DAYTON — Tipp City donor Mark Browning is a retired air traffic controller who remembers when a good day at work meant no drama and no notoriety.

He thought his milestone 100th blood donation might fly under the radar as he arrived at the Solvita Dayton Center on July 17, but according to a press release from Solvita, he said,“I was surprised they knew.”

Browning reached his 100th lifetime donation with his fifth plasma donation of the year. He has been donating platelets and plasma since 2011, and first got off the ground as a whole blood donor in 1997. He credits his former employer, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for guiding him to the runway.

“The FAA gave us four hours of vacation time for donating,” Browning said in the release. “We got to do something that contributed to the community and got a little time off.”

It allowed him to leave the airport early and head downtown to donate.

Browning is originally from Zanesville. He spent eight years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, although not at Wright-Patt.

He retired in 2016 after 27 years in the Dayton International Airport control tower orchestrating take-offs and landings. For many years he also directed attention to shepherding cargo flights through the air space around the former Emery hub near DIA and the Airborne Express hub in Wilmington.

“It was interesting back then,” Browning said.

He was on vacation in a distant city when a passerby noticed the blood donor T-shirt he was wearing.

“She said, ‘Thank you. I’m a cancer survivor.’ That was very touching,” he said. “Talk about motivation for doing this.”

“It’s doing something good for people who are suffering,” Browning said. “They’re going through a bad time because of cancer or an accident. It’s doing something positive to help people out.”

Schedule an appointment to donate with Solvita on the Donor Time app, by calling 937-461-3220, or at www.donortime.com. Walk-ins are welcome at the Solvita Dayton Center, 349 S. Main St.