Joan Savee Kulp Woody

Joan Savee Kulp Woody, age 81 of Rocky Mount went to be home with the Lord on Monday, January 30, 2012. She passed peacefully in her sleep at her home in Rocky Mount, Virginia, with her daughter present. After graduating from Spotsylvania High School she learned how to fly and soloed in the late 1940’s at Springfield Airport in Alexandria, Virginia. She earned her private pilot’s license in the early 1950’s at Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She and her first husband operated Hyde Field Airport in Clinton, Maryland in the mid 1950’s and the Manassas Airport in the mid to late 1950’s. She ran one of the voting precincts from the family home in Spotsylvania in the mid 1960’s. The family home was also the site of a private airstrip, which drew the attention of neighbors on Sunday afternoons as they parked on the side of the road to watch the planes land at the Kulps’. They also applied for a use permit for an aircraft repair shop at the home, but were denied by the SCC. She was an apprentice aircraft mechanic and assisted in all aspects of airplane restoration. In the winter of 1953 she assisted in restoring the Texaco Eaglet Glider, which hung in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. She was also instrumental in one of the restorations of a 1929 KR34 Biplane. This plane now hangs in the Air Space Museum near Dulles Airport. She and her first husband were instrumental in helping found the Flying Circus Aerodrome in Bealeton, Virginia in the early 1970’s. Her passion for aviation was fueled by her love of the outdoors. She enjoyed hiking in the mountains as well as by the ocean, flowers of all kinds and ice skating and sledding. She was preceded in death by her parents, Clifford and Ella Savee; one brother, Robert Savee; her two sons, Charles Kulp, Jr. and Harry Kulp; and one granddaughter, Molly Rose Kulp. She is survived by sisters, Shirley Walton, Katherine Grange and Nancy Shadle; and brothers Clifford Savee and Wayne Savee; one daughter, Joanna Kulp; and grandchildren. There will be no visitation. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be sent to the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society in care of Virginia Aviation Museum, 5701 Huntsman Road, Richmond Virginia 23250-2416. Arrangements by Flora Funeral Service & Cremation Center, Rocky Mount - Smith Mtn. Lake.