Love Of Flight Filled His 100 Years

A memorial service was held Saturday for Charles Roger Keeney of Lomita, CA, who died of natural causes at age 100 on August 27. Keeney flew for the last time in his Super Cub on his 97th birthday, in February of 2008. His service was held in a hangar at Torrance Municipal Airport, which was called the Lomita Flight Strip when Keeney opened his Acme Aircraft Company there in 1945, (later named Sierradyne,) modifying and building aircraft including experimental racers.

His daughter, Nancy Cook of Manhatten Beach, told the paper her father asked earlier this year, "'I've done everything I wanted to do, I've got to 100, now what?' that's what he said. The last thing he wanted to do was get to 100."

The story of Keeney's introduction to flying goes back almost a century, but sounds much like a Young Eagles story from today. He said his father bought him an airplane ride as a child. He told the Daily Breeze in 2007, "I couldn't believe anything was that much fun. From then on, I had one goal in mind: to learn to fly."

Keeney went on to earn his pilot certificate after just six hours in the log. Nancy Cook says her father flew every chance he got, performing loops over Los Angeles Harbor to entertain cruise ship passengers. In 2007, the FAA awarded Keeney its Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, denoting at least 50 consecutive years of safe flying.

Roger Keeney's family says memorial donations may be made to Beach Cities Cadet Squadron No. 107, P.O. Box 3218, Torrance, CA 90501.

FMI: www.facebook.com/pages/Acme-Aircraft-Company/114362251913648