Fay Gillis Wells

by Jacque Boyd
99 News Magazine
January/February 2003

	This issue of the 99 News is dedicated to celebrating the life and contributions of Charter Member Fay Gillis Wells. Deep sadness greeted the news of Fay's passing on December 2, 2002. According to her son Linton, she passed away due to complications from pneumonia after a short hospital stay. She died peacefully, with her family at her side. Linton also added that the Friday before she went into the hospital she had received an award for her lifetime contributions to broadcasting and made remarks that generated a standing ovation. Fay was an inspiration up to the end.	Thanks to all The Nines-Nines who contributed to this article. Background information was contributed by Doris Abbate, Pamela 0'Brien, Bev Sharp and Verna West. Several members also contributed comments by email. They have been interspersed throughout the article.

Fay was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 15. 1908. She attended Michigan State University and had her first flying lesson on August 1, 1929 at Curtiss Field. From this humble beginning, it can truly be said that no one has given more continuous dedicated service to the causes of aviation and aerospace than Fay Gillis Wells.

Fay is well known as a Charter Member of The Ninety-Nines and was one of the signers of the letter inviting licensed women pilots to join together to provide mutual support. "It need not be a tremendously official sort of organization" the letter said, "just a way to get acquainted, to discuss the prospects for women pilots from both a sports and a bread winning point of view, and to tip each other off on what's going on in the industry."

Thus this organization was born and dedicated to fostering camaraderie and promoting opportunities for women in aviation.

A famous photo, which hangs in The Ninety-Nines Headquarters Conference Room, depicts 22 of the ladies who gathered at Curtiss Field, Valley Stream, Long Island on November 2, 1929 for the first meeting. Most are wearing dresses and hats; quite a few are sporting fashionable fur collars on their coats. The one lass clad in oil-spattered coveralls, flying helmet and goggles is Fay. There is a twinkle in her eyes and a slight smile on her face that never faded through the years.

This meeting was a harbinger of Fay's 72 years of continuous dedicated service to aviation and aerospace.

As The 99s Bicentennial Chairman in 1973, Fay created the dream of the Forest of Friendship. She wanted to create a living memorial that would last long after the bicentennial year. Her creation came to fruition as a joint project with the Kansas Forestry Service and the City of Atchison, Kansas and was officially dedicated on July 24, 1978, Amelia Earhart's birthday.

The trees come from all 50 states and over 30 countries where 99s live. More than one thousand granite plaques, each honoring an individual who has contributed to aviation, grace Memory Lane, the trail that winds through the Forest.

Memory Lane was the first National Recreation Trail designated by the Department of the Interior in Kansas. During the 15th Anniversary celebration in 1994, the Forest of Friendship Committee dedicated the Fay Gills Wells Gazebo to say "thank you" for her many years of devotion to this project and to aviation. The gazebo was financed by contributions from her many friends and admirers from around the world.

Besides her life and service in aviation, Fay also enjoyed a distinguished career as a foreign correspondent, Hollywood correspondent, White House correspondent, yachting writer, buyer of strategic war materiel for the U.S. (1942-48), wife, mother and grandmother. Throughout the years, she continued to dream up projects that typically enjoyed initial reactions such as "you can't do that," meaning "it can't be done." Consistently, Fay proved the nay-sayers wrong.

This "can do" attitude was honed by experiences and a long history of achievements. Fay was one of the first women hired to demonstrate and sell aircraft for the Curtiss Flying Service. She was the second woman to save her own life by bailing out of a crippled airplane with a parachute, which made her a member of the Caterpillar Club. She was the first American woman to pilot a Soviet civil aircraft and the first foreigner to own a glider in the Soviet Union. She made arrangements in Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, Russia for fueling depots and maintenance facilities for Wiley Post's solo round-the-world flight in 1933. In 1961, Fay was granted a patent for a folding table, specially designed for boats, but adaptable for any small space.

She was one of three women correspondents chosen to accompany President Nixon to China and Russia in 1982. These were both firsts for an American President as well as for Fay. In 1988, she was a featured speaker at the first World Aviation Education and Safety Congress in New Delhi, India.

Besides her abiding faith that a thing worth doing can be done, the other prominent characteristic that allowed her to accomplish the impossible was her ability to inspire and motivate others to do the impossible. In the words of the late Charter 99 Nancy Hopkins Tier, "Things get done when Fay says, 'This is a good idea...' Whenever she gets a bright idea, I know it's going to be carried out."

From Jacque Boyd: Whenever Fay would call I knew I'd have to set aside at least an hour. The conversations usually began with something like: "Dear, I have a project that I think would be perfect for you." Fay had high expectations, for those around her, and it was impossible not to give 100 percent when working with her.

Fay always had a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face. Her optimism and zest for life was catching.

From Kay Roam: I have incredibly fond memories of her, and her bright-eyed enthusiasm will certainly be missed. One of the funniest memories was at the National Air and Space Educational Congress in OKC around 1991 or thereabouts. I ran into her at the convention center during the afternoon, and she said she had to go to the motel (across the street) and rest and would I like to come with her. When we got to the room, the maid was just finishing cleaning up, so we went in and she climbed up on the bed and stretched out while I took a chair to visit.

After a few minutes, she looked around the room, started to giggle, and said, "This isn't my room. That's not my suitcase." She dug out her key and discovered that she actually belonged across the hall. We snuck over there, again made ourselves at home, and no one ever knew: until now!

We are exceptionally fortunate to have had Fay Gillis Wells in our lives as Ninety-Nines for the past 74 years. It is our charge, as members of this organization, to carry on her legacy, and the legacy of those who have gone before us, in continued service to the aviation community. May we do that with the same marvelous spirit and enthusiasm as Fay demonstrated to us.