Overland Journal – August 01, 2019

OVERLAND JOURNAL FALL 2019

112

hundreds of Airstream friends over the years

and went on a small Airstream excursion

with Lynda Bird Johnson.

Later on, Airstream gave me the oppor-

tunity to work with Bob Chateau, director

of materials management. I revered his in-

tellect and consider him the most brilliant

business man that I have ever known. He

taught me valuable procurement skills in-

cluding morality, integrity, and honesty, and

the ability to work with owners, managers,

and company presidents on equal footing.

In 2004 my mother passed away. When

Russ Banham contacted me while he was

writing a book about Airstream, I reentered

the Airstream world. Afterward, I began to

have further inquiries about the company’s

history. After hoarding for almost 70 years,

my Airstream memorabilia collection was

one of the single largest in the world. My

goal became to bring alive a bygone era with

newer generations of Airstream aficionados.

Traveling by trailer is unique in that it

increases your awareness and participation

in many areas—seeing how others live, their

culture, history, beauty, and food. Travel

contributed so much to my views and per-

sonal and world outlook.

is mode of transportation introduced

a firsthand knowledge for people of vastly

different cultures and how they managed

to live with meager means, or in some cases,

wealth beyond one’s imagination.

After working at Airstream for five years,

you left to become a Kaiser man. Were

you always an Airstream man at heart?

It seems like your loyalty was to Wally

more than anything else. And without

him, maybe Airstream was just a job?

No, being an Airstream man is not the way I

belonged in the Airstream world. I was always

At the 1964 WBCCI rally in Princeton, New

Jersey, over 2,000 families gathered from

all over the US, with the main attraction

being the New York World’s Fair going on

at the same time. In subsequent years, rally

attendees grew to over 4,000 families. The

Schwamborns, at home in Bakersfield, Cali-

fornia, in 1955. Opposite: Dale, immersed

in memories at his home office.