Mary Feik remembers all too well the day she applied for admission to the engineering department at the University of Buffalo in 1941. The registrar looked her up and down several times, she recalls, and turned her down without looking at her credentials.
"He said, 'I'm sorry, we don't take women because [they] can't handle the work,' " Feik said. "And then he left the room."
Feik, 84, looks back at the incident with a different perspective after a 65-year career working as an airplane master mechanic for the Air Force and later for its civilian auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol. As a pilot, she has flown more than 6,000 hours in fighter, attack, bomber and training aircraft and helped restore famous aircraft that have been on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
"You can get what you want," she says, "if you have a backup plan."
Feik added another honor to her long list of awards this month. The Civil Air Patrol honored her with a lifetime membership for her accomplishments as a teacher, mentor, pilot and engineer. Feik, who is a colonel in the air patrol, received the award earlier this month during the Civil Air Patrol's national board meeting and annual conference in Florida.
Over the years, she has racked up a number of accolades, including being honored by NASA as one of 47 significant women in aerospace.
Feik's accomplishments are inspirational - especially considering the era in which she achieved them, said Maj. Gen. Amy Courter, the national commander of the Civil Air Patrol. Courter is the first female head of the organization.
"It's funny because she is role model to me," Courter said. Feik showed that "it is important to just do the right things and do them well."
Feik is a member of the Maryland Wing's Annapolis Composite Squadron. She lives in Annapolis on a large lot that includes her house and two small garages. One garage houses cars. The other is a mini-hangar where she restores airplanes.
National awards - from the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aviation Club and other organizations - cover her mantel. Books with airplane themes are stacked three feet high. Next to them are dozens of issues of Air & Space magazine.
On display are pictures of her late husband, Robert Feik, who served with her in the Civil Air Patrol. Her daughter Robin Vest and son-in-law Warren Vest also are members.
