The following biographical details were emailed to USC Libraries Special Collections from Thomas Butler on December 12, 2021. Elizabeth McKinley Matray was Thomas Butler's great aunt.

Follows is short version of Aunt Lib's story:

Born in 1915 Elizabeth Ann McKinley in Maryland was youngest of three sisters raised by their grandmother. She had two younger brothers. She left home and pursued adventure leading to being the first lady to solo under the new aviation agency in Baltimore.

When the United States entered WWII, women moved in to many jobs typically performed by men. There was great demand for men pilots for overseas duty and demand for homeland pilot became supplemented by female pilots. No trivial task was it but the WASP / Air Transport Command trained and provided ~1000 pilots for the war effort. Aunt Lib was in the first graduating class of WASP in Texas. She piloted transport, fighters, and trainer aircraft while delivering planes from factory to air bases over the U.S. - as a 25 year old woman. The WASP performed brilliantly until not needed and then they were sent back to their housework - often having to hitch a ride cross country to get home.

Of course Lib didn't stay home but joined the Red Cross in Italy until 1947 when she resigned and came home. She must have had enough of prejudice piloting as she became stewardess and model.

Jobs led her to DC, Las Vegas, and LA until the early 1960s when she met and married Ernst Matray, who was a Hungarian movie director / artist who found employment in Hollywood as a choreographer. Ernst was called "Genie" in her letters and I imagine she thought him to be somewhat magical with his many talents from silent movie directing, dancer, choreographer for numerous American films, and dance director for ladies like Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, Mary Carlisle, and such.

Through the 1970s Aunt Lib did social work in troubled Los Angeles neighborhoods, such as Watts.