EILEEN VOLLICK

When Canada’s first woman to earn a pilot license was born, no one had yet flown in Canada.

Mary Eileen Vane Riley born August 2, 1908 in Wiarton was the third daughter of Marie Theresa (Baines)and James Riley.Marjorie and Gladys were Eileen’s older sisters.Eileen never knew her father James, who was killed in a mining accident in northern Ontario shortly before her birth.

In 1911 Eileen’s mother married George Wesley Vollick of Hamilton and they subsequently had three children, Roy, Marie and Audrey.

After completing high school, Eileen was employed as a textile analyst and assistant designer with the Hamilton Cotton Company. A fascinated Eileen watched the building of the aerodrome for Jack Elliott’s Air Service. Observing the Curtiss Jenny’s early flights Eileen decided she wanted to fly. At eighteen, she inquired if a “girl could fly” and was advised to apply to Canadian licensing authorities for permission. A few months later, she received permission, provided she was nineteen. Males could be licensed at seventeen.

Eighteen-year-old Eileen and 35 male students enrolled in the first class of flight students. On March 13, 1928 Eileen, and only ten of the male students, passed the flight test for a Private Pilot License. She was issued license number 77. Eileen became an avid flyer and was invited to many Canadian and American exhibitions where she performed aerobatic demonstrations.

In March 1929 Eileen attended the dedication of Holmes Airport in New York City where she met James Hopkin, a steam-fitter. On June 19, 1929 Eileen married James at St. Patrick’s Church Rectory in Hamilton and returned to Elmhurst to live. Following her marriage Eileen gave up flying. She and James had two daughters, Joyce (Miles) and Eileen (Barnes).

On September 27, 1968 Eileen died at the age of sixty in Elmhurst, New York and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

EILEEN VOLLICK’S HONOURS

In 1978 Eileen Vollick was inducted into the International Forest of Friendship in the Memory Lane section of the park. The International Forest of Friendship is a beautiful park near Amelia Earhart’s birthplace, Atchison, Kansas and honours individuals from many countries who have made significant contributions to aviation.

Through Canada Post’s Picture Postage program, the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines created a stamp in Eileen’s honour. First Day covers were issued in Wiarton, Ontario on August 2, 2008.

The Wiarton Keppel International Airport named the Eileen Vollick Terminal building, on August 2, 2008, the 100^th anniversary of Eileen’s birth. A beautiful parkette has been created to surround the granite marker honouring Eileen’s achievement.

Compiled by Marilyn Dickson, Ph. D

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