Collection finding aid (offsite)
Nancy Vestal Wrenn (1922-2017), of Wilkes County and Southern Pines, North Carolina, served in the American Red Cross from 1945-1947. Nancy Vestal Wrenn was born 11 February, 1922 to Clement and Lyla Wrenn in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Wrenn graduated from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1943. In 1945 she joined the American Red Cross where she met Ruth White, another American Red Cross trainee, who became her life partner. They both were assigned to Okinawa, Japan until 1947. In 1947, Wrenn and White returned to the United States and the settled in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville, North Carolina. In 1948, Wrenn began teaching at Swannanoa High School, now Owen High School, where she taught social studies, history and English for thirty-four years. During those years, she also developed and taught a basic course in aero science. In 1965, Wrenn began taking flying lessons and ultimately earned her private license and ASEL commercial certificate. She was a member of the Carolinas Chapter of the Ninety-Nines, Inc., an international organization of women pilots, where she served in all levels of the chapter offices and several Southeast Section committee chairs. Wrenn also was a Charter Member of the Western N.C. Pilots Association. In 1952, Wrenn and White opened a summer camp for girls on the property where they also had built a home. The camp operated for one month each summer until 1973 and was named Awa-niko (Okinawa backwards). White died on 21 December 2017.