Courageous Amelia Mary Earhart (1898-1937) was born in Atchison Kansas on this day and lived daring adventures of aviation firsts as pilot or copilot.

"Adventure is worthwhile," she believed.

The first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, she left Canada in her red Lockheed Vega five years to the day after Charles Lindbergh's solo flight.

"You haven't seen a tree," she said, "until you've seen its shadow from the sky."

When she returned, she asked New York Mayor James Walker to forego any celebrations because in the midst of the Great Depression, she wanted the money to be spent on the unemployed. Her homecoming was still a jubilant ticker-tape celebration, with thousands of admirers lining Broadway.

In 1935, she made the first solo flight from Honolulu to the Mainland America. Two years later she attempted the first round-the-world flight along the equator with navigator Frederick Noonan. Her plane vanished after takeoff from New Guinea.  Her mysterious disappearance remains the source of speculation.

Earhart left a gift of courage to inspire others to keep trying. "Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

The price for peace is often courage.