Eleanor Hadfield, in red, greets longtime friend Mazie Moon, at a celebration of the Hadfield family's long association with the airport in Sarnia on Sunday, Oct. 5. Mazie Moon was married to Bill Moon who hired Chris Hadfield's father, Roger, as the airport's first flight instructor in 1958.
Also pictured are, from left, Helene, wife of Col. Chris Hadfield, Hadfield and his father Roger Hadfield, right.
About 150 people watched as the former astronaut, his siblings and his parents were recognized for their long association with the airport, beginning in 1958 when Roger Hadfield was forced to make an emergency landing in the farmer's field that would become home to Sarnia's airport service and flying school later that year.
Roger Hadfield was the airport's first flying instructor. The contribution the Hadfield family has made to Sarnia's aviation, and the distinguished career of Col. Chris Hadfield are explained in two new interpretive signs that unveiled Sunday.
Cathy Dobson