Forward
Forward
Dedicated to those people who lead their lives in such a manner as to bring honor to past generations and leave a legacy of perseverance and goodwill to the generations that are to follow.
Once again I have returned to the North Loup Valley which lies at the eastern edge of the Sandhills in north central Nebraska. This is where Evelyn Genevieve Sharp spent most of her growing-up years, assimilating the values and character traits which define this woman who has been referred to as Nebraska's best-known aviatrix. It is here along the gently flowing waters of the North Loup River that I feel most connected with the persona of a woman I have never met, yet have grown to love and admire.
There has never been a time in my life when I do not remember wanting to fly. As a young girl, walking the bean fields on the family farm, I watched military planes make their approaches into the nearby air base and listened to my father tell stories of Nebraska's triangular airfields, where thousands of young pilots and their crews prepared for the Second World War. I remember reading books which told of the decisive role aviation played in the war's land and sea battles. Those volumes now occupy a special place on shelves in my library.
In the 1950s, Grosset & Dunlap, publisher of the Signature Book Series, introduced me to a world where women made a difference. The first book my mother gave me was entitled The Story of Amelia Earhart. I read it and reread it, absolutely fascinated that a young girl from Atchison, Kansas, could grow up to be a world famous pilot. I wanted to be just like her.
It wasn't until I graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1964 that I began to think about getting a pilot's license. My only experience in a small plane had been on those yearly outings when the Soil Conservation Service hired local pilots to take up farmers in order to survey conservation practices in the county. I do not remember how he did it, but my dad always managed to get my sister and me aboard. I never forgot that sense of freedom, the absolute beauty of what I already knew was an imperfect world below, and the feeling I was spiritually closer to that which was good and true.
In the summer of 1966, I closed the door to my elementary classroom and took up flying at the Lincoln Aviation Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was wonderful. For two months, I flew every day the weather permitted and, on August 12, Thomas J. Umberger, an FAA flight examiner, signed off my logbook. My dream had come true. I was just like Amelia.
A small piece of paper, officially recognizing me as a licensed private pilot, created a dimension to my life with no comparable parallel. It eventually brought me to the 1973 Nebraska State Airshow in Ord, and to a young woman named Evelyn Sharp. Fascinated by history and especially the role women played, I was immediately attracted to an old card table in the corner of a large hangar. On its well-worn surface, someone had carefully arranged black and white photographs of a young girl standing beside an airplane of a much-earlier day. As I began reading the related newspaper clippings, faded and yellowed with age, I sensed someone standing beside me. I looked up to see this older man, bespectacled and gray, peering at me intently over the top of his glasses. He spoke first, wondering if I knew about Evelyn. Dr. Glen Auble had been a friend and mentor to Evelyn Sharp and it was his mission that she not be forgotten. I have often wondered if he saw me as just one more person to tell, or if he sensed I would fulfill his dream to have her life story written.
On the flight back to Lincoln that afternoon from Ord, I made a commitment to do whatever I could to save the primary research materials which documented her life. I, too, did not want Evelyn Sharp to be forgotten. For the next eighteen years, I intermittently acquired any piece of memorabilia with which one was willing to part. I maintained a correspondence with Dr. Auble until his death in 1986, made arrangements for dedicatory plaques to be hung at the Grand Island and Ord airports, and submitted biographical data for Evelyn's acceptance into the Women of Nebraska Hall of Fame sponsored by the Nebraska International Women's Year Coalition.
In the summer of 1988, I was selected to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, The Struggle for Freedom and Equality: Life Stories of Great Americans. I chose Evelyn Sharp as the biographical subject for my final project. When I finished my presentation in the East Senate Chamber of Nebraska's State Capitol Building, there were tears in the eyes of several colleagues, my own included. They encouraged me to continue my research and finish the manuscript.
In May of 1990, I was persuaded by the Institute's project director, Lynn L. Mortensen, to apply for the National Endowment for the Humanities/Reader's Digest Teacher-Scholar Award. It carried a stipend which would nearly match my teaching salary and allow me a year's leave of absence from my professional responsibilities. That March, I was officially recognized as Nebraska's 1991 Teacher-Scholar at ceremonies in Washington, D.C. On the flight home, I reflected on the conversation with Dr. Auble in the Ord airport hangar nearly eighteen years earlier. Perhaps he was more perceptive than I had realized.
As I began reading Nebraska newspapers at the State Historical Society Archives and interviewing Evelyn Sharp's contemporaries, it soon became apparent that her presence had created lasting impressions. Autographed picture postcards of herself and her dog, Scottie, ticket stubs for a sky-ride, newspaper articles, photos, and personal correspondence found their way out of old trunks in an attic, torn, yellowed pages of scrapbooks, and special drawers in a bureau. Men and women remembered her skill as a pilot, but spoke of a genuineness and an unassuming friendliness which seemed to epitomize Nebraska's Queen of the Air.
In this biography, I have written the life story of a very special and unique woman as well as the human history of a place and a time. A time not perfect, yet a period in our nation's history when a strong sense of community, perseverance, and commitment was honored and acted upon.
I have laughed, shared tears, and put my arms around those who knew and remembered her, and those who have only heard the stories about this young aviatrix. The persona of Evelyn Sharp has left indelible footprints on their hearts as well as mine.
Diane Ruth Armour Bartels
Lincoln, Nebraska
August 1996