Ellen Church

Ellen Church (September 22, 1904 – August 22, 1965) was the first female flight attendant. 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 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. 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. 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]". 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 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. She moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, 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. A horse riding accident ended her life in 1965.

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