Before returning home and placing her roots in Dowagiac, local business owner Toysa True flew all over the globe to countries in Europe, Asia and South America, as part of a team helping to give children in developing nations a gift most take for granted — sight.

Nearly 30 years since her departure from the flying eye hospital, True was invited to see for herself the culmination that she and other inaugural members of the Orbis flight crew put into the fledging organization so many years ago.

True was invited as a special VIP to the first flight of Orbis’ new MD-10 aircraft Saturday, stationed in Memphis, Tennessee.

The flying hospital, staffed by around 30 vision professionals from around the globe, will be making several more stops around the U.S. before departing on its first international mission, to assist children in China.

True, a longtime Dowagiac resident and owner of downtown’s Shabby Bou-Chic, was one of several former Orbis employees invited to participate in the event this weekend, she said.

As she and others toured the modern facilities of the flying healthcare facility, she left amazed at just how far the company had come since she served as nurse on the program’s maiden flight, in 1982.

“There wasn’t a dry eye among us by the time we got off that plane,” True said.

True, a graduate of Southwestern Michigan College’s nursing program, was working as a nurse in New York City at the time, using her career in the medical profession as a means to support herself as pursued a career in acting, she said. True had a deep love for travel, one the doctors at the hospital she was working at the time suggested would be good fit for the Orbis program, which was preparing to launch at the time.

Hired after just a single interview with the program coordinators in Atlanta, True was one of the 15 staff members who participated in Orbis’ first mission, where they traveled to South America to assist with several optical surgeries for children. The operations were used as a way to train doctors living those developing nations the techniques used to treat eye conditions.

For the next five years, True traveled to dozens of different countries, having a chance to meet with kings, queens and other notable dignitaries through the program, she said.

“Who would have thought that a two-year nursing degree from SMC would take me all over the planet,” she said.

Recalling the many difficulties she and the initial Orbis staff encountered during their early days — including running out of fuel for a return flight home from South America — seeing the new, modern jet filled her with a sense of pride for what they accomplished so many decades ago, she said.

“It’s humbling to think all of the struggles have resulted in this global support system for so many,” she said.