21 July 1962

Dear Mother,

We flew. I couldn’t wait to get home tonight and get the kids in bed. I must have made 50 pots of coffee tonight. Surely the whole neighborhood smells the coffee and hears our whooping and hollering. The porch has been buzzing with people all night.[21] John is still tinkering with the plane out there. I don’t think either of us will sleep tonight.

Well, he flew and I flew! Yes, tell Daddy that those cloth-covered wings held me up in a gorgeous blue sky.[22] I could almost touch the puffy white clouds up here. It looked like heaven, and I expected the Good Lord to meet me up there. When I took off, I could see Dayton, and when I was coming in to land, I could see Columbus. Of course, I could also see John pacing back and forth by the car. Gary was pointing up at his mommy flying the plane. I don’t know if Sis stopped coloring long enough to notice that I was up in the sky. I’m sure John was worried, but we flew like a dream. He didn’t exactly say I could take it up, but oh well. I wasn’t about to let him have all the fun.[23] After all these hours of work, you bet I’ll take my turn. He had gone into wash his hands, or whatever men do in the little boy’s room, so I decided it was my turn.[24]

We climbed out like nothing I could imagine. Then I looked down and saw the farms around Springfield turning into patchwork. Reminded me of your quilt blocks—and the clouds were the batting. Daddy would love to see the corn from up there. The cows at Young’s dairy farm looked like toys whittled out of sticks. I had to keep watching the sky, though, because without a radio in the plane, I didn’t want to be surprised by traffic in the pattern.

John says we’ll work on getting some instruments in there later. Just a radio would be nice. Although…I’m glad I didn’t have to hear John’s complaining while I was up in the air. Sure beats housework any old day![25]

We’ll be down home soon, and hopefully, we can get you and Daddy both in the air soon. Tell everyone I love them. Maybe we can take Sherry, Butch, and Joy up to the big fly-in at Rockford with us next year.

Love,

Jennie

End Notes

[21] John Dyke fondly remembers his wife, Jennie, keeping the coffee pot full and always welcoming a stream of people onto their porch and in their house over the years (Dyke Personal Interview). Some of her idiomatic expressions are used throughout this letter.

[22] John Dyke related that his father-in-law was skeptical that such a flimsy, cloth-covered machine could hold them up in the air (Dyke Personal Interview).

[23] According to hemisphericity research, right-brained thinkers “enjoy novelty and impossibility,” are often “instantaneous,” and “comfortable with uncertainties” (Singh 68). Jennie Dyke, creative, spontaneous, and courageous, seems to epitomize the right-brained characteristics. Perhaps she “complemented” John’s left-brain strengths, as suggested by researcher Singh, making their relationship one of extreme differences but one that lasted over 45 years (Singh 70).

[24] Jennie Dyke did indeed take the airplane up when John went inside to wash up. Though she had no pilot’s license at the time, Jennie was determined to experience flying in the machine that she had helped to build (Dyke Personal Interview). For over 40 years, Jennie remained extremely involved in aviation activities, which included being President of the local Experimental Aircraft Association chapter, working with Aviation Trail and the historical landmarks related to the Wright Brothers, speaking at educational symposium’s, coordinating free flights for children to experience first flight through the Young Eagles program, and any cause aimed at involving entire families in wholesome activities related to aviation.

[25] Jennie Dyke often repeated this statement. Woman Pilot’s July 1999 issue ran an article on Jennie and quoted this statement. However, the actual issue is not available any more.