Not Forgotten
MIRIAM COHEN–Miriam passed away peacefully on Veteran’s Day, November 11, ‘09, one month shy of her 102nd birthday.
A Brooklyn native, Miriam attended Girl’s High and Smith College. She served in the Marines during World War II and the Korean War, and was honorably discharged as a gunnery sergeant. She continued her service in the reserves while employed by the Internal Revenue Service. After her retirement, she pursued her passion for painting and sculpture. She moved to Tucson, AZ at ninety-two, where, as the oldest known living woman marine, she was grand marshal of the 2006 Veteran’s Day Parade. She is survived by a bevy of nieces and nephews spanning three generations who will miss her feistiness and good humor. A memorial is planned for mid-March 2010 in Tucson, AZ sponsored by her family and the Women Marines Association.
Virginia Sweet / Recently honored WWII pilot – Schenectady, N.Y- Died July 11, 2009
Inspired by a story she read as a young girl about Amelia Earhart’s trans-Atlantic flight, Virginia Sweet became a pioneering female aviator in her own right. Earlier this month, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her heroism as a pilot during World War II.
She was a pilot with the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, ferrying every imaginable type of military aircraft from factories to air bases during World War II to free male pilots for combat overseas. For her heroism, Ms. Sweet’s Congressional Gold Medal will be presented posthumously to her niece.
Sometimes Ms. Sweet was assigned to fly shot-up, barely functional aircraft in for repair. Thirty-eight of her fellow women fliers were killed during duty.
After the war, when these Rosie the Riveters of the skies no longer were needed, the nation essentially turned its back on Ms. Sweet and hundreds of WASP pilots like her.
The longtime Schenectady, N.Y., resident died July 11 at age 88, two weeks after President Barack Obama signed a law that offered recognition and Congressional Gold Medals, the highest award Congress can give to a civilian, to the WASP fliers.
Ms. Sweet flew 52 different types of military aircraft, including the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress bombers, but she left her heart in the cockpit of the P-51 Mustang.
“She was a honey to fly,” she said of the long-range, single-seat fighter plane that helped beat Hitler’s Germany.
At the July 1 signing ceremony, Mr. Obama acknowledged that the honor was long overdue and thanked WASP members, who were granted only civilian status during wartime and not considered members of the military. Mr. Obama praised them for “courageously answering their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation.”
Mr. Obama was joined by three WASP pilots representing more than 1,000 women who joined the WASP unit in 1942 and 1943. They were the first women ever to fly American military aircraft and flew almost every type of plane operated by the Army Air Forces in non-combat missions during the war, logging more than 60 million miles.
Following the end of World War II, the women were released from duty and returned home, largely forgotten. They were even required to turn in their WASP leather bomber jackets. It wasn’t until 1977 that the Air Force finally granted the women veteran status.
Ms. Sweet had been in failing health after a stroke earlier this year and was only semi-conscious in recent weeks. Her niece, Betsey McBride of Niskayuna, N.Y., said her Aunt Ginger — as Ms. Sweet was known to her family — may not have understood what relatives told her about the hard-won honor she received on July 1.
Ms. McBride will accept Ms. Sweet’s Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony that is being planned for Washington, D.C., later this year.
“She liked to say she would have been a general if she was a man,” said a nephew, Edward Grinter of Schenectady.
Ms. Sweet wasn’t shy about articulating the bitterness she felt for being treated as a second-class citizen because she was a woman in a man’s realm during the war. She felt she could fly as well as any male, even if she was issued men’s flight jumpsuits that never fit quite right across her sinewy 5-foot-6, 100-pound body.
She could curse like a guy, too, her relatives confirmed.
After her wartime service, Ms. Sweet spent five years of active duty during and after the Korean War and 30 years with the Air Force Reserve, retiring in 1979 as a lieutenant colonel. She taught generations of local men and women to fly as an instructor.
Ms. Sweet grew up in Quaker Springs, N.Y., attended a one-room schoolhouse, skipped two grades, graduated early from high school and entered Duke University at 17. Her father died when she was 9 and her mother struggled to raise three children as a single parent. While in her teens, she began hanging around the Schenectady Airport. She learned to fly there at 19 in 1940 through a civilian pilot training program.
At Duke, she majored in languages and taught French, Spanish and Latin on the high school level. She married a Pan Am pilot when she was in her 20s, but they split up in less than a year.
“She was flamboyant and a women’s libber way ahead of her time,” Mr. Grinter said. “She said she wouldn’t pick up her husband’s dirty socks.”
GLOUCESTER – Margaret Ann Hamilton Tunner, 92, died Oct. 13, 2009, surrounded by family at her home Hockley Farm on the Ware River, Gloucester County, Va., where she and her late husband, Lt. Gen. W. H. Tunner, retired in 1958.
Mrs. Tunner was born in Enid, Okla., Sept. 3, 1917, and attended Oklahoma College for Women and Oklahoma University. She became a private pilot through a Civilian Pilot Training Program of Tulsa University and purchased and flew her own J-3 Piper cub prior to joining the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots program (WASP). She was the first licensed female pilot in the State of Oklahoma. As a WASP she entered Jacqueline Cochran’s second training class in Houston, Texas, and also the Pursuit School, graduating May 28, 1943, at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. Her class flew AT-6’s and AT-17’s. Ann was stationed at Romulus Air Force Base, Michigan, with the 3rd Ferrying Group.
During WWII she flew the P-47 Thunderbolt P-40 Warhawk, P-39 Bell Air Cobra, the P-63 King Cobra and co-piloted B-17 and B-24 bombers from their factories to ports of embarkation on both coasts.
When asked for an example of WASP activity—”I was called to Base Operations at Romulus and instructed to fly a new aircraft to the Canadians near Hudson’s Bay—it was a shiny new P-51 Mustang, I had never seen one before—it was beautiful. After a brief cockpit check, I took off, did two touch-and-goes, and was on my way to Hudson’s Bay at 350 mph in the dead of winter with my compass and a good road atlas—they did issue me a fur-lined flight suit and boots”. Your favorite aircraft-”probably the P-47, a dream to fly, hard for me to get into the cockpit, but as comfortable as a Cadillac—the most thrilling was the Mustang.”
In 1948 Mrs. Tunner went to Japan to serve in the Army of Occupation. Before she left she was photographed walking away from her P-51, parachute pack attached, and this picture appeared on the cover of Collier’s Magazine in April 1949; she was quoted in the accompanying article as saying “if there are going to be storms ahead, it will be our duty to stay on the beam, to keep our sights on preserving basic human rights. If we do that we’ll continue to be what I call the best bunch of people under God’s blue sky.”
She returned to the U.S. in 1951 and married Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner who commanded the Berlin Airlift in 1948. He assumed command of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and they moved to Wiesvaden, Germany. On retirement in 1958, they moved to Hockley Farm, Ware Neck, Gloucester County, Va., with their daughter Suzanne. They wintered in another home in Antigua and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. After her husband’s death in 1983, Ann continued operating Hockley Farm and raising her beloved sheep. In 1990s as a new hobby, she began flying ultralight aircraft. For her 78th birthday she was granted Presidential permission to co-pilot a F-15 Eagle from Langley AFB, Va. She was honored by the Gloucester VFW this year with a life-time membership and is to receive one of the Congressional medals awarded to the WASPs.
She was a member of the Ware Episcopal Church, the Garden Club of Gloucester, and was always active in community activities.
She is survived by her daughter, H. Suzanne Tunner Hudson and her son-in-law, David Wood Hudson; her six grandsons, Wood Tunner Hudson, Tucker Boone Hudson, Jesse Hamilton Hudson, Conner Bryant Hudson, William Woodul Tunner, Jonathan Sams Tunner; stepson, William Sams Tunner, M.D., (his mother died in 1948) and his wife, Sallie Woodul Tunner; and two great-grandchildren, William Keesee Tunner and Celia Sams Tunner.
A memorial service will be held at Ware Episcopal Church, 7825 John Clayton Memorial Highway, Gloucester, Va., on Oct. 24, 2009, at 2 p.m., and a military service at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 11, 2009, at 3 p.m.
In memory of Ann, memorial contributions may be made to the Main Street Preservation Trust, P.O. Box 265, Gloucester, VA 23061.
Arrangements by Hogg Funeral Home and Crematory, Gloucester Point. View and post condolences on
Penny H. Burwell, 66, of Ostrander, passed away early Tuesday morning in the emergency room at Grady Memorial Hospital following an extended illness.
She was born Oct. 11, 1943 in Columbus to Benjamin and Neddie (Thompson) Hudson. Penny graduated in the class of 1961 from West High School and furthered her education at the Riverside Hospital School of Nursing, earning her degree in 1964. Four years later, she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. She rose to the rank of Captain and was very proud to be able to serve with her fellow servicemen. She retired as a staff nurse for 3M Company of Columbus.
She is survived by her husband of 36 years, James “Jim” Burwell; three sisters Kay (Ron) Patterson of Hilliard, Lynne Hudson of Columbus, Holly (Rick) Cavallaro of Hilliard; several nieces and nephews; many grand-nieces and nephews; and a new great-grandnephew; and uncle Chet Thompson of Dayton. She was preceded in death by her parents.
It was Penny’s wish to be buried in the Dayton National VA Cemetery. A private committal service is being arranged by Rodman Neeper Funeral Home.
Condolences may be expressed by visiting RodmanNeeper.com
Carol Louise Drury – Saranac Lake, New York – 1952-2009
SARANAC LAKE – Carol Louise Drury, 56, of Saranac Lake, passed away peacefully on the shore of Lower Saranac Lake on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009.
Born Dec. 27, 1952, she was the daughter of Maynard Kane Drury and Katharine Fiske Drury.
Carol will be remembered as someone who broke through many barriers for women. She retired with the rank of major from the New York Army National Guard after 27 years of service to New York state and three years of active duty with the United States Army and the Women’s Army Corps. She was very proud of her service to this nation and was a lifetime member of the American Legion.
As the second woman to be hired by the state Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Law Enforcement, she retired with the rank of captain in Region 5. Her DEC assignments took her throughout the state as she participated in basic training academies as a firearms instructor, defensive tactics instructor and counselor. She accepted assignments in Long Island, New York City, Rensselaer County and finally in her beloved Adirondacks.
Her involvement with the New York Outdoors Women for the last 15 years provided a platform from which she could teach several classes that would benefit women who had no previous experience in the out-of-doors. She became a licensed New York state guide in her retirement in order that she could continue to share her love of the out-of-doors.
Known to her HOG (Harley Owners’ Group) friends as “The Princess of Planning,” Carol used her military planning skills to organize motorcycle trips with friends to such far-reaching places as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. This was a far cry from her first trips across the United States at the age of 18 on her Honda 175! She thanks her HOG friends for giving her a second lease on life!
In her retirement she also became involved in local charitable organizations such as Rotary and Community Lunchbox, where she helped out where she could. She loved her church family at St. Luke’s and will be forever grateful for Mother Ann’s support and guidance.
Carol loved her friends and family deeply and wants everyone to know how much she appreciated all that they have done for her throughout her lifetime. She felt that her greatest achievement was her son, Matthew Collins. Without him, she believed that she would never have reached for the stars to become the person she wanted to be for him. Carol thanks Susan and Michael for their love and care of Matthew and believes that without them he would never have become the man, so kind and generous of spirit, that he is.
She is survived by her son Matthew and daughter-in-law Lina and her long-awaited grandchild; her brothers, Walter (Renee) and Jack (Phyliss); sister Esther; several nephews and nieces; and special great nephew (Alexander) and great niece (Katharine).
She was predeceased by her parents, her sister Mary Katharine Drury Dewe and her companion Newfoundland dog, Missy.
There will be a church ceremony at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 at the Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician, Saranac Lake. Calling hours will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27 at Tebbut’s Funeral Home, Central Avenue, Albany. Interment will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 28 at the Saratoga National Battleground and Cemetery with a procession from Tebbut’s Funeral Home starting at 9:45 a.m.
Contributions in memory of Carol can be made to Tebbut’s Funeral Home in the name of the Women In Military Service America Memorial or the North American Game Warden Museum.
Margaret Tully – Wayland, Massachusetts – 1914-2009
Tully, Margaret WAYLAND, Mass. Margaret Mary (Soule) Tully, 95, died peacefully in the care and comfort of her family on Monday, May 4, 2009 at her daughter’s residence in Wayland. She was born in Watervliet, N.Y. on April 12, 1914, the daughter of the late Jay Ellery Soule and Margaret Theresa (Martley) Soule. She was the loving mother of Maureen Tully Lopez and her husband Jaime Lopez, MD, both of Wayland, and James Jay Tully of Rensselaer; beloved grandmother of James Michael Lopez and his wife Shannon Ziegler Lopez and their daughter Maribella Lopez, all of Avondale, Pa., Marissa Anne Lopez Bisbe and her husband Jose Bisbe and their daughter, Talia Anne Bisbe, all of Salem, Mass. and Cristina Margaret Lopez of Wayland. She was the wife of the late James Francis Tully, who died in 1968, and sister of the late Henry Soule, Lucy Soule Reisdorf and Rose Mary Soule Moore. She was the longtime and dear friend of the late Al Woehrle; also survived by many nieces and nephews. Mrs. Tully was a graduate of St. John’s High School with the class of 1933 and from St. Peter’s School of Nursing with the class of 1936. She had a long career as a registered nurse which included serving as an occupational health nurse at Sterling Winthrop and retired as the student health nurse at SUNY. She served her country during World War II as a 1st lieutenant with the United States Army Nurses Corps and was a member of the 10th Evacuation Medical Unit stationed in New Guinea. She was a member of the Retired Officers Assoc., the Civilian Conservation Corps and the American Legion, Melvin Fort Crailo Post in N.Y. She has been a lifelong member of St. John the Evangelist Church and active in the church community before longer stays with family in Wayland became necessary. Visitations will be held on Friday, May 8, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the W. J. Lyons, Jr. Funeral Home, 1700 Washington Avenue, Rensselaer, N.Y. Her funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church, 50 Herrick Street, Rensselaer. Interment will follow in the Tully family lot in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Greenbush. In lieu of flowers, her family suggests gifts in her memory to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 2042 Beacon Street, Newton, MA 02468 or to an organization to benefit veteran services.
Johanna G. Schropp – Eagle River, New York – 1931-2009
Eagle River resident Johanna G. Schropp, 77, died in the comfort of her own home April 14, 2009, while sleeping. There will be no service, at her request. She will be laid to rest at Fort Richardson National Cemetery. Johanna was born Dec. 14, 1931, in New York to John and Annette Martin. Johanna enlisted in the Air Force in Bronx, N.Y., in 1950, and after basic training, she was assigned to McChord Air Force Base, Wash., in support of the Korean War effort. While stationed at McChord, she was a member of the WAF Championship swimming and basketball teams. After her honorable discharge as a sergeant in late 1951, she traveled to Alaska for the great adventure. She was initially employed by Anchorage Cold Storage and then became the first office manager for Carrs grocery store. After 10 years with Carrs, she accepted the office manager position at Tom Brinks Mercedes dealership. In 1970, she left Alaska with her husband to travel the world with the U.S. Air Force. During her travels she was employed by the U.S. government in many accounting functions. After her husband’s Air Force retirement in 1982, they returned to Alaska, and she spent the remainder of her working years in an accounting position for a variety of firms in Anchorage. Upon her retirement, she and her husband began their travels anew, always returning to their home in Alaska. She was a charter member of the Anchorage Homemakers Club (Sundogs). Some of her favorite arts and crafts included soapstone carving, crochet and cross stitching. She was also an avid outdoorswoman who enjoyed hiking the Resurrection Pass trail, camping with her husband and children and recreational mining. She enjoyed ice skating and cross-country skiing as well as golfing and was a member of championship bowling teams. She was a Life Member of the American Legion Post 204. Her lifelong love of music included playing the piano, which led to her acceptance at the Julliard School of Music in New York City. Later in her life she enjoyed making music with her family and friends. Despite her busy professional career she always focused first on her family’s needs. Many of the great family memories come from the many hiking and camping trips that she enjoyed with her family. She will be remembered by all who knew her well for her commitment to her word. Johanna is survived by her husband of more than 40 years, Otto John Schropp; sister, Theresa F. Martin of Warrensburg, N.Y.; sons, Michael D. Anderson of Las Vegas, Nev., Lyle R. Anderson of Anchorage, and James A. Schropp and his partner Lorrie Rea of Fairbanks; grandchildren, Alicia Jo of Lyle, Wash., and Christopher James of Wasilla; and stepdaughter, Jenean M. Brewer of Gilbert, Ariz. Arrangements are with Janssen’s Evergreen Memorial Chapel.
