Interview with Mira Wohl, Willamette University cafeteria, October 2, 2010

From Flight Risk: The Robert Jackson Kelley Story

“I mean, honestly, we all thought he was annoying. He was the kid behind you bouncing his feet on your seat, dropping his pencil six million times, trying to look off your paper. Asking you for the homework every homeroom. Teachers would assign partners for labs or projects, and if you got him, you knew you were stuck doing all the work. And you felt bad for him, too, because sometimes he would try, but you knew if you turned in what he did you’d get a shit grade, so you just did it yourself.

“But, seriously, he had to be some kind of secret genius. Teaching himself to fly a plane. It’s not like that’s easy. And lots of geniuses get shit grades. Look at Einstein.

“And now everybody says he had to have an accomplice, a friend, who was feeding him, helping him cover his tracks, putting him up at night. Somebody who taught him to fly in the first place, took him up in their own plane. But everyone knows he barely had any friends. And forget about a girlfriend! That’s hilarious! He was just Clyde, no Bonnie.

“I mean, we had no idea he was gonna turn around and do what he did. I don’t think he did either.”