She made appointments with the area school counselors, took a couple of line service workers and flight instructors with her, and started making presentations to local high-school students. Many of the students asked when they could come and see the facilities at the airport, and the school presentations soon evolved into a full-blown annual career day at the airport, with representatives from aviation schools, area airports, flight service stations, freight companies, avionics shops, maintenance facilities, and airlines. But she derived her greatest job satisfaction from providing encouragement about flying to students and other people who came through the airport office. So many people would come out to the airport and say, 'I always wanted to learn how to fly,' but were in their 40s or 50s and thought it was too late or too complicated or too expensive. The house is a little cramped, but Reed loves living on an airport as much as she loves working at one.
Some people even describe it as a religious experience.
I can sit and look at a runway, even though there might not be any airplanes taking off or landing on it at all, and it's still peaceful. But because Pete now teaches aviation mechanics to students at a vocational school at the Airborne Airpark in Wilmington, Ohio, the couple can still fly to work together whenever the weather permits. Airborne Express has even promised Jeanne a designated parking space for her Cub, which she affectionately calls Clarabell, when the company expands its aircraft ramp this summer. Yet now there are even times when she stops Pete from putting the airplane away in the evening because she wants to keep flying. Reed has also caught her husband's love for preserving and flying classic and antique airplanes.