A Generous Gift to Notre Dame Elementary Reveals a Treasured Family Legacy
provided the basis of the family’s gift to Notre Dame. This P-47 did not actually serve in the war, but was on the production line when the war ended in September 1945. Sister Barbara, and her siblings Rita, Margaret, Wally, and Mary, grew up in nearby Newbury, Ohio and were the children of Walter and Peggy Soplata. A family who prided themselves on hard work, faith, and generosity was led by their dad, Walter, who spent an entire lifetime collecting old airplanes. For almost 50 years, the only plane that was sold was Walter’s American Eagle biplane, to purchase the wedding ring for his adored wife, Peggy. After WWII, Walter used hardwood from airplane crates to build the family home, nestled on 17 acres in Newbury. Sister Barbara and her siblings learned how to nail roof shingles and work with wrenches. They loved the outdoors. As their family grew, so did the plane collection. On Sunday afternoons, after Church, visitors and veterans would come and visit all afternoon. Walter would open up all the planes and let veterans and visitors sit in the cockpits and check out the engines and parts of the planes. Sister Barbara Soplata, a teacher at NDES, fondly recalls wonderful memories of the plane collection that has led to the donation to establish the outdoor classroom
N
otre Dame Elementary School was recently the benefactor of a substantial gift by the Soplata, Kraus, Murray, Braford and Mitch families, one which reflects the love they have for our beloved elementary school and also an outward demonstration of their family’s unique heritage in our community. Their family’s $10,000 donation helps to create an outdoor classroom, a valuable outdoor learning opportunity for our elementary students, that will prove increasingly useful given the realities of the current educational environment. The connection between the family’s generous donation, and Notre Dame, rests upon the career of Sister Mary Barbara Soplata, SND, an elementary instructor in our school since 1983, and her father’s lifelong vintage collection of World War II and early Jet Age era airplanes. The most recent airplane of the Walter Soplata collection to be sold and placed in a museum was a P-47 Thunderbolt. The proceeds of this sale
4
Though the Sunday gatherings at the Soplata home happened decades ago, the hands-on experience is remembered to this day. According to Sister Barbara, “Unlike a museum where one could only view an artifact, my father desired a deeper experience for families of veterans and the community and allowed visitors to climb in and through the planes he collected.” Such fond and meaningful memories evoked a strong desire to continue the legacy of Walter Soplata’s plane collection in a variety of ways. After 50 years of collecting planes, Walter felt it was time to begin to place them in museums and get them out of the harsh Ohio winters. He sold six planes at the time of his retirement. Some of that money was used for charitable causes. Before Walter died in 2010, he asked that any further “plane money” would be used to care for the love of his life, his wife Peggy. She passed away in 2017 and a few months
Walter and Peggy Soplata, who helped make the generous gift possible.
82 Twin Mustang
At home on the F-