Mary Rawlinson Creason joined the Aeronautics Bureau, then part of the Michigan Department of State Highways, in 1977, and became the first woman pilot in state government. She earned her private pilot's license in 1943 while a student at Western Michigan University. Creason's career included owning and operating the Ottawa Air Training and Transport Service in the 1960s, managing the Grand Haven Municipal Air Park from 1974 to 1975, and serving the Bureau of Aeronautics for 11 years, retiring in 1989 as the assistant deputy director. Responsible for expanding aviation education in Michigan's public schools, she helped develop the "Come Fly with Me" curriculum that earned her the Federal Aviation Administration Administrator's Award for Excellence in 1987. She earned two consecutive presidential appointments to the FAA's Women's Advisory Committee on Aviation, and competed and won honors in the Air Race Classic, a 2,600-mile transcontinental race for women pilots.
