Flying legend Suzanne Parish dies

While mentioned in another thread, I thought she deserved better mention.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/05/well-known_aviator_and_air_zoo.html

Well-known aviator and Air Zoo co-founder Suzanne Parish dies at 87
By Dave Person | Kalamazoo Gazette
May 13, 2010, 10:06PM

KALAMAZOO — Suzanne DeLano Parish, the granddaughter of Upjohn Co. founder W.E. Upjohn and a well-known aviator who recently was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for her service with the Women Airforce Service Pilots, died Wednesday in Palm Springs, Calif., where she had spent the winter.

She was 87.

Parish, a lifelong Kalamazoo resident who was co-founder and vice chairwoman of the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, better known as the Air Zoo, and a member of the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame, had been in failing health, said her son Will Parish.

“Our mother was a woman whom I and all my siblings admired for living a life of many passions,” he said.

“She was an avid pilot, loving to perform loops and barrel rolls and fly-overs at air shows around the country. She was an accomplished equestrian who competed very successfully in many local horse shows for years.

“She loved acting in local theaters and was quite well known for portraying her characters vividly and with great creativity,” he said.

“She will always be an inspiration to us.”

Parish, for whom the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre’s Suzanne D. Parish Theatre is named, was determined to become a WASP when the group was organized during World War II, but wasn’t allowed to apply until she turned 21. By that time she had logged 350 hours of aviation training — 10 times the amount required — in preparation for the experience.

The WASPS, who were awarded the gold medals — the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress — at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in March, flew airplanes stateside, either in training exercises or to test them to make sure they were safe after repairs had been made.

Parish traveled from California to Washington to accept her medal in person, Will Parish said. “That was her last big trip,” he said.

Parish, also a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association Warbirds Hall of Fame in Oshkosh, Wis., co-founded the Air Zoo in 1977 with her former husband, Preston “Pete” Parish.

The pink P-40 Warhawk that she flew in numerous air shows for over a quarter of a century, and with which she has long been identified, hangs from the ceiling at the main entrance to the Air Zoo.

Parish flew the Warhawk until she was in her 60s, and then continued to fly less demanding airplanes, such as her Beechcraft T-34, which she also had painted pink, after that.

Parish’s survivors include two daughters, Barbie Parish, of Colorado, and Katie Miller, of the Richland area; three sons, Will Parish, of California, Pres Parish, of Traverse City, and Dave Parish, of Washington; and 14 grandchildren.

http://www.airzoo.org/page.php?menu_id=48

The Air Zoo’s founding organization, the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, has built a reputation of national renown. Founded in 1977, it opened to the public on November 18, 1979.

But the Air Zoo had its beginnings much earlier. In the late 1940s, it seemed that Suzanne and Pete Parish (co-founders of the Air Zoo) were content to leave airplanes behind. Fresh from a stint in the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), Sue met and married Pete, a former Marine Air Corps. In 1959, Pete came home one evening and announced he had purchased half an interest in a plane. It was a single-engine 35C Bonanza, and his partner was the chief pilot for The Upjohn Company.

Before long, they purchased a Stearman. Next came an AT-6 like Sue had flown as a WASP. Then came a Grumman Wildcat. When word traveled through the grapevine about a partially assembled P-40 in Addison, Texas, Sue couldn’t resist. It was the combat plane she had always dreamed of flying as a WASP.

It was becoming clear that Sue and Pete wanted to share their enthusiasm about World War II airplanes with people who enjoyed these historic flying machines. Then a friend made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: start a museum, and he would give them his Grumman Bearcat. The museum at 3101 East Milham Road became popularly known as the Air Zoo because the collection included a Wildcat, Hellcat, Bearcat and Flying Tiger.

The initial collection was comprised of seven aircraft and a limited number of artifacts. Three years after opening its doors, the museum had developed a relationship with the Guadalcanal Campaign Veterans Association, and in 1982, it was selected as the home for the Association’s artifacts.

Sue Parrish & her P-40:

Thread on WIX:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=36079