Lillian "Jay" Glezen Wray, 44-W-9 August 4, 2013

WASP Lillian Glezen, 1944

During her first year at Texas Tech, Lillian Glezen made a bet with one of her sisters that, if she earned a “B” in math, she would get to ride in a small plane.  From that first airplane ride, she knew that she wanted to learn to fly. 

Lillian Glezen Wray, affectionately known  as “Jay” as well as “Nanny  Duke” and “Grandma Turtle,” was born in Gilmer, Texas on Dec. 9, 1913 to Thomas Hamilton and Lillian Corn Glezen. The young couple had recently moved their growing family from Indiana to Texas.    Lillian was not only the youngest of eleven children, she was the only “native Texan” and a true tomboy.

Lillian attended Gilmer public schools, where she became an excellent tennis player.  Following her high school graduation, she attended East Texas State Teachers College in Commerce, Texas (now Texas A&M Commerce) and Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. 

When America was attacked at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Lillian was working as a switchboard operator at the Southwest Phone Company in Waco, Texas.  After Pearl Harbor, she soon moved to Fort Worth and took a job at Consolidated Aircraft, working as an inspector on the B-24 assembly line.   She  used part of her pay to take flying lessons.  When she had acquired the number of newly reduced minimum required flying hours (35), she applied for WASP training and was accepted into class 44-W-9.

In April of 1944, Lillian and 106 other young women pilots arrived in Sweetwater, Texas and reported to Avenger Field for WASP training. After seven months of AAF flying training, in November, 1944, Lillian and fifty-four of her classmates graduated,  received their silver WASP wings, and became Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP,  the first women in history to fly America’s military aircraft).        

She was then stationed at Goodfellow Army Air Base in San Angelo, Texas, where she flew AT-6s and BT-13s, training male cadets.  She also occasionally ferried PT-19s to other air bases.

On 20 December 1944, the WASP were disbanded and Lillian returned to Fort Worth.  She soon accepted a job with the CAA (now the FAA) in Alburquerque, New Mexico.   After several years and transfers, she accepted a job in Region II in  Salt Lake City, Utah as an air traffic controller.   It was there, in 1947,  that she met her future husband, Johnston Wray, who was also an air traffic controller.   

Lillian and Johnston married, started their family, and eventually settled in Burbank, California.  The couple successfully raised three sons: John, Gordon, and Dan,  and were also the proud grandparent of six grandchildren: Jaisha, Karleen, Cody, Morgan, Danny Jr. and Gordon.

Over the years, Lillian stayed close to her WASP friends attending countless WASP reunions all over the country.  She enjoyed a life-long sense of adventure and was always proud of the progress the WASP made for women’s equality.  She also kept up with her home town news. She subscribed to The Gilmer Mirror, the local newspaper, which she read twice a week.

WASP Lillian Glezen Wray,  family and USAF escort, March 10, 2010

In March, 2010, Lillian, together with her entire family, gathered with other WASP  and their  families  in the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour that Congress can award.

On August 4, 2013, just four months shy of her 100th birthday, Lillian died of natural causes at her Burbank home. 

Her loving family well remembers this pioneering pilot for  “her wry sense of humour  and her love of Angels’ baseball,” which kept the family smiling through the years.   Lillian was proud of her independence, and lived alone up until the last month of her life,  with the companionship of her beloved beagle (Duke) and her dedicated cat (Tiger Sue).   

Lillian Glezen Wray will be missed and she will be well remembered.  She was an inspiration to all who knew her. 

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Personal note:  Although I never had the honor of meeting Lillian in person, we emailed back and forth over the years.   When I sent out the first information to all the WASP concerning the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, Lillian was thrilled and replied right away, saying that she would be coming to Washington, DC with fourteen family members.   What a wonderful celebration that must have been!

WASP Lillian Glezen Wray, March 10, 2010

Six months later, Lillian emailed that she really didn’t do much traveling anymore, but that she knew she would be making one final trip to Gilmer, Texas.    She requested a military funeral and that her final resting place be next to her mother.  

In late September, her family will be honoring her request and taking Lillian home to the small East Texas town she had always called home.

As her family recently said,  "Lillian will be looking down at us from the heavens that beckoned her as a young  woman to become a pilot. She will live always in the hearts and lives of her family and all those she has touched."

God bless her family and all of those who will continue to be inspired by this pioneering lady pilot.

Respectfully posted
Nancy Parrish

 Sources:

 Crescenta Valley Weekly 

“Class 44-W-9” compiled and edited by WASP Betty Stagg Turner  copyright 1997.  p. 167.

“Out of the Blue and Into History” by WASP Betty Stagg Turner  2001 Aviatrix Publishing. p. 513.

The Gimer Mirror

Photos added by Wings Across America and Lillian’s family

WASP Ann Griffin Gleszer, 44-9 July 7, 2011

"When I was 10 years old, Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. He was my hero and model. Later on, Amelia Earhart showed me women could fly, too. When I was at the University of Connecticut, I saved all the money I could get for flying lessons. By the time the war broke out, I had graduated from the university and had my private flying license."
Ann Gleszer from WASP Betty Turner's "Out of the Blue and Into History"

 

 Ann Gleszer

June 21, 1916 - July 07, 2011 


Ann Griffin Gleszer was born to Frank and Catherine Golick of Columbia, Connecticut on  June 21, 1916.    She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Master’s Degree in Education.  While attending college, she also took flying lessons and got her private pilot’s license, eventually becoming an air traffic controller at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

When America entered World War II and the call went out for women pilots, Ann applied to the Army Air Forces women's training program at Avenger field, Texas, and was accepted into class 440-9.  After successfully completing seven months of flight training,  she graduated, received her WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) wings, and was stationed at Robbins Army Air Field in Macon, Georgia as an engineering test pilot in BT-13's and AT-6's.  Serving her country as a WASP influenced Ann for the rest of her life.

After the WASP were deactivated, Ann became a flight instructor and kept a plane at Simsbury airport. Later, as a test pilot for aeronautical engineer, businessman and inventor Charles Kaman in Bloomfield, she was featured flying a Kaman Aircraft K-125 helicopter in the November 15, 1948 issue of “Life” magazine.

Ann married Thomas Griffin (now deceased) and lived in Switzerland with their two sons, during which time she developed life-long friendships and became fluent in French. She began teaching French at Simsbury High School in the early 1960s and arranged many winter ski trips for students to Okemo Mountain.  She also taught French and Spanish at Newtown High School until her retirement in 1983.

Her husband of 42 years, Kenneth Gleszer, was a radio communication officer on Liberty ships in WWII, as well as a former non-military pilot and flight instructor.

In March, 2010, together with all her WASP peers, Ann received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the Congress of the United States can bestow on a civilian, honoring their service as WASP, the first women in history to fly American military aircraft.  during WWII.   She also received the Connecticut Veteran’s Wartime Service Medal from the Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs.

Ann was a member of the Methodist Church of Bethel and a life-long member of Eastern Star.

Pre-deceased by her parents, sisters Mary and Sophie, and brother, Bill, Ann is survived by her husband, Kenneth of Danbury, son Douglas Griffin and spouse Jill of Monroe; son Glenn Griffin and spouse Sandra, of Silver City, New Mexico, grandson Douglas II and spouse Stephanie of Bethel and many fond teachers, students, military, neighbors and friends in the U.S., Switzerland and Italy.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Masonicare Hospice or the Salvation Army.

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Respectfully edited and re-posted, with additional photo  by Wings Across America
* with an additional quote  from WASP Betty Turner's  "Out of the Blue and Into History"

WASP Mary Ann Baldner Gordon, 44-W-9

"My father was a WWI pilot and flew with the AEF in France.  When WWII was declared, he was transferred from the National Guard to the Air Force and sent to Scott Field, as squadron commander.  This probably explains why I thought I could fly."
 WASP  Mary Ann  Gordon

Mary Ann Baldner Gordon, Class 44-9, of Satellite Beach, Florida, passed away on May 27, 2010.


Mary Ann was born in Xenia, Ohio, the oldest of three children.  Her father, a former military pilot who had served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during WWI, returned to the family automobile business (Baldner Motor Company) in Zenia, so Mary Ann grew up and attended all twelve years of school there.  

In early 1941, her father was called up for active duty again,  and his family accompanied him to his new assignment as  Commander of Company L -- 147th Infantry at Camp Shelby, MS.  There Mary Ann worked in the drug store to pay for college in Oxford, Miss, where she was studying to become a fashion designer.  However, she dropped out to take care of her ailing mother.  Soon after Pearl Harbor,  her father was transferred to the United States Air Force and the family followed him to Scott Army Air Force Base,  Illinois.

It was while her dad, now an Air Force pilot,  was the Squadron Commander at Scott Air Force Base,  that Mary Ann decided she wanted to learn to fly.  She got a job as a clerk-typist at Scott AFB and took flying lessons at a small civilian field nearby.

After learning about the newly created program to teach qualified women pilots to fly military aircraft,  as soon as she was qualified, Mary Ann applied for the program.    She went by train to Chicago for her personal interview.  After she fulfilled all the other requirements, including the physical  (the doctor told her to gain a little more weight), she  was accepted into the program.  She then took the train to Sweetwater, Texas  and entered training as a member of Class 44-9 on April 13, 1944. 

After graduating and becoming a WASP, Mary Ann and a classmate were stationed at Freeman Field, Seymour, Indiana as engineering test pilots.    She continued in that job until the WASP were disbanded.   As Mary Ann recalled, ‘We were sorry to have it end.  When I got orders to be disbanded, I was devastated!’  Nevertheless, on December 20th,  she had hung up her Army parachute for the last time,  was flown to Scott Air Force Base, and her father met her at the flight line.

When her father got orders to be stationed in the Philippines, Mary Ann joined the Red Cross and  spent the next eight months entertaining the troops in a club in Fountainbleau, France and in Bavaria, Germany, where, as she recalled,  ‘I gave dance lessons, called bingo, and served donuts to the troops’ until she returned to the States.

Back home in Xenia,  Mary Ann worked at the Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson AFB as an ‘Artist Illustrator’.  It was there in 1949 that she met her husband, Capt. Lawrence Gordon, a West Point graduate.  Her first date?  She laughingly recalled that ‘He took me to bingo!’  They were married in December and lived in Fairborn, Ohio until he graduated from the Air Force’s  aeronautical engineering training program in 1950.   

For the next twenty-nine years Mary Ann was an ‘Air Force Wife’ and lived on many Air Force bases in many places, including  Kwajalein Island (where the Gordons set up house in a quonset hut),  England,  Massachusetts, D.C., Scott Field, and her favorite of them all:  Patrick AFB, Florida.  Her husband, by that time,  was an Air Force  General.  They were stationed there until he retired.   

Of all the things Mary Ann was able to do in her life—all the travels and adventures—when asked what was the one thing she was most proud of, her answer came back swiftly and clearly, ‘Being a WASP!’

 In September, 2009, Mary Ann was presented a copy of the Congressional Gold Medal Bill by her Congressman, Bill Posey, at the Officers’ Club at Patrick Air Force Base, which was attended by her many friends. 

On March 10, 2010  one of her nieces picked up her Congressional Gold Medal for her in D.C.    A photo of the medal and collage of pictures from the ceremony  were placed on Mary Ann's  bedroom wall where she could see them every time she rolled in and out of the bedroom in her wheel chair.  She also received her WASP ‘Illustrated History Of The WASP’ book,  so she was able to see her picture and her quote.   

A memorial service for Mary Ann Baldner Gordon will be held in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida at Beach Funeral Home on June 16 at 2 pm  with  friends gathering time at 1:00 pm.

Mary Ann was preceded in death by her husband, Larry, sister Jane and brother-in-law Larry Davis, sister-in-law Nancy Baldner, and grand nephew Michael McVey.   Mary Ann  is survived by her younger brother, John, who is also a graduate of West Point and  an AF pilot.  She is also survived by her 7 nieces:  Jane's daughters Debby Haines, Susie Dillon and Becky Lister  and John's daughters: Kathy, Laurie, Nancy and Tricia, along with 2 grand nieces and 3 grand nephews,   as well as many friends. 

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Facts and quotes taken from the Wings Across America interview with Mary Ann Gordon, April 26, 2003 in her home at Satellite Beach, Florida.  We were honored to spend the day with Mary Ann and her husband, BRIGADIER GENERAL LAWRENCE N. GORDON.  May their service to America forever be remembered.
    Respectfully submitted, Nancy and Deanie Parrish

WASP Helen Cannon, 44-W-9

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Helen Cannon, a pioneering, 20-year veteran of the Clark County School Board whose efforts had a lasting effect on education in Southern Nevada, died Christmas Day in a Utah rehabilitation center. She was 93.

Cannon helped govern the Clark County School District from 1960 to 1980, overseeing a period of growth while making students her priority. Her contributions earned her a middle school named in her honor.

"If you talk to administrators or teachers, they will tell you that she left an everlasting philosophy of children as No. 1," said former Gov. Kenny Guinn, who served as district superintendent while Cannon was on the board.

She was born May 16, 1916, in Cameron, Wis., a small farming town about two hours east of St. Paul, Minn. She earned a degree in physical education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

After teaching for a few years, she earned a pilot's license. During World War II, she flew and tested repaired aircraft for the Army Air Corps. She was among the little more than 1,000 women to earn one of the dangerous positions at a time women were excluded from flying in combat.

"We all thought we were being discriminated against," she told the Review-Journal in 1988. "We were as good as the rest of them (men). But we didn't fight it because we were so happy just to have had the training."

She met her husband, Robert Cannon, after the war. The two moved to Las Vegas, where he became vice president and general manager of the Tropicana.

While on the School Board, Cannon was instrumental in introducing free lunches at elementary schools, establishing the Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center and the Variety School for the handicapped and creating KLVX-TV, Channel 10. During her 20 years on the board, the student population more than quadrupled, going from 20,000 to nearly 90,000 students.

Her daughter, Alice Kennedy, said her mother worked tirelessly for students.

"She was on the phone all the time, and if anyone called her about any problem they were having ... she called up and got to the bottom of it," Kennedy said.

A 1980 Review-Journal editorial about Cannon declared that she probably "touched the lives and directed the means of learning for more young Nevadans" than all other trustees at the time combined.

She was an avid golfer, woodworker and reader. She served as a Cub Scout den mother, sat on the local Girl Scout Board and taught swimming for the American Red Cross.

In 1988, she ran for a sixth term on the School Board against Lois Tarkanian. Cannon raised more than $9,000, more than her five previous races combined. But she was outspent by now-Las Vegas City Councilwoman Tarkanian, and Cannon lost.

She is survived by her daughter, Alice, son Robert Cannon Jr. and seven grandchildren. Services will be held in Las Vegas but have not yet been arranged.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.

________________

From Betty Turner's "Out of the Blue and Into History:" "I guess mostly I have been a teacher -- public schools, flying, camp counselor, den mother, Red Cross swimming and life saving, swimming and synchronized swimming in the backyard (with a show at the end of the summer with music, black lights, etc.) tutoring reading, and many years of teaching Sunday school.

I have my many memories, family, and have been truly blessed."

She was blessed indeed -- and was such a blessing to so many. What an extraordinary lady--what an extraordinary contribution -- to her family, her community and her country.

respectfully submitted

nancy parrish

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Helen C. Cannon--obituary

Feature on the loss of Helen C. Cannon

WASP SARAH SYMMES

Flying emblematized her life
By Virginia Culver
The Denver Post-posted 4/17/09

At age 10 Sarah Symmes wanted to be a barnstormer or stunt flier.

But that didn't work out, so she joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and ferried military planes around the country during World War II.

Flying "was a metaphor for her life," said the Rev. Sandy Blake of St. Timothy Episcopal Church in Centennial.

A service for Symmes, who died March 15 just short of 93, will be at St. Timothy, 1401 E. Dry Creek Road, at 10 a.m. Friday.

Symmes "loved the independence of flying" and that extended to how she lived her life, Blake said. "She's been described by friends here as fearless, feisty and fun."

Symmes was a loyal volunteer at St. Timothy, spending many hours at the bedside of ailing members, said Sally Atchison, of Littleton, a St. Timothy member.

Sarah (Sally) Elizabeth Gibson was born April 2, 1916, in Charlotte, N.C. When she was a child, she moved with her family to Colorado because her mother had tuberculosis.

Her mother died when Sarah Gibson was small, so she and her brother, the late Denver City Councilman Hoot Gibson, lived for some time in a Denver orphanage.

She graduated from South High School and then, at 17, hitchhiked to California looking for a brother, said her niece, Elaine Little.

She sometimes slept in police stations for safety, Little said.

Symmes heard about the WASP program and went to Sweetwater, Texas, where the women were trained. But she was told she needed to first get 35 hours of flying time and that she had to pass a test.

She did both and became a WASP, stationed at a base in Kansas, where she and other women ferried and tested planes, and instructed male pilots, her niece said.

After the war, Symmes went to accounting school in Kansas City and came to Colorado in the mid-'80s.

She had had training in clinical pastoral education and volunteered countless home-visit hours through St. Timothy.

Symmes "was a very spiritual person, but that didn't stop her from being spunky," Blake said.

Symmes was divorced twice. Her third husband, Glen Symmes, died in 1985.

She is survived by another niece and two nephews.

Sarah Allshouse Gleeson, 44-W-9

Sarah J. Allshouse Gleeson
East McKeesport

Sarah Jane "Sadie" (Allshouse) Gleeson, 84, of East McKeesport, died Tuesday, July 3, 2007, at home. She was born May 21, 1923, in Wilmerding to the late Edward L. and Alma (Hallam) Allshouse and also was predeceased by son Glenn Gleeson, former husband Joseph Gleeson; siblings Hallam and Robert Allshouse, Blanche Laird and Harriet Moore and a brother-in-law, Robert Laird. Sarah was a retired sales representative for Central Pharmaceuticals, Seymour, Ind., and had received 15 Archie awards as the top salesperson.

She was a veteran of World War II, having served in the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, and was a member of the Women Aviators Association and Linway United Presbyterian Church, North Versailles. Sarah enjoyed vacationing with family at Edinboro Lake, swimming, water skiing and golfing and liked to travel with friends and attend W.A.S.P. reunions.

She is survived by children Carl Gleeson and Barbara (fiance Kevin Dobis) Gleeson, both of East McKeesport, and Scott (Norma) Gleeson, of Atlanta; grandchildren Pamela and Jacqueline Gleeson and Thomas DePaoli; brother Edward L. (Mary) Allshouse Jr., of Monroeville; sister-in-law, Jane Allhouse; brother-in-law, George Moore; special friend Roberta Churilla, of Forest Hills, and nieces and nephews.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the FORGIE-SNYDER FUNERAL HOME, 1032 Broadway, East McKeesport, 412-823-8083, where services will be at 11 A.M. Friday with the Rev. Thomas Moore officiating. Interment with military honors will follow in Grandview Cemetery, North Versailles.

SARAH, IN HER OWN WORDS