Obituaries
Thursday, March 29, 2007; Page B07
Jane StraughanPilot, WWII Veteran
Jane Sincell Straughan, 93, a retired Social Security Administration field representative who, during World War II, ferried planes across the country as one of the first members of the Women Air Service Pilots, died March 12 at the Berlin (Md.) Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. She had myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder.
Mrs. Straughan, a Washington native, was in her early 20s when she learned to fly single-engine planes at Queens Chapel Airport in Hyattsville.
She logged about 200 hours of flight time and belonged to the Ninety-Niners women's pilot organization, whose members were approached at the start of World War II to sign up for a non-combat program to fly military planes. With encouragement from her husband, Al Straughan, who was serving as an Army Air Forces pilot, Mrs. Straughan became one of the program's first trainees.
She served with the Ferrying Division of the Air Transport Command at the New Castle Army Air Base in Wilmington, Del., piloting fighter planes, bombers and transport aircraft in the United States and Canada.
After the war, she worked about three years as an aircraft accident analyst for the Air Safety Division of the Civil Aeronautics Board. She also did some commercial piloting but mainly enjoyed private recreational flying until the late 1970s.
Mrs. Straughan, a graduate of Central High School, worked for the Social Security Administration for about 20 years until 1980.
She lived at Leisure World in Silver Spring for about 20 years and spent her summers on Fenwick Island, Del.
Her husband died in 1981.
Survivors include twin sons, John Wharton "Jack" Straughan of Olney and Charles William "Bill" Straughan of Selbyville, Del.; three grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Mark L. HolmesHVAC Engineer
Mark Lavelle Holmes, 37, an engineer who installed heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems for new buildings, was killed March 21 at the home of an acquaintance in Fredericksburg.
A Fredericksburg police spokesman said another acquaintance, identified as 48-year-old Benjamin Rivera, pushed Mr. Holmes down a flight of steps during an argument. Rivera was charged with first-degree murder, police said.
Mr. Holmes was a Fredericksburg native and a 1988 graduate of Spotsylvania High School. He served a few months in the Marine Corps in 1989 before beginning his HVAC career in Northern Virginia.
