McMillan, Marie E., 1926-2019

Pilot and educator Marie McMillan was born Marie Stever in 1926 and was raised in Northern California. She earned her Associate's degree at the University of California, Berkeley before marrying Elisha "Duke" Daly. Daly served as a radio operator on several naval ships during World War II. After World War II, the couple worked at Ernest O. Lawrence's radiation laboratory in Berkeley, California. In 1957, they moved to Nevada to work at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), with Marie becoming one of the first women to work there. In the 1960s, Marie McMillan and "Duke" Daly's marriage ended. In 1964, Marie married dentist and Nevada civil rights leader Dr. James B. McMillan.

While at the NTS, McMillan began learning how to fly airplanes. In 1978, she decided to challenge several aviation records and over the course of the next decade, she set 657 new records. In addition to flying, she also had an active career in several aviation organizations, including serving as the United States' delegate to several of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale conferences. She also served as the Clark County Department of Aviation public information representative for McCarran Airport and as a member of the Flying Ninety-Nines, a female aviation organization. In 2005, she was given the Distinguished Nevadan Award by the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Source:

"Marie E. McMillan." Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame. Accessed October 11, 2018. http://www.nvahof.org/hof/marie_mcmillan/