Suzanne Parish

Parish was born in New York City, the daughter of Dorothy Upjohn DeLano Dalton{{cite news|title=Dorothy Dalton|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/17/obituaries/dorothy-dalton.html|work=The New York Times|date=17 July 1981}} and H. Allan DeLano. Parish was the maternal granddaughter of William E. Upjohn, the founder of The Upjohn Company, the Michigan pharmaceutical manufacturing company.{{cite web|title=Remembering an Aviation Legend: Sue Parish|url=http://www.airzoo.org/page.php?page_id=111|website=Air Zoo}}

In 1942, Parish attended Sarah Lawrence College.

Parish learned to fly in 1941, when she was 19 years old. From the time she was 19 to 21, she had accumulated 350 hours in the air.

When she was 21, Parish joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). She was in the 44-W-6 class{{cite web|title=WASP Class 44-W-6|url=http://www.twu.edu/library/class44-w-6.asp|website=TWU Libraries|publisher=Texas Woman's University|date=1944}} and was stationed at Bryan Army Air Base near Bryan, Texas, where she flew P-40, AT-6, and BT-13 planes.{{cite web|title=Women Airforce Service Pilots: Suzanne U. DeLano Parish|url=http://www.twu.edu/library/wasp/wasppdf/Parish.pdf|publisher=Texas Woman's University |website=Women Air Service Pilots Digital Archive}}

After the war, Parish attempted to get a job as a commercial pilot, to no avail. After marrying Pete Parish in 1948 she had five children and was a full-time mom. In 1958, when her husband purchased a share in a single engine 35C Bonanza, she decided to take up flying once more.{{cite news|last1=Klug|first1=Fritz|title=Suzanne Parish's passion for flight lives on at Air Zoo|url=http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/06/suzanne_parishs_passion_for_fl.html|work=MLive.com|date=17 June 2010}}

She and her husband soon purchased a Stearman, an AT-6, and a Grumman Wildcat. The last plane they purchased was the P-40.

In 1971, Parish was Vice President of Kal-Aero, Inc., the company she and her husband founded in Kalamazoo.

{{see|Air Zoo}}

In 1977, she and her husband co-founded the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, which came to be known as the Air Zoo, near the airport at Kalamazoo, Michigan. The nucleus of the collection was their own planes.

File:Air Zoo December 2019 037 (Sue Parish's flying suit and air show hat).jpg]]

Parish flew a pink P-40 Warhawk in several air shows for over 25 years, until she reached her 70s. Deciding that she could no longer handle the G-forces, she flew in her final air show in October of 1993. She continued to fly her Beechcraft Beechcraft T-34 Mentor.

File:Air Zoo December 2019 029 (Sue Parish's Curtiss P-40 Warhawk).jpg at the Air Zoo]]

Her signature pink P-40 hangs in the entrance to the Air Zoo.

In 1948, Parish married Preston "Pete" Parish.{{cite web|title=Preston S. "Pete" Parish (1919-)|url=http://www.airzoo.org/page.php?page_id=300|website=Air Zoo}} They had two daughters, Barbie Parish and Katie Miller, and three sons, Will Parish, Pres Parish, and Dave Parish. She also had 14 grandchildren. In 1991, the marriage ended in divorce.

Parish died on May 13, 2010, at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, California.

On November 2, 1977, President Jimmy Carter passed Public Law 95-202, which gave those that served in the WASP program military veteran status. They were previously considered civilians.{{cite news|title=Today marks the 70th anniversary of the deactivation of the WASP program|url=http://usnatarchives.tumblr.com/post/105690407566/today-marks-the-70th-anniversary-of-the|work=National Archives and Records Administration|date=20 December 2014}} In July 2009, President Barack Obama signed a bill that gave the WASPs the Congressional Gold Medal.{{cite news|title=WWII Female Pilots Honored With Gold Medal|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124533914|work=All Things Considered|publisher=NPR|date=10 March 2010}}{{cite book|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ40/pdf/PLAW-111publ40.pdf|title=123 Stat. 1958 Public Law 111-40: Women Airforce Service Pilots Congressional Gold Medal|date=1 July 2009|publisher=U.S. G.P.O.|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=437033643}}

• 1970: Kalamazoo Civic Theatre– Trustee
• 1979: Nazareth College – Board Member
• 1981: Holderness School – Board Member
• 1981: P-40 Warhawk Pilots Association – Past President, Historian (from 1981)
• 1985: Michigan Space Center – Board of Governors Member
• 1991: Kalamazoo Institute Arts – Board Member
• Flying Tigers Association – Life, Honorary affiliate
• Kalamazoo Civic Players – Member
• Warbirds American – Board Member, Member
• William DeLano Memorial Clinic, Offender Aid and Restoration Association – Board Member

• Air Zoo
• Jacqueline Cochran
• Women Airforce Service Pilots
• Women Airforce Service Pilots Badge
• Fifinella

• {{cite book|last1=Parish|first1=Sue|title=Sue Parish Memoirs|date=2012|publisher=Suzanne UpJohn DeLano Parish Trust|location=Kalamazoo, MI|isbn=978-0-979-86081-2|oclc=823241867}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Suzanne Parish}}

• [http://www.airzoo.org/page.php?page_id=111 Suzanne Parish] at Air Zoo
• [http://twudigital.cdmhost.com/cdm/search/collection/p214coll2/field/subjea/searchterm/Parish,%20Suzanne/mode/exact Suzanne Parish] at the [http://twudigital.cdmhost.com/cdm/landingpage/collection/p214coll2 Women's Airforce Service Pilots Digital Archive] at Texas Woman's University

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Category:1922 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel

Category:Aviators from New York (state)

Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni

Category:21st-century American women

Category:People from New York City