The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-08-21
Pioneers
Chin Held High, Arnett'S
Grandfather TypifieS
Family Spirit.
BY JOHN THOMPSON
Times STAFF Writer

- Dick Arnett had a brand new
flying field waiting for him if he
had come home from the West.
The field was at the rear of a
little farmhouse near Chill, Ind,
where Dicks grandfather, A. J.
Arnett, 70, lives.
LAS soon as we got the thresh-
ing done was going to call Dick
and tell him to come over. had
fixed up the best little flying field
you ever saw there on the farm,
the genial Mr.. Arnett said last
night.
A veteran of air travel, mostly
with his only grandson, Mr.. Ar
nett took the news Of Dicks death
bravely. Of the dazed little group
that gathered at the residence
here yesterday, Grandfather Ar
nett was perhaps the bravest.
Il remember one morning Dick
and his chum, Emerson Franken-
field, flew over to our house for
breakfast" chuckled Mr.. Arnett.
why, they would land right in
the back yard sometimes. There
was always a vacant field some
place where they could come in
A MOTHER time, Mr.. Arnett
"A told, the boys brought their
girls over to see him." One of the
girls left a ring at the house and
the boys flew all the way back to
get it.
Dick Arnett was like that, his
grandfather revealed. If he got
chilly in indianapolis he flew
home and got his overcoat. Flying
came as easy to him as bicycles do
to most boys.
Short, Stocky, affable, elderly
Mr.. Arnett said he had liked to
fly with Dick. He recalled the
first trip he ever took with his
grandson.
He took me way down around
New Richmond, where the folks
used to live, - he said.
The beautiful Arnett home at
SIG S. 7th-st, with its white Co.
lonial facade and gray stucco was
strangely still as members of the
family and close friends of Dick,
stunned by the swiftness with
which death had come, moved
dazedly about the rooms.
Mr.. Frankenfeld, Dicks chum
since boyhood, when they both
got the aviation fever. told of
early experiences the two had in
learning to fly. He paused to pet
a black Cocker Spaniel, Jerry,
Dicks dog. Forlornly, the dog
paced the veranda of the house.
Members of the family said he did
that often.
SaddeSt of the facts surrounding
the tragedy at Laramie's Peak was
the abrupt ending it put to Dicks
and Eleanor Clark'S marriage.
Exactly one month from the day
of their marriage they were united
in death in the mysterious crash.
TICK was the only child of DR..
IL and Mrs. Arnett. The three
had been more like chums than
child and parents. All had learned
to fly. Because they understood
the stabbing speed with which
death strikes in the air, the little
family group last night was not
bitter.
The entire town was reverently
quiet. Cars passing the Arnett
residence went slowly. Citizens
walking by dabbed at their eyes
with handkerchief.
Paradoxically, the tremendous
speed of air and wire communica-
ton was not fast enough for the
Arnett family. Nervously. they
awaited every dispatch from the
West. and wondered how long it
would be before Dick would come
home for the last time.
But the staunch spirit of the
grandfather. who vehemently re-
jected some ones suggestion of
fataism. stood high above the
little group of mourners.
1t was the spirit of the pioneer.
the spirit of a triumph much
greater than death-the spirit of
Dick Arnett.