proved she is a sell out and liar. You know what that makes her.
DHF on February 26 at 12:40 p.m.
(Dick Adams ) Why spoil a nice article with your liberal rant. The only correction needed was that the USS Yorktown was not a battleship but a aircraft carrier. Congrat’s to Mr Daves and for Mrs McMorris in her presentation of the bill.
carolynl on February 26 at 3:01 p.m.
Thank you for pointing out the error, DHF. The story has been corrected.
DickAdams on February 26 at 4:28 p.m.
Liberal rant, DHF? You don`t know what the heck your talking about. I was a republican for over 50 years and quit the party. I`m now a independent conservative. Your snide remark dictates you have no idea how corrupt Rodgers is. I have proof that she looked the other way regarding the contaminated muni bonds when Spokane in order to refinance the convention center expansion paid over $300,000.00 in cash to get rid of the illegal muni bonds so the characters involved could put together a financial plan for the project. Some of the individuals who did were the same culprits who were responsible for the illegal muni bonds issued for the River Park Square project and got caught by the IRS. The Spokane taxpayers then got stuck (screwed) paying for the RPS parking garage and the debt which will not be paid off until 2030. How do you like those apples? Your post to me is suspect as a person that don`t give a damn. Tell it the Cowleses. They smiled all the way to the bank with taxpayer revenue.
DHF on February 26 at 5:45 p.m.
(Dick Adams) Let me reiterate. Your barely animated infinitesmil insignificant trivia exhibits a wandering thought process and goes out of the bounds of normalcy. I am sorry that I do not view Mrs Rodgers in the same light. She was doing something nice in a official capacity.
jddavis on February 26 at 5:46 p.m.
A nice honor for Mr Daves! Well done Sir!
DickAdams on February 26 at 8:34 p.m.
DHF; Your like so many people that if you see someone needing help you look the other way and let somebody else handle it. At least that is the way you appear to me. Surely, you`ve read stories where a crime is committed and so many act as if nothing is happening, Well Rodgers, watched a crime being committed and did nothing about it. Make lite of it all you want but I resent an elected official looking the other way and not doing a damn thing knowing a crime is being committed. Congresspersons have caused the reasons for the public finally waking up and doing something about. I`ll also wager you were one of the cheerleaders for the RPS mess and praised the culprits.
greenlibertarian on February 26 at 9:27 p.m.
Figures they’d honor a guy who never made an honest living, after all,because ALL government employees are goldbrickers, he lived off of the public teat apparently his entire working life, and continues to do so with a cushy federal retirement.
I say hands off my Medicare, federal government!
NancyAP on February 26 at 10:46 p.m.
I am saddened that greenlibertarian thinks all government employees are goldbrickers and uses this to smear Ray Daves. My husband was a physician in the Air Force, and the hours he spent taking care of military personnel and their families was no goldbrick job. And his pay was not very high either. How can you in good conscience say all government workers are goldbrickers? My son provides care to men an women in a VA hospital who have suffered grieviously from serving our country. You don’t make yourself into a bigger, more important person by tearing down others. If you don’t know Mr. Daves and have not “walked in his shoes”, how can you say the guy never made an honest living. People like you worry me. Our country was made great by Mr. Daves and other members of “The Greatest Generation.”
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 27 at 11:12 a.m.
What would it be like if everyone restricted their political yelling to articles that are actually about politics? We can only imagine…