Mike and Margaret Conlin
The Two Mikes
by Joyce Tepley
March, 2013
Editorial Correction: In the March, 2013 Neighbor Profile about Mike and Margaret Conlin we incorrectly stated that Margaret was the oldest of eleven children. She was, in fact, the youngest. We apologize for the mistake.
The youngest of eleven with eight sisters and two brothers, Margaret was nicknamed ‘Mike.’ Who could have predicted she would meet and marry a Mike? That was over sixty years ago when they were in their early twenties.
They met on the job, both working for Western Airlines in Los Angeles. She was a radio operator and he was an aircraft dispatcher. Their departments were near each other and shared responsibilities for the safety of Western’s flights. At that time, pilots did not talk directly to air traffic controllers; they went through the radio operator who relayed messages between pilots and traffic control. Pilots worked for the airlines and traffic controllers worked for the airport so they needed a go-between. The dispatchers suggested load levels and paid attention to weather patterns. Both jobs required alertness and focus with the ability to report quickly and accurately.
Mike was fresh from the US Army Air Force, a Kansas-raised lad with good manners from his Catholic upbringing, but from a smaller family than Margaret’s with only one younger sister. Margaret’s family also had the Kansas Midwestern values of quiet reserve and steady reliability, two attributes the two Mikes are known for in our community. When asked what attracted him to
Margaret, Mike replied, “I liked blonds.” The office operated 24/7 but they didn’t always work the same shifts, and if they were on together and had a break they would sometimes smooch behind the bank of filing cabinets that partitioned the offices.
They married in 1949 and had their first child, a daughter, in 1950 who now has two grown children, one of whom recently made them great-grandparents. Their second daughter was born in 1954 and has two daughters going to the University of Michigan. They are very proud of their progeny bragging about their accomplishments.
Margaret left full-time employment at Western Airlines after their first child was born, but continued part-time work. Mike left Western in 1956 to take a sales position with US Electric Motors in LA, then Lear, Inc. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They managed to stick it out for twelve years in an area noted for a hundred inches of snow fall a year because of his advancing career. Then they moved to Wichita, Kansas where Mike became general manager of Gates Learjet. In 1977 they were on their way to Texas where he took a position with Cooper Airmotive working out of Love and Red Bird air fields.
At first, they lived in a condominium south of Forest Lane but soon found their home in our neighborhood. It was in the Fall of 1977. The stability of home was a counterpoint to their peripatetic life at that time. Mike began work with the Dee Howard company in San Antonio until 1981 and Margaret, like Mike, had a pilot’s license so she would fly herself from Dallas to San Antonio on weekends when Mike didn’t come home. That is, after she got brave enough to be in a small plane. The story goes: They had five friends who pooled their money and bought a single engine Cesna 182. It was built in 1963 and is still an active
airplane owned now by someone in Washington state. That’s what a great plane it was. As Mike took off with Margaret in the co-pilot seat for the first time, the door flew open on her side. He just simply reached across her and pulled it shut. Undaunted she went on to get her private, commercial, and instrument ratings. With her late good friend, Eleanor Johnson, who was a flight instructor, she served the local chapter of the “99s” the International Organization of Women Pilots which is noted for having Amelia Earhart as a founder. Margaret and Eleanor would often take off flying somewhere, anywhere, for the fun of flying.
The two Mikes formed their own consulting company, he the president and she vice-president and treasurer, in aviation related business development and marketing. They consulted with a French company and traveled extensively to various air shows, alternating among Singapore, Paris, and London. They flew to all seven continents including Antarctica. One time in the late 1990’s when they were in Singapore for the air trade show they decided to take some time to visit a friend of theirs in Johannesburg, South Africa by way of Perth, Australia. They will never forget the special treat to a private game preserve near
Johannesburg even though Mike got sick from the malarial drug he was taking. Then it was off to two large areas where the Masai tribesmen live in Kenya. While they were traveling that far they decided they might as well go around the world. So, it was off to London to see a play and on to Israel before coming back to Dallas. Who could guess beneath their self-effacing attitude beats the hearts of adventurers!
Volunteering their time and expertise is a given in their lives. They were in the first cadre of volunteers when the Frontiers of Flight Museum was first formed in a room on the upper level of the Love Field passenger terminal in 1988. When enough money was raised to build a first class building of its own at Love Field, they were there at its opening in 2004 and still there as faithful docents to this day.
Retired for quite a while, they had time on their hands and a neighbor suggested they volunteer with the newly formed Volunteers in Patrol of the neighborhood crime watch. As victims of crime, they know the importance of diligence in watching out for our neighbors. One time in the 1980’s while they were in Florida someone broke into their house through their sliding glass door, raided the refrigerator, leaving melted ice cream on the kitchen floor, and taking jewelry. A neighbor called them noticing the front door was standing open.
When asked why it is important to continue our patrols when our crime rate is significantly low right now Mike said, “We need an ongoing effort to stay low in crime and make it hard for criminals to operate here.” Margaret also added, “We have to take care of each other. We owe it to each other.”
