Ellen Church (September 22, 1904 – August 22, 1965) was the first female

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

. A trained nurse and pilot, Church wanted to pilot commercial aircraft, but those jobs were not open to women. Still wanting to fly, Church successfully worked to convince

Boeing Air Transport United Airlines is the third largest airline in the world, with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Airlines Holdings) and 721 aircraft. It was the brainchild of William Boeing and emerged from his consolidation of nu ...

that using nurses as flight-stewardesses would increase safety and help convince passengers that flying was safe. Their first flight took off on May 15, 1930.

Biography

Church was born in Cresco, Iowa. After graduating from Cresco High School, Church studied nursing and worked in a San Francisco hospital. She was a pilot and a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

. 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. In 1930, BAT hired Church as head stewardess, and she recruited seven others for a three-month trial period. The stewardesses, or "sky girls" as BAT called them, had to be registered nurses, "single, younger than 25 years old; weigh less than 115 pounds '' 2 kg'; and stand less than 5 feet, 4 inches tall '' .63 m'". 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. However, the salary was good: $125 a month. Church became the first stewardess to fly (though not the first

, as German

Heinrich Kubis Heinrich Kubis (16 June 1888 – 1979) was a German professional waiter known for serving as the world's first flight attendant and for surviving the Hindenburg disaster. Career Kubis trained as a waiter and worked in several luxury hotels in E ...

had preceded her in 1912). On May 15, 1930, she embarked on a

Boeing 80 The Boeing 80 was an American airliner of the 1920s. A three-engined biplane, the Model 80 was built by the Boeing Airplane Company for Boeing's own airline, Boeing Air Transport, successfully carrying both airmail and passengers on scheduled se ...

A for a 20-hour flight from

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

/San Francisco to Chicago with 13 stops and 14 passengers. According to one source, the pilot was another aviation pioneer, Elrey Borge Jeppesen. 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 bachelor's degree in nursing education from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and resumed nursing. In 1936, she became supervisor of pediatrics at Milwaukee County Hospital. During World War II, Church served in the Army Nurse Corps as a captain and flight nurse and earned an

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

. She moved to

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, where she became director of nursing and later an administrator at Union Hospital. In 1964, she married Leonard Briggs Marshall, president of the

Terre Haute First National Bank First Financial Bank is a regional bank operated by First Financial Corporation and based in Terre Haute, Indiana. It is the oldest national bank in Indiana and the fifth oldest national bank in the United States. First Financial Corporation ...

. A horse riding accident ended her life in 1965.

Legacy

Cresco's municipal airport was named Ellen Church Field (KCJJ) in her honor.

References

External links

Photo of a United Airlines Boeing 747 named "The Original Eight"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Ellen 1904 births 1965 deaths People from Cresco, Iowa Aviation pioneers Flight attendants American nurses American women nurses Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States Accidental deaths in Indiana Recipients of the Air Medal Female United States Army nurses in World War II American women aviators University of Minnesota School of Nursing alumni 20th-century American people United States Army officers Military personnel from Iowa

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

External links