At an early age, Walt Shull's father instilled in him two things that shaped his life: a love of flying and the importance of serving others.
Shull went on to serve his country as a pilot in the Vietnam War, then served his state in the area of environmental quality control. Now, the retiree serves his community through the Jefferson City Optimist Club.
If you visit the club's Christmas tree lot near Hawthorn Bank, it might be Shull who helps you with your purchase.
The tree lot moved basically across the street from where it has been since its inception around 1956, Shull said, because the old location turned into an apartment complex.
Otherwise, the program hasn't changed much. Christmas trees of all varieties can be bought for $30-$175, depending on the height.
Sales of the trees are booming. Shull suspects it's because people are tired of staying at home and are wanting to get out and get a real tree this year.
The lot is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Free cookies and hot cocoa are often there on the weekends.
The lot "gets everyone into the Christmas spirit," Shull said. "You look forward to Christmas more when you see all the trees on the lot and with the Christmas tree aroma, the smell of the pines."
Shull joined the local Optimist Club around 1995, close to a half-century after his father was a charter member.
"I've known about the Optimist Club all my life because Dad had been a part of it from the beginning," he said.
The club's motto is "Friend of the youth," and, as a youth, Shull benefited from the club's service through sports programs.
"I was helped when I was a kid through the summer youth programs the Optimist Club sponsored for swimming and baseball," he said. "From an early time on, we were taught both in family and through Scouts that you need to give back to your community. The only way it prospers if is everybody helps someone else and you help bring up the younger kids to be better adults in the future."
He joined the Optimist Club after a career in the Air Force and returning to Jefferson City. It was then he also took a job with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, first working in the solid waste program inspecting landfills then enforcing air quality laws. He also helped develop the waste tire management program that diverts used tires from landfills by having them shredded and used in place of blacktops on playgrounds.
While working for DNR, his service to the Optimist Club increased as he became the club's president, then the lieutenant governor for the club's West District in Missouri. He's currently the treasurer for the local club.
He said the Optimist Club is one of the best organizations someone can join.
"We like to say we bring out the best in kids," he said, adding the club is involved in everything from pinewood derbies to Scouting, essay contests, scholarships and providing dictionaries for fourth-graders throughout the county.
Shull's Air Force career can be traced to his father sharing his love of flying with his sons. While he and his twin brother, Donald, were in high school, their father bought them 10 hours of pilot training one Christmas, which they split. After that, they were hooked.
Shull was a search-and-rescue pilot in the Air Force. In Vietnam, he often flew C-130 planes to rescue soldiers injured on the battlefield. His planes often took on enemy fire, and several times he questioned whether he would make it out alive.
However, he has mostly good memories, and it was in the Air Force where Shull met his wife, Libby, a South Carolina nurse stationed in the Philippines.
"I had to go halfway around the world to find the girl I love," he said. "She says she doesn't know why she joined, but I'm awful glad she did because we never would have met."