From conversations that Jake and I had over the years, I learned that Jake came to Delaware from Long Island, as a very young man. He was employed by one of the wealthy farmers in the area, who in himself must have been a kind and generous man, because after watching Jake invent, devise and engineer various gadgets, such as a bicycle with wings and a tail, and some power source (exactly what escapes my memory) that would actually fly for short hops before settling back to earth, decided that Jake should have the opportunity for a better education. To that end, he sent Jake to one of the all black colleges in South Carolina, and paid for him to have a college education. Jake always had a heartfelt appreciation for this kind benefactor, who took a young black man, in the darkest days of segregation, and gave him an opportunity for a better future. I feel this was probably the act that nurtured the seed of goodness that was in Jake's heart that most anyone that knew him recognized.

He went on to become a teacher, and his last job before retirement, was at what is now Poly Tech High School, teaching electricity. Jake was an accomplished ham radio operator, who due to raising a large family, with money always short, built his own equipment. He had a love for anything that flew, and with his radio background, radio control planes were a calling he could not resist, so long before I had the privilege of knowing Jake, he built his own equipment for that too. I actually met Jake when I saw him (and six of the younger of his twelve children) parked along the road at J. Allen Frear elementary school back in 1965 or 1966 preparing to fly an RC model. Quick! Stop! Watch! After seeing him work, struggle, and finally successfully fly that plane, along with the way he was so enthusiastic, and friendly towards me. I was hooked both on RC planes, and Jake's friendship. We both grew and improved our modeling skills together, along with many other modelers in the area, such as Bill Gottorf, Lee Messick, Col. Bob Sayers, Capt. Joe Johnson, Bill Christiansen, Norm Holston and many, many others, some who like Jake, and most recently our dear friend Fred (Scaggs), have gone to the big model field in the sky. Jake was a part of our founding of what our club is today, when a group of us met in Bill Gottorf's basement and decided to start our own club, "The Dover Mosquitoes". We flew at J. Allen Frear School. We had fun together! We built planes, we flew planes! We crashed planes! We were not perfect. Two examples. Jake had a DeBolt Jenny with a .35 or .40 on it. Remember, we were learning! Jake decided to see how well it would spin, so he succeeded in getting it to spin, and spin, and spin, and spin. OH OH! It won't stop spinning! Wham! It sure bounced well though! Not broken! Much discussion, fly and spin it again. After seven spins and no recoveries, it finally broke enough not to fly again that day. Never did figure out how to get it to stop spinning.

Second example. Jake had a DeBolt Pea Shooter with a .35 or .40 on it and was learning to fly it inverted. Getting pretty good at this, let's get lower. Beautiful pass Jake (15 feet high or so), better take it up! Full up elevator, WHAM!, big hole in the ground!! Bye, bye little Pea Shooter! No crying! WE HAD FUN! There were quiet times too, when Jake and I would sit at my house ort his, watch something on TV, drink coffee and just talk. I'm sure there were others of the old group that probably shared these quiet times too. Jake was a friend to anyone that needed a friend. Along came another individual by the name of Jack Anderson, who went on to become club president, who was fairly new to modeling, but learned very quickly, and was a gifted man in his own right. One of those gifts was recognizing special people. He brought it to the attention of Jake's friends what a true pioneer Jake was, and what a special person Jake had grown to be during his life. We already knew these things, but I guess it's like not being able to see the forest for the trees. We knew these things about Jake, but it never occurred to us to honor Jake for these accomplishments. It occurred to Jack though, and I thank him to this day for that. If I am not mistaken, not too long after that, the board of directors created the award that we present today, in honor of the man that inspired so many of us to become, and to remain, RC modelers. One could not help but to see, and be inspired by the childlike joy in Jake's face, even when he became so infirm of body that he needed a chair to sit in at the flight line. How could one not be inspired by such a man, who became the first person to receive the award created in his honor? I could probably write a book about the wonderful times we've had flying RC planes, and the times that we spent with some of the very special people, like Jake, hat make up RX+C modeling, but I must close for now.

Please forgive me if I have made any factual errors or have omitted anyone's name that has shared in Jake's life. Please don't be offended, and feel free to point out any errors you might see. My memory is not as perfect as I wish it was.

Pete Watford - April 2005