{"id":671,"date":"2020-08-31T22:41:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T04:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/?p=671"},"modified":"2020-08-31T22:41:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T04:41:07","slug":"the-people-of-glenbow-gertrude-de-la-vergne-tanner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/2020\/08\/31\/the-people-of-glenbow-gertrude-de-la-vergne-tanner\/","title":{"rendered":"The People of Glenbow: Gertrude de la Vergne Tanner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week I was lying in the shade on the deck, gazing up at the summer clouds floating in a vivid blue sky. A bird soared across my line of sight, riding the air currents. Perhaps a similar view had inspired young Gertrude de la Vergne, more than a hundred years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gertrude was born in New York, but was essentially raised on Glenbow\u2019s Millionaire Hill. She was one of Alberta\u2019s jet set and although her family arrived in Alberta in 1909, after ranching was already well-established in the province, she was a pioneer in her own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Gertrude was three years old, her father, Chester, purchased a Glenbow horse ranch, where the family spent most of the next decade. Their family and friends built their own mansions on the nearby uplands, inspiring the area\u2019s nickname. Polo, horse racing, and house parties filled their social calendar. In the winter, they returned to the circle of New York\u2019s high society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gertrude enjoyed her childhood on the ranch, but when she was thirteen, her father\u2019s business interests changed and the family moved into Calgary. Gertrude excelled at school. She was also good at practical skills, and when she was fifteen she won school awards for her baked and canned goods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young woman from an elite family, she made the rounds of dances and tea parties, and joined drama societies and clubs. The newspaper social pages chronicled her activities, along with those of her peers. Besides the usual outings to Banff, a more exotic trip was noted: she and her mother spent New Year\u2019s 1927 in Fez, Morocco and \u201c[motored] through Northern Africa \u2026 to \u2026 Algiers,\u201d eventually returning through France to New York and then Calgary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps this adventure fuelled Gertrude\u2019s desire for excitement and travel. When the Calgary Aero Club was formed, she became an active member. Then, on 7 November 1928, hundreds of people gathered at Calgary\u2019s aerodrome to see something new \u2014 a \u201cLady  Pilot\u201d! They witnessed Gertrude\u2019s initial solo flight, which she performed after 14 hours of assisted flight time. She flew the Aero Club\u2019s de Havilland Moth, a biplane. She said afterwards, \u201cWhen I got up in the air I thought I was dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of 22, Gertrude had become the first female pilot in Alberta, and the third in all of Canada. Two weeks later, on the Federal Government\u2019s exam for a private pilot\u2019s license, she achieved the highest grade, surpassing the other eight candidates (all men). She officially became Alberta\u2019s first licensed female pilot when she received her paperwork on 4 December 1928.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
1928
Photo courtesy of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gertrude went on to perform stunts at air shows, such as bursting special balloons with her propeller and changing clothes mid-flight. On the more serious side, she was the first editor and publication manager for the club\u2019s magazine, and the aviation columnist for the Calgary Herald. Her interest expanded to flying gliders and she also served as secretary-treasurer of the local glider club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Chester de la Vergne\u2019s businesses suffered in the economic crash of the 1930s, and Gertrude\u2019s dream of earning a commercial pilot\u2019s license went up in smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1932, she married Reginald Tanner, with whom she had two children and five grandchildren. She lived to 91 years of age and fondly recounted stories of her youth on the grasslands of Glenbow Ranch and in the skies above Calgary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally printed in THE <\/strong><\/em>BERGEN NEWS<\/em><\/strong> and is being reprinted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I was lying in the shade on the deck, gazing up at the summer clouds floating in a vivid blue sky. A bird soared across my line of sight, riding the air currents. Perhaps a similar view had inspired young Gertrude de la Vergne, more than a hundred years ago. Gertrude was born…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":675,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peyerl.ca\/quill\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}