Former World War II pilot ‘Bee’ Haydu creates buzz in Bluffton

A customer came into my store the other day and asked me if I had anything with a “bee” on it.

Well, I just happened to have a small glass tray with “Queen Bee” inscribed on it complete with a beautiful bee engaving in the center.

It turned out the tray was to be a present for a lady named Bernice "Bee" Falk Haydu, a lady who was a pilot - a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot) - during World War II.

Bee was born in 1920 and grew up with her brother during the Great Depression. There was not enough money for the family to send two children to college so it was decided her brother would be the chosen for that path and she would become a secretary.

Bee had always wanted to go to college so she set her and enrolled in night school. It was there she learned about a course in aviation.

Her brother had joined the Army Air Force. Bee wanted to support the war effort so she studied hard. Her lifelong love affair with flying begain in 1944 in the little town of Sweetwater, Texas. After the war was over, Bee spent much of her time trying to get recognition for members of WASP as World War II veterans.

That story and the struggle to get this accomplished is an amazing one.

Bee has a plaque in her name hanging in the Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum in New Jersey and was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. She now divides her time between homes on Singer Island, Fla., and in her homestate of New Jersey. I feel quite honored to have something from my store picked out as a present for this remarkable lady. There is a charming picture of her on the internet decked out in her aviation outfit.

A hard hotel lesson

I read a cute article recently about a couple who joined the Airbnb craze.

They bought a fabulous, expensive mattress, sheets with a sky high thread count, towels worth a king’s ransom and all sorts of fluffy and firm pillows. The icebox was stuffed to the gills with fresh orange juice, real butter, half and half , fancy jams and very expensive bottles of water. The day their first guests were to arrive, a trip was made to a boutique bakery for fancy muffins and freshly baked bread. By this time the investment was quite large and money had yet to cross palms.

The guests arrived and seemed to have enjoyed their stay.

When they left three days later, the couple looked up their guests’ comments on the Airbnb website to find out they had been left a very lukewarm review. The company does not like bad reviews so hosts are only given a few chances to shine.

The husband looked skyward and dollar signs floated above his head.

The wife consulted with several other Airbnb folks and found that perhaps she should supply several good bottles of wine along with everything else - not red since it might get spilled on the priceless sheets.

The husband by this time was overcome with palpitations and sweaty palms and said “OK, we will have another go.”

Several guests later, they threw in the Turkish towel and said enough is enough.

After putting up with complaints, being awakened in the night and dealing with snarly guests, they decided Conrad Hilton could have it all.

They decided something else.

From now on, they would never complain about the internet, leaks in the faucet, noisy guests in the next room or really much of anything in a hotel or motel. They promised themselves to become better guests no matter where they lay their heads down.

If the shoe doesn’t fit ...

White shoes have become quite the rage as of late.

I don’t particularly care for them. When I was in school, we all tried to get our new tennis shoes as dirty as possible as fast as we could. Now, not wearing pristine white shoes is considered almost sinful.

There are all manner of thoughts as to how to keep your white shoes sparkling.

I was in a store the other day and saw a pair of very cool white lizard printed slides for $15. What do I have to lose, I thought to myself, they looked a bit like something out of the Arabian Nights, an upturned toe quite chic.

The sales lady quizzed me, asking about what I was going to wear them with. I told her nothing in particular but they are only $15 . She tried to get me to buy a pair in black instead but no, I insisted the white ones were it.

When I got home _ in the privacy of my closet - I tried the shoes on with every thought that they had to be fabulous.

I looked as though I was wearing the QE II on my feet.

You guessed it.

The next morning I was back in the shoe store and when the saleslady saw me, she knew why I was there.

“I was expecting you,” she said slyly. “And we have one black pair in your size in the back.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Former World War II pilot ‘Bee’ Haydu creates buzz in Bluffton."