But how could she fulfill that dream? The answer came during a casual conversation among friends at the Village Cooperative.

Hanus, 96, told them that she was a private pilot once upon a time. Overhearing the conversation was Village resident Terry McCrary, who said to himself,

“I know how to make her wish come true.”

McCrary contacted Garry Brandenburg about flying with a spunky, articulate and proud lady.

McCrary told Brandenburg that Hanus was a private pilot and had a dream to go flying again. She just wanted to be in a small aircraft, and look at the landscape with the variety of fall colored leaves on the trees.

Brandenburg checked the weather forecasts and all looked excellent for Oct. 24. The deal was sealed.

When Hanus was told that they could go flying, she said, “I’m so thrilled and excited to go flying again, that I might not be able to sleep all night.”

McCrary drove Hanus to the Marshalltown Airport on the morning of Oct. 24 to meet Brandenburg and get re-introduced to an old friend — a Cessna 172.

Hanus’ bubbly excitement was obvious from the start. Her dream of flying was really going to happen.

She wanted to become an airline stewardess after high school. Hanus applied but she was not tall enough. So rather than get all upset over a fact she could not do anything about, she decided to take pilot lessons and fly herself. Hanus’ journey toward becoming a private pilot took awhile. She attended business college and worked for Banker’s Life Insurance and other agencies. However, Hanus never let her dream of flying go away.

In the late 1960s and early ’70s, she took flying lessons at the Iowa Falls airport from the operator at the time – Storm Flying Service. Hanus was a very good student who seemed to take to the tasks quite well. She recalled that the instructor called her a “natural.”

He told Hanus that of the many students he had contact with, she had a special knack to quickly adapt and thrive on her tasks of mastering control of the aircraft. She took her check ride, passed easily and became a licensed private pilot.

Hanus rented an airplane from the airport in Nevada, which at the time was on the west side of town. She would call to book rental time for a plane and then go places she wanted to go, taking friends along who wanted to see things from a new perspective. Hanus said it was fun and even though life, jobs and moving from one town to another sometimes got in the way, she never forgot the goal she set for herself or the joy it brought to her of having accomplished that goal.

Brandenburg asked her if she still had her flight log book – an important record of flight training, with dates, location, type of aircraft flown and total hours of accumulated time.

“No, all that paperwork was regretfully lost during a move,” she said. “A helper during the move took a box of odds and ends paperwork and threw it away as junk. Among those papers was my logbook. So I have no record of any of my flights. Just memories.”

Hanus probably had about 100 hours of flight time for aircraft she rented and flew.

When Hanus was in the right front seat of Brandenburg’s Cessna, he could tell she was trying to recall what the round gauges and little boxes of electronics were supposed to do.

Once buckled in and a check list was placed in front of her, Brandenburg went through each step on the checklist while she watched. When complete, it was engine start time. Once the prop was turning well and the engine was running smooth, more checklist items were taken care of one-by-one. Then it was time to taxi to the main runway, get positioned on centerline and begin the takeoff roll. Hanus’ hands were on the yoke to follow along as the aircraft gained speed and lifted to the air. She commented many times how appreciative she was for the opportunity to fly again.

The flight over the countryside was smooth and visibility was unlimited. Hanus watched the controls and the gauges, and took time out to look out the window at acres of farmland and area cities.

Then the plane flew over Mormon Ridge with its rich colors of golden brown and yellow leaves. Over Marshalltown she got to see the city layout, progress on downtown reconstruction from the 2018 tornado and an orbit over the Village Cooperative where she lives.

Outside were several people waving at the Cessna as Hanus waved back. They couldn’t see her waving but they knew she was up there.

Back at the Village Coop, there are many stories told by Hanus to all who listen about her dream of being a private pilot and to go flying again. Mission accomplished.

Hanus later told Brandenburg she slept very well that night.