Foil: 5 Panel: 1 Column: 3 Line: 104

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Dorothy Erhart

I, Dorothy L. Erhart, spent 10 years in the Navy. I was on active duty from September 1, 1953 to November 30, 1962, and before that I was in the Naval Reserve for over a year. During that time I was stationed in Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Memphis, Tennessee, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I earned my private pilot's license in the 1950's while I was stationed in Washington, D.C. I belonged to a Navy Flying Club at that time.
After leaving the Navy I raised two children, a son and a daughter. I now have three grandchildren.
I have taught in the elementary schools for 36 years. I retired in the summer of 2000. While teaching I also sponsored an after school "Young Astronaut's Club" for students in the middle school. We used the NASA materials for our lessons and then built and launched hundreds of rockets.
About 20 years ago I started a unit on space with my fifth and sixth graders as a part of our science study. We built and launched rockets after experimenting to learn how they work.