Celebrating Veteran and Philanthropist Len Kaine

By Brooke Clifford

One of Coronado’s most distinguished community members is philanthropist and retired Navy pilot, Leonard “Len” Kaine. Today Kaine is known for his work with the Golden Rule Society (GRS), which his experiences up until founding GRS nearly 50 years ago built up to.

Born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Kaine knew the value of hard work from an early age when his father was injured in a coal mining accident and he helped his family get by through his paper route. “I remember I was eight, nine, ten years old,” Kaine recalled, “and I was delivering newspapers for the Scranton Times. I was delivering about 100 newspapers a day and got paid a penny each so I was earning a dollar day – about $30 a month – which paid our rent for the home we lived in for three years.”

Once Kaine graduated high school, he decided to join the Navy becoming a “teenage Ensign” in 1956. “The goal was get back from Navy at 21, go to Penn State, get a degree in electronics, work for IBM, and live happily ever after,” he explained.

But the Navy offered a college equivalency test to Kaine, which he passed gaining two years equivalence of college and with that, he was told he qualified for Navy flight training. “I said, ‘what does that mean?’ and they told me, ‘That you can fly airplanes.’ ‘Where do I sign up?’,” Kaine had replied immediately. “So that’s how I got into the Navy and I absolutely loved it.”

Proving to be a natural in the air, Kaine went on to set a record for flying six different Navy aircraft types in two days of combat maneuvering; he flew in 103 combat missions in Vietnam; and he became the first East Coast Top Gun and an All Navy Top Gun in the same year. In 1977, was the youngest officer promoted to captain at the time. “When I was in a

Four U.S. Navy aircraft from Fleet Composite Squadron VC-7 "Redtails" in flight near San Diego, California (USA), in 1969: a Vought DF-8F Crusader (BuNo 144427), an F-8C (BuNo 145562), and two Douglas A-4C Skyhawks (BuNo 147715, 149645). Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ski Kaine. 1983, from the cockpit of PSA airplane with something “traded up” for the Golden Rule Society. Courtesy of the Coronado Historical Association Collection.

fighter squadron they selected me to fly in the F8 Crusader, the first Navy fighter that could fly over 1,000 miles per hour,” Kaine mentioned. At one point in his Naval career Kaine was sent to Rota, Spain where they spent months training. At one point his skipper, whom Kaine acted as his right hand man and translator for at the events they were invited to, had an idea for the squadron to do Blue Angel airshows.

“We made arrangements, the admiral thought it was a good idea, and the people of Spain loved it,” said Kaine. “We even did shows along the southern border of France and the western coast of Italy. The commander of the Sixth Fleet had his flagship in the Mediterranean and he always had visiting guests and stuff like that, and we’d go and do airshows for them.”

After his time in the Mediterranean, Kaine was sent to Jacksonville, Florida to be a Crusader instructor. “I spent three years as an instructor there and I was also conversant in French (I had an adoptive French father – I adopted him),” Kaine joked. “The French sent over four of their pilots for us to train them in the Crusaders because the French Navy was going to buy the Crusaders. So I was one of the instructors for the four French pilots and that was really great.”

As he was getting ready to finish his time as an instructor there, Kaine was approached by the Chief of Naval Operations in France to be an instructor for them in France. “By this time Anne and I were married and we had our first son, David, and number two son, Glenn, was on the way,” Kaine mentioned, “and we said, ‘Great! We’re going to go to Paris, and France and all that!’ but the Navy had another job for me to do.”

Kaine was asked to circumnavigate the world with the first nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. ““USS Enterprise, USS Long Beach, USS Bainbridge. Three ships, all nuclear powered,” he explained. “They said, ‘You’re going to be a navigator on the USS Enterprise, the largest ship in the world’, and I guess I was successful because we never ran aground.”

As the ships toured around the globe, he once again flew in airshows, this time in 23 different countries. “We had twin-engine airplanes that would carry passengers to and from the ship. We nicknamed them ‘CODs’ – Carrier Onboard Delivery. As we’d get close to a country they’d fly in and get the mail or supplies, and they’d go in there and pick up the president or whoever and fly them up to the ship,” Kaine told me. “Then I would narrate the fire power demonstration in English, French, and Spanish, whichever country we were in, and that was absolutely delightful.”

In 1980 Kaine was selected for promotion to Rear Admiral (two star), but it was at this time that he decided to retire and be home with his family. Kaine and his wife, Anne, had met back in Pennsylvania when they were growing up. “Anne and I are high school sweethearts, we’re newly married 62 years ago,” Kaine laughed. “At noontime the girls would play basketball and when people ask how I met Anne, I tell them, ‘oh I was refereeing and she had one hell of a hook shot!’” The two dated when Kaine would return home from his Naval training. “We just became friends and after my training in the Navy and I would go back home we would date and it’s a great relationship. Really it’s been a blessing to both of us and we’ve been happy to share a life together.”

After getting married and traveling for Kaine’s Naval career, they eventually settled in San Diego where Kaine was in the Reserves at Miramar to raise their two sons and twin daughters. “I was selected for two star admiral but the boys were at an age where they needed a dad at home,” he told me. “I took the promotions, and I sometimes think, ‘Gee I wish I had’, but the kids are what’s important and all four of them are successful and happy, so Anne and I are very pleased.”

Both of Kaine’s two sons have had careers as Naval and commercial aviators like their father. “Everybody says, ‘Len, how did you get your sons to follow in your footsteps?’ and I tell them, ‘Well,

to be honest I just told them that flying airplanes is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.’”

At this time Kaine was flying commercially and he became known as the Highflying Horse Trader for the in-flight charity he pursued. “Christmas of 1971, I was flying for PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) at the time and I ended up with two electric shavers as gifts. I had a wild thought. I didn’t want to throw it away or try to sell it, but PSA was a fun airline, you could kid around with passengers who loved it and the flight attendants were all jovial,” recounted Kaine. “On a flight I said, ‘Folks, I have this electric shaver and I’m going to swap it with anyone in the back who has something of greater value. And I’m going to keep swapping, every flight, until I get an old clunker of a car or an old swayback horse and we’re going to raffle it off. The winner will get the prize and whatever money we raise is going to go to charity.”

The ‘Swap Shop in the Sky’, as it became known, was a huge success, raising about $100,000 from the prizes they’d managed to gather that first time around. Kaine was asked to do it again and soon organizations began to approach him and the airline to do them for various charities. Eventually, Kaine decided to focus on charity full time, founding the Golden Rule Society in 1972. When asked about his passion for giving and service, Kaine’s inspiration comes from a variety of sources but first and foremost to him are words passed on to him from his mother. “When I was on my way out [to the Navy], my mom said to me, ‘Lenny wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you meet…you be kind.’ It still goes through my mind on a day-to-day basis, after all these years. It’s gratifying to be able to help others.”

Today the Golden Rule Society is on its way to celebrating 50 years as an official philanthropic organization and accepts members internationally from all walks of life. “The Golden Rule, I took it from the books of the world’s seven major religions and the wording all differs but simplified is the ‘do unto others’ phrase,” Kaine explained. “I add a little intro to it, ‘With love, kindness, and hope in your heart and with peace, treat others the way you’d want to be treated – truthfully, with dignity and respect.” The Society aids many major charitable organizations but focuses in large part on helping children, especially those of service members. To date Kaine’s efforts through the GRS has helped fund programs and activities benefiting kids across all 50 states and in over 100 countries.

Over the years Kaine has received many decorations and recognition for his service and humanitarian efforts, and has received five nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize over the last two decades. Kaine and his efforts were also selected to be featured in an upcoming book, “Who’s Who in America”, which is being released this year. His work and passion for creating a better world continues to drive Kaine as he offers his time and dedication towards the noble goal of world peace. As Kaine puts it, “To better the lives of others is life’s greatest reward, which makes the rest of your life the best of your life.”

You can learn more about Kaine and the Golden Rule Society by visiting the organizations website at https://www. goldenrulesociety.org/.

The Golden Rule Society had an honorary day in 2016. Mayor Tanaka gave Len Kaine the proclamation stating that the Golden Rule Society Week would be July 3-9, 2016.