Penny Thompson

Penny (Gladys) Thompson
Born	October 17, 1917 Sylvania, Georgia (United States)
Died	September 22, 1975 Miami, Florida
Monuments	[Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park and Campground] (Miami-Dade County, Florida)
Known for	American aviatrix; promotor of women's intercontinental air races-air shows; publisher-editor for Southeast Aviation News; founder of Miami-Dade Mother's of Twins Club and Twins Easter Parade
Awards	Bertram Trophy Race 1946

Thompson was an American aviatrix and women’s intercontinental air race-air show promoter and aviation publisher-editor during the 1940s and early 1950s .  In 1953, she married Miami Herald humor columnist Larry Thompson, and was featured often in his daily column, “Life With Larry Thompson” and in three books he authored. She founded the Miami-Dade Mother’s of Twins Club and the Twins Easter Parade.

Born Gladys Rhodes, Penny Thompson watched planes fly over her family’s farm in Sylvania, Georgia, as a young girl. This, along with her admiration for famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, inspired her to fly.  After getting her private pilot’s license in 1936, she moved to Miami, Florida, where the aviation industry was burgeoning.   In 1940, she married a pilot, Roy Pennington, and became known as “Penny.” They divorced in 1951.  She published and edited an aviation newspaper, Southeastern Aviation News from 1945-1950.

During World War II, she joined the Civil Air Patrol as a volunteer and flew over the Gulf of Mexico searching for German submarines that were attacking Allied merchant ships. Her plane was destroyed in a fire on September 15, 1945, along with several hundred U.S. Navy aircraft and civilian planes battened down in giant wooden hangars at the Naval Air Station Richmond south of Miami in preparation for a major hurricane. Today, the Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park is located on the same property that originally encompassed the Naval Air Station.

In 1946 she won the Bertram Trophy Race sponsored by the Ninety-Nines, the women’s pilot organization started by Earhart, at the Florida Air Pilots Association Meet in Orlando, Florida . That same year Penny was elected vice chairman of the Florida chapter of the Ninety-Nines and chairman in 1947. That same year, she led the drive to name the Miami Municipal Airport the Amelia Earhart Field, to honor the aviatrix who took began her around-the-world flight from that field in 1937, perishing over the Pacific Ocean.

Following World War II, the All-American Air Manuevers resumed at Miami in 1946. The next year, women fliers were told they couldn’t participate. Unwilling to be excluded, the women of the Florida Ninety-Nines organized their own air show at Tampa, Florida’s Peter O. Knight Airport, selecting Penny to be the general chairman of the world's first All-Woman Air Show, held March 15-16, 1947. It included a transcontinental air race from Palm Springs, California to Tampa. Proceeds were used to help young women obtain advanced aviation training through the Amelia Earhart Scholarship Fund. The event raised awareness of women in aviation and "prompted air derbies and air marking parties throughout the U.S and a tradition of annual women's air races was begun".This was during a time when female pilots were often patronized by the men, referring to them as “lady birds” and “flying housewives.” Penny played a key role in promoting women in the male-dominated world of aviation through her marketing and public relations skills. She was influential in getting women fliers back into the Air Manuevers the next year, thanks to the success of the 1947 All-Woman Air Show.

In 1948, Penny also helped organize and promote the 2nd Annual All-Woman Air Show at the Amelia Earhart Field in Miami, along with another transcontinental air race for female pilots, again raising money for the women’s scholarship fund.

In 1949 she and Ellen Gilmore flew an experimental “flying car” called the Roadable Ercoupe, as part of the Montreal-Miami All-Woman’s Air Race, which culminated with the 3rd Annual All-Woman Air Show of the World in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Landing in Jacksonville, Florida, they folded up the wings at sunset and drove on A1A the rest of the way to Daytona Beach, Florida, at night, then flew the rest of the way to Miami after daybreak. While they didn’t win any prizes because the rules stated flying had to be during the day, their goal of flying car trip obtaining national publicity for women pilots and the women’s air show, was successful. , Their trip was featured in the nationally syndicated comic strip “Smilin’ Jack” by Zack Mosley with “Miss Penny-Ellen” drawn on the flying car.

Several years later, Penny was interviewed by Larry Thompson (humorist) and reporter for the Miami Herald, who was doing a story on women in aviation. On February 18, 1953 they married. About that time, he was promoted to writing a daily humor column for the Herald and for the next 20 years until his death in 1973, Penny was thrust into the public spotlight as an integral part of the column, “Life With Larry Thompson” and in three books authored by Larry. He never used her name in his writings, simply referring to her as “my good wife.”  

Along with the rest of the family, Penny was often depicted in a comic strip that occasionally accompanied the column. On April 1, 1954, they had twins, Carl and Evellen, and the story ran on the front page of the Herald. The next year, Penny invited twins in Florida to come to the first   birthday party for her own twins. More than 200 twins showed up. Life Magazine covered the event with a three-page photo spread and story. That year Penny started the Mother’s of Twins Club as a support group for mothers of twins and multiples. In 1956, instead of a party, she threw a parade for her twins. Called the Twin’s Easter Parade, it became an annual event for about two decades until Penny’s death in 1975. The parade, which received national publicity each year, featured hundreds of twins parading through downtown Miami on Easter Sunday with celebrity parade marshals such as singer Paul Anka and the Wrigley Doublemint Twins.

Following Larry’s death in 1973, Penny spoke at numerous tree planting ceremonies throughout Miami-Dade County to honor her husband’s love of trees. Two years later, she died from acute leukemia at age 57. She was honored posthumously with her late husband when Miami-Dade County named the largest park/campground in their honor in 1977.