Mary Cara Smalley
By: Terry McDaniel
Updated: June 15, 2012
CW5 (Retired) Mary Cara Smalley (nee Spears) passed on June 14, 2012 after a battle with brain cancer.
She was born in Vernon, Texas on February 22, 1955. She joined the Army in 1975 and became the 13th female to graduate from flight school. While in the Army she earned a Bachelors and Masters degrees from Embry Riddle. Later she became the first female aviator promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Five. She retired from the Army in August of 1999 and was selected to the Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007.
Mary was preceded in death by her mother, Mary, her father, Donald, and her brother, Douglas.
She is survived by her husband of 18 years, COL (Dr) Brian Smalley; one
brother, Ronald, and a sister-in-law, Debra of Allen, Texas; her daughter, Kara Gensert, son-in-law, CPT Michael Gensert; two granddaughters, Margaret and Catherine of Harker Heights, Texas.
Mary was a devout lover of animals and the family requests donations to the Humane Society in lieu of flowers.
