I’d be proud to have even half of those comments carved on my tombstone. I’ll forward them on to Ernie. He’ll probably remember them as long as he has the hugs you gave him in the hallway.

I warned him that a select group of his classmates would track him down at home if he chose not to attend the reunion, as is his custom.

You really nailed our relationship with him: you didn’t know whether to love him or take advantage of him. I’ve thought about his class many times over the years. I won’t say he was the best instructor I ever had, but he was a darned good teacher and a better friend.

When I think of Ernie Chiles, I think of how he gave me my very first flight. Wow! Here I was in an actual airplane. For some wonderful, crazy reason, he even let me “drive” for a minute or two. Don’t tell anybody though because I don’t want to get him in trouble. There we were doing circles and loops, and I can still remember that supremely ecstatic freedom, that thrill of looking out to the earth and sky from such a view as I had never experienced except in my dreams. Such a joyous, beautiful, completely new adventure for me! This is it! I wanted to be an airline pilot.

Mr. Chiles was so absolutely COOL as to fly a bunch of us to an out-of-town ballgame. This flight probably got a little worrisome for Ernie when the wings started icing because he was well aware of the dangers, not to mention the thought of killing his students. He would never get tenure that way. Me? I was too naive to know the extent of the danger and just thought how beautiful the snow and ice looked while we were flying. The weather turned so bad that we were “grounded” for the trip home and had to get rides with other students who had traveled by the mundane automobile to the game. However, my lessons from my Earth Science teacher were some I have never forgotten. I didn’t get to become an airline pilot, but I DID get to become a teacher who cared about my students. I had learned by the best example. This was probably the most valuable life lesson I got from any teacher. Thank you, Ernie.