Nancy Nordhoff Dunnam
April 16, 1923 ~ March 12, 2017
Class: 44-W-7
Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.)
Assigned Bases: Moore Army Air Base (Mission, Tex.)
Planes flown: PT-17, BT-13, AT-6, C-45, UC-78

Nancy Anne Boyns Nordhoff was born in Seattle to Arthur and Thelma Nordhoff on April 16, 1923.

Raised in Madison Park, Nancy attended the Helen Bush School, Garfield High School, and both Whitman College and the University of Washington.

Before graduation, World War II called her to serve. Having her aviation license qualified Nancy to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots volunteer program in Sweetwater, Texas. She travelled to Texas in 1942 with her friend Carol Nicholson to join the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots.

Her job was to tow targets behind her plane for live gunnery practice by male fighter pilots. In 2010, she and her fellow WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington DC.

While in Texas she met and soon married her commanding officer, James J. Dunnam. After the war, Jim and Nancy moved to Bellevue to raise their two children, while helping her father operate Bellevue Airfield for over 40 years.

As the children grew, Nancy became a member of the Junior League, the Child Hearing League, and volunteered at Overlake Hospital taking newborn baby pictures. She was an early and active supporter of Planned Parenthood, the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Nancy enjoyed world travel, entertaining, dancing, boating, skiing, sewing, bridge, reading “who done its”, and caring for her many family dogs, but tennis was her greatest love. She was a life long member of the Seattle Tennis Club, participating in Tennis Week, Ladies Day and many other social events. She was fortunate enough to attend the US Open, and many tournaments at Indian Wells, California.

Nancy (Nordhoff) Dunnam in cockpit of North American AT-6 Texan

Sources:
Legacy.com
Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas

Share:

More Posts

Stanley Harris

Stanley Harris April 11, 1919 – August 5, 2001 Class: 43-K-SE Graduation date: 12/5/1943 Unit: 301 Fighter Squadro Service # 0817587 Stanley Lionel Harris was born on April 11, 1919 in St. Paul MN. His

Read More »

Marjorie M. Gray

Marjorie M. Gray March 21, 1912 – February 11, 2008 Class: 43-W-1 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) Assigned Bases: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.) Planes flown: B-24, B-25, B-26, DC-3 “The proudest

Read More »

Rose Palmer

Rose Alice Palmer September 30, 1921-  April 1, 2008 Class: 44-W-6 Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Courtland Army Air Field (Ala.) and Buckingham Army Air Field (Fort Myers, Fla.) Planes flown: PT-17,

Read More »

Dorothy Olsen

Dorothy Eleanor Olsen (née Kocher July 10, 1916 – July 23, 2019 Class: W-43-4 Training Location: Houston Municipal Airport (Tex.) and Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.) Assigned Bases: Long Beach Army Air Base (Calif.) Planes flown: B-13, PT-19,

Read More »

Send Us A Message