Bo Darden was a constant presence at the Dillingham airport. If you spent any time there, you’d probably run into him.
In rural Alaska, a lot depends on a well-run airport. Darden was one of the people who helped Dillingham’s airport function. For decades, he helped get the mail to surrounding villages, supplied fuel to pilots, and flew a plane of his own.
Darden talked about his mindset as a pilot in an Alaska Dispatch video from 2010.
“You got to have some kind of trust in your equipment, but on the other hand, it is man-made so it’ll quit," he said. "So if you got any smarts as all, you’re looking for somewhere to land all the time, so you can successfully walk away from something and not just plow into the side of a damn hill and kill yourself.”
Darden was 80 years old when he died in December.
Perry Abrams owns a charter service in Dillingham. He’s known Darden since he was born. Darden moved to Dillingham around 1971 to work — as a mechanic, a pilot and then a business owner, flying freight. Up until his death, Darden was the Dillingham agent for Northern Air Cargo.
“Bo was big-hearted," Abrams said. "He was always helping somebody. And he was always giving, not only just financing — he would help people.”
Abrams said he experienced Darden’s generosity first-hand, when he worked for Darden, and was in the Marine Corps reserves. When the first Gulf War started in 1991, he was called back to active duty.
“Which meant that I had to leave his employ and then I got shipped out," he said. "Bo checked in on my wife regularly and he paid my salary while I was gone, which was unbelievable. And he paid my salary the entire time I was gone, and when I got back into town I went back to work for him, and you know I just said, ‘This guy's done so much for me there's nothing that I wouldn't do for him.’ And he's done that for a lot of people.”
Friends say Darden was the kind of guy who would drop what he was doing and come out and help, no matter what.
Chrissie Messer first met him in 2007 when she started working at the airport, first at PenAir and then at Grant Aviation. She recalled how he’d help get the mail out to villages.
“He'd bring down his flatbed and we would load up his truck with pallets," she said. "And he would show me how to properly load the truck and he was very patient with me in that learning experience. You can always count on Bo for some pretty amusing stories. He has years and years of experience not only with aviation, but just within the community. And it's definitely an honor to have known him.”
Darden was also known for his staunch opinions.
“Bo was a real character and one of those characters that, irregardless of where you come from on the social or political spectrum, you couldn't help but love the guy,” said Norm Van Vactor.
Van Vactor recently retired as the CEO of the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation. He also flew a bush plane around the region, and got to know Darden over 35 years as a friend and fellow pilot.
“The plane he flew, his Otter, was his baby, and it was kind of an extension of him physically," Van Vactor said. "He was a master at operating that airplane, and could get it into places that nobody would say that it was even possible to get an airplane into. But he was an extremely safe, conscientious pilot.”
At the end of the Alaska Dispatch video, Darden told a story about how conditions could change within minutes. One time, his friend died shortly after taking flight.
“I didn’t know that was going to happen," he said. "We don’t know that. That’s why I’m saying, ‘Hey, keep your life in order and know who your maker is. Cause you might meet him unexpectedly.”
Darden died peacefully, at home, of complications due to pneumonia.
Contact the author at izzy@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
