Date: March 14-16, 2013

Click HERE to link to WAI.

Check Out The Pics From Our Ground-Breaking 2012 Event

Zollie C. Steakley, Attorney At Law

Blue Goose Ranch

Texas National Bank of Sweetwater

Nolan County Bar Association

Judge David Hall

Hall Law Firm

Longhorn Motel

TSTC

Hendrick Cancer Center – Dr. Victor J Hirsch

Abilene Aero

Roscoe State

First Financial Bank

KXOX

Wetsel & Carmichael, LLP

November 12, 2011- Another great day to remember!

Ten different age groups were given awards

Participants included children, babies in strollers, dogs on leashes, school groups, and others. Thank you to all who joined for this special Veterans Day Celebration.

Check out the pictures taken at this event!

• The National WASP WWII Museum began in 2002 with the vision of two women, WASP Deanie Bishop Parrish and her daughter, Nancy Parrish. They believed that the history of the Women Airforce Service Pilots should be showcased at Avenger Field on the grounds where most of the WASP trained during World War II.
• Sweetwater community leaders learned about the vision for the Museum during a presentation at a meeting in the fall of 2002. On December 9^th of that year, a steering committee met for the first time to investigate the Museum’s feasibility. Officers for the steering committee were elected at that time.
• Incorporation documents were presented to the steering committee in January 2003, and the Museum was incorporated in the state of Texas in July 2003. The Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce supported the Museum both financially and with key leadership.
• In September 2003 the Museum Board of Directors leased 55 acres of land at Avenger Field from the City of Sweetwater. The two hundred-year lease included the land as well as a hangar that had been built in 1929 to serve as the first Sweetwater Municipal Airport.
• In 2004 the Board of Directors recruited new members to support the Museum, developed a master plan around architectural drawings, mailed the first official newsletters, and continued to seek funds to build a nationally recognized memorial to the WASP.
• Renovations to the hangar began in early 2005 culminating in the first National WASP WWII Museum Fly-In. Local, state, and national volunteers worked long hours in order to open the Museum in May 2005. The outside of the hangar was painted, and the inside of the hangar was fully renovated to house the exhibits.
• A grand opening was held on May 28, the same day that the first class of WASP graduated 62 years earlier. To signify the opening of the Museum, United States, Texas, and WASP flags were raised for the first time on the 3 donated flag poles in front of the museum. Donated flags from the fifty states and two foreign countries representing the origins of the WASP were hung inside the Museum. Twenty-nine WASP attended the inaugural event and placed their handprints in cement to commemorate their presence. A bronze statue entitled “The Graduate,” created by former instructor and WASP Dot Swain Lewis and donated by the WASP, was also unveiled.
• In 2006 the Museum grew with new members, monetary donations as well as donations of historical artifacts, new exhibits, and the advent of the first Homecoming at Hangar One, now held annually, on Memorial Day weekend. The highlight of the first Homecoming was the opening of the exhibit depicting a bay, the living quarters of the WASP while they were in training.
• As membership and interest in the museum grew, directors hired an executive director in 2007.  In 2008 the Museum began to register the extensive collection, to find new marketing and fundraising avenues, to increase membership, and to build new exhibits.
• As a continually evolving project, the Museum has grown each year: 2009 saw the addition of a PT-19 display and 2010 improvements included an exhibit featuring Jacqueline Cochran memorabilia. Greater national interest, addition of new historical artifacts, and increasing excitement for the story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II enable the Museum to continue moving toward achieving its goals.

Run for the WASP

Cost is $25 per person/$20 for students and military personnel.  Cost on race day is $25  for any runner or walker.

Register here:

www.timingspecialist.com/register/index.php?event_id=1279306255

The Museum will be open for participants and their families as well as other visitors. Special guests will include active-duty Air Force pilots and a WASP, who will be available for autographs and pictures. Watch for a fly-over by a WWII airplane at the start of the race.

Timing Specialists of Big Spring will provide expert timing.  Awards for the overall male and female runner and the seven classes in ten year age groups will be given shortly after the race’s end.

Enjoy a flat and fast course around the Sweetwater Texas State Technical College (TSTC) campus or the walk from the Museum to the WASP wishing well, located on the TSTC campus.

Check out the fun pics taken from this event.

Betty Jo and Dot at the Wishing Well

Special Thanks to…

Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce

Wal-Mart

Creative Graphic Solutions

Dyess Air Force Base Personnel

Brookshires Food Store

Longhorn Liquor

Jack’s Liquor

Higginbotham-Bartlett Co.

State Representative Susan King

Sweetwater Floral

Sweetwater Reporter News

Sweetwater Woman’s Forum

Sweetwater Machine & Welding

Sweetwater Municipal Band

All of our Great Volunteers

Sponsors for Homecoming 2010

Gold Medal Sponsors

Dodge Jones Foundation

Lawrence Brothers

McCoy’s Funeral Home

Texas National Bank

Silver Medal Sponsors

Altezza, Inc.

Van Baucum Real Estate

Bennett & Associates

Jeannette & Loren Bryant

Carol & John Paul Cain

Cox Jewelry

Kathy Dickson

First Financial Bank

Peter Fox

Linda & Bill Hunter

JoAnne & Marvin Keenan

Kathy & Allen King

Ludlum Measurements

Mustang Tire

Rolling Plains Hospital

Sandra Spears

Beth & Homer Taylor

Texas State Technical College

Micki Wright & Sharron Davis

Thank You WASP for Coming Home

to

Avenger Field

Meriem Anderson   44-4                                       Jean McCreery  44-10

Marie Shelton Bray  44-4                                     Betty Jo Streff Reed  44-7

Edna Modisette Davis  43-5                                 Florence “Shutsy” Reynolds  44-5

Mary Helen Chapman Foster  44-3                       Flora Belle Smith Reece  44-4

Eleanor “Gundy” Gunderson   44-7                      Mary Alice Putnam Vandeventer 44-7

Ann Morgan Hazzard  43-7                                   Pauline Cutler White  44-5

Elaine Harmon   44-9                                             Lucille Doll Wise  44-7

Dot Swain Lewis  44-5                                          “Marty” Martin Wyall  44-10

Lillian Lorraine Yonally  43-7