{"id":62054,"date":"2015-06-02T23:17:59","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T23:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/community\/?p=4146"},"modified":"2015-06-02T23:17:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T23:17:59","slug":"keeping-the-spirit-of-innovation-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/02\/keeping-the-spirit-of-innovation-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping the Spirit of Innovation Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We know them as the inventors of the airplane and namesakes for Wright State University. But to Amanda Wright Lane, Orville and Wilbur Wright are so much more than two of the greatest innovators who ever lived. They are family.<\/p>\n

As the great grandniece of the Wright brothers, Wright Lane grew up hearing stories about her Uncle Orv and Uncle Will.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was old enough to sit at the \u2018adult\u2019 table for Sunday evening dinner, the chatter around the table was often about Uncles Orv and Will. At the time, I never connected those stories to the \u2018Wright brothers\u2019 or the invention of the aeroplane,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThose stories were always about who Orville and Wilbur were as brothers, sons, uncles, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday evening dinners were hosted by Wright Lane\u2019s great aunts and uncles, who were well in to their 70s and 80s. But as direct nieces and nephews of the world-renowned engineering pair, they laughed and reminisced about the fun they had when their famous uncles baby-sat them at their bicycle shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fact that they both had incredible senses of humor,\u201d says Wright Lane. \u201cThat sense of humor, particularly in Uncle Orv, manifested itself in practical jokes. My father would talk about the practical jokes that were played upon him as a young boy. Uncle Orv loved to tease. You knew something was up because his blue eyes would twinkle and his mustache would twitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she got older, Wright Lane began to know the brothers as men, not just as the fun, crazy, candy-making, puppet show\u2013writing uncles she was introduced to as a child. She also developed an appreciation for Orville and Wilbur\u2019s parents, Milton and Susan Wright.<\/p>\n

While some parents might have scoffed at their children attempting to do what was once thought impossible\u2014manned flight\u2014Orville and Wilbur\u2019s parents were always supportive.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir mother and father\u2014and their brothers and sister\u2014were incredibly encouraging. None of them said \u2018you must be absolutely nuts,\u2019\u201d says Wright Lane. \u201cWith that kind of environment, you develop the courage to be able to think differently and pursue those ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright Lane believes it\u2019s only fitting that a university in Dayton, Ohio, would be named in honor of the famed aviators. \u201cI think they would be humbled,\u201d she says. \u201cThey would be very happy about it, because universities are places where students can effect great change.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the distinguished honorary chair for Rise. Shine. The Campaign for Wright State University, <\/i>Wright Lane is helping to shape the future of the university that bears her great granduncles\u2019 names.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing involved with the university was not even a question. To me, it is absolutely home base for my family\u2019s history,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Wright State University Libraries\u2019 Special Collections and Archives houses the world\u2019s largest collection of materials on the Wright brothers and their family. Deeded to the university by the Wright family in 1975, the collection includes thousands of photographs documenting the invention of the airplane, along with technical drawings, financial records, letters, diaries, and aviation awards and medals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Wright Brothers Collection at Wright State\u2019s archives was a resource that truly brought me closer to \u2018knowing\u2019 these two incredible men I had never met,\u201d Wright Lane says. \u201cI remember seeing their report cards as part of my first visit to the archives and realizing they weren\u2019t perfect students! It made Uncle Orv and Uncle Will all the more real.\u201d<\/p>\n

While aviation experts from around the globe have traveled to Wright State to delve into the personal papers and artifacts of the legendary aviation pioneers, Wright Lane would like to see the Archives evolve into more of a community gathering place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real opportunity for Wright State University to give our community the sense of ownership of a collection that continues to grow both in quality and in content, and in distinction, worldwide. In a word, it is a treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preserving the legacy of her ancestors is important to Wright Lane, whether it\u2019s at Wright State or in the community at large. She frequently speaks to groups about the Wright brothers\u2019 contributions to the world of aviation. Wherever she goes, she meets people who tell her how aviation changed their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAviation was the first technology that allowed all peoples of the world to \u2018see\u2019 every corner of our planet. Uncle Orv and Uncle Will\u2019s muslin and wood flying machine started the human race on a journey that has taken us to the stars, and that journey has only just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether she\u2019s speaking to a group of third graders, accepting an award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, or chairing Wright State\u2019s Rise. Shine. <\/i>campaign, Amanda Wright Lane continues the legacy of her two great granduncles who made the first flight and forever changed the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know them as the inventors of the airplane and namesakes for Wright State University. But to Amanda Wright Lane, Orville and Wilbur Wright are so much more than two of the greatest innovators who ever lived. They are family. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":61230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4827,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}