BY ALICE THOMAS

Special to The Pilot

At the age of 6, Barbara Para first became aware of aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

“My grandmother owned Amelia Earhart luggage, and I asked her why they had named it after a woman,” Para says. “My grandmother told me that she was a world traveler who went missing years ago.”

Although Earhart famously disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world, she set numerous aviation records during her lifetime.

In 1932, she became the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross after she flew across the Atlantic alone, setting a new trans-Atlantic crossing record of 13 hours, 30 minutes.

Today, as a pilot and flight instructor, Harris-Para often uses Earhart’s legacy as inspiration.

“When I am flying solo and get worried about the weather or whatever, I say to myself, ‘Amelia had a lot less items to depend on in the cockpit, and if she could do it, then surely I can, too,’” she says.

Harris-Para and fellow pilot Eileen Malan want to introduce Amelia Earhart to another generation of youngsters who may not yet have heard of her daring exploits.

On Thursday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m., they will do just that at the Family Fun Night program at Southern Pines Public Library.

“Family Fun Night is open to kids in grades 3-5 and their parents, and a free dinner will be served, courtesy of the Friends of the Library,” says a library spokesperson.

Both Harris-Para and Malan are members of the Ninety-Nines, an international group of female pilots. The organization got its name from the original 99 pilots who were the founding members in 1929, and Earhart acted as the group’s first president.

“Amelia was light years ahead of her time,” Harris-Para says. “She flew planes at a time when most women didn’t even drive and had only been allowed to vote for a few years.”

Harris-Para also volunteers locally in the Young Eagles program, which was launched in 1992 by the Experimental Aircraft Association in order to give young people the opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane.

“By getting the kids into the cockpit of a plane, we spark an interest,” Para says.

She has personally taken more than 375 kids on free Young Eagles flights.

Para and Malan hope that by doing programs like the Family Fun Night, they are helping to keep Amelia Earhart’s memory alive. They want children to know that Earhart paved a path for bravery and dedication that anyone, male or female, can follow.

“She was an adventurer,” Para says. “And so many wonderful things can happen when you go ‘outside the box,’ as she did.”

For more information on Family Fun Night and other programs at Southern Pines Public Library, call (910) 692-8235 or visit www.sppl.net or Facebook page www.facebook.com/SPPL.LIB.