First Officers:
Chairman - Bonnie Seymour
Vice Chairman – Kay Schlinkman
Secretary – May Haskell
Treasurer – Marilyn Andrews
Membership – Helen Foeger
Reporter – Lois Brown
Publicity – Shirley Weise
 

LAKE TAHOE CHAPTER HISTORY

Lake Tahoe Chapter was founded in the summer of 1975 to meet the needs of women pilots in the Truckee Tahoe Area.  After a few short organizational meetings, 14 members were presented with a charter on October 25^th 1975  at a gala party attended by nearly 100 friends from the Southwest Section.  The first snowstorm of the season was an unexpected guest!

The charter was presented by Southwest Governor Marion Barnick and the first officers were immediately installed by Del Hass, Chairman of the Reno Area Chapter.

In order to establish an identity and bring an awareness of women in aviation to our community we attended airport board meetings and served on the Chamber of Commerce Aviation Committee.  We have assisted the Chamber with Aviation events and public relations for our airport.  We began an aviation column in local newspapers.  As a result, additional special feature articles about women in aviation have been published.  We devised and printed a membership brochure outlining the goals and rewards of membership in the 99s.  We started our own monthly newsletter, “The Tahoe Air Waves.”

In anticipation of the renewal of “Airport Open House and Fly In Day”, we made our own uniforms.  Then we actively participated in the planning and coordination of the Truckee Fly In Air Show.  At the “show” we had our first annual money making event; a snack bar.  From the proceeds we ordered and donated coloring books for the local schools.  Finally, we hosted several FAA Safety Seminars.

Our second year we continued all our previous commitments with several new ones.  The most meaningful was our participation in the local schools’ summer aviation program.  We obtained and donated aerospace education materials as well as the 99s coloring books.  We flew the teachers around the area and then to a famous restaurant for lunch.  The culmination of the project was to fly all of the more than 200 children enrolled in summer school from First through Fifth grade around their community.  This was accomplished in one day with the help of 99s and general aviation pilots.  Several airplanes took off and flew an established route pointing our familiar sights and explaining some of the basics of flight.  Those waiting their turn on the ground were given personalized tours of the airport and talked and listened to their classmates in the air over the Unicom.  Those children flown by 99s were surprised and impressed to see women pilots.