Canadian Aviatrix #41 – Mary Weber (1914-2007)

Mary Ann Monica Weber was born on 29 July 1914 in Frontenac, Ontario, to Alois Weber (a farmer) and Theresa Weiss (a German nurse who moved to Canada in 1913).

(There was also a 12-year-old “son” called George living with the family, but he was actually Theresa’s brother.)

Mary attended Kitchener High School, then the Kitchener-Waterloo college, where she received her commercial diploma, two gold medals and scored a perfect 100 in her typewriting tests. In the 1931 census, she's a lodger and working as a stenographer for an insurance company. In 1933, she joined the staff at Smith Falls Hospital, still as a stenographer.

On 22 October 1934, Mary passed her flying test and received her PPL, making her the 41st female pilot in Canada. She was 20 years old. Mary’s inspector said she was “far above the average male pupil I have examined”.

Photo: Field of Winds artwork, 2003

Mary married Thomas Henry Wills and they had six children. She continued to work, latterly as a secretary at the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital.

In 2003, Mary was part of the ‘Field of Winds’ artwork at Waterloo Regional Airport. Her photo was one of seven silk-screened columns, lining the walkway to the airport and showing milestones from the airport’s history.

Mary died in 2007, aged 93.

Note: Mary was listed with an asterisk in No Place for a Lady – meaning the author hadn’t been able to find her. I just had “Mary A.M. Weber” and the date of her PPL.