|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
Organization provides seniors with chance to live a dream Augusta
Chronicle, August 6,
2003 MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- She can't
walk as fast as she used to, but she can still fly. This week, 73-year-old Rachel
Rosine was able to relive the golden days of her youth as an Eastern
Airlines stewardess in the early 1950s. For the first time in years, she
boarded an airplane, took a seat in the front of the cabin, pressed her
face to the window and waved. The trip was a dream, sponsored
by a nonprofit organization that strives to fulfill the wishes of people
living in eldercare communities. Known as Second Wind Dreams, the
international program was started by geriatric psychologist P.K. Beville. "We feel so strongly about
it. It's a very positive program," said Marsha Zatcoff of Heritage
Healthcare, a contract provider of therapeutic services for nursing homes
and a sponsor of Second Wind Dreams. Rosine, now a resident of Grand
Strand Health Care and a rare traveler, dreamed of reliving her exciting
but brief career, Zatcoff said. As a 26-year-old, she flew
routes between Boston and Miami, until she married a pilot, Henry Rosine.
"At that time, when you got married, you quit flying," Rosine
said. Rosine's sister, Toni Marley,
said Rosine and a younger sister, Peggy, both joined the airlines when
they were in their 20s. For Rosine, it was goodbye to
the town of Ramseur, N.C., and hello to Miami. "It was an adventurous
thing to do, it really was," Marley said. "They were just
striking out on their own. They both had jobs here in the small town of
Ramseur and decided they wanted to see the world." When officials at Grand Strand
Health Care found out that Rosine's wish was to go for one more plane
ride, they contacted the only airline based in Myrtle Beach - Hooters Air.
Mark Peterson, spokesman for
Hooters Air, said the trip for Rosine sounded like a nice idea. "It's
a very easy thing for us to do and just might make her day," Peterson
said. Rosine was obviously excited
when she arrived at Myrtle Beach International Airport at dawn to board
the 7:30 a.m. flight to Atlanta. She recalled what had been a
glamorous career in a then-glamorous industry - part and parcel of an
elegant, bygone era of navy blue uniforms, perky hats and gleaming
propellers. "At that time, they would
let us take the little ones up to the cockpit," Rosine said.
"They do not allow that anymore." Although security is tighter,
the jets are faster and Rosine's a little slower, Monday's plane ride
brought back all the old thrills. A rainbow stretched across the sky
moments after the plane took off, and Rosine saw it from the air. She also enjoyed meeting the
Hooters girls - waitresses dressed in orange minishorts who fly on every
Hooters Air flight. "I always have had good
legs," Rosine said. "I would have had fun. I was better-looking
then. We all get older, don't we?" As passengers began to make
their way off the plane, Rosine kept her seat and said goodbye to each
one, just as she had in the old days. And, just once more, she got to
flirt with the crew. When the flight was over and the
plane was nearly empty, she pinched the arm of a passing pilot and said,
"Nice landing." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
