Reuben Stanley Templeton was the grandson of brave pioneer families who had emigrated from Kentucky to Missouri. As he came of age, he revealed the same bold spirit that defined his ancestors when, despite threats to his own safety in World War I, left the marginal safety of his fighting position to aid a wounded friend.
After making the transition from Air Force and commercial airplane pilot to hot air balloon pilot, ballooning has become a family affair for Dan Stukas. On a gray-skied Friday morning in September, Stukas and his crew, made up of family and other balloonists considered family, gathered in a field across from Robin Lake Beach at Callaway Resort and Gardens.