New Britain herald., 1927-10-12
HOMETOWN RECALLS
 RUTH AS T0MBOY.
Her Sudden Rise From 0bsCurity
 Is Reviewed

l New York Oct. 12 tP) - From
 tse obscure boredom Of out-ot-date magazines and the somnolcnt buzz | Of a dentists drill in q Lakeland, ! Fla, office, Ruth Elder, the pret- tiest girl who ever learned to fly" rose today to 8 position Of eminenCe behind the roaring motor of transatlantic plane by combination
 of daring, initiative and beauty. l Miss Elder. who took off for | Paris with Capt. George Haldemau,
 was born in Anniston, Ala, Saptem-
 Der 12, 1902, fourth in q family of
 five children of Mir. and Mrs, J. O.
 Elder, Neighbors remember Ruth
 as a vivid child Of tomboy tenden-
 cies who grew up 10 be a leader of
 her sex in the Quintard school at Anniston, q mainstay in basketball
 an factor in social and scholastic affairs.
 After finishing high school Miss
 Elder learned stenography and worked for a while in Annston, | ldisi llIdl llle Ias ie " UllldGh, all
 electrical accessories salesman, and i removing to Lakeland. Fla. Previ- l ously she had been divorced, al 1 though she refused to identify her 1 first husband. She has no children. ! IL was at Lakeland that she met 1 Captain Haldeman who taught her
 10 fly. Ruth showed a natural apti- tude for the air and soon she and i Haldeman were doing stunt flying at county fairs and carnirals Inspired by Lindy II was Colonel Liudhereh's sue the Alabama beauty with the desire to be the first woman to span the l ocean by air. Lakeland business men liked the idea and interested a group Of Wheeling, W, Va, capi- talists in it With the aid of T. II. McCardle, a retired Florida real es- tate man, and Edward Cornell. a Florida grapefruit grower. she raised s35,0Oo in Wheeling and or sanizet the Wheeling Aero Exhihit corporation
 With the project thus supported,
 Miss Elder and Haldeman went 10
 Detroit, where the Stinson-Detroitcr
 monoplane in which they took off
 was especially bu lt for them. Flies to Curtiss Field After a flight to Lakeland aul
 Wheeling, Haldeman and Miss
 T'1l.,- f,, they awaited suitable weather for n take-off. As days heightened into weeks there were rumors that the flight was a publicity stunt but these whispered charges failed when tho standing Of the Wheeling packers was found to be unim- pcachable.
 While at the flying field Miss Fl-
 der, a colorful figure in sports at tire. habitually wore red bandeau about her hair. This came to be 1 known as the "Ruth ribbon" fad which the crowds Of young girls
 who frequcntol the field adopted at
 once.
 Miss Elder surprised even the best
 pilots when she passed her liccns" . test with an amazing reportOry of stunts and was even more success
 tul in her physical tests. An army surgeon pronounced her "Thn Per , feet American Girl" entiting her 10
 use the legend in bold letters along
 the buff fuselage Of her plane. ! Her pilot. Captain Haidcman. who
 is 29, was born in McPherson. Kan, 1 but has lived in Lakeland for the i past 3 years. He was in the au- 1 tcmobile business there but has 1 spent much time in the air since the 1 war, once making a tour of the ! United States following the coastal | lines. During tn" war he served as | an instructor at flying fields in this ! country resigning in 1919 as an of i tjcer in the air service reserve. 1 In 1920 Haldemau flew to Thomasville, x. C., met his bride, | Miss Virginia Lufscy of that place.
 at the church door, and was mar
 ricd, He slipped the girl into his 1 plane and scared away to Florida.
 Cuba and the West Indies on a 1 bridal trip. Haldcman later devoted ! much time to the study Of wcat her and navigational charts.