"Fly high, Bette": Bette Nash, the world's longest-serving flight attendant, has passed away at 88 years old
When he began his career as a flight attendant, World War II had ended just over [...]
American Airlines
Oneworld
When he began his career as flight attendant, World War II had been over for a little over 10 years, the tenant of the White House was Dwight Eisenhower, low-cost airlines did not yet exist but airline tickets, nevertheless, cost only $12. It was the 1957: a lifetime ago.
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A life, that of Bette Nash, dedicated completely to her job as a flight attendant, which she loved with all her being: almost 7 decades spent in the clouds, at 37 thousand feet altitude. Like all good stories, however, Bette Nash's came to its final chapter: the flight attendant, due to breast cancer, passed away at the age of 88 in a hospice. Despite her diagnosis, she had decided to continue doing her job: but then, as the disease became increasingly aggressive, hospitalization was necessary.
Photo: Getty Images
Not everyone knows this, but unlike pilots (who are required to retire at age 65), in the U.S., flight attendants have no age limit, they can fly for life. And that is exactly what Betty Nash wanted to do: "When I am among people I feel reborn. You say something, they respond, and we are all happy. Nothing has changed since the 1950s, people are exactly the same, everyone needs a little love," said the Guinness World Record-breaking flight attendant in an interview a few years ago.
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Photo: people.com
Bette Nash's career began with the Eastern Airlines, at the time one of the largest companies in the United States: she worked for several carriers and eventually came to theAmerican Airlines, for which she has flown several decades and of which she has become a true pillar. Throughout her very long career, Bette Nash experienced firsthand the enormous changes in the world of civil aviation (including, just to name one, the worldwide adoption of the stringent security measures after the 9/11 terrorist attacks) and of fly with millions of passengers, including the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
In short, a long and fulfilling life for Bette Nash that the aviation world is unlikely to forget. Fly high, Bette.
