As I sit in a pile of old documents, photos, and notes—many from my mom to her “Grammy” and from her brother to her mom—my eyes catch the photo. I had heard from my Grammy of her times as a stewardess and from my mom after she passed of this photo as well as others. However, I myself had never seen it with my own eyes. It is interesting how familiar we can become with a time in which we were not alive, a story we were not part of, or photo we have never seen. It is also interesting to me that, within this box, time is condensed as pictures of three generations taken around the same ages sit together.
To be honest, this photo strayed very little from the image I had created in my head. It had not faded the way her other photos had, and it was printed from American Airlines negative no. 18442. I saw my Grammy with a glint in her eyes and an ear to ear smile, standing next to him. You would think my eyes would fixate on him, at the time an actor but later a governor and then the president, but he seemed secondary to her. It’s funny that she lacks the look of excited disbelief typically displayed on people when photographed with a famous figure. Instead she just looks happy to be flying and working such a unique job for its time.
I don’t know if I would have loved being an American Airlines Stewardess the way she had. She was critiqued every flight for specific details of appearance and personal characteristics such as hairstyle, nails, smile, posture, etc. She was rated rather than appreciated for her beautiful smile and friendly attitude. The first remark made in her observation report from Flight 286 was, “Shirley – Your appearance is very attractive.” The second was, “Your passenger contacts are made in a very friendly manner with a lovely, spontaneous smile which you use to good advantage.” Sure, these are positive remarks, but it still feels like she is being ridiculed. Maybe I feel this way because the positive remarks paragraph is much shorter than the recommendations, or maybe it is because the categories she was graded on are quite sexist and arbitrary to her proficiency in her job. I know that she loved being a stewardess and that the way she was being scrutinized by others didn’t faze her. At the time, being a stewardess was pretty special and the people who were able to fly anywhere had the prestige and wealth that the man in the photo did. She served many famous figures and her charm was felt by all passengers.
Instead of making me miss her or wish I had time to ask her more about the photograph, I am content learning from the documents she has left and leaving the rest up to my imagination. I know that, through this box, I can learn things my Grammy would have never told me. Her grades listed in report cards from every quarter of high school, a photo of her dancing with an old boyfriend, a death certificate for her son who died unexpectedly at age 22, pictures of her in a “Career Girl Fashion Show.” A woman who I had always known as elderly, sweet, and smelling of cookies I could now see as a playful little girl, an adventurous teenager, or a working young adult.
*As you can probably tell, the picture shown is not the one I finally found and described above. I chose to include a picture of just her in her stewardess days because she always talked about how it was special to be able to fly with her passengers no matter who they were. Thus, I have chosen to leave the man with her in the photograph anonymous to stand as a placeholder for all of the passengers she attended.
