Nancy Oakes
Thanks to her long career as a high school French teacher in New Mexico, the undisputed modern hot-air balloon capital of the world, Nancy Oakes has established herself as a cultural, linguistic, and historical link between Albuquerque and Annonay, France, le berceau d’aviation, or the cradle of aviation, where humans built and launched the world’s first hot-air balloon in 1783. She continued to serve as an important link by facilitating exchanges between American and French high school students from the two cities. But she didn’t stop with students. She has also been instrumental in arranging exchanges between hot-air balloon pilots in Albuquerque and pilots from Annonay. In a word, Nancy is all things balloons and French, so the perfect guest for this episode, which we’re releasing just days before the start of the 53rd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.