Right outside Don Furlow’s office window is the main taxiway of Freeman Municipal Airport.
On his computer desk are photos of his family and a few of himself from when he served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He’ll be packing up the photos and his other belongings next month as he retires Oct. 31.
Furlow, 82, has been manager of the airport in Seymour for a little more than 22 years. He has been talking about retirement for a while now and has decided this will be the year, he said.
“What brought me out to the airport was John Burkhart, who was the mayor of Seymour at the time,” Furlow said. “John was looking for somebody as the airport manager, and we had worked at Cummins together and had been friends for quite a while. He asked me to come out here because he felt like maybe I was the right person. Whether or not I was I don’t know, but I’m still here.”
As manager of the airport, Furlow has served three other mayors besides Burkhart: Jim Bullard, Craig Luedeman and now Matt Nicholson. He has enjoyed working with all of them and has had a good working relationship, he said.
“I grew up in Holton and graduated from Holton High School, and I’ve been working all my life, starting when I was 10 years old and worked with my dad,” he said. “He was in the poultry business most of his life and had routes that he ran in southern Indiana, and when I was old enough, I’d ride along with him in the truck, and we’d go out three nights a week around midnight and catch these chickens and take them to the processing plant.”
When Furlow was old enough to drive, he started driving the poultry truck until he graduated from high school and joined the Marine Corps, where he served four years as a rifleman and finished his military career as a corporal E-4.
“I went overseas and spent two and a half years in Okinawa, Japan, and the Philippines and got to see a little bit of the world,” he said. “We were involved in the Cuban Crisis, no action, thank goodness, and it’s almost like the same situation we’re in right now with China and Korea.”
The hat Furlow wore with his dress blues in the Marine Corps is displayed on a table in his office at the airport.
He moved to Seymour more than 50 years ago with his wife, Janice, who he first spotted on a beach in California. They have been married for 58 years.
“I was in the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Pendleton, and a buddy and I decided one Sunday to take a drive up to L.A., and we stopped at one of the beaches,” Furlow said. “Janice and her friend were there and had brought her brother surfing that day, so we stopped and were looking around, and we noticed the two girls.”
He said they thought about going over to talk to them but thought it probably wasn’t the thing to do.
“We got in the car and started to leave, and there was an old couple who had a flat tire, and I told my friend, ‘Let’s stop and change the tire for them,’” Furlow said. “We did, and about the time we got finished, the girls drove by us and I told my buddy to follow that car. We did, and they stopped a little ways up the road, and we stopped and talked to them for a while.”
They set up a time the following day — a Sunday — to meet them at the same beach again, and Furlow asked Janice for a date.
“She lived in Alhambra, which is close to Hollywood, and we went out again and again and we went out for about six months, and we decided that I would go home and come back,” he said. “So I went home, got a car and drove back to California, and we continued to date, and about six months later, we decided that we’d get married. She rented an apartment within commuting distance to Camp Pendleton, and we got married about 12 months later.”
After Don got out of the military, he and Janice moved to North Vernon and rented a place. Then about a year later, they bought a home in Seymour, and he worked at Cummins for about 32 years.
“I’ve actually retired twice because I retired from Cummins for about seven months while my wife was working downtown for the city,” he said. “I stayed home with the dog, and that drove me crazy, so I started doing some consulting work in Illinois for Textron Automotive for five years, and we bought a home over there, but we’d drive back here every weekend to see our kids and grandson and our friends.”
Furlow and his wife then decided to move back to Seymour from Illinois, and he was out of work for three days before he started working at the airport.
The Furlows have two children, Sean Furlow and Lisa Furlow, and two grandchildren, Blake Furlow and Grace Furlow.
Don said he has seen many changes at the airport over the years, such as upgrades to runways, purchases of new vehicles and lawn equipment, acquisition of a fuel farm and growth of the industrial park and farm tenant program.
When he first started, there were just more than a dozen farmers with mostly small lots, and they weren’t making much money from the 2,000 acres they farmed.
“We needed to take a look at that, so I went up to Columbus and talked to them at their airport because they had about the same size farm we did,” Furlow said. “They had a farm manager and we didn’t, so we decided that was something maybe we should do, so we did, and the same gentleman that was managing their farm managed ours for a couple of years. Then I talked to the airport authority and said I could do that, so I started managing the farm.”
Furlow and airport authority have managed the fuel farm ever since. Board members are William Blaisdell, who has been on the board for 34 years, Lloyd Hudson, Scott Davis and Brian Thompson. Thompson is president of the board and also is one of the farmers.
“We have basically taken our farm down to five farmers and expanded the land into bigger plots and they were happy, and those same five farmers are still here after 22 years,” Furlow said. “We’re making a lot more off of our farm today than what they ever thought you could do back when we took over all those years ago.”
There are five staff members working at the airport currently. Administrative assistant Victoria Taylor is the newest.
“Victoria is our latest new person and took the place of Diane Schepman after she retired,” Furlow said. “Diane was out here for about 22 years, so we were both here for a long time together, and Diane did a good job, and Victoria’s doing a good job also.”
He said they’ve been fortunate to have good people work there, and it’s fair to say all of the people they’ve hired over the years have wanted to work there and have enjoyed it.
“We all work well together and respect each other, and it’s a good atmosphere to work in, and I’d put it up against any of the other departments in the city anywhere. That’s just my personal opinion,” Furlow said.
He said the airport doesn’t receive any money from the city, and it survives on what they make with their sales and the land, which they lease, so it’s self-sustaining.
Furlow recalls some memorable occasions during his time as airport manager, including reunions of the cadets.
“We did a lot with the guys who were out here and trained during World War II, and we had a number of reunions and thoroughly enjoyed those,” he said. “They’re the greatest bunch of people, and those guys were special to Seymour and they gave all and are just the greatest generation that ever lived as far as I’m concerned.”
Furlow said he believes the last year the cadets were here for a reunion was in 2005, and there were about 35 of them attending.
“They always put on a show, so we tied the two together, and we had a real ball and they sang to over 200 people at The Pines Evergreen Room out there in 2005,” he said. “Me, J.J. Reinhart and Jim Bullard dressed up as The Andrews Sisters and danced to ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ during a variety show.”
Furlow said after he retires, he will miss the airport staff.
“You want to see them do well, and we’ve never had a problem with people out here at all and that’s something I’m proud of, and we’ve had a good board to work with, too,” he said. “I’m looking forward to spending more time with family, and I wish the airport and staff continued success and growth for another 22 years.”