Gene Nora Jessen
{{Short description|American aviator (1937–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
File:Seven Members of the First Lady Astronaut Trainees in 1995 - GPN-2002-000196.jpg Pilot Eileen Collins are (from left) Gene Nora Jessen; Wally Funk; Jerrie Cobb; Jerri Truhill; Sarah Ratley; Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman.]]
Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen (January 10, 1937 – May 21, 2024) was an American aviator and a member of Mercury 13. Jessen worked throughout her career as a flight instructor, demonstration pilot, advisor to the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and president of the Ninety-Nines. Jessen also wrote about flying and the history of women in flight. Together with Wally Funk, Jessen was one of the last two surviving members of Mercury 13, until her death in 2024.
Biography
Jessen was born in Springfield, Illinois, on January 10, 1937,{{cite web |title=Gene Nora Jessen: Much More than the Woman in Space Program |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/gene-nora-jessen |website=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=30 May 2024 |date=23 April 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/the-vintage-space/gene-nora-jessen-the-mercury-13-pilot-never-wanted-to-fly-in-space-3f4dbe4642f|title = Gene Nora Jessen, the "Mercury 13" Pilot Never Wanted to Fly in Space|date = March 12, 2020}}{{cite web |title=Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen Papers |url=https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.2023.0052 |website=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=30 May 2024}} and grew up in Chicago.{{Cite news|last=Duffy|first=Beverley|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47082953/the-gazette/|title=Women Find Flying Easy, Aviatrix Says|date=November 19, 1964|work=The Gazette|access-date=March 21, 2020|pages=18}} Jessen's father was a bank teller with a seventh grade education. Her mother was a writer.{{cite web |last1=Mooallem |first1=Jon |title=A Pioneering Aviator and 'Astro-Not' |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/gene-nora-jessen-pioneer-aviator-dead-87-dd960d2f?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1 |website=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=25 June 2024}} She began flying while in her junior year of high school.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47013032/the-oklahoma-daily/|title=Coed Pilot Named New 'Sky Queen' at Flying Meet|date=May 7, 1957|work=The Oklahoma Daily|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=5|via=Newspapers.com}} During that time, she joined the Civil Air Patrol, where one of the students she flew with allowed her to fly the plane sometimes and told her that she was a "natural."{{Cite news|last=Sanders|first=Flo|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47013986/the-norman-transcript/|title=A 'Natural' -- That's OU's Sky Queen|date=May 29, 1957|work=The Norman Transcript|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=4|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/gene-nora-jessen-mercury-13-nasa-astronaut-women-netflix-movie-884169|title=Mercury 13: Gene Nora Jessen on Netflix's new documentary about the women who were tested for spaceflight in 1961|last=Godlewski|first=Nina|date=April 16, 2018|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=March 20, 2020}} Jessen attended Oklahoma University (OU), where she continued to fly and also played cello in the school's symphony orchestra.{{Cite journal|date=October 1963|title=Roll Call: News and Events in the Lives of Sooner Alumni|url=https://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p17-23_1963v36n2_OCR.pdf|journal=Sooner Magazine|pages=22}} She was also in the school's flight club, known as the "Air Knockers."{{Cite news|last=Billingsley|first=Ann|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47026888/the-oklahoma-daily/|title=Students With 'Flying Bug' Join 'Air Knockers' Club|date=November 12, 1957|work=The Oklahoma Daily|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=3|via=Newspapers.com}} While still taking classes at OU, in 1959, Jessen became the first woman to work as a flight instructor for the school.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47025071/the-oklahoma-daily/|title=Coed Teaches Students to Fly|date=October 30, 1959|work=The Oklahoma Daily|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=10|via=Newspapers.com}} During her time at OU, she earned seven collegiate-level flying trophies. Jessen graduated from OU in 1961. Also in 1961, Jessen was one of 13 women to go through astronaut training with the Mercury 13.{{Cite magazine|date=June 28, 1963|title=The U.S. Team is Still Warming Up the Bench|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00sEAAAAMBAJ&q=life%20magazine%20gene%20nora%20stumbough&pg=PA32|magazine=LIFE|volume=54|issue=26|pages=32}} Wally Funk was the person who told Jessen about the astronaut testing and soon after finding out about the program, Jessen applied with her flying credentials.{{Cite book|last=Ackmann|first=Martha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sD92d6oiplYC&q=life%20magazine%20gene%20nora%20stumbough&pg=PT51|title=The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|year=2003|isbn=978-1-58836-037-3|location=New York|language=en}} She was accepted and travelled to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico for five days of physical examinations, under the supervision of
Dr. Randy Lovelace, who was asked by NASA to help determine the suitability of women to participate in the space program. Lovelace had previously developed a battery of tests for NASA that were administered to the Mercury Seven. After passing the tests, Jessen was invited to participate in the next round of evaluations held in Pensacola, Florida. After her boss disapproved her request to travel to the next phase of testing, quit her job as a flight instructor. Days before travelling, she received a telegram stating that the Mercury 13 program was cancelled.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47032242/tyler-morning-telegraph/|title=Woman Pilots Lack Know-How to be Lady Astronauts|date=June 28, 1963|work=Tyler Morning Telegraph|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=6|via=Newspapers.com}}
Jessen went to work for Beechcraft in 1962 and moved to Wichita, Kansas.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47032401/the-gazette/|title=To Describe Her Training as Astronaut|date=November 15, 1964|work=The Gazette|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=8|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47032543/quad-city-times/|title=They're Up in the Air|date=October 5, 1962|work=Quad-City Times|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=30|via=Newspapers.com}} Jessen would pilot planes for demonstration purposes for the company.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47032088/the-news-journal/|title=New Beech Airplane|date=September 11, 1962|work=The News Journal|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=45|via=Newspapers.com}} She later embarked on a 90-day cross-country flight with fellow pilot, Joyce Case, in a Beechcraft Musketeer airplane.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47032796/pittsburgh-post-gazette/|title='Musketeers' to Land Here|date=September 10, 1962|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=March 20, 2020|pages=29}} She eventually was rated to fly the entire line of their aircraft.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uwosh.edu/mercury13/bios/jessen.php|title=Gene Nora Sumbough Jessen|website=Mercury 13|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427133328/http://www.uwosh.edu/mercury13/bios/jessen.php|archive-date=April 27, 2016|access-date=March 21, 2020}} She met her husband, Bob Jessen, at Beechcraft and after their marriage, they moved to Boise, Idaho in 1967 where they established their own Beechcraft dealership.{{Cite web|url=https://idahoaviation.com/hall-of-fame|title=Idaho Aviation Hall of Fame|website=Idaho Aviation Association|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512101118/https://idahoaviation.com/hall-of-fame|archive-date=May 12, 2019|access-date=March 21, 2020}} Jessen spent most of the 70s and 80s raising their son and daughter. Jessen also authored several books documenting the lives and achievements of female aviators.
Jessen was on the women's advisory committee to the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and had been appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Between 1988 and 1990, she was President of the Ninety-Nines.{{Cite journal|last=Roe|first=Bobbi|date=July 2007|title=Mercury 13 Receive Honorary Doctorates From the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh|url=https://www.ninety-nines.org/pdf/newsmagazine/20070708.pdf|journal=99 News|volume=33|issue=4|pages=7}} In 2007, Jessen and the other Mercury 13 women received honorary doctorates at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO). This was the first time they had been honored as a group.{{Cite news|last=Wolff|first=Patricia|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47081441/the-oshkosh-northwestern/|title=Mercury 13 Land at UWO|date=May 12, 2007|work=The Oshkosh Northwestern|access-date=March 21, 2020|pages=1|via=Newspapers.com}} and {{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47081204/the-oshkosh-northwestern/|title=Mercury 13: Women to Receive Honorary Doctorates at UWO|date=May 12, 2007|work=The Oshkosh Northwestern|access-date=March 21, 2020|pages=3|via=Newspapers.com}}
In 2017, Jessen began to experience macular degeneration in her left eye and was forced to stop flying.
Jessen died on May 21, 2024, in Meridian, Idaho at the age of 87.{{cite web | last=Godlewski | first=Meg | title=Remembering the Legacy of Gene Nora Jessen | website=FLYING Magazine | date=May 28, 2024 | url=https://www.flyingmag.com/news/remembering-the-legacy-of-gene-nora-jessen/ | access-date=May 29, 2024}}{{Cite web |title=Gene Nora Jessen Obituary - 2024 - Nampa Funeral Home Yraguen Chapel |url=https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/31604454/gene-nora-jessen |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Tribute Archive}}
Writing
Jessen's 2018 book, Sky Girls, is a chronicle of the 1929 Powder Puff Derby.{{Cite journal|last=Siegel|first=Henrey|date=2019|title=Sky Girls|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=135032220&site=ehost-live|journal=Aviation History|volume=29|issue=5|pages=68|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}} Jessen personally interviewed many of the original pilots who flew in the race. Sky Girls was previously published under the title The Powder Puff Derby of 1929.{{Cite book|last=Jessen|first=Gene Nora|title=Sky girls: the true story of the first women's cross-country air race|date=2018|publisher=Sourcebooks, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-4926-6447-5|language=en|oclc=1064663847}} Publishers Weekly called the first version of the book a "well-wrought bit of Americana."{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-57071-769-7|title=The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race|website=Publishers Weekly|access-date=March 21, 2020}}
Selected bibliography
- {{Cite book|title=Sixty and counting: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Collection, 1929–1989|publisher=Ninety-Nines|year=1989|location=Oklahoma|oclc=44424012}}
- {{Cite book|title=The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race|publisher=Sourcebooks|year=2002|isbn=978-1-57071-769-7|location=Naperville, Illinois}}
- {{Cite book|title=The Fabulous Flight of the Three Musketeers: A Rollicking Airplane Adventure With a Few Thrills|publisher=BookSurge Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4392-3151-7|location=Charleston, South Carolina}}
- {{Cite book|title=Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race|publisher=Sourcebooks|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4926-6447-5|location=Naperville, Illinois}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/gene-nora-jessen-recalls-astronaut-testing#stream/0 Gene Nora Jessen Recalls Astronaut Testing]
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{{Mercury 13}}
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Category:Aviators from Chicago
Category:People from Boise, Idaho
Category:People from Wichita, Kansas
Category:University of Oklahoma alumni
Category:American women aviators