Evelyn Esther Nicholas Burleson Whitmaker Waldren (June 25, 1908 – October 25, 1986) was the first woman in Nebraska to become a pilot, the first woman in North Dakota with a transport pilot's license, and one of the first women in the United States with a flight instructor's license. In 1941, she set a new speed and distance record for female pilots in light planes.
Childhood
Waldren was born Evelyn Esther Nicholas in Stockham, Nebraska. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and her younger sister, Virginia, were raised by their mother and stepfather. When she was five years old, her family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. Her stepfather was a "heavy duty equipment operator". A self-described tomboy, Waldren grew up helping him in his garage and visiting the construction sites where he worked. She attended McKinley School and Bryant School. She was skilled at drawing and considered a career as an artist.
In the summer of 1926, Waldren saw an airshow in the small southern Nebraskan town where her stepfather was working on a railroad. She wanted to go for a plane ride, but her parents were concerned about the risks. Aviation appealed to her because of the good pay, the opportunity for travel, and the chance to work outdoors. Hearing about the feats of pilots like Ruth Elder, Charles Lindbergh and Phoebe Omlie strengthened her resolve.
Flight training
Despite Waldren's arguments, her mother and stepfather refused to let her fly. Finally, on March 1, 1928, Waldren's mother agreed to let her train at the Lincoln School of aviation and to pay for the first fifty hours of lessons. As she told the story in 1986, "My mother enrolled me, paid $50 and said, 'You're on your own now: probably just a whim anyhow.' Well, this whim has lasted 56 years."
On March 3, Waldren took her first flight in a surplus World War I biplane. She remembered it as "the most remarkable, wonderful feeling. I felt the rush of wind in my face, smelled the exhaust. It looked like a fairyland down there." After 14 hours of practice, Nicholas flew alone for the first time on June 7 at Page Field. Later that year, she obtained her pilot's license, becoming the first female pilot in Nebraska. By then, she had spent 75 hours flying solo.
For ten years, Waldren's father, Wilhelm Nicholas, had not known where she was. After he recognized her picture in the newspaper, he was reunited with his daughters in 1928.
Great Depression
After graduating flight school, Waldren moved to Rockford, Illinois, where she carried passengers and did exhibition flying. She hoped to get a transport pilot's license, but needed 200 hours of flying time to qualify. After the Great Depression began in August 1929, Waldren had difficulty finding jobs, let alone work that would allow her to fly. She worked as a clerk and a ticket salesman, saving whatever money she could spare towards her transport license. Decades later, she recalled renting a plane and flying it once around the airport for a dollar. She remarked that "I've got a lot of three-, four- and five-minute entries in my log book. It came very slowly." Waldren also hunted coyotes for a $2.50 government bounty, shooting them from a Rearwin Sportster plane. Ranchers' associations would sometimes give her free chicken dinners and free gas for her plane to thank her.
Jamestown Municipal Airport
In 1929, Waldren married Howard Burleson, who had been one of her instructors at the Lincoln flying school. They moved to North Dakota, where she became the first woman in the state to get a transport pilot's license in 1933. With her husband, she ran a flying service out of the Jamestown Municipal Airport from 1931 to 1937, making charter trips. She also worked as an airways observer for the weather bureau and as a station agent and traffic representative for a local firm. She recalled her time there in a 1986 interview:"I used to fly barnstorming shows in North Dakota during the Depression. We used to send an advance man to a town to pick out a field and tack up some posters. Then we'd hit town on the weekend and put on a couple of shows for the folks. One of our tricks was to toss rolls of toilet paper out of the planes, so they'd unravel all the way down. Well, when we landed, we went back to pick up the paper- but we couldn't find any. You have to remember how poor everyone was. One lady in the audience picked it all up- a whole month's supply."