Owego Apalachin Schools rely on Fred Weaver to keep the new Owego Elementary School (OES) in fine working order, with a fresh spit-shine. But there was a time when Fred Weaver was helping propel F-14 fighter planes dart off the end of aircraft carriers somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a lot younger then,\u201d he said, standing alongside the district’s new elementary school, looking out at his old pick-up truck. The 1977 Candor High graduate spent 10 years in the United States Navy; some of that time in Oceana, Virginia. Some of it was on a carrier, working as a jet plane mechanic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked on power plants and fuel systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fred did two tours of duty in the Mediterranean, and, \u201cI\u2019ve been all over Europe twice,\u201d he said. \u201cAbout the only place I didn\u2019t go was Germany.”<\/p>\n
He belongs to the local VFW, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a carrier when we became involved in the Libyan conflict in the early 1980s,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I was also involved in the Lebanon War, a year or so later. I was on the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower. We called it Ike. Now it\u2019s old, like me.”<\/p>\n
When not working as the OES day custodian, Fred\u2019s attention these days is on his 1-year-old grandson, but also on his other baby, the 1969 Ford F-100 Ranger parked nearly daily on the back side of the Owego Free Academy (OFA) athletics island.<\/p>\n
The Ford has a fresh Crate 390 engine (it came out of the factory with a 360, he said) and despite the gray primer and patina, the vehicle his wife calls \u201cThe Beast\u201d will one day be green.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we were going to paint it Grabber Green, but then my wife saw that color on a Mustang and she didn\u2019t care for it at all,\u201d Fred said. \u201cSo for now, we\u2019re thinking it will be Moss Green. Make it look like the beast that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fred Weaver transferred to become the custodian at the new OES when it came online last winter. He\u2019d been custodian at Owego Free Academy, and before that, at Apalachin Elementary. He\u2019s been with OA Schools heading toward nine years now, he said. Before that, he worked as a roofer for Scott Quick Construction of Candor.<\/p>\n
But something about that old pickup truck with the gigantic engine out in that parking lot brings Fred back to his time in the Navy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a choice I made to serve, and I\u2019m so glad I did,\u201d he said. \u201cMost exciting time of my life. Watching a fighter go from a complete standstill, to shooting off a carrier in three seconds flat.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused and looked over at the F-100 Ranger sitting there, quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd kids back home thought they had hot rods,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cThey should have felt the power of those jets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Owego Apalachin Schools rely on Fred Weaver to keep the new Owego Elementary School (OES) in fine working order, with a fresh spit-shine. But there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n