​I spend a good chunk of my time digging into the past, finding the names of women who deserve to be remembered and telling their stories. 

I love it when those stories take interesting twists and turns like Arlene Robert's. Her skill lies behind one of the biggest events in the history of humankind. She played a very tiny part, as did many women whose names we'll never know.

We know Arlene's, in part, because her boyfriend painted her name on his fighter plane and survived WWII to tell about it.

​Arlene Roberts was much more than a pretty face. 

On summer break from the State University of Iowa in 1945, Arlene took a secretarial job at the University of Chicago. Assigned to the general pool of typists, Arlene distinguished herself for speed and accuracy and earned a promotion to an elite group of women working at the laboratory at the university's School of Metallurgy. 

The typists worked for several weeks on what they were told was a top-secret project. Even some of the scientists in the lab didn't know what it was.

​Courage wears many different faces, as shown in the varied stories I've sent you, as well as in my books. 
 
This week, one woman's story moves a step beyond, showing how courage can lead to transformation.
 
Patty Bear grew up in the Mennonite faith which holds pacificism as a foundational belief, but the cruel truth? Violence ruled her home and family.
 
In retrospect, she called her father a "domestic terrorist" who abused her mother for years. But when he questioned Mennonite leaders and was excommunicated, the media portrayed him as the victim, a man shunned by his wife and children.
 
Patty went from her sheltered, rural life where her father regarded her mother as property, like another animal on his farm, to becoming a pioneering woman pilot in the United States Air Force.

That's transformation! 
Patty agreed to tell her story for us this week.

Patricia Bear: Soaring to Freedom 

Transformation is a lovely concept, but someone should warn us it won’t just change our circumstances, it will change who we are. And that will be a terrifying journey into the unknown.

Two great books for you today!
 
Both historical novels for young people feature Ukrainian protagonists and are based on true events during and prior to WWII.

Working on the book Irena's Children, I learned for the first time the extent of the Nazi war crimes against the Polish people. The total lives lost in Poland during WWII is estimated at least five million most of whom were civilians, about 17% of the population.  And now I learn that a similar number of Ukrainians died in the conflict.


Approximately every fifth Ukrainian was killed during the Second World War. Only 3% of all those called up to military service for the summer of 1941 survived. The good news behind these horrendous statistics is the incredible human spirit of those who survived, their courage to rebuild their communities and their country. 


It definitely adds context to the endurance of Ukrainians today. This morning I woke up to this report from CNN:

​Hundreds of women spied during the Civil War, but as far as we know, only one gathered intelligence inside the house of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser, born enslaved to the prominent Van Lew family in Richmond, Virgina, worked with one of the Union Army's most intricate spy rings. It was operated by a shrewd Richmond society woman pretending to have lost her mind, so as to escape suspicion among the city's pro-slavery upper crust.  

Elizabeth “Crazy Bet” Van Lew started unofficially spying for the North while bringing food and medicine to Union prisoners housed in Richmond, passing notes and helping the men with plans to escape. 

As Elizabeth Van Lew expanded her espionage, she saw great possibilities for Mary Browser.

We know only the basic outlines of Mary Browser's life. There are no photographs of her, but...