Ruth Martin Jefford was an air taxi pilot in the US state of Alaska and the first woman licensed to be a flight instructor out of Merrill Field.
14 Facts About Ruth Jefford
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Ruth Jefford was the first woman in Alaska to receive the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.
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Ruth Jefford was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.
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Ruth Jefford Martin was born July 16,1914, in Des Moines, Iowa.
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Ruth Jefford's mother arranged flying lessons for the 16-year-old Ruth when they lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she learned to solo in instructor Jim Hurst's Arrow Sport airplane.
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Fellow pilot Jack Ruth Jefford recruited Hurst for a job with the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
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Ruth Jefford married Hurst, and in 1941 the couple moved to Alaska, where he continued with the CAA.
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Harrison, learning that Ruth Jefford was a violinist, involved her in the local United Service Organizations efforts to entertain the military.
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Ruth Jefford became part of the Red Cross Motor Corps during the war, delivering medical supplies.
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In 1971, Ruth married Jack Jefford, and they formed the Valley Air Transport.
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Ruth Jefford spent the next 38 years as the symphony's concert master.
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Ruth M Jefford died on January 9,2007, and was buried at Anchorage Memorial Park.
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Ruth Jefford received the Federal Aviation Administration's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in 2006, the first woman in Alaska to receive it.
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Ruth Jefford was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.