Clare Stevenson (1903–1988) was the inaugural director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed women's service in Australia during World War II. Born and educated in Victoria, Stevenson was an executive with the Berlei company when she was appointed Director WAAAF. Initially ranked squadron officer, she rose to become group officer by April 1942. Stevenson resumed her civilian career following her discharge from the Air Force in 1946. Long active in adult education and social welfare, she helped form aid organisations including the Carers Association of New South Wales (now Carers NSW) after retiring from Berlei in 1960.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Stevenson

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1607:

Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the first fully developed opera, premiered in Mantua. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Orfeo

1868:

Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson

1875:

The steamship SS Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier Reef at low tide and sank northwest of Holbourne Island, resulting in more than 98 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gothenburg

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

histrionic: 1. Of or relating to actors or acting. 2. (by extension) Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the intention to draw attention. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/histrionic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I am a white man, I believe. Will anybody undertake to teach me what are the antipathies and loathings of white men? What mean whites may or may not like is of small importance. But the generous soul of my race, which has led the van in the great march of liberty and civilization, and whose lofty path is marked by the broken chains of every form of slavery, has an instinctive hatred of injustice, of exclusive privilege, of arrogance, ignorance, and baseness, and an instinctive love of honor, magnanimity and justice. The white soul of my race naturally loves the man, of whatever race or color, who bravely fights and gloriously dies for equal rights, and instinctively loathes every man who, saved by the blood of such heroes, deems himself made of choicer clay.   --George William Curtis https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_William_Curtis