Ellen Church (September 22, 1904 – August 22, 1965) was the first female flight attendant.[1]
Biography[]
Church was born in Cresco, Iowa. After graduating from Cresco High School, Church studied nursing and worked in a San Francisco hospital.[2] She was a pilot and a registered nurse. Steve Stimpson, the manager of the San Francisco office of Boeing Air Transport (BAT), would not hire her as a pilot, but did pass along her suggestion to put nurses on board airplanes to calm the public's fear of flying.[2] In 1930, BAT hired Church as head stewardess, and she recruited seven others for a three-month trial period.[2]
The stewardesses, or "sky girls" as BAT called them,[1][3] had to be registered nurses, "single, younger than 25 years old; weigh less than 115 pounds [52 kg]; and stand less than 5 feet, 4 inches tall [1.63 m]".[1] In addition to attending to the passengers, they were expected to, when necessary, help with hauling luggage, fueling and assisting pilots to push the aircraft into hangars.[3] However, the salary was good: $125 a month.[1][2]
Church became the first stewardess to fly (though not the first flight attendant, as German Heinrich Kubis had preceded her in 1912). On May 15, 1930, she embarked on a Boeing 80A for a 20-hour flight from Oakland/San Francisco to Chicago with 13 stops and 14 passengers.[4] According to one source, the pilot was another aviation pioneer, Elrey Borge Jeppesen.[5]
The innovation was a resounding success - the other airlines followed BAT's example over the next few years - but an injury from an automobile accident ended her career after 18 months. She obtained a bachelors degree in nursing education from the University of Minnesota and resumed nursing.[1][6] In 1936, she became supervisor of pediatrics at Milwaukee County Hospital.[6] During World War II, Church served in the Army Nurse Corps as a captain and flight nurse and earned an Air Medal.[1] She moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where she became director of nursing and later an administrator at Union Hospital.[6]
In 1964, she married Leonard Briggs Marshall, president of the Terre Haute First National Bank.[4][6] A horse riding accident ended her life in 1965.[4][6]
Cresco's municipal airport was named Ellen Church Field (KCJJ) in her honor.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Ellen Church". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/echurch.html. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Ellen Church: The Flying Nurse". Iowa Public Television. http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000186. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tony Long (May 15, 2008). "May 15, 1930: The Skies Get a Little Bit Friendlier". Wired magazine. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. https://archive.is/3x1f4. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Shane Nolan (April 30, 2010). "United Airlines Celebrates 80 Years Of The Flight Attendant Profession". Aviation Online Magazine. http://avstop.com/news_april_2010/united_airlines_celebrates_80_years_of_the_flight_attendant_profession.htm. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ↑ Cary Baird (February 2007). "New Book Marks Jeppesen’s 100th Birthday". http://airportjournals.com/Display.cfm?varID=0702007. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Ellen (Marshall) Church". Cresco website (crespochamber.com). http://www.crescochamber.com/cresco/ellenchurch.html. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
External links[]
The original article can be found at Ellen Church and the edit history here.