A family that touched the sky

Lori Materi remembers flying almost everywhere growing up. 
It was just something her family did, and they rarely drove long distances. Her father, Lawrence Materi, can be credited with the legacy he left to his family — a legacy that reached new heights and allowed him and his family many opportunities to touch the sky, even after he died in 1998.
Lawrence was born in Upton in August 1924. He graduated from Upton High School in 1942 and then attended the University of Wyoming. At the end of the first semester, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and went to a navigational school. 
His time in the service introduced him to flying, as he was a navigator aboard a Boeing B-29 aircraft. He was stationed in Guam for a time and even took part in the Tokyo air raids that occurred between 1942 and 1945. 
Lawrence returned to the states after the war ended.
“He had told me once that when they landed back in the U.S, … he got out and kissed the ground and said he was never going to fly again,” Lori said, with a laugh. 
Of course, that resolution didn’t last long. Shortly after coming home to Upton, he purchased a Taylorcraft plane, and then a Piper PA-11, to help on the Materi Ranch with brothers Dean and Jim. He didn’t have a pilot’s license at first, but he taught himself how to fly the plane and even put skis on the Piper. 
Lawrence did get his license in Newcastle sometime within the next couple of years.  
During the blizzard of 1949, his flying skills served him well. He made 50 trips from Upton to Spearfish, South Dakota, and back in one day to bring aid to those who were stranded.
“He was real proud that he made 50 trips in one day, between here and Spearfish, helping people with that Cub (plane), dropping out stuff,” said Tim Barritt, Lawrence’s son-in-law.  
Lawrence even figured out how to fit a square bale of
hay into the back seat of his Piper and drop it out of the plane for those who needed it. He also did the same with jugs of water. 
Lawrence discovered his favorite plane when he went to Utah and to the Grand Canyon because they were in need of pilots to take magnetometer surveys to look for iron deposits. Lawrence saw that they had a magnetometer strapped to a Cessna 180 airplane, and when he flew it, he immediately fell in love with it, according to Tim. 
He then purchased a 180 from Army Surplus around 1955. Tim said that he got his own license with that plane. 
The plane was then used in the operations of Materi Exploration, the drilling company Lawrence started. 
“Lawrence Materi founded Materi Exploration in 1954 with the purchase of a small truck-mounted core drill for uranium exploration work in the Black Hills/Powder River Basin area,” says a vintage pamphlet for Materi Exploration. 
The company, which operated until 1991, offered a number of services, such as drilling, mineral exploration, geothermal exploration, oil and gas exploration and more. 
The company completed jobs all over the West in a number of different states and owned a large number of drilling rigs. 
Lawrence used his Cessna 180 to fly to locations where they were working on projects, and he also had a bigger plane, a pressurized twin-engine Piper P-Navajo, to fly equipment and crews around. The Cessna, being a smaller plane, was agile enough to land in rough terrain. 
“We landed on some unbelievable little spots.… He could make that thing (Cessna) do some pretty amazing things,” Tim said. 
Tim said there were flaps on the wings of the Cessna 180 that allowed a slower and more controlled speed, but the
plane still had plenty of power to get out of tough spots. The planes were a valuable asset to the company. 
At its largest, the company employed around 60 workers, who were often scattered around, working on various projects. 
Tim began working for Lawrence in 1975, getting his pilot’s license in 1976, and worked until the company was sold in 1991. Tim then bought a couple of the drilling rigs when the company was sold and kept them to start his own company shortly after, called Soda Butte Services. 
While Materi Exploration ended, drilling continued on in the family through Soda Butte Services, and later Tyvo Drilling, which Tim also
operated. The drilling legacy continued until just last year when Tim sold the last of his drilling rigs. 
“Tim has pretty much kept the legacy going, honestly, for drilling,” Lori said. Even now, Tim still consults on drilling projects. 
And as for flying, it was just a part of everyday life for the Materis, whether for Materi Exploration, personal use or just for fun. 
Lori remembers when they kept the Piper PA-11 in a hangar behind their house, and Lawrence would often get
the plane out on Sundays and give rides. 
“I remember being strapped in the backseat of the Cub with my twin sister. And he would always go up and do a loop, and I’d be saying ‘no, no,’ and my sister would be saying ‘yes, yes.’ So we’d do one and land on the road, and that was my first memory.” Lori reminisced. 
Lori would also ride with her father in the planes to visit her siblings at the colleges and universities they were attending. 
However, despite growing up exploring the sky, Lori admitted that she was afraid of flying for most of her childhood. 
“I was terrified of it as a little girl, honestly,” Lori said. 
After Lawrence passed away in 1998, Lori said, no one did much flying for many years, and all their planes were sold, even though a number of Lawrence’s children and sons-in-law had their pilot’s licenses.
Lori eventually got over her fear, however, and she got a license of her own in 2012. That decision was prompted, Lori said, by the time she tried to explain to her two daughters what it was like flying in a small plane because they had never experienced it. 
“I just decided … I guess I better get my license,” she said. “I wasn’t even sure because I was always so terrified, and it had been many, many years since I had been in a small plane.” 
So she took a lesson and initially thought that was enough, but her instructor asked when her next lesson was, and she just kept going back. 
“So then I just started taking lessons, but I thought I’m not going to solo because I can’t fly an airplane. Then I soloed. And then I really enjoyed it and became passionate about it, and ended up getting my instrument commercial rating,” Lori said. 

About the same time, Lori’s brother Keith also renewed his Certified Flight Instructor rating and became an instructor for a period of time. 
A couple years after that and with renewed passion for flying, Lori and Keith formed an airport board for the Upton Municipal Airport in 2014, working to revitalize it and get it back in working order. They even now have a master plan in place that leaves room for future building and expansion. 
Continuing on Lawrence’s legacy through flying and helping with the Upton airport is a way of keeping his memory alive, Lori said. 
“I think of him every time I go up because he was definitely the person that introduced me to the sky, and I think about him every time I do it,” Lori said. She admitted that the thought regularly crosses her mind that she wishes she started before he died, as she has thousands of questions she could ask him about flying. 
“Then I thought to myself one day, I remember whenever I did something I wasn’t supposed to, … he’d be like ‘well I guess you won’t be doing that again, will you.’ And I was thinking that would probably be his response,” Lori said, with a laugh.
Tim added that Lawrence was always a matter-of-fact kind of man who always got right to the point. 
“He was my inspiration.  … That probably wouldn’t have even occurred to me that I could’ve done something like that (flying,) but I watched him do it, and I’m still … fascinated and amazed that he did what he did during those times,” Lori reflected.
“I never take that for granted that I’m able to fly and that I grew up that way. … I never take for granted that that was a huge part of my childhood and something that was super special,” she concluded.