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Mary Golda Ross (1908-2008)

Aerospace Pioneer

The only Native American Indian female member of a “think tank” to design manned orbital space system concepts, Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee) was born in 1908 near Park Hill, a small Oklahoma town.

A gifted child, she was taught early that education was a valuable resource, and that it was as important for girls as for boys. To receive the best opportunities for an Indian youngster of her era, Mary was sent to live with her grandparents in Tahlequah.

By age 16, she had graduated high school. She enrolled in Northeastern State Teacher’s College (also in Tahlequah) which her great-great grandfather, John Ross, chief of the Cherokee from 1838 to 1866, helped to found.

She was a “math whiz” who also excelled in chemistry and physics. At age 18, she earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and after graduation, taught for 9 years in Oklahoma high schools.

Ross earned her master’s degree at Colorado State Teachers College in 1938, and because she had always been enthralled by astronomy, took every available class on the subject. She later left for Washington, D.C., to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

After World War II began and the nation’s needs shifted, her father encouraged her to search for work in California. In 1942, Lockheed hired her as its first female engineer, aerospace pioneer, and mathematician.

Ten years later, Ross also became the single woman and only Native American member of a top secret 40-member engineer “think tank” dubbed Lockheed Skunk Works. Its purpose was to design concepts of a manned orbital space system that could one day fly interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus.

Mary Golda Ross also worked on concepts of orbiting satellites for defense and civilian purposes and her work was said by the officials to be critical to America’s Agena space rocket project.

Although Mary had always been proud of her heritage, she kept a constantly full schedule, and was 96 years of age before she owned her first traditional Cherokee dress. It was fashioned by her niece for Mary to wear to the 2004 opening of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of the American Indian. She believed the organization important to perpetuate the museum’s mission to preserve the education and culture of the American Indian, and left it a generous bequest.

K.B. Schaller

Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee, was the only Native American female member of a “think tank” to design manned orbital space system concepts. A gifted child, she learned early that education was valuable and it was as important for girls as for boys.

Cara Cowan Watts, a tribal councilwoman and elected legislator at the Cherokee Tribal Council stated, “Just think, a Cherokee woman from Park Hill helped put an American on the moon.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Williams, Jasmin K., Mary Golda Ross: The First Native American Female Engineer, New York Amsterdam News, March 21, 2013.

A version of this article appears in 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World, by KB Schaller, scheduled for publication in fall 2013.

KB Schaller, Cherokee/Seminole, is a journalist, novelist, historical researcher, guest blogger and conference speaker is author of Gray Rainbow Journey (winner, USA Book News-National Best Books Award); winner, Florida Publishers President’s Best Books Award; also author of the sequel, Journey by the Sackcloth Moon (both OakTara). Journey Through The Night’s Door, third in the series, is in final draft stage. Schaller lives in the Miami-Dade/Broward County area of South Florida. http://www.KBSchaller.com