Palouse Pilot is a story of both adventure and romance. Just months before shipping out to Corsica in 1944, Scotty met his lifelong sweetheart in Greenville, South Carolina. He first saw her on the dance floor of the American Legion USO canteen and when she spoke  My name is Bobbie Hill, he was smitten. Their romance blossomed against the backdrop of WWII. Fifty-three love letters later, at the completion of his military service, Scotty sent a train ticket to the spunky Georgia redhead. Alone and undaunted, Bobbie headed west to an airbase in Santa Anna, California with one suitcase in hand. It didnt take her long to accept Scottys marriage proposal and agree to be married in a small wedding chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. She would trade in her hometown of Homer, Georgia and the comfort of white magnolias for the unknown golden wheat farms of Eastern Washington. It was there that Bobbie would create a lifetime of cherished memories with her husband, children, grandchildren, extended family and friends. Over the next 60 years, our white magnolia gal carved a life in the Palouse country, becoming a golden wheat gal. She was a beautiful, unique blend of the red-hills of Georgia and the rolling farmlands of the Palouse.


About the author


Nona Hengen was born and raised in Palouse country in eastern Washington. Her educational background includes a masters in History from the University of Colorado and a PhD from Indiana University in Education. She is a former classroom and television teacher, university professor and administrator, careers from which she gravitated toward the full-time pursuit of art and writing.She maintains a studio set against a backdrop of Palouse hills on the eastern Washington farm purchased in 1913 by her grandparents.


The second edition of Palouse Pilot was revised and prepared for publication by Susan Rohwer McIntyre and Tracy Poe Rohwer.