Dorothy Robinson

Obituary for Dorothy Hall Sorrell
  Dorothy Sorrell, 86, early aviator, Co-founded an aerial mapping firm.
The Record [Hackensack, New Jersey], Nov 3 1996, P. 32, Cols. 1-3.

'Dorothy Hall Sorrell, a pilot, pioneer of aerial photography, and co-founder of an airline, died Oct. 31. She was 86.
  The longtime Ridgewood resident was among the nation's first women fliers. She piloted planes in the 1930s.
  Mrs. Sorrell and her first husband, Cecil S. Robinson, founded an aerial mapping company in upstate New York. Robinson Aerial Surveys still operates today out of Newton.
  Another company founded by the couple, Robintech, pioneered vibration equipment used to mount cameras to airplanes. The technology improved the Allies' ability to photograph enemy territory during World War II.
  Mrs. Sorrell and her first husband founded Robinson Airlines, which eventually became Mohawk Airlines. That airline merged with USAir.
  Family members recalled Mrs. Sorrell's love of flying.
  "She would tell us stories. I remember when she talked about taking off and an oil line ruptured in the plane. She could see absolutely nothing. The windshield was sprayed with oil," said her stepson, Clyde "Tex" Sorrell of Bergenfield. "So she was trying to turn the plane around, sticking her head out the window to see, and trying to get the plane back on the ground before the engine quit." Mrs. Sorrell's brother, William D. Hall, who operated the mapping company until he retired in 1981, said that during World War II, his sister was in the Civil Air Patrol. She worked in New York as an aircraft spotter searching for enemy aircraft.
  "People don't know that we had to draw our blinds and keep our lights to a minimum, especially in New York City," Hall said.
  Mrs. Sorrell and Robinson were divorced after the war. She later married Clyde Sorrell, an attorney in New York. He died four years ago.
  Mrs. Sorrell was a member of the West Side Presbyterian Church for more than 30 years, and was a volunteer at The Valley Hospital for more than 20 years.
  Also surviving is a daughter, Patricia Robinson Cross of Canoga Park, Calif; a stepdaughter, Susan Sorrell of Tortola, British Virgin Islands; two grandchildren; and her sisters, the Rev. Bonnie Seitz of Red Lion, Pa., and Dr. Ann Myers of Baltimore.'

Dorothy Hall Sorrell

DoB: 1910
Died: 1996
Buried: Lakeside Cemetery, Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, New York