FILLING IN THE BLANK
Rusk man's 'golden years' includes contract work at nation's major airports
BY LELAND ACKER

John Blank m (right) helps guide a Doppler unit's post into position at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

What do air traffic controllers, LaGuardia Airport and Rusk have in common? Blank. John Blank, that is.

Mr. Blank is a 1954 graduate of Rusk High School who went on to build Doppler VOR (Very high frequency Omni Range) radars in several airports across Texas and now at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

Mr. Blank said the Doppler VORs are navigational aids for airplanes which consist of 50 antennas arranged in a circular pattern to give the effect of a rotating radar.

"I had to leave (after attending Rusk High School) and get a job, so I moved to Dallas," Mr. Blank recalled. "There, I got a scholarship to go to college."

Mr. Blank said he attended several vocational schools, colleges and I-EEE schools. He also took 27 correspondence courses and had 7,000 hours at the Aeronautical Academy.

"It was all dealing with electronic communication and microwave transmissions," he said.

In 1961, Mr. Blank went to work for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), to work on navigation aides for airplanes.

After the l installation of a new radar array for LaGuardia Airport at Rikers Island, John Blank and his crew pause for a keepsake photograph.

"I kind of fell into it," he said. "I was looking for anything in those days. The opportunity showed itself and I jumped on it like a chicken on a June bug."

Mr. Blank began his work in Big Spring, before working in places like Corpus Christi, Nederland, Oklahoma City and Abilene. His work experiences consisted of a variety of adventures.

"I've come across rattlesnakes in remote facilities," he said. "I once came across a bobcat in a culvert as I was going into one facility."

In Corpus Christi, Mr. Blank said his employers were so pleased with the work of his crew, they paid for an offshore fishing trip.

"I also learned about shrimping during one weekend job," he added. "And I picked fruit while on a job in the Valley."

Mr. Blank retired in 1995, but his golden years have not kept him away from Doppler VORs. He still works two to three months per year doing contract work. He is currently working with Lockheed Martin to build a Doppler VOR at LaGuardia International Airport.

"This arrangement works great, it helps prevent too much 'togetherness,'" he said.

Recently, Mr. Blank helped build a Doppler VOR system at Rikers Island in New York. That system is a temporary site until the new radar is built at the airport, Mr. Blank said.

Individuals like Mr. Blank are one reason Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has suggested that Rusk seek the designation of Certified Retirement Community. Mr. Staples told the Cherokeean Herald in an exclusive interview which ran in the April 25 edition that the designation not only meant more government money would be made available to the city, but that retired persons add a boost to the local economy.

Mr. Staples said one retired couple has the same economic impact on a community as 3.7 factory jobs.

Bob Goldsberry, executive director for the Rusk Chamber of Commerce said he believes Rusk can score well on the application to be certified as a retirement community.

"The only thing is, we don't have an emergency room, but that can be overcome," he said.

Mr. Goldsberry said it is up to the Rusk city government to seek the retirement community designation.

He added that having people like Mr. Blank live in Rusk and work elsewhere is good advertising for the city.