Warbirds Museum hosting special celebration of life June 5
Gary Corippo.
Tribute will take place in lieu of the museum’s regular monthly dinner
– The Estrella Warbirds Museum, Woodland Auto Display, and the Corippo family are announcing a celebration of life on behalf of Gary Corippo to be held at the Estrella Warbirds Museum on Wednesday, June 5, from 5:30 until 8 p.m., in Hangar One.
Gary Corippo was a lifelong resident of Paso Robles, having graduated from Paso Robles High School in 1957. He attended and graduated from Coalinga College (now West Hills College) with an AA degree. In 1959, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, rose to the rank of Master Sergeant, and retired in 1979. Half of the time, he spent as an 0369 (infantry/anti-tank), attended parachute training at Fort Benning with the Third Force Recon, took training to be a crew chief on the CH-53, and finished as a line chief with the HMH-769, Forth Marine Aircraft Wing at Naval Air Station, Alameda.
Gary worked for San Luis Tank and Pipe Co. for 29 years. His work took him many places throughout the United States and to multiple countries in Central and South America. Gary retired as the Vice President of the company. He was a pilot for 38 years and held a private pilot license and an LOA (Letter of Authority) for the T-28B. You used to always find Gary flying his privately owned plane, a 1941 Vultee BT-13 Trainer, which was on exhibit at the Estrella Warbirds Museum. He was also part of the Gooney Corporation, which has their C-47 on loan to the museum. Gary had over 8,000 hours as a pilot in command.
In January, 1990, Gary and Glen Thomson, started the group that was known as the Estrella Squadron of the Confederate Air Force. In January, 2000, the group had grown tremendously and was incorporated in the state of California as the Estrella Warbird Museum, Inc.
It has been said many times over the years, “Nobody worked harder at the museum than Gary Corippo!” Of course, that’s true. Gary has always remained dedicated to the preservation of aircraft and the museum. He spent countless hours on the upkeep of the museum aircraft, facilities, and grounds. He also had a great talent for acquiring many of the aircraft on display for the museum. He truly believed that displaying artifacts to tell the stories of those who sacrificed for our freedom and way of life really matters.
This tribute will take place in lieu of the museum’s regular monthly dinner. There will be no keynote speaker that night so that the spotlight will be on Gary. The Corippo family would like this to be an opportunity for those who knew him (or knew of him) to come out and talk about what he did to make this museum a success.
The dinner is catered and reservations are required no later than 6 p.m., on Monday, June 3.
Dinners are $25 per person and reservations should be made by calling (805) 296-1935 or visiting https://www.ewarbirds.org/museum/reservations.shtml. A no-host bar will open at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Gary will buy attendees their first adult beverage (which the Corripo family is generously paying for.)
Estrella Warbirds Museum is located at 4251 Dry Creek Road in Paso Robles, California. The museum is open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Call for Monday holiday hours. For general admission information, visit www.ewarbirds.org.
