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Bobbi's Special Links: Artist Nixon Galloway AVweb AWAM GladysOdonnell.com Julie Clark's American Aerobatics Ninety-Nines OneSixRight.com Pioneers of Aviation History Plane Mercantile San Diego Aerospace Museum Women in Aviation Women in Aviation Resource Center Women Fly WASPS |
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In January of 2003, film producer Heather Taylor found BobbiTrout.com and emailed to find out if she might be able to
speak to Bobbi in person concerning the documentary she was producing about the 1929 First Women's Air Derby. At the time, Bobbi was
the last living contestant of the 20 women who had entered the race. Unfortunately, on the day that Heather called, Bobbi was in the
hospital and it was not a good day for those of who knew and loved her. At the age of 97,
surgeons had just discovered that cancer was wreaking havoc on her little body and nothing could be done. Bobbi was to be taken home to
live out her last remaining weeks. She was a trooper. Nurses and doctors alike streamed into her hospital room to check on her and say their good-byes. They
knew she was a living legend, and they could not get enough
of her smile. Her optimism never failed. She told them, "Oh, I'm doing just fine. You go help someone who really needs you."
Bobbi never made it home. She died while in the middle of a song. She was singing to the little bird she had hoped to see fly once more to her living room window.
Heather Taylor was devastated when I called to tell her that the last living contestant of the First Women's Air Race was no
longer with us. Bobbi's insight and recollections would
have been invaluable to her project. I encouraged her to keep going and pledged to help in any way possible, because
the story needed to be told, and Bobbi would have wanted to help make it happen. That summer, Heather
traveled to Nashville, TN and we met for the first time. I shared a box of original newspaper clippings from 1929 that Bobbi had
sent to me about the race. Over the next seven years, Heather
and I emailed and spoke on the phone on a regular basis as she continued to find and share the treasures she was unearthing
about the race, and I did the same. Cheryl Baker, the Trustee of Bobbi's estate allowed Heather to have access to whatever photos we could provide. The splash
photo on the homepage of the official website for Heather's project
(
Throughout the years, I watched Heather build her dream. In so many ways, as she learned more about these brave and daring
women, she became like them as she followed her own path with tenacity and passion. She organized and worked with many people who contributed in huge ways — from
film editors to the interviewees to the pilots who flew their own airplanes for the aerial recreations. Producing is not a task for faint of heart. She had to make tough decisions and
hard choices within difficult time constraints while facing an ever-growing budget.
I
was greatly honored when Heather asked if I'd be interested in creating an original soundtrack for her film. As a composer, a pilot and someone who knew and loved one of the contestants,
I felt it was a privilege to be asked to provide such an integral part of the documentary. With each updated rough cut I received, the picture that
had once been just a thought in a producer's head was coming into focus. The music had to support many emotions:
the joy the women found in flying; the true respect and camaraderie in their friendships;
the pain of defeat; the sadness of death; the elation of victory. I poured my heart and soul into every note of the ultimate 40+ pieces. The satisfaction in my work was hearing the joy
in Heather's voice as I turned in each piece and, ultimately, in seeing her face light up during the events that led up to the premiere. On June 26, 2010, in the Hodson Auditorium at
Hood College (Heather's alma mater) in Frederick, Maryland, almost 400 people, many of whom were pilots and/or Ninety-Nines, who had come in after the final
moments of the 2010 Women's Air Race Classic, viewed the film for the first time.
As the last scene came to a close, there wasn't a dry eye in the house and Heather received a standing ovation for her contribution to the
history of aviation. She has invested everything into the project — mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. She worked doubly hard to
make sure all information included was historically correct to the smallest detail. Bobbi would have been very proud to be featured so prominently
in a documentary that contains so many historical facts about the race, because she was a stickler for getting things right.