Accomplished air traffic controller recognized in 1968
From the time Bella Vista was first given its name in 1915 to the present day, it has attracted a wide range of people who came to visit or who came to live here, people like U.S. Secretary of War Patrick Hurley, who rented the big log house across from Lake Bella Vista in the summer of 1930, and Harry Truman, who vacationed at the Sunset Hotel with his wife and daughter in August of 1932. After John Cooper opened Bella Vista Village in 1965, his company hosted charity golf tournaments which drew famous people from a variety of fields including college and professional sports as well as the movie and music industries.
One of the lesser known, but accomplished in her own right, individuals was Rogene L. Thompson, who bought property in Bella Vista in 1968. She came to visit with her aunt, Florence Dunlap of Fairfax, Mo., who already owned property here. Thompson was one of several women in who had received the “Federal Women’s Award” that year from President Lyndon B. Johnson for their accomplishments in various departments of the federal government. In Thompson’s case, it was for her work with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) while employed at their Anchorage, Alaska, site. She eliminated the “criss-crossing” of air traffic between the West Coast and Japan by designing “…
a complex new air route plan for the entire North Pacific area, which was urgently needed to cope with the enormous increase in air traffic to and from the Orient,” according to the Civil Service Journal of April-June 1968. It went on to say she was given the award for “her extraordinary abilities and unique accomplishments in analyzing and solving complex problems of air traffic control,” and for “her invaluable contribution to the safety and efficiency of air travel in the vast air space of the North Pacific.”
According to wikipedia. org, the Federal Women’s Award was given each year by the United States Civil Service Commission from 1961 until 1976. It was established to publicize the ways women were excelling in federal employment, and to encourage young women to consider careers with federal laboratories and agencies. The recipients were selected for their “outstanding achievement and ability in an executive, professional, scientific, or technical position in the federal service.” Award winners were invited to a ceremony in the Oval Office. The president always posed for official photographs with the group, and made remarks for the occasion. The year Thompson won, LBJ said, “You, as winners of the Federal Women’s Award, represent extraordinary achievement in several vital fields. Each of you can be proud of your contribution to the quality of the federal service and to the capacity of this government of yours.”
Thompson, a native of Fairfax, Mo., was born in 1926, and began working for a series of federal government agencies shortly after her high school graduation in 1943. However, most of her service was with the FAA. The June 1968 issue of the Village Vista published a story about her headlined, “New Villager Gets Honors from LBJ for Aviation Work.”
By the time she bought property in Bella Vista, she was a supervisory air traffic control specialist and crew leader with the FAA in Anchorage. It was a busy location … the FAA website states that the air route traffic control center in Anchorage has control responsibility for more than two million square miles of air space. The Vista article stated, “Miss Thompson first began working on her new air routes over the Pacific in 1966, when the FAA decided that air traffic control facilities and operating procedures were becoming inadequate because of the heavy traffic. Her three proposed new routes were accepted on May 12 last year (1967).”
Rogene married William Thompson, a native of Trinidad, Colo., whom she met while working for the federal government in Trinidad, in January of 1947. Shortly after their wedding ceremony, they moved to Anchorage. It is not known how many years she continued to live and work in Anchorage but that is where she was still living when she visited Bella Vista in June 1968. There is no record of her living in Bella Vista full time however.
Later newspaper articles refer to her as “Miss” Thompson rather than Mrs. Thompson, with no mention of her husband. At some point in time, she moved to Omaha where her Aunt Florence lived with her for several years prior to passing away in 1993. An obituary cannot be located for Thompson so it is not known whether she is still alive at nearly 96 years of age, but it is possible since her Aunt Florence lived to be 103.
For more information about the history of Bella Vista, visit the Bella Vista Historical Museum at 1885 Bella Vista Way (Highway 71 & Kingsland). Admission is free. Regular hours are Thursday through Sunday from 1-5 p.m. Call the museum at 479-855-2335 or visit online at bellavistamuseum.org.