Introducing the 2025 First Flight Society Board of Directors

The First Flight Society announces its Board of Directors for 2025.

Paul Wright Jameson was elected as President, succeeding Mike Fonseca. Paul is a great great nephew of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

The rest of the Executive Committee was appointed as follows:

Vice President-K. Lynn Tadlock
Education Committee Chair-Judith Fearing
Event Committee Chair-Paul Carr
Finance Committee Chair-Erica Paynter
Governance Committee Chair-Mark Flynn
Marketing/Membership Chair-K. Lynn Tadlock

National Advisory Committee Chair-William Douglas


Immediate Past President-Mike Fonseca

The rest of the 2025 board consists of:

Sara Lou Copeland, M. Roy Daniels, III, Dr Charles Davidson, Orestes Gooden, Penny Leary-Smith and Mark Russell. Steve House, Paul O’Neal, and Debbie Ferrell Moore are new to the board this year. Steve is Vice Chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, Paul is Chairman of the Currituck County Board of Commissioners, and Debbie is former manager of Tanger Outlet Mall.

The Society thanks Danny Couch, Mike Smith and Will Nelson for their service as board members.

The Society plans an annual celebration at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on Wright Brothers Day, December 17th, to memorialize the achievements of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, NC. The Society also celebrates Wilbur Wright’s Birthday on April 16th and National Aviation Day on August 19th, which is also Orville Wright’s birthday.

The Society created the Paul E Garber Shrine in 1966 to honor individuals and groups for achieving significant “firsts” in aviation development,including Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager, Mary Feik, John Glenn, Katherine Johnson (Hidden Figures) and most recently Charles McGee among others. The 2025 Inductee will be announced on April 16th.

Without the First Flight Society there would not be a Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills Memorial Association, later named First Flight Society, began as a group of local businessmen who successfully petitioned the US Congress to fund and build a monument to the Wright Brothers’ 1903 achievement. The Society celebrates its 98th year in 2025.

First Flight Society has the Vision that one day people everywhere will be inspired by the dauntless resolution and tireless work of the Wright Brothers. Their Mission is that we tell the story of the Wright Brothers through community events, education, and the commemoration of the world’s very first powered flight, in Kitty Hawk, NC

More information about the First Flight Society can be found at https://firstflight.org  or https://wrightbrothersday.org.

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