Saturday 10th September 1983

The first woman to drive across the United States from coast to coast, Alice Huyler Ramsey (96), died. On June 9, 1909, the 22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, began a 3,800-mile journey from Hell’s Gate in Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California, in a green Maxwell 30. On her 59-day trek she was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and another female friend, none of whom could drive a car. They arrived amid great fanfare on August 7.