OFFICIALnw33nBu1T PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN PILOTS ORGANIZATION VOLUME 10 MARCH 1983 NUMBER 2 Mary Alexander: An Example of Courage and Individuality by M. Jane McAllister On April 18, 1955 at Georgetown Hospital in Washington, D.C., a She was the first woman to hold an executive position with Pan woman named Mary C. Alexander died of a "heart ailment.” Her American Airways, according to her family. She was traffic repre- obituary appeared in the Washington Evening Star with the heading, sentative-at-large for Miami. "Mrs. Emil C. Held Dies: Was Pilot, Auto Dealer." The first time I read Mary was also interested in art. After her retirement from flying in that it struck me as a very curious combination of things for a woman the early forties, she began to paint and eventually conducted classes who was born and raised in Virginia around the turn of the century. in painting at the Federal Supply Offices in Washington, D.C. Further research revealed a woman who seems to have dabbled rather In pulling the remaining threads of Mary C. Alexander’s life fearlessly in a great variety of things and who was apparently best together, one winds up with a fistfull of unusual endeavors, to say the known for her accomplishments in aviation. least. But still little is known about Mary personally. It is difficult to fain In looking at the circumstances of her life, an intrepid woman with insight into the woman behind all the "firsts." Furthermore, what wide interests and talents seems to emerge, yet little of her personal emerges, seems to be contradictory. life is visible. Mary was born in Loudown County, Virginia, on March 2, Judging from Mary’s activities, it would appear that she enjoyed 1883, to William and Ella White. Her early schooling was at what was feeling unique, or at least didn't mind being the focal point of attention then called Immaculata Seminary in Washington, D.C. Still in opera­ and notoriety. Yet some accounts say that she was a very private tion, this Catholic girls' school is now referred to simply as Imma­ person— not an attention-getter at all. The newspaper accounts of her culata. ventures speak of her in glowing terms. The people who know her and In her twenties, Mary married John Alexander. They lived in who now remember her, however, do not hold Mary in such high Lynchburg, Virginia, and they had two children. Usually this phase of regard. Bearing in mind that Mary was not cast in the normal mold for life signaled, at the time, a settling down period for a young mother, Lynchburg women in the late twenties and early thirties, it is hardly consumed by the duties of family life. In Mary’s case, however, it surprising that she was the butt of some criticism there. Those who seems to have had the opposite effect. Together with her husband, she recall her, in some cases, refuse to talk about her at all. Others refer to operated the Alexander Motor Car Company in Lynchburg. She was her as “flamboyant, flashy, arrogant and overzealous" (about aviation the first woman automobile dealer in the commonwealth. When her presumably). She was criticized because she flew while she was husband died, she took over leadership of the company. raising young children; this was not acceptable behavior for a young Also at that time, Mary became interested in aviation. When her mother in those days. children were quite young, she enrolled as a student of aviation at the Mary’s response to this criticism was quoted in the New York Tim<. Curtiss Wright Flying School in Baltimore. She studied flying there She said, "It always makes me tired when I hear people say that i and was the first female graduate in September of 1929. She was woman who is a mother should not fly. I’m a mother, and I’m going to issued a private pilot license shortly afterward. Returning to Lynch­ fly all I want."2 burg, Mary flew and worked tirelessly to popularize flying among Perhaps even more revealing are the words that Mary spoke in women. She became the only Lynchburg woman aviator of reknown defense of women like herself. In a speech delivered to the Women’s and was the first woman to receive a pilot's license in the state of Advertising Club of Baltimore, Mary said that one of the difficulties for Virginia. She built a hangar on the edge of town where she kept her women who want to fly is that "the people of her own hometown jump plane. to the conclusion that she is just out for publicity." Mary went on to say While still in her forties, Mary became known as the "Flying that she would not consider doing dangerous stunts or endurance Grandmother."' Amelia Earhart, in her own book, For The Fun Of It, flights like some of the pioneer pilots were doing. Her reason for this lamented that there were not more women like Mary whose ventures was her responsibility to her children. Mary was vocal about the into aviation helped advance it as a serious endeavor, rather than a prejudices she ran into in flying school, referring to them as a dangerous novelty, as many people viewed it at the time. "peculiar masculine twist of mind that we (women) are just senseless It was during this period that Mary became a Charter Member of the interlopers in their field... in which we have not any inherent right." To Ninety-Nines. Founded in 1929, this organization named itself after overcome these prejudices, she said, a woman must have "determina­ the number of charter members. Mary was one of them; Amelia was tion, common sense and humor."3 another. The Ninety-Nines is an international organization of licensed The character of this woman that emerges from her own writing is women pilots. Its founders were intent on providing a close relation­ that of a sensible woman, who has taken a practical, if somewhat ship among women pilots, assisting one another in the pursuit of defensive stance in her reasons for flying. She sums it up rather tersely aeronautical endeavors. According to Mary, the purpose was to by saying, "I see no reason why woman should not take her place in promote good fellowship among licensed women who flew and to aviation as she has in other branches of life."4 provide opportunities for the woman who wanted to fly commercially. Whatever her reasoning or motives, Mary certainly did take her Some of the original charter members are still living today. place in aviation— and in a variety of other things as well. She seems to After Mary left Lynchburg, she continued her involvement in have been typified by her determination and her readiness to step aviation, but coupled it with a host of other activities. She staged beyond the conventional realm of endeavor at the time, into what she numerous air shows in Lynchburg and Virginia Beach, where she later felt compelled to do. Her motives are now invisible. Her record, operated the Virginia National Guard field. She flew in relay races in however, stands in its own right as a fascinating example of courage her own Moth open cockpit. and individuality. FOOTNOTES: ' For The Fun 01 It, Amelia Earhart. 1939. Putnam 3 New York Times, July 10.1929 3 From a lecture Qiven to the Women's Advertising Club ot Baltimore. Maryland, undated 4 Southern Aviation, Mary C Alexander. Brookfield. Connecticut. May 1932. p. 15. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN PILOTS ASSOCIATION PUBLISHER n sS S n B a s The Ninety-Nines, Inc. VOLUME 10 MARCH 1983 NUMBER 2 EDITOR Lu Hollander EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Nema Masonhall This Month In The 99 NEWS Nancy Smith ADVERTISING MANAGER Contents Norma Vandergriff EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Mary Alexander: An Example of Courage and Individuality ........ 2 Jan Million Calendar ............................................................................................ 4 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR New Ratings ...................................................................................... 4 Loretta Gragg Book Review .................................................................................... 4 HEADQUARTERS SECRETARY President’s Message......................................................................... 5 Pat A. Harper New Horizons.................................................................................... 5 International Officers Aviation Activities ............................................................................. g PRESIDENT AE Scholarship Trust Candidates................................................... 6 Marilyn Copeland Safety Education: Scud Running..................................................... 7 1308 Kevin Road Legislation Information: Just Because ........................................... 7 Wichita, KS 67208 Good Samaritan Commended in Long Island ............................... 8 VICE-PRESIDENT Seek & Keep ................................................................................... g Charlene Falkenberg 618 S Washington St 66 News ...................................................................................... g Hobart, IN 46342 Focus on USPFT .............................................................................. g SECRETARY Air Marking News ....................................................................... 9 Barbara Goetz Gifts to International Headquarters ............................................... 9 8041 Ravinia Ct. Fair Oaks, CA 95628 The Year of the 3 ............................................................................... 10 TREASURER Aerospace Education: Congress’83 ............................................. 10 Betty Jane Schermerhorn 1983 Whirly-Girls Scholarship Winners Announced .....................