Letters > OVERLOOKING PRESIDENT MARY THAYER
60 million miles to help bring an end to the war.
Phyllis Wise is the first Asian-American interim president of the University of Washington. However, she is not the first woman to hold that post.
Other UW students or graduates who became WASPs:
In researching our book, Obituaries of the Presidents of the University of Washington, we discovered that Mary W. (May) Thayer claimed that distinction, serving as president from March until August 1874. It is refreshing to see a woman ascend to the presidency; [it’s] just unfortunate that it took another 136 years.
Kathryn A. Cullen, ’81, ’83 Thomas J. Cullen, ’70, ’74 Seattle HONORING MORE WASP HEROES In the September issue of Columns, we highlighted former University of Washington student Barbara Erickson London, one of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs of World War II,) who was presented a Congressional Gold Medal for her service during the war. She wasn’t the only UW student or alumnae who became a WASP and received the Congressional Gold Medal in March. One WASP job during World War II was to deliver new planes from the factory to bases or ports of debarkation so they could be taken to the male pilots in combat overseas. WASPs also towed targets behind planes so men on the ground could shoot at moving targets with live ammunition. WASP pilots flew more than 70 types of aircraft more than
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COLUMNS
1. Dorothy F. Scott attended the UW. She was killed in service as a WASP. The airport in Oroville, Wash., is named after her. 2. Helen “Peg” Calhoun graduated from the UW with a degree in sociology. She flew fighters for the WASP program. 3. Marjory Foster Munn married a B-17 pilot and local attorney and finished her UW degree in 1965. 4. Elvira Griggs Cardin graduated from the UW in 1935 with a degree in French. 5. Nancy Nordhoff Dunnam (of Bellevue) and Carol Nicholson Lewis were both Garfield High School grads and attended the UW. 6. Arline Baker took three Civilian Pilot Training Program courses at the UW as a student and became a WASP. 7. Mary “Pat” Hiller Call (of Mount Vernon) was a UW senior majoring in sociology and learning to fly in the Civilian Pilot Training Program when she joined the WASP program. 8. Elizabeth Erickson (from Issaquah) attended the UW and was killed while flying for the WASP. In all, four WASP pilots from the state of Washington were killed in service. 9. Betty Greene (from Medina) attended the UW for nursing school, but left to follow her passion—flying—in the WASP program. She later started Mission Aviation Fellowship in California. If you would like to learn more about the WASP program, please visit “WASP on the Web” and “Wings Across America” at www.wasp-wwii.org.
Barbara London Erickson (second from right) was one of many UW students who served in World War II as Women Airforce Service Pilots.