NEAR AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. -- An unprecedented dedication could honor a Deer Park World War II veteran. Airport employees want the Spokane Airport control tower named after the renowned 90-year-old Ray Daves.
Ray has been an air traffic controller since the Spokane tower opened back in the 1940's. He worked for 27 years guiding in planes.
"I always did the best I could do. I'm sure there were people that were better than me, but we didn't speak to each other," said Ray.
Ray started out as a radioman during some of the greatest battles of WWII.
"With so many planes and shells bursting, it was a nightmare," said Ray.
Tom Torvick is a present day air traffic controller for Spokane. After reading Ray's autobiography, Radioman, he became compelled to find some way to honor Ray. He took his dream of renaming the tower all the way to Senator Cathy McMorris Rogers office. She has since made it a bill which has passed the first committee. Although it has passed the committee, it still has to pass the house. There is no word yet on how soon that will happen.
