1. Linda Finch began her career managing nursing homes in her twenties and owned several nursing homes in her thirties.
54 Facts About Linda Finch
1. 2.
Linda Finch became a pilot and purchased an airplane that she used in her nursing-home business.
3.
Linda Finch has restored vintage aircraft and has participated in air shows and airplane races.
4.
Linda Finch became a member of the Confederate Air Force.
5.
Linda Finch is best known for her 1997 World Flight, which recreated Amelia Earhart's world-record attempt.
6.
Linda Finch flew a restored 1935 Lockheed Electra 10E, which was the type of plane that Earhart flew in 1937 on her around-the-world attempt.
7.
Linda Finch's Electra was modified, with a Global Positioning System, increased fuel capacity, and modern communications equipment.
8.
Linda Finch followed Earhart's route as closely as she could and completed the 26,000-mile trip around the world in 73 days.
9.
Linda Finch Dueler was born in San Antonio on March 13,1951, to Mary Beth and Leslie Dueler.
10.
Linda Finch grew up with two brothers in Highland Hills, a neighborhood in San Antonio.
11.
When Linda Finch was a teen, the family moved outside the city limits to a neighborhood with good schools where they would have a better standard of living.
12.
Linda Finch left John Marshall High School at the age of 16.
13.
Linda Finch worked as a bookkeeper in New Jersey, Texas, South Dakota, Montana, and Illinois.
14.
Linda Finch studied accounting to further her career at Southwest Texas State University and she earned her high school equivalency certificate.
15.
At the age of 16, Linda Finch married an Army soldier who was about the age of 19.
16.
Linda Finch's husband left for Vietnam after they were married.
17.
Linda Finch was married a second time, during which her son Leslie was born about 1977 in San Antonio.
18.
Linda Finch's third child is her granddaughter was born on about 1995 and whom she adopted.
19.
Linda Finch lived in San Antonio, where she owned a 300-acre farm and cattle ranch near Mason, Texas.
20.
Linda Finch became Linda Finch Doctor when they were married in the summer of 1998 at their ranch outside of Dallas.
21.
Linda Finch has owned and operated retirement communities, nursing homes, and a construction firm that manufactured prefabricated buildings.
22.
Linda Finch purchased her first nursing home in 1979, followed soon after by a second nursing home, both of which Finch received loans from family members to help finance the purchases.
23.
Linda Finch acquired five more nursing homes over the next two years, with a total of 750 residents.
24.
Linda Finch owns the company Care Centers Management Corporation, a nursing home management company, that in 1997 owned four nursing homes and one retirement property.
25.
About the time that Linda Finch was landing at Oakland International Airport on May 28,1997, completing her World Flight 1997, her name was added to a suit filed by the Texas Attorney General's office.
26.
Linda Finch stated that any deficiencies were corrected by that time.
27.
Linda Finch saved up the money, $20 at a time, for flying lessons, having dreamed of flying since she was a teenager.
28.
Linda Finch was particularly interested in the gull-winged World War II Corsair fighter plane.
29.
Around 1974, Linda Finch began learning how to fly, and she earned her pilot's license in 1979.
30.
Linda Finch purchased a Beechcraft airplane to fly across Texas to conduct business.
31.
Linda Finch then purchased a North American T-6 Texan, a World War II trainer.
32.
Linda Finch restored it in the 1980s and became a member of the Confederate Air Force to begin participating in air shows.
33.
In 1997, Linda Finch planned to complete the 29,000 nautical-mile flight around the world that Amelia Earhart attempted in 1937.
34.
Linda Finch's flight, called World Flight 1997, marked the 60th anniversary of Earhart's failed effort and the centennial of her birth.
35.
Linda Finch acquired the type of plane that Earhart flew, a 1935 Lockheed Electra 10E.
36.
Linda Finch found the plane she would acquire sitting on an airstrip in Wisconsin.
37.
Linda Finch acquired it in 1994 for $330,000, after three years of negotiations with the owner.
38.
Linda Finch is said to have spent $1 million refurbishing the plane.
39.
The navigational equipment for the Electra and the plane that flew along with Linda Finch were donated by the Universal Avionics Systems Corporation out of Tucson.
40.
Linda Finch rebuilt and refurbished the plane over two years, guided by Lockheed's manufacturing plans and photographs of the Electra 10.
41.
Linda Finch flew back and forth to Breckenridge, Colorado, where stronger landing gear was installed and maintenance was performed on the wing tips, engine cowlings, and gas tanks at an aviation repair shop.
42.
The escort plane monitored the weather for Linda Finch by flying one or two hours ahead of her.
43.
Linda Finch was in the air for 225 hours while flying 26,004 nautical miles and stopping 34 times in 19 countries.
44.
Linda Finch's stops included the Martin Luther King School for Girls in Dakar and, in Egypt, at the Queen of Hatshepsut temple.
45.
Linda Finch's route differed from Earhart's route in a couple of ways.
46.
In 1997, Linda Finch avoided countries that were dangerous due to the country's political climate, like Myanmar and Libya.
47.
In planning her route, Linda Finch had to ensure that every city that she stopped in would have the type of fuel needed for the Electra 10.
48.
Linda Finch used the internet to convey her feelings and respond to correspondence.
49.
When she flew over Howland Island, Linda Finch honored Earhart and Noonan by releasing three wreaths from the plane.
50.
Linda Finch landed at Oakland International Airport that day, where she was met by a large crowd.
51.
People communicated with her via e-mail and Linda Finch responded with answers to their questions.
52.
Linda Finch met with schoolchildren in the United States, Africa, and countries around the world.
53.
Between May 16 through May 20,1994, the Texas Department of Human Services made onsite visits to the Dublin Nursing Center in Dublin, Texas, owned by Linda Finch, to investigate the facility for violating the state's Health and Safety Code.
54.
In 1997, Linda Finch was sued by Julie Markel, who had been an employee and friend, over allegations related to the nursing homes owned by Linda Finch.