Whittie News August 2004 - Whitman College Alumni Newsletter

Whittie News, the Whitman College Alumni e-newsletter

August, 2004

Fall Reunion Weekend -- October 1-3, 2004

Watch for registration materials later in August; pre-registration is required. Registration deadline is September 20th.

Reunions for the Classes of 1979, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1994.View the schedule of events, RSVP, and see who plans to attend at http://www.whitman.edu/alumni/reunions.cfm

Scenes of the upcoming Whitman College trip to Philadelphia, PA in June, 2005

Whitman College Alumni Association invites Alumni, Parents and Friends,
on a journey, Discovering the Constitution: The Great Debates,
with Bob Withycombe, professor of rhetoric and film studies at Whitman College.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 11-15, 2005

Read More About It...

Welcome Young Alumni
September 9	Denver, Colorado Read More About It...
September 16	Olympia, Washington Read More About It...
September 29	Washington, DC Read More About It...
More events will be scheduled. Watch your email.

What is going on in your area?
For events and more, visit our Calendar of Events, http://www.whitman.edu/alumni/calendar.cfm

August 4, 2004 -- Seattle WA
The Whitman Club of Seattle monthly Book Club!
The next meeting will be held Wednesday, August 4, at 7p.m.
Home of Bryna Allen, '96
2956 142nd PL SE #4. Bellevue, WA 98007
Park in Sunset Ridge Condominium complex in any unmarked space or on the 4th floor of the new Eastgate P&R. From there you can take the pedestrian overpass, turn left onto 142nd and go into the complex.

Our August book selection is Expecting Adam by Martha Beck.
Reading suggestions are always welcome and please feel free to join us for any or all meetings! Updates and future selections will be posted to the Alumni Calendar of Events.

Please RSVP to Bryna Allen at brynaallen@comcast.net.

The reading for September will be Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Roberta Boyd Sandoz Leveaux, '39
By Erin Drew, '04
This month, join us in saluting a pioneer in women's aviation: our own Roberta "Bobby" Sandoz Leveaux, '39. Roberta has been devoted to flying since she was a little girl on an eastern Washington farm, obsessed with migrating geese. To her mother's horror, she convinced her father to let her take a ride with a barnstormer when she was ten. With that first flight in mind, she "nearly starved to death" spending a hefty portion of her first job's salary on flight lessons. After working as a crop duster and stunt pilot in 1940 and 1941, the Royal Air Force finally responded to her pleas to let her volunteer for them in their effort against the Germans. She was recruited to become a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary, a group of women and other civilian pilots responsible for ferrying damaged, repaired and new aircraft back and forth between RAF bases and plane factories. Qualified female pilots from more than a dozen countries flew various single- and twin-engine military planes, most of which military aviation officials had until then insisted that women were physically and psychologically unable to pilot. In the meantime, Roberta and her fellow ATA pilots lived with British families, battling near-constant fog, chilblains and hunger. But Roberta always felt it was worth it just to be able to help out.

Roberta "Bobby" Sandoz Leveaux, '39

After marrying in 1942, Roberta retired from flying for the ATA, but she never stopped looking to the sky. She earned a Masters of Science degree in clinical psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 1963, beginning a second career working as a psychologist for hospitals. Flying stayed in her blood, however; she later joined the Tucson Sailplane Club and bought an early Ultralight kit which she and a friend built and flew. She also serves as the class rep for the Class of '39.

In 2000, Roberta was interviewed for the NASA Oral History Project. She is featured in Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War Two, by Sally V. Keil (Four Directions Press: 1994), a book about pioneering female aviators; and she wrote the foreword for Mother Flies Hurricanes, by E.M. Singer (Avidia Cascade Press, 1999), a novel about England's Air Transport Auxiliary.

(Photo used with permission from Ann Wood-Kelly.)

Join the Boys of Summer and Whitman College for baseball in your area.
August 3 -- Seattle Mariners vs. Baltimore Orioles Read More About It...
August 15 -- Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees Read More About It...

How did your favorite Whitman Varsity sports team do this year? http://www.whitman.edu/athletics/

Feel like you’re missing important Whitman College information?
Keep your address up to date, http://www.whitman.edu/alumni/changemyaddress.htm

Want to know how much fun your fellow alumni had at past events? http://www.whitman.edu/alumni/photogalleries.cfm

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