Bessica Faith Raiche née Medlar, known as Bessie Raiche, (April 1875 – 11 April 1932) was a dentist, businesswoman, and physician, who was the first woman in the United States accredited with flying solo in an airplane. Her accomplishment, although dimmed by the existence of another flight by a US female earlier in the month, is impressive because she had received no flight instruction or experience prior to her flight.
Raiche was born in April 1875 in Beloit, Wisconsin. Her mother, Elizabeth, was from New Hampshire, and her father, James B. Medlar, was from New York. She had a sister: Alice M. Medlar (1879-?). In 1880 the family was living in Rockford, Illinois, and she was using the name "Bessie F. Medler". Raiche was a proto-feminist, she drove an automobile and wore bloomers. She was also a musician, painter, and linguist, and participated in swimming and shooting. In 1900 she was working as a dentist and living in New Hampton, New Hampshire, renting a room under the name Faith Medlar. She married François "Frank" C. Raiche (1874-?) of New Hampshire and they moved to Mineola, New York. Frank's parents were both from France.
Pack up all those phantoms
Shoulder that invisible load
Keep on riding North and West
Haunting that wilderness road
Like a ghost rider
Carry all those phantoms
Through bitter wind and stormy skies
From the desert to the mountain
From the lowest low to the highest high
Like a ghost rider
Keep on riding North and West
Then circle South and East
Show me beauty but there is no peace
For the ghost rider
Shadows on the road behind
Shadows on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now
There's a shadow on the road behind
There's a shadow on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now
Sunrise in the mirror
Lightens that invisible load
Riding on a nameless quest
Haunting that wilderness road
Like a ghost rider
Just an escape artist
Racing against the night
A wandering hermit
Racing toward the light
From the white sands
To the canyon lands
To the redwood stands
To the barren lands
Sunrise on the road behind
Sunset on the road ahead
There's nothing to stop you now