The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker.
Almost any child will express excitement at the prospect of snow; and almost any school-aged student looks forward to the possibility of missing school if it snows too heavily. However, on January 24 in 1951, snow-covered roads proved to be no problem for at least a few young children.
Tom Gilderhus was a farmer in Oberon, but he also flew airplanes. After one particularly bad storm, he decided to put his plane to good use; he flew his daughter to high school first, then went back home, picked up the two smaller kids, and flew them to their school, too.
The round trip took about seven minutes.
The kids had no excuse for a snow-day, but at least they got an interesting ride!
“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.
