Tribute - Frank Mormillo
Fellow classmates, if anyone is actually interested in hearing from me, I hope you won’t mind if I send this tribute in as a word document with a few attached photos rather than as a video. In truth, I am something of a dinosaur who has been dragged into the computer and digital age kicking, biting and screaming. Although I do have to employ computers and digital photography in my work as a photojournalist, I don’t really trust the medium, and I try to keep as low of an online profile as possible. In particular, I don’t like zoom conferences, though I do have to take part in a few. But, I do it with the lens in my computer covered up. I can see and hear the other participants, but they can only hear me, so I guess that makes me something of an oddball.
After graduating from PCH, I enrolled in the aerospace engineering program at Cal Poly Pomona, though I actually had no intention of becoming an engineer. My real goal at that time was to be a pilot in the Air Force, and I thought that the aerospace engineering program would look good on my resume. As soon as I was eligible at the end of my freshman year, I applied for a spot in the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program, passed all the requirements, and waited for a class assignment. However, about six months later the Air Force informed me that they had closed the Aviation Cadet Program to those without college degrees and told me to go back to school. Consequently, I returned to Cal Poly where, near the end of my sophomore year, I met some Navy recruiters who informed me that I did not need a degree for the Naval Aviation Cadet Program (up to that point, I did not really think of the Navy because I was not thrilled about the prospect of aircraft carrier catapult takeoffs and arrested landings on a pitching flight deck, something that I did actually experience much later as a civilian photojournalist). At their suggestion, I applied for the program, was tested, qualified and eventually given a class assignment and serial number. Instructed to return to NAS Los Alamitos to be sworn in and make arrangements for a flight to NAS Pensacola, when I arrived, I was informed that the commander who would swear me in was out of the office for a while. So, I was then told to go to the flight surgeon’s office for a new physical because it had been months since my previous physical, and I would need a new physical anyway when I got to Pensacola. That supposedly would have made the process easier. I could then return to the recruiting and testing office for swearing in after the physical when the commander would be back in his office. But, so much for the best laid plans of mice and men. During the physical, it was discovered that a slight astigmatism had developed in my left eye, and I was no longer qualified for the program. Technically, my vision was still classified as 20-20 at that time, but with a slight error. Today, with a current shortage of pilots, both the Air Force and Navy will accept trainees with 20-50 vision that can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses; but that wasn’t the case back in 1961.
Consequently, I went back to Cal Poly and changed my major to communications with an emphasis on journalism. I had always been interested in photography (mostly to photograph airplanes at that time), so that seemed like a better career path for me. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Arts in 1964 (at that time, Cal Poly was primarily a technical and agricultural institution that did not offer a Bachelor of Arts degree). I actually did a lot of freelance photo work to pay my way through college, and then managed a camera shop on a part-time basis for six years while spending the rest of my time working as a freelance photojournalist. In 1970, I received a call from Cal Poly asking me if I would like to teach some photo courses in the summer because the current photo instructor was not eligible to teach that quarter. A few weeks after completing that summer quarter, Cal Poly called me back and offered me a fulltime staff position with some teaching responsibilities in the Communication Arts Department, working in the same facilities in which I had studied six years before. While working at Cal Poly, I continued freelancing in my spare time. In 1991, I took early retirement to concentrate on freelance photojournalism fulltime, something that I continue doing to this day. Though I am slowing up a bit with age, I have no intention of giving up this work as long as there is still breath in my body and some of my body parts work.
During my adult life, I have practiced all sorts of photographic ventures, including portraiture, wedding photography, pinup work, still photography for television commercials and industrial films, product illustrations, sports coverage and public relations work. However, I always preferred photojournalistic endeavors featuring aircraft, military subjects and auto racing. I was the track photographer at the Riverside International Raceway (while still employed at Cal Poly) from 1972 until it closed in 1989, as well as at the Ontario Motor Speedway from 1976 until it closed in 1980 (there was no scheduling conflict between the two facilities), and provided auto racing coverage from those race tracks and other facilities in California, Arizona and Nevada to publications in the United States and Europe as well. During 1974 and 1975, I was also the assistant team photographer for the Southern California Sun of the short-lived World Football League. Finally tiring of a schedule that was getting a bit too hectic, I decided to concentrate primarily on aviation about fifteen years ago.
Although I never earned a pilot’s license or even flew solo, I did take some flying lessons while in college. However, photography was my real forte, and I spent the rest of my airborne time taking pictures of airplanes, everything from World War I biplanes to supersonic jets. But, in the course of that work, when there are lulls in the picture taking, I am often given the opportunity to get some “stick time” from the backseat or right seat of various aircraft. It’s not really like being a pilot, but it still is somewhat satisfying. Over the years, in addition to classic civilian aircraft and vintage warbirds, as a civilian photojournalist I have flown with all branches of the U.S. military (Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Coast Guard), as well as the British Royal Air Force and various firefighting and law enforcement agencies. In the 1980s, the Marine Corps qualified me to fly in tactical jets, and for several years my annual physicals were conducted by the flight surgeons at MCAS El Toro, where I was also given egress and survival training. As a photojournalist, over the years I also went to sea numerous times aboard five different U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, a battleship, support ships and coast guard cutters. As a younger man, I also covered a number of Army and Marine Corps “live-fire” combat exercises and Navy amphibious assault operations. Today, I primarily cover Air Force exercises from the ground, though I still fly a lot photographing civilian aircraft. I have been involved as a volunteer with the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino since my high school days (at that time, it was located in Claremont), and was its media relations and public relations director for about thirty years. I am also a member of the Commemorative Air Force and the American Aviation Historical Society.
In 1971, I married Sherry Lee Strona, a graduate of Pomona Catholic who was a college student that I met when I worked at Cal Poly. Sherry later worked at Cal Poly as well, and also wrote several romance novels, one of which was published in the United States and Europe under the pen name Lee Sherry (the publisher thought that Mormillo sounded “too ethnic”). Sherry eventually contracted Leukemia and passed away in 1995. At that time, she was still working on her Master’s Degree in Business Administration. We had two sons who now live in Arizona and Nevada, as well five grandchildren (two boys and three girls); unfortunately, Sherry never got to see her grandchildren.
As I look back on my life, I guess that I really should not complain too much. Although things did not work out exactly as I had originally hoped, I did have some interesting experiences and met some great people along the way, including some who had been heroes in my childhood. While I am not as agile as I was years ago (not that I was ever exceptionally agile in the first place), I can still get around on my own. With regard to my health, I overcame a minor cardiac problem fifteen years ago, was successfully treated for prostate cancer twelve years ago, and had successful cataract surgery on my right eye last year. Though I am constantly on alert for any new potential problems (I suspect that most of you are in the same boat), I think that I should be grateful for the way things have gone so far.
Yet, I can’t help but wonder what my life would have been like had I gone into the Air Force or Navy as a young man. I probably would have made a career of the service, but I seems likely that I never would have met Sherry, gotten married or had sons and grandchildren. So, perhaps things worked out for the best after all.
Today, I reside alone in Duarte with my memories and memorabilia in a house that my granddaughters refer to as my “man cave.” I still try to get together with my sons and their families as often as possible, but of course those opportunities have been somewhat limited during the past year and a half. In fact, my travels in general have been relatively limited lately. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that I will still be around if life ever returns to what we call normal, and I look forward to seeing the survivors of the Class of 1959 in October.
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