(The following information is taken primarily from articles in the New York Times, 11 September 1938, and the New York Sun, 19 October 1937. They both cover her work as a draftsman for the New York World’s Fair in 1939.)
Both articles emphasized her femininity! She was described as “cute, curly haired and enthusiastic with wide sincere brown eyes.” The fair’s only woman engineering draftsman, she had earlier done fashion design in Tampa “until the boom went bust.” (I never heard about that! But did know she was proud of her experience as ...) a draftsman to real estate tycoons who developed Davis Island, “an exclusive development in Tampa.”
The NY Times headlined her feature “Woman Supervises World’s Fair Roads.” It briefed her past as having been a map maker since she was a fourth grade student, but noted little technical training. “Her father was an engineer,” was a statement outside of the truth, whether exaggerated by Martha or misunderstood by the interviewer. Youthful employment as a freelance commercial artist was scuttled by the Great Depression; other brief work of the time was in mapping airports for Curtiss-Wright Flying Service. For the World’s Fair she became the senior engineering draftsman in planning roads and selecting pavement types.
With her husband she traveled the country, and later the world, in his various engineering assignments (including the Panama Canal and Hoover Dam) before retiring to Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
Martha died 09 March 1993 in a nursing home on Maui and is buried with Paul in the military cemetery on Maui.
(The following information is taken primarily from articles in the New York Times, 11 September 1938, and the New York Sun, 19 October 1937. They both cover her work as a draftsman for the New York World’s Fair in 1939.)
Both articles emphasized her femininity! She was described as “cute, curly haired and enthusiastic with wide sincere brown eyes.” The fair’s only woman engineering draftsman, she had earlier done fashion design in Tampa “until the boom went bust.” (I never heard about that! But did know she was proud of her experience as ...) a draftsman to real estate tycoons who developed Davis Island, “an exclusive development in Tampa.”
The NY Times headlined her feature “Woman Supervises World’s Fair Roads.” It briefed her past as having been a map maker since she was a fourth grade student, but noted little technical training. “Her father was an engineer,” was a statement outside of the truth, whether exaggerated by Martha or misunderstood by the interviewer. Youthful employment as a freelance commercial artist was scuttled by the Great Depression; other brief work of the time was in mapping airports for Curtiss-Wright Flying Service. For the World’s Fair she became the senior engineering draftsman in planning roads and selecting pavement types.
With her husband she traveled the country, and later the world, in his various engineering assignments (including the Panama Canal and Hoover Dam) before retiring to Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
Martha died 09 March 1993 in a nursing home on Maui and is buried with Paul in the military cemetery on Maui.
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