Amelia Earhart

In 1897, Amelia Mary Earhart was born in a little town in Kansas named Atchison. She was the daughter of a German immigrant, Samuel Stanton Earhart and his wife, also named Amelia. She had one younger sister, Grace.

Even at a young age, she was very adventurous. When she was seven, her family went to the St. Louis world fair. There was a roller coaster there, and she begged her mother to go on it with her. When her mother refused, her father agreed to take her on it. This excited her greatly, and she squealed with joy as she went flying the air.

She did not start off her grown up life as an aviator. When she was young, she volunteered for almost a year to be a nurse in a military hospital. It wasn’t until she went to an airplane show (which were popular at the time) that she realized she would like to become a pilot.

She became only the 16^th woman to be granted an aviation license. In 1928, she was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic- as a passenger. Then in 1932, she repeated the trip as the pilot. She was also the very first pilot to ever fly solo from Hawaii to California.

Amelia was not as successful, however on her attempted circumnavigation of the Earth. In 1937 she started her flight, but not even half-way through, her brand new plane gave out. Embarrassed, she traveled back to America from Hawaii.

A couple months later Amelia tried again. This time she made it 20,000 miles, but while attempting to radio a Coast Guard ship that would guide and help her, she disappeared and was pronounced dead in 1939 at the would-be age of 41. There have been rumors about how she died, based on remnants of things from her airplane, but nothing has been proven.

Tags: Katie, Biographies, Pre-World War II

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Gladys May Aylward started as a London parlour-maid. She became a Christian, and prayed to God continually to send her somewhere that she could be of use.  In the meantime, though, she stood on a box in the middle of the street, and preached the word of God to anyone who would listen.

Soon after, she felt a call to China. She inquired everywhere about how she could become involved in Chinese mission work. Missions advisers rejected her applications, saying that she was “unqualified to go”.  However she was determined, and worked for several months until she could earn enough money to board a train to Yangcheng and become a missionary. She had made arrangements such that she would be an apprentice to a Mrs. Jeannie Lawson.

When she got there, she started helping repair an old inn that Mrs. Lawson had bought and soon after it was built and ready to go. They named it “The Inn of Eight Happinesses”. However, when she tried to advertise their inn for people to stay there, they fled on their mules. When Gladys asked their Chinese cook, Yang, why this was, he said that they were not used to white people and they called them the “Foreign devils”.

Soon after, Gladys took to grabbing the mules’ halter and steering it into the inn’s stable. That way the men would have no choice but to come to the inn and stay.  After she started that, many other muleteers followed suit.  Soon, the Inn of Eight Happinesses was thriving. Mrs. Lawson spoke of God in the dining room, while Gladys washed dishes and talked to Yang.

Soon Jeannie Lawson died in an accident, and Yang took over the story-telling, and Gladys did all of the chores. She soon become very well known and loved, and was appointed chief foot inspector by the mandarin of Yangcheng.

Soon after, war started between Japan and China. Fighter planes dropped bombs all over Yangcheng. By this time Gladys had taken in many young children. She knew it was not safe for them to be there while the war was on, so she made arrangements for them at an orphanage in Sian, and they trekked for a very long time on a very arduous journey, and made it to Sian in little more than 2 weeks.

Gladys Aylward died at the age of 67, in Taiwan, having become a Chinese citizen, and having led a miraculous life.

Tags: Katie, Biographies, Pre-World War II,

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