Honor Flight Arizona Pays Tribute to a Very Special Friend

Volunteers, Board Members, and friends of Honor Flight Arizona mourn the recent loss of one of their most amazing, loyal friends and supporters–Gaye Platt of Houston, Texas. Gaye passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on July 14th.

Gaye was a very proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and had close ties to the chapter based in Prescott, Arizona. In 2013, she first became aware of the mission of Honor Flight Arizona during a presentation taking place at a DAR meeting in Prescott. Gaye’s late husband was a Veteran, so in his honor she decided to sponsor an entire Honor Flight departing from Phoenix! She flew with that group of all-World War II Veterans and served as a Guardian.

Participating in that one trip inspired Gaye to consider fully-sponsoring future flights. In fact, during the past nine years, Gaye fully-sponsored 14 Honor Flights! In addition, she sponsored 11 individual Guardians–sons or daughters of Veterans who could not afford the cost of the trip.

In addition to the trip cost, Gaye (sometimes wearing her Texas cowgirl hat!) was known to attach a small Texas flag pin to each Veteran’s lapel on the morning of departure. And every departing Veteran also received a bag containing scarves, gloves, and sometimes even books pertaining to that Veteran’s time in the service.

Gaye fully-sponsored Honor Flight Arizona’s 50th trip to Washington, D.C. in November 2015, and was planning on fully-sponsoring the 100th flight in 2022. Honor Flight Arizona has indeed lost a very, very special friend and supporter!