About the Aviators Legacy
The Foundation
The creation of the Aviators Legacy Foundation has been a project long in the development phase and we are now ready to bring in people who believe in this project and want to offer their talents and support.
It's been over five years since the death of my husband, Lt. Col Eric “Doc” Schultz, and to say we’ve had to make quite a few adjustments to life would be an understatement. Our family & friends have been the steadfast support system that we needed to move through those seemingly impossible times. Through the ordeal of it all, what I can say for certain is when a family goes through a death of a loved one, they need unconditional support.
The love and support we received came from family, friends & squadrons through all sorts of ways, including the memorial service, my brother and dad sitting around the table at 10 a.m. with rum and a 4” binder being read aloud by the Air Force Casualty Affairs Officer about our future when I couldn’t bring myself to participate, a Go Fund Me account to raise money for our 5 children, homemade and porch-delivered meals for weeks, and our DO driving me to and from the funeral home. Additional support came in so many ways and I could never thank anyone enough for all they did, partly because through my grief, I didn’t see half of it. It was just miraculously done.
Now looking back with some perspective after Eric’s passing, I can offer some insight as to the resources we didn’t know about that would have helped us in those first days, weeks, and months, and I plan to share those with others to ease their burden.
- Julie Schultz
What's Next?
Developing a foundation to be a resource for families of the fallen for years to come.
Continuing to fundraise to support families of the fallen. Over the past several years, Linda & Larry Schultz, Eric’s parents, have worked hard to organize and host a fundraiser golf tournament in Maryland that has been quite successful. They have now relocated to enjoy their retirement years in the South, so we have decided to move future fundraising efforts out West.
We look forward to solidifying our event dates and fundraisers and encourage you to stay tuned.
In the meantime, we've pulled together a resource page that will be updated frequently, which will help anyone who lands here looking for information.