Date: July 1, 1965
Location: Lock Haven, PA
By: —
Newspaper: The Express
Page: 9
An airplane which had been thoroughly been blessed by clergy of diverse denominations recently was delivered in Africa by Max Conrad, who has been back in Lock Haven after making the delivery flight, by way of Rome, where the Pope added his blessing.
Before taking off on the African flight, to deliver an aircraft for the UMATT, an interdenominational missionary enterprise, the plane received the blessings of a Jewish rabbi and an Episcopal bishop, as well as a Catholic priest.
When Pope Paul VII added his blessing in Rome, June 1, he asked Mr. Conrad about his family. When Max replied that he had a daughter who was getting married that day in Australia, the Pope gave him a special rosary and the papal blessing, for her.
* * *
The daughter, who was married June 1, was Louise Christine, better known as “Chrissie”, one of the two Conrad daughters who helped their father from time to time in his business operations in Lock Haven.
Now, 21 years of age, with six months of experience in a space demonstration programwith the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, Chrissie met an Australian flier named David Apel, a ranger near Brisbane, who came to Lock Haven two years ago to pick up a Piper aircraft.
The acquaintance had been developing to the point that, when Chrissie left NASA, she decided to go to Australia to see David. The upshot was that Mr. Conrad, when he was preparing to leave for Africa, got a letter from Mr. Apel saying that he and Chrissie had decided to get married in Australia, instead of waiting until after her return to the U.S., as originally planned. They took a boat trip to the Fiji Islands for a honeymoon.
Chrissie, who went to school in Switzerland and other places abroad, is a graduate of the Winona, Minn., High School. She is now one of three daughters of the Conrads who are located at distant points in the world.
Her sister, Molly, who also spent some time in Lock haven assisting mr. Conrad in his business activities here, is now the wife of Don Smith, a civilian flier in Laos, in charge of the aviation activities in that country, on the boarder of embattled Viet Nam.
The Conrads’ second daughter, Beatrice, is married to Capt. Raymond Herterer of the U.S. Air Force. They and their six children are due to go from Omaha, Nebr., to Honolulu, Hawaii, in July.
With three daughters so widely dispursed, max Conrad has begun to think of an ideal flying trip around the world, not in search of a speed record, but to make a few family visits. In preparation for such a trip, he has some preliminary work to do, including giving flying lessons to his wife, Beth, so she can be his co-pilot.
He wants to help her qualify for her private flying lessons, and also to teach his three youngest children, who are still at home, to fly. For this purpose he is buying a Cub, of 1947 vintage, to use for family instruction.
* * *
Max had planned to fly west in the new-old Cub last week, having arranged to mee Bill Kosco, who went from here by bus to St. mary’s, ohio, to pick up the aircraft. He was to fly it to Denver wher conrad expected to be on a delivery flight, and the two would go on to the west coast.
Delays ensued, however, and then Conrad had to leave on a speaking trip to the middle west, after which he plans to go on to Prescott, where Mrs. Conrad has been staying. A bit indefinite on just when he hopes to make his “dream trip” around the world, Mr. Conrad says Betty is game for the trip, to visit children and grandchildren. She has made two trips across the Atlantic, so long distance flying is nothing new to her – although taking her turn at the controls will be a novel experience.
As for Max himself, who holds so many light plane distance and speed records, that he loses count of them, he says it will be fun to fly just for fun.
CAPTION: GETS PAPAL BLESSING – With two friends, at left, Max Conrad, who flew a United Missionary Air Training and transport aircraft from St. Louie to Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa, receives the blessing of Pope Paul VII on June 1. The group from UMATT carried their flag to the Vatican during a stop in Rome, en route to Kenya. Conrad flew the first of three planes to be used in mission work in the kenya frontier.