When Stan White made arrangements to go to a TAPS retreat in Yellowstone, Montana last summer, he envisioned a little fishing and horseback riding with other dads around the country who have lost sons in military action.

 

When Curtis Fleming and representatives of TAPS – Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – conversed about filming an episode of Fly Rod Chronicles there, he knew it would be an emotional experience. But the FRC host and Bridgeport resident underestimated just what the trip would mean to him. And White, the retired assistant principal of Capital High School in Charleston, said the retreat definitely took him by surprise.

 

“So I get in a boat and a guy said he was going to mic me up and I said that was fine – that I do a lot of talking anyway,” White said. “One of the guys looked familiar. I started telling him about how I watch this show on the Outdoor Channel called the ‘Fly Rod Chronicles’ and the guy grinned and said, ‘That’s us.’”

 

As the men began chatting, they discovered they were all from the Mountain State and that they had a lot in common, including the fact that White and Fleming’s wife Shelly had crossed paths through their shared professions in education. Before long, White found himself fly fishing side-by-side with Fleming and both men said they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

From White’s perspective, it was an unexpected thrill.

 

“I didn’t know I was going to be filmed and I certainly didn’t know I was going to be interviewed,” he said.

 

A fly fishing enthusiast, White said he and his wife Shirley had discussed his potential involvement with TAPS.

 

“I get the magazine and go to Arlington (National Cemetery) once a year and many times the TAPS people are there,” he said. “I had these preconceived notions about the retreats - that we would sit around and talk to each other. I just didn’t know if I was ready for that.”

 

The Whites didn’t lose one son to military service; they lost two. Robert – of the 82^nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army - was hit by a rocket while serving in Afghanistan in 2005. Andrew, a combat engineer with the U.S. Marines, died in 2009 from medications he was taking for post-traumatic stress syndrome. He had served in Iraq and Syria.

 

“Andrew had just gotten back less than week when Bob was killed,” White said. “His bags hadn’t even been unpacked."

 

As Fleming learned White’s story, he was very touched. The fact that White hadn’t landed a sizable trout certainly seemed insignificant at the time. Yet when he made up his mind that it was time, something pretty amazing happened.

 

“Stan said he knew why he wasn’t catching any fish – that he needed to take his boys out,” Fleming said. “He patted his chest, then took out these two badges with his sons’ pictures on them. It wasn’t long before he had a fish.”

 

White said he doesn’t usually keep the photos of Bob and Andrew tucked away. He usually wears them.

 

“But I had them in my pocket because I didn’t want to lose them in the water,” he said. “I had caught a couple of real small trout and I said I knew why – that I needed to put my badges on so my boys could see. It wasn’t five minutes before I hooked a nice one.”

 

Like Fleming, White’s boys learned the love of fishing at a young age.

 

“They were active in Scouts and big into fishing,” White said. “We kind of needed to keep that tradition going.”

 

Also the parents of a son, William, and daughter, Christina, the Whites live in Canaan Valley where Stan is ski patrol director at Canaan Valley Resort State Park.

 

The former educator and high school principal also worked as an athletic trainer at Charleston High School. That experience, coupled with his love to ski and abundance of free time after his 2003 retirement, provided the ideal qualifications for the ski position; one which he loves. That’s yet another thing he and Fleming have in common.

 

“Confucius says if a person finds a job he loves, he never has to work,” White said. “Working ski patrol in the winter is hard work, but I love it. Curtis loves what he does, too.”

 

Like floating an unspoiled trout stream, White’s favorite run of the day is the first one in the morning, he said.

 

“I love that first run on the mountain when there are no tracks,” he said. “We run it to make sure it is safe and there are no hazards and that conditions are suitable for skiing. Then we decide what trails will be open. We do the same thing at the end of the day. We’re the last ones off the mountain, making sure everyone is off the hill.”

 

White also loves the no man left behind concept of TAPS. It’s a brotherhood, he said. And his first retreat at Yellowstone, Montana, will not be his last.

 

“The scenery was beautiful,” he said. “If West Virginia is almost heaven, then maybe that is heaven.”

 

 

Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming Episode 13 featuring the TAPS retreat and Stan White airs this week on the Outdoor Channel. There are still two opportunities to view: 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday.

 

See the YouTube episode teaser below. Visit the TAPS Web site HERE.