Nellie Zabel Willhite

Eloise or Eleanor "Nellie" Zabel Willhite (22 November 1892 – 2 September 1991 ) an American aviator and aviation pioneer. She was the first deaf woman to earn a pilot's license, as well as South Dakota's first female pilot.

Life Willhite was born in Rapid City to Charley "Pard" Zabel and Lillian Madison Zabel. Willhite became deaf at age two due to measles. There have been sources that claim she was deafened at age four instead of two. She earned her pilot's license in 1928 Willhite was the thirteenth to sign up in a class of eighteen and made her first solo flight on 13 January 1928 after getting thirteen hours of instruction. Willhite started the first South Dakota chapter of the Ninety-Nines in 1941. She worked as a commercial pilot until 1944 (the first deaf person to do so), carrying airmail.

Willhite was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1978 and South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame shortly before her death in 1991, and her plane the Pard is now on display at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama.