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110-year-old recognized as Fairchild Honorary Airman

  • Published
  • By Scott King
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  110-year-old, Ms. Flossie Dickey, has always dreamed of joining the military and today that dream almost came true as Fairchild Air Force Base leadership did the next best thing and recognized her as a Fairchild Honorary Airman.

Flossie was born in Yoncolla, Ore. on Feb. 18, 1906, and has been a resident of the Cheney Care Center since 2011. Flossie, along with her family, moved to Eastern Washington where she married her husband, Roy Dickey, at the age of 15. Through it all, joining the military, riding a train and driving a car have always been on her bucket list.

During her visit, she toured an aircraft, met base leadership and was presented with a certificate recognizing her as Fairchild AFB Honorary Airman.

Base leadership was glad they had the opportunity to meet Flossie.

"I'm glad we were able to host Flossie today and show her a little bit about Fairchild," said Col. Brian McDaniel, 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander. "It has been exciting meeting her, listening to her life experiences and to see her still have such a great attitude about life and how to live it - what a lady!"

Chief Master Sgt. David Bishop, 141st ARW command chief, said; "What a great opportunity to meet Ms. Dickey, she has so many great life experiences within the community - we can learn so much from her with her optimistic and positive approach to life. It was awesome."

Flossie's favorite things to do are having a cup of coffee and reminiscing about the past. She said that she really enjoys having the opportunity to visit and share stories of her life and do comparisons of her life in the past with her life now. When asked what she likes doing the most "getting up in the morning is a good start."

She was glad she had the opportunity to visit Fairchild, see a KC-135 Stratotanker up close and meet some of the Airmen here.
 
"It was a good visit and a lot to see," Flossie said. "I've always wanted to join the military - thanks for having me at your base."