July 27, 2021 Uptown Funk

The Liberty Gazette

July 27, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: We didn’t figure on writing about the recent private rocket trips – Sir Richard Branson in his SpaceShipTwo or Jeff Bezos in New Shepard. After all, the news was saturated with the incredibly wonderful story of Wally Funk. She stole the show. What could we add? 

But after receiving a few messages, we realized we could tell a story you won’t find in any other media. 

It started when Liberty native Benetta Rusk sent me a note. “Wally Funk was one of my instructors! She helped me on my instrument rating. I am so excited for her!” Benetta was flying out of the Addison airport, working on her instrument rating in 1993. A newcomer to the Dallas area, Wally came to a Ninety-Nines meeting, and that’s where they met. Benetta’s friend, Bill, a captain at Northwest Airlines, helped her study for her instrument exams, and she flew with Wally.

“We flew a Cessna 172, and because Wally had been an NTSB inspector, she drilled in safety. I liked flying with her. She was always calm and easy to understand and explained things very well. Plus, her multi-purpose ‘Wally stick’ was a must for preflight!” 

Wally Funk, Benetta Rusk, and Captain Bill, 
after Benetta passed her instrument checkride.

Wally stick? 

“Yes! She had measurements marked on it and used it to check fuel tanks – she had seen too many accidents from running out of fuel – and to tap propeller blades to check for cracks, and on several other areas of the plane during preflight inspection. I sure hope I still have my Wally stick!”

Benetta admires Wally’s contagious enthusiasm and that she is such a cheerleader for women in aviation. “Having her as my flight instructor and cheerleader, and Bill quizzing me constantly on possible oral questions, I was so focused.”

The memories kept pouring out. “My friend Kimberley and I went with her to Killeen to a collegiate flying competition. She signed us up to be line judges for the spot landing contest, and we helped her at the preflight inspection station where students had to identify all the things that would cause an airplane to fail a preflight. It was a fun day.”

Wally Funk, age 8.
Courtesy
Ninety-Nines.org.

Then Mom messaged me all excited. “Just started to read about Bezos and his edge-of-space trip. Shame we couldn’t leave him up there. But then I read that Mary Wallace Funk, aviation pioneer, was on the trip too! OMG, LINDA, I knew her when she was three years old!”

Mom grew up in Mattoon, Illinois, and Wally Funk’s grandmother lived there too. Wally’s mother, Virginia Funk, came to visit several times, with the kids in tow.

“My mother would always go to see her when she came with her son and little girl. You don't forget a girl named Mary Wallace, and that’s what they called her. She had a small Indian blanket that she would not let go of. She was cute and shy. If you see her again, tell her your grandmothers were friends.” 

Wally overcame shyness. How grand that she finally went up in a rocket. She trained for it decades ago and NASA turned her down. She deserves this. 

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