Evelyn Johnson
A legendary East Tennessean and pioneer in aviation has died.
Evelyn "Mama Bird" Johnson is a highly respected pilot and teacher who celebrated her 102nd birthday last November.
She's logged more than 58,000 hours in the air, which is a world record for a woman pilot.
She told Abby Ham in an episode of "Your Stories" back in 2010 that she never thought about flying until her husband went to war.
"I sat down on the couch, picked up the paper and on the bottom of the front page... and you never see ads on the front page of the paper... but there was one on there and it said 'learn to fly' and I said 'well, that's for me, that's what I'll do. I'll learn to fly,'" she said.
Throughout her career, she was a flight instructor to thousands of people at the airport in Morristown.
She held the title of 'manager' at the airport as of a couple years ago.
A bronzed statue of her likeness was erected at the airport in 2011.
Farrar Funeral Home in Jefferson City is handling the arrangements.
Visitation will be Tuesday, May 15th at First Baptist Church in Morristown from 4 until 5:30 p.m. and 6 until 7.
A service honoring Johnson's life will follow at 7 o'clock.