Lorraine L. (Coccio) Ditsworth

Lorraine L. (Coccio) Ditsworth was a flight attendant for Western Airlines in the mid-twentieth century.

Lorraine Lucille Coccio was born on December 13, 1931 in Grand Junction, Colorado to Antonio Carmino "Carl" Coccio, a coal miner, and Lily Juanita (Ascani) Coccio. She had two sisters. She grew up in Utah, attending Grand County High School in Moab. She interviewed with Western Airlines on March 1, 1953 then attended Western Airlines stewardess training in Los Angeles, California, an intensive three-week program which began on March 24. 

As a stewardess, Ditsworth was stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California. She commonly flew on the Douglas DC-3 including a route from Salt Lake City to Edmonton, Alberta which required nine stops. The DC-3 had a crew of three: the pilot, the co-pilot and the stewardess who would attend to the 21 passengers on board, including serving them a full meal. Ditsworth also flew aboard the Douglas DC-4, the DC-6B, and a Convair. The DC-6B held 66 passengers and had two stewardesses working. These flights were known as Western's "Champagne Flights." Meal service on these flights included a linen tablecloth, a full meal and two glasses of champagne. If the stewardesses could not serve and clean-up the service during the flight, they'd need to notify the pilot to circle in the air to allow extra time for the meal service before landing. Stewardesses were paid $195 for 72 hours of flight time. They could fly a maximum of 85 hours a month, earning $3 an hour for the extra hours above their standard 72.

She left Western Airlines in June 1956 when she married James Ditsworth (1921-2004) who worked for Hughes Aircraft. The couple lived in southern California.

Lorraine C. (Coccio) Ditsworth died on November 26, 2022 in South Cle Elum, Washington.

Source:

Biography derived from donor information, collection materials, and records on Ancestry.com.