38 | SUNRAYS NOVEMBER 2014
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so too have the experiences that come
with flying, both for passengers and for
stewardesses. Jane Owens remembers
when planes were either all coach with
one attending stewardess, or exclusively
first class, with two stewardesses shar-
ing the responsibility. Dona recalls serv-
ing liquor and dinner to 99 people in 56
minutes—without serving carts. If there
was no time to collect the trays before
landing, passengers were instructed to
stow them under the seat (once, they
were so short on time, all the trays were
collected and tossed into the lavatory!).
Judy Petty worked for an international
carrier during the Golden Age of Flying,
and remembers when first class service
included fresh flowers, linen tablecloths,
ice sculptures and gourmet dinners. Oh,
how things have changed!
Stressful Times, Close
Calls and Challenges
Air travel has always come with risks,
and stewardesses were trained to take
on whatever might come their way. For
Dona, training included being grabbed
by panicked passengers as she attempted
to evacuate a smoke-filled Boeing 747 in
less than 90 seconds. Carol Baker flew
with US Airways for over 40 years, but
flying through the eye of a hurricane is
still a stand-out experience in her mind
(the time her pilot veered off course to
fly over Niagara Falls was a memorable
one as well!). When one of Jane’s flights
wound up traveling through a tornado
near Cleveland, she remembers how
the turbulent flight had “vomit running
down the aisles.” On a different occasion,
Jane recalls the embarrassment of serv-
ing a meal to a United Airlines executive,
Carol Baker
US Airways
1962 – 2003
Dona Blake
American Airlines
1967 – 1973
Mimi Boney
Delta Air Lines
1957 – 1960
Judy Drummond
Southwest Airlines
1996 – 2013
Joanne Harrah
American Airlines
1945 – 1955
Dixie Lusson
North Central,
Continental Express
1969 – 1986/1991 – 2009
Pamela Meyners
Continental
1969 – 2006
Margie O’Connor
Continental, American
Airlines
1960 – 1963/1963-1971
Dolores Olson
Braniff
1947 – 1950
Jane Owens
United Airlines
1953 – 1960
Judy Petty
PanAm
1966 – 1968
only to have the tray handle break and the
contents go spilling into his lap. Joanne,
who worked for American Airlines from
the mid-’40s through the mid-’50s, tells
how a pilot once invited her up to the
cockpit while tilting their aircraft over
an active volcano. A plane had crashed
into the volcano a few years prior, and
the pilot said he wanted “a closer look.”
Frightening though that experience was,
Joanne smiles when she remembers an
incident inDallas, when a single plane sat
parked on the tarmac, only to be crashed
into by an incoming flight.
In August 1961, Margie was scheduled
to stand in for an attendant who was late
but who managed to show up at the last
minute – that flight was hijacked in El
Paso, TX. Just nine months later, Margie
“trip traded” from the same plane to an-
other flight; her original flight exploded
over Centerville, Iowa, killing everyone
aboard. Dixie Lusson flew for seven dif-
ferent airlines over a two decade career
and “never had a near miss”—unless you
count the time the ground crew found a
crack in the plane’s wing after it landed
in Green Bay. The crack was duct taped
together, and Dixie was instructed to keep
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