WW2 and Vietnam Ace, Robin Olds died Thursday in Steamboat Springs, CO.
I recently moved away from Steamboat but have lived there most of the last 7 years. I met Robin in Feb of 2001 at an airline ski week party at the top of the Gondola in Steamboat. I had gone off to the bathroom and when I came back there was this giant 78 yr old guy hitting on my wife.
While I was gone he had been chatting her up and then asked her, "So, what do you think of me so far?" Just like a Fighter Pilot! Her response was about what he expected to hear, "You're a *******ing stud." And she meant it, though he was a bit old for her.
Anyway, I used to run into Robin at the barber shop every couple of months. He would literally hold court in there with some of the other "geezers" that might show up along with the 2 characters, a husband and wife team, that called themselves barbers. There was a large photo of Robin in his g suit and handle bar moustache, signed by Robin, that held center stage among the eclectic grouping of posters, pictures and newpaper clippings that decorated the walls there. The man was larger than life.
I used to see Robin on the ski mountain many of the 75 days/yr that I skied. He told me once that he skied a 100 days/yr and I believed him! I didn't see Robin much the past couple of years, either at the barber shop or on the ski mountain! I guess I never will now.
He was definitely an old school guy. Imagine a work hard/party hard gregarious fighter pilot with the personality/character out of Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation. My wife called it "swashbuckling chivalry". That's how we saw him. He will be missed, a true American Hero.
Thanks Robin - Rest in Peace.
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/..._olds_dies_84/