About Rick Iekel

         Husband * Father of four * Grandfather of ten * Retired and writing.

Writing is in my blood, inherited from my mother and my mother’s mother. Both were poets. Both, from time to time, found success by having their efforts published. I hope to make them proud.

It was my good fortune to grow up on a 125-acre farm in Western New York in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains. Acres and acres of hilly woodland provided many happy hours of tramping and hunting entertainment for my brothers and myself.

Studying Aviation Technology at SUNY-Farmingdale and Transportation Management at Rochester Institute of Technology led to a 35-year career in aviation as airline agent, assistant airport manager, director of aviation and trainer/facilitator. Along the way I accrued 14 hours of flight training (…solo twice), stood next to passenger-filled airliners as their engines roared to a start, and enjoyed the privilege of driving within the secured boundaries of a major aviation center. There is, in my mind, no more thrilling place to be than next to a massive four engine flying machine. There is no more thrilling sight than the nighttime lights that mark the runways and taxiways of a busy airport. I find it quite sad that, while rising through the ranks, one is often drawn far away from the very essence of the career choice they’ve made.

Until fully retired, writing was a pastime for quiet Sunday afternoons and summer vacations in the Adirondack Mountains. The peace that comes from giving birth to a story or of committing some poetic thought to paper cannot be overstated. With a folder full of literary starts made over the years, I look forward to many happy hours of writing.

My wife and I have made Rochester, New York our home – a wonderful place to live and raise our four children. Having no particular desire to become “snowbirds” we intend to remain here year-round, enjoying the “Yings and Yangs” of the area’s fours seasons.