Zoe Dell Nutter

She joined the Ohio Civil Air Patrol, flying search and rescue missions, and became active in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, with 12 years service as a board member, serving as its first woman president in 1988. Nutter served on many charitable, educational and civic boards, such as the San Francisco Aeronautical Society. and the Ohio Humanities Council. She turned 100 in June 2015 and died at her home in Beavercreek Township, Greene County, Ohio on April 22, 2020.

When Piper needed a cheaper trainer plane, she flew to Dayton, Ohio to evaluate a new plane there. Local businessman Ervin J. Nutter, who built parts for the plane, assisted her. After three trips, she turned down the aircraft, but married Nutter, and moved to Ohio in 1965.

In the early 1960s, she took a job with Piper Aircraft, Inc., one of the main manufacturers of private airplanes. President William T. Piper, known as the Henry Ford of aviation for making inexpensive, simple to operate, aircraft, wanted her to be his spokesperson for general aviation, as she had been for commercial aviation. She demonstrated aircraft and sold flight training for Piper's subsidiary Monarch Aviation, which operated a base and flight school in Monterey, California. She soon learned to avoid flying over nearby mountains due to insufficient engine power. Among her responsibilities was to make flying accessible to ladies, to teach women to be able to read a map, handle the radio or land the plane in event of an emergency.

A friend suggested she pursue flying along with her first husband, with whom she earned her pilot certification. Moving to northern California after the war, she regularly flew into San Francisco to go shopping. In 1958, she represented Standard Oil of California at the Expo 58 World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium, and continued to promote commercial air travel around the world.

After one 1939 show, aviation executives approached her about promoting commercial aviation at the Golden Gate International Exposition on nearby Treasure Island, to promote air travel in general, and overseas flights to East Asia in particular, via the new China Clipper flying boats based at Treasure Island.

In the middle of a campaign against burlesque theaters, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia insisted she wear her coat over her skimpy costume in order to be photographed with him. The story took off and soon she was labeled the "most photographed woman in the world," appearing in Life on February 7, 1938.

Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter (June 14, 1915 – April 22, 2020) was an American dancer, actress and model who became a promoter, educator, marketer, commercial pilot, and philanthropist.

Lantis was born in Yamhill, Oregon in 1915. She received early encouragement in public performing. Her family lived next door to a dance teacher, so Lantis did odd jobs to become her student. After high school, she moved to San Francisco, where soon she was dancing for the San Francisco Ballet and in nightclubs.