Katherine Stinson Otero was the fourth American woman to earn a pilot's license and the first female skywriter. She overcame pioneering aviator Max Lillie's reluctance to teach her to fly and became the "Flying Schoolgirl," nicknamed for her youthful looks, small stature, and derring-do. She marveled spectators by rolling her plane, skywriting at night with flares attached to its wings, and maneuvering risky loop-the-loops. With her family she founded the Stinson Aviation Company, designed aircraft, and operated a flight school. She was the first aviatrix to fly the Orient and in 1917 set a record for the longest West Coast solo flight. The military twice denied her permission to fly in World War I, although she was already flying a U.S. mail carrier, so instead she drove an ambulance for the French Red Cross. After contracting tuberculosis, she sought treatment in Santa Fe and began a new career designing notable Spanish Pueblo Revival-style homes for clients including Manhattan Project gatekeeper Dorothy McKibbin. She married airman and future judge Miguel Otero, Jr., and they remained in Santa Fe until their deaths and were buried together at Santa Fe National Cemetery.