page_title: Alys McKey Bryant
section_title: Later career and death
hierarchical_section_title: Alys McKey Bryant / Career / Later career and death
caption_attribution_description: English: Alys McKey-Bryant, one of the Early Birds of Aviation, is interviewed before participating in the 1914 Seattle Potlatch airshow.
context_page_description: Alys McKey Bryant was an American aviator. She was the first woman to fly on the Pacific Coast and in Canada, and one of the few female members of the Early Birds of Aviation—individuals who had solo piloted an aircraft prior to December 17, 1916. She set an altitude record for women, and trained pilots during World War I.
context_section_description: The Bennett Aero Company used the Bryants' fee to pay for repairs to the Lee Dye Building, leaving only 300 dollars for Alys Bryant.  She traveled to California to bury her husband in the Whittier County Cemetery.  After the funeral, she briefly gave up flying.  She had returned to aviation by July 1914, when she once again took part in the Seattle Potlatch airshow.  There, she expressed her belief that she too would someday be killed in a plane crash, and told the press:
  "Some of the happiest moments of my life were spent flying together.  He taught me all I know of the aviation game and was always so proud that I knew as much as I did.  His confidence helped me to do what I have already done, and the knowledge of it is going to help me this year.  When it comes my time to go, I want to go the way that Johnny did.  There will be no uncertainty about that sort of a finish.  I would prefer that to a minor accident that would leave one helpless, to live, or half live, for years, useless in the world."
  By 1917, Bryant had become a deep-sea diver after befriending divers at Harbor Island, Seattle.  She dove in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, exploring shipwrecks and removing defunct water pipes.  Bryant told The Oregon Journal that she was once approached by a shark off the coast of Seattle, but fended it off with an iron rod.
  Bryant went to work for Benoist Aircraft in Akron, Ohio in the spring of 1916.  There, she built and prepared airplane parts, assisted aviator Thomas W. Benoist in designing new aircraft, and taught flying lessons.  The Marion Star reported that she turned out "six to twelve finished aviators a week."  
  Bryant boxed to keep in shape and prided herself on leading an athletic life.  She enjoyed outdoor sports and motorcycling. 
  Bryant died on September 6, 1954.  She was seventy-four years old.
caption: Bryant at the 1914 Seattle Potlatch
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