Prior to her passing, she was talking about the past weekend, when she spent time visiting with family. She always told great stories that were upbeat and funny, her family said.
Family meant a lot to Grace, including time she spent at the airport with her sons. Fred Hogan would still take her to the airport on Saturdays, and the family would get together, and eat there in Tom’s hangar.
According to Fred, the titles of “mom,” “grandmother” and “great-grandmother” were among her greatest achievements.
“That’s quite the legacy,” he said.
Grace was a “Rosie the Riveter,” a woman who served in the Women’s Army Corps, and a member of a Gold Star family. She and her husband raised eight children, and she went on to serve the community and tell her story.
Hogan, 101, was a native of Sardis, Ohio. However, she spent much of her life in Hamilton. Grace is survived by six of her children: Dan (Candy) Hogan, Cliff Hogan, Tom (Marcia) Hogan, Fred (Sherry) Hogan, Julie (Rick) Hill, and Barb (Mike) Howell; 12 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Her 22nd great-grandchild is due in November.
She was predeceased by her husband, Art Hogan (2000); sons Don Hogan (1967) and Joe Hogan (2012), grandson Joel Hogan (2024), her parents Ernest and Lillian (Yoss) Klay and siblings Roy Klay, Waldo Klay, Floyd Klay, Lester Klay and Irene (Merriner) Klay.
Hogan was one of six children. Her father ran a ferry boat between Sardis and Paden City, West Virginia. She graduated from high school in Sardis and worked at Paden City Pottery during and after high school, before joining the National Youth Organization.
As a graduate of sheet metal school through the National Youth Organization, Hogan held a job working on C-46 wings. The workers riveted and installed electrical wiring for landing lights and wing tip lights. That was in May 1942.
Hogan signed with the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) and was ordered to Cleveland Ohio, Company 17, 3rd Regiment. She completed six weeks of basic training at Fort Des Moines in Des Moines, Iowa. Her Company Commander was 1st. Lt. Ruth Lynch.
Hogan was active in the Women’s Army Corps from August 1944 to July 1946. After the war, she was promoted from PFC to CPL in Jan. 1946. The Women’s Army Corps was the women’s branch of the U.S. Army.
All of Hogan’s brothers served in the military during World War II. Three of her brothers served in the South Pacific and returned to the U.S. unharmed. The fourth, Floyd Klay, was killed in action over Paris. He was a navigator on a B-17.
Hogan started active duty on Sept. 15, 1944, one year to the day of her brother Floyd’s death.
On Nov. 1, 1944, Hogan and several o, and the women also had other duties such as barracks duty.
Following the war, Hogan and her best friend, Rhoda Boggs, learned to fly and got their private pilot licenses at what’s now known as the Butler County Regional Airport - Hogan Field.
Instead of returning home to Sardis after the war, Hogan was invited to live with Boggs and her parents in Hamilton, and she got a job at General Machinery on Third Street.
At the airfield, Hogan met, fell in love with and married her flight school instructor, Art Hogan, whose family bought the airport in 1932. The couple was married in October of 1947. They lived near the airport in a home they built.
Hogan is featured in the current FotoFocus exhibition at the Fitton Center, “We > Me: 17 Artists Explore Hamilton Neighborhoods.” Photographer Scott Kissell featured her and the airport in his photos. Grace and members of her family were present at the gallery opening Oct. 19. The exhibition will be on display through Jan. 3.
In 2022, Hogan was honored by The Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation as a “Living Legend” for her extraordinary life of service in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. She was one of the first women to aid our country. Joining the Army after her brother’s B-17 was downed over France, she had already been doing equally inspiring work as a “Rosie the Riveter” at the Firestone Aircraft Company in Akron.
She and her son Fred frequently participated in veterans’ events promoting women in military service, especially during WWII. She would have been 102 on Feb. 21.
Other honors Hogan received include the Army Good Conduct Medal, an American Campaign Medal, and a World War II Victory Medal. She was inducted into Hamilton’s Veterans Hall of Fame in 2019, and is featured at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Nov. 1 at Brown Dawson Flick Funeral Home, 330 Pershing Ave., Hamilton, and again at St Julie Billiart Catholic Church from 9-10 a.m. Nov. 2, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. at the church.
Burial will follow the Mass at the St Mary Cemetery in Hamilton.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be given to the Hamilton Community Foundation, American Cancer Society, ALS Association or Parkinson’s Foundation.
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