By Emme Hornung

Carol Christianson, EAA Lifetime 25226, has been recognized as EAA’s 2026 Dorothy Hilbert Award recipient. The award was created in honor of the late Dorothy Hilbert to recognize a female AirVenture volunteer who shows the same passion and dedication to volunteerism that Dorothy did — and Carol, who first joined EAA’s volunteer corps in the 1970s, is well deserving of such recognition.

Carol’s interest in aviation goes as far back as she does. “It’s genetic,” she said. Her father was a pilot and had been involved in EAA’s earliest days when the annual fly-in convention was held in Rockford, Illinois. Her parents even rebuilt and re-covered an old aircraft together, and her two brothers were pilots. Today, the aviation gene carries on with her daughter, who is a student pilot in Alaska.

Carol started volunteering for EAA in the ’70s as a tractor driver in the North 40, bringing pilots to their aircraft campsites. She even knew Bernice Scholler (one of Camp Scholler’s namesakes) and saw the introduction of credit card readers in the North 40 admissions building.

Aside from a hiatus to raise her children, she’s been volunteering in the North 40 ever since — and has had a few role changes along the way. Today, she’s the North 40 co-chair in charge of volunteer support. “I’m a trainer, and I’m referred to as the mom,” she said.

North 40 volunteers are essential to making sure pilots who fly in get what they need for a great convention experience, and Carol makes sure the team is ready to help. Once the Flightline Ops team gets the pilots parked, the North 40 team takes over and is typically the first to greet pilots to Oshkosh.

“We help them with whatever they need and point them in the right direction for needs we can’t personally help with. We work with the carts crew to move people where they need to be, like translation services for international guests, people with physical disabilities, and press,” Carol said. “We do registration, ticket sales, so we wear a lot of hats.”

Volunteering for AirVenture is Carol’s way of carrying on her family’s aviation legacy. “It keeps me connected to the aviation roots in my family,” she said.

As many Oshkosh-goers can relate, her North 40 team has become a family in and of itself. “We’re family. Some of them are literally related to me, but we have a consistent volunteer crew. Once people go through training, which is extensive and intensive, they come back because it’s fun and we’re a good crew,” she said. “As Paul Poberezny said, people come for the airplanes, but they come back for the people. It’s all about the people.”

Thank you, Carol, for all you do for EAA, pilots, and your fellow volunteers!