ROGERS — The Rogers Unit of the Women’s National Aeronautics Association was formed on May 27,1948, with 12 charter members. The first officers of the group were: Mrs. J.O. Rand, president; Mrs. Buddy McGregor, vice president; Miss Louise Jefferson, second vice president; Mrs.

Gloria Adams, secretary; Mrs. W.T.

McWhorter, treasurer; Mrs. Ralph McGregor, parliamentarian; and Miss Doris Larimore, corresponding secretary.

In 1949, at a meeting of the WNAA in the home of Miss Elsa Juhre (Schmitz), Mrs. F. G. Larimore (Elizabeth) was elected president.

Elizabeth Griffith Larimore was a licensed pilot with service overseas during WWI in the women’s division. She was the sister-in-law to Doris Larimore, who also served in the military as a ferry pilot during World War II. (Rogers Daily News, 7-1-1950)

The most significant contribution of the WNAA and the subject of this article was the organizing and sponsoring of the first Wing Scout troop in the state. The Girl Scout troop, the Wing Scouts, was formed in Rogers on April 7, 1949. Members of the “Cloud Busters,” as the troop called itself, had to be first class scouts of high school age. All of the original 17 members had had flight time in varying amounts, and all received instruction in the principles of procedures of flying. In addition to its varied social activities, the troop took part in numerous functions connected with flying.

The original “Cloud Busters” were organized and led by Miss Doris Larimore and Miss Louise Jefferson, both members of theWomen’s National Aeronautics Association. Two of the first officers of the group were Dorothy Hamilton (Lynch), president, and Carol Decker, patrol leader. The first scout to be awarded a rating was Sherryden Green, who won the technician’s rating for thoroughly understanding engine and instrumental operation. The first member to actually solo was Joyce Hale. In the 1950s, she was working to save money for college, but her parents gave her enough money for 10 hours of lessons. She soloed at the age of 16 before she learned to drive a car.

(E-mail info in April 2003 to Marie Demeroukas of the Rogers Historical Museum from Joyce Hale of Pea Ridge, who served two years as president of the Wing T’s)

At the time the Wing Scouts were born, interest in flying was high, and the Rogers airport was a booming operation. The economy in northwest Arkansas was dependent on the production of broiler chickens, and the local hatcheries could not produce enough baby chicks. To solve the problem, baby chicks were flown into the Rogers airport from the eastern states. In 1948 alone, more than four million chicks were unloaded from planes in Rogers.

The Wing Scouts were organized as a Girl Scout troop, but it was much more than that. It was basedon flying, but was more like a high school sorority that performed many community services. Doris Larimore insisted on the girls learning proper etiquette in all phases of social life. The scouts also performed projects to aid the poor in the area with visits to their homes.

This was a taste of reality for the mostly affluent girls in the troop, for some of the needy had homes with only dirt floors.

Clarice Strode Moore, one of the original members of the Wing Scouts, said that she didn’t appreciate it until years later, but these two women, Doris Larimore and Louise Jefferson, invested a tremendous amount of their time and life in the Wing Scouts (later the Wing T’s), entertaining, developing andeducating the girls. They worked to instill in the young high school girls the self-confidence, knowledge, social consciousness and citizenship necessary for responsible adulthood. Doris Larimore performed this valuable service starting in 1949 and continued for 30 years until the final class in 1979. Many of the later members were daughters of the original members of the Wing Scouts, including Mary Elizabeth Schopp, the daughter of Clarice Strode Moore.

Dorothy Hamilton Lynch provided the remarkable photo of the original Wing Scout troop made at the airport in 1950. Dorothy was the first president of the group, and at the time her parents owned the Green Castle Café at 216 W.

Walnut. The next year in 1951, Dorothy Hamilton began working for T.E.

Harris and his sons at the American National Bank on South First Street where the Rabbit’s Lair is today. She continued her amazing career at the bank for the next 50 years. The name of the bank changed through the years from the American National Bank to the First National Bank, and finally to Arvest. Dorothy was the trust officer at the Rogers’ Arvest when she retired in 2001 and now lives in Pea Ridge.

James Hales is a retired homebuilder and historian who has written two books about the history of Rogers. His latest book, The Fabulous 1960s in Rogers, Arkansas, chronicles the exciting changes that occurred in the decade of the 1960s.

Area, Pages 11 on 01/20/2010