One-time owner of Taylorcraft dies 
                                Review staff report:  12-21-04

                                Dorothy A. Feris, a former owner of the 
                                Taylorcraft Aviation Corporation on Commerce 
                                Street north of Alliance, died last Thursday in 
                                Burridge, Ill. She was 82.

                                Feris was born Sept. 9, 1922, in Downer's Grove, 
                                Ill. After working as a secretary for a steel 
                                company for three years, she married and had two 
                                sons, Herbert and Timothy. In 1948 she went to 
                                work as a waitress at the Chicken Basket 
                                Restaurant across from the Hinsdale Airport. 

                                She met Charlie Feris at the Chicken Basket and, 
                                as she put it, "found his life in aviation 
                                extremely fascinating." They married in 1957. 
                                Together they operated the Hinsdale Airport for 
                                several years.

                                Charlie and Dorothy slowly acquired the assets 
                                of the Taylorcraft company that had been located 
                                in Alliance in the 1940s, and they returned it 
                                here in 1967 where they operated it together 
                                until Charlie's death in 1976.

                                According to Chet Peek's book "The Taylorcraft 
                                Story," several national magazines reported on 
                                the rebirth of Taylorcraft, stressing the 
                                company was being managed by an "extremely 
                                competent woman."

                                Feris continued the operation until 1985, 
                                Taylorcraft's golden anniversary year, when she 
                                sold the company to a group in Lock Haven, Pa.

                                Mrs. Feris called Alliance home for 20 years. 
                                She had many friends and former employees in and 
                                around the Alliance area.

                                In addition to her sons, she is survived by six 
                                grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, as 
                                well as her companion, Miles Kilianek. Services 
                                were to be held today at 10 a.m. at the Modell 
                                Funeral Home in Darien, Ill.

                                nline tributes may be made on the Taylorcraft 
                                Foundation's Web site, www.taylorcraft.org. A 
                                guest book can also be signed at 
                                www.chicagotribune.com - click on obituaries, 
                                12-19-04, Dorothy A. Feris.