Neta Snook Southern was the pioneering aviatrix who taught Amelia Earhart to fly. She was also the first female aviator in Iowa and the first woman to run a commercial airfield, among other things.
She gave up flying to raise a family, but paid tribute to fellow aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss when she named her son William Curtiss Southern (b. 1922).
Sources:
- Holden, Henry M. and Lori Griffith. Ladybirds II: The Continuing Story of American Women in Aviation. Mt. Freedom, NJ: Black Hawk Pub. Co., 1993.
- Neta Snook – Wikipedia
- “Pioneer Woman Pilot Neta S. Southern Dies.” San Jose Mercury News 25 Mar. 1991: 1B.
Image: U. S. A. Scout (1916)