Norma Heape, Continental's Longest-Serving Flight Attendant, Speaks (VIDEO)

Meet Norma Heape: Continental's longest-serving flight attendant. She's been on-board for 53 years, since 1957, back when they were called hostesses, and required to be single and slender -- she even recalls being weighed-in by the airline.

Over the years, Norma has logged more than 63000 in-flight hours and traveled 26 million miles. She's also had perfect attendance and looks amazing at 74 years old. Not bad. Not bad at all.

WATCH:

Comments

[WaPoFan]

06:06 AM on 01/01/2011

Great story, she looks no more than 50.

However, never calling in sick should never be heralded unless one has never actually been sick. I wonder how many colds she has given to passengers over all these years while working in such a confined space and serving them food and drink.

[life-of-riley]

09:49 AM on 01/01/2011

"...she looks no more than 50."

that trolley dolly has travelled a lot of miles, both literally and figuratively, I suspect

[SocialBillysRUs]

05:51 PM on 12/30/2010

We should all be capable of doing our jobs as well as Norma at that age. She gives new meaning to the phrase "Growing old gracefully."

[ClearNSimple2012]

11:42 AM on 12/30/2010

Kudos to you Norma, you did find a vocations that you truly love!

[Theda]

11:58 AM on 12/30/2010

I love her !!! Cool lady.

[jlm11579]

08:28 AM on 12/30/2010

Bravo to Ms. Heape.

I hope the new Continental (now a subsidiary of United) continues to value her contribution as a long-standing employee.

[mvpalinkas]

02:27 AM on 12/30/2010

The changes that this woman has seen are intense!

[JScott]

01:30 AM on 12/30/2010

I've got a relative who's been a flight attendant at Delta for 30 some years, started just before you had to go thru all those anti hijacking procedures.

[ChaCubed]

10:44 PM on 12/29/2010

I'd love to complain about another misleading HP headline, but I have to accept a large part of the responsibility for clicking on it.

[thewholestory]

07:39 PM on 12/29/2010

Very nice, she found a career she enjoys.

[oldgeek1]

06:55 PM on 12/29/2010

The focus should always be on being able to deal with an emergency

[KIVPossum]

06:05 PM on 12/29/2010

Wonderful. A long career doing exactly what she wanted to do.

[ayisha]

05:39 PM on 12/29/2010

way cool. lovely to find something you genuinely enjoy and to be able to make a living at it.

[SkippyJiffy]

04:25 PM on 12/29/2010

Looks amazing "for" a 74 year old? As if 74 year olds can't look amazing? How about she looks amazing AT 74 years old.

[tsudopnem]

09:21 AM on 12/30/2010

While women can look good at that age, most don't.