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Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter (1915-2020) was an American dancer, actress and model who became a promoter, educator, marketer, commercial pilot, and philanthropist. Her story is nothing short of remarkable. Zoe Dell rose to fame during the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, held at Treasure Island, where she who worked as a promotional “theme girl” (dressed in a pirate costume, which was a nod to the Treasure Island location) and later official hostess. A theme of the Expo was commercial aviation and she traveled extensively across the country as part of her work. Not content simply to be a passenger, she earned a commercial pilot certificate with multiengine and instrument ratings, and in the early 1960s worked as a spokesperson for Piper Aircraft. She married her husband, Ervin Nutter in 1965; he owned Elano Corporation, an aerospace engineering firm and supplier. Zoe Dell became president of Elano’s small aircraft division and a company pilot. Zoe Dell was active in the pilot community, helping to organize the Monterey Bay Chapter of The Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots in 1965. She and her husband are credited as founding members of the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. She served as the Hall of Fame’s first female president and was inducted in 2008 as a Living Legend of Aviation. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the Treasure Island Museum and on the Board of the San Francisco Aeronautical Society, our non-profit support affiliate. In an oral history interview in 2004, reflecting upon how her desire to be a dancer led her to a lifelong passion for aviation, she said that dancing and flying were similar: "When you get onstage, and you're waiting for your intro and music, you have the same butterflies you have when you taxi up to get your clearance to fly, especially if it's instrument." photograph: Pan American Airways, Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter, Treasure Island, San Francisco; c. 1939 (reproduced 1993) Transferred from the Pan American World Airways Archive 1993.11.34 http://bit.ly/3l9LjhF This image was posted on March 20, 2023.