hat when I entered via an area piled high with cement and tile debris. Under the grime I had no idea that the walls were of white marble, nor that the sky-blue ceiling was painted with huge gold stars. Plywood covered the fl oor and the graves I wished to visit.
As I lifted the planks my heart
raced. Barely legible beneath years of oxidized patina on a bronze tablet were the letters “J-O-H-N.” At last I had found Moisant’s grave. Next to him, were his sisters, Matilde and Louise. Partially visible on another tablet were the letters “S-H- U-E,” which belonged to “A. Roy Knabenshue,” who I knew to be a pioneer of dirigible and balloon design. I also knew that at one time, Knabenshue had worked for the Wright brothers. As I struggled to lift pieces of plywood, I glimpsed the letters “T-A-Y-L-O.” I could barely breathe when I saw the entire grave marker for Charles E. Taylor. Eventually, I discovered more pioneers whom I recognized from aviation history books and a few I had never heard of like Hilder Smith, wife of Floyd Smith, inventor and pilot. Hilder was the fi rst woman to make a parachute jump over Los Angeles harbor from Glenn Martin’s plane in 1914. I knew I had found a cause,
a project and a goal to preserve American aviation history. Pierce Brothers Valhalla Cemetery hired me to direct the fi nal stages of restoration to the structure and to create a paper display museum. My work included months of wearing coveralls and walking high above the earth on scaff olding, as well as dressy, formal, newspaper, magazine and television interviews. Among hundreds of aviation enthusiasts, my great fortune was to connect with Howard DuFour, who at that time was fi nishing his own biography on the life of Charles Taylor. I sent him my
research and images of Taylor’s burial and he provided valuable photographs for me to use in the museum displays. Between 1995 and 2001, I hosted
public events and tours through the paper display museum. A special exhibit honoring Charles Taylor highlighted the role of aircraft designers and mechanics. In 2002, the museum I had founded closed, but the Portal grave sites remain available for visitation during cemetery hours. The multicolored tile dome, stone
carved garlands of fruit and fl owers, as well as fi gurines and fi nials on the imposing structure are worth visiting just for the unique architecture. But it is especially meaningful for those who seek a personal connection to our pioneers in aviation, including the “Third Wright Brother,” Charles E. Taylor.
I will again end my comments
about Taylor with the following oft-repeated quote from newspapers following Wilbur Wright’s fi rst fl ights in Europe during 1908: “The Wright Brothers made the glider but Charles Taylor made the glider an aeroplane.”
Giacinta Bradley Koontz
is an aviation historian, magazine columnist and author who has received the
DAR History Medal and honorable mention from the New York Book Festival. She has appeared on the History Channel and in PBS documentaries. For more information, visit
www.GiaBKoontz.com.
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