Poor little girl from Alabama

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My mother tells us seven children that when she was a little girl about 7 or 8 years old, that she shared a Taxi ride with Charles Lindbergh.

It was about 1929-30 and our mother was living in a Birmingham, Alabama suburb. She had to ride a taxi to and from school everyday On this peticular sunny day, there was a young gentleman in an aviator cap already seated in the taxi. After looking him over and noticing his unusual cap, she asked him what kind of cap it was.

He told her that it was a cap used by pilots who flew airplanes, and that is what he did. He was very pleasant and patient with such an inquisitive little girl, who knew nothing of the aviation world. She had been born in rural Alabama, and this new home near "big city" Birmingham, was quiet different and she intended on taking it all in and learning all that she could.

As they rode along and chatted, he asked her if she would like to see him fly his plane ? She said she really would like to see it, and he told her that he would fly over her house the very next day. He said to be watching for him in the afternoon, and he would fly circles over her house.

My mother said good-bye to the young pilot as she jumped from the taxi. She couldn't hardly wait to tell her brothers and mother about the new friend she had made on her ride home from school that day. She told them that her new friend had a funny cap but that they must watch for him the next day.

She ran to tell her new neighborhood friends and they wouldn't believe her. They couldn't be convinced that she really had a new friend who flew airplanes. She told them that they would be convinced the next day, when this nice pilot promised to fly around and around her house.

The next day, her new friends still didn't believe her, and she really wanted them to see him fly his airplane.

After waiting and waiting, sure enough to his promise, my mother began to hear the hum of an airplane. She called to her family to hurry outside and look up ! She hollered to her friends to, "Look, look, he's flying in circles", and there was the famous Charles Lindbergh, over her yard and neighborhood, dipping his wing and flying around and around for her. The kids jumped and yelled at the airplane as it climbed higher and higher and was soon too small to see.

THAT was the beautiful sunny day, in the deep south, that everyone took notice of one little 7 year old country girl, who had the "whole worlds most famous pilot" flying circles over her head, just to see him fly his airplane and make her smile.

Soon after this wonderful day, my mother saw a picture of Charles Lindbergh, and knew this was the kind and handsome young man who befriended her on their taxi ride together.

At 83 years old, it is a cherished memory that she likes to tell her grandchildren and great-grandchildren about. Her name is Rosell Hannah Hood and all her grandchildren call her "Nanny".

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