Lucile Garner, later Lucile Garner Grant, (June 13, 1910March 4, 2013) was Canada's first

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

. In this capacity, she was the first woman to be employed by

Trans-Canada Air Lines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor. ...

where she worked from 1938 to 1943. Garner also designed TCA's first inflight uniform in 1938. At first, it was

beige Beige ( ) is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither ble ...

to match the airplane interior, and she was asked not to make it

navy blue Navy blue is a dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color name, ...

because pilots wore navy blue. However, the beige was widely disliked, so it became navy blues. Garner was a trained nurse, which was part of her qualifications as a flight attendant. In her flight attendant duties, she monitored weather patterns, handled

radio communications Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected t ...

and created a menu for a transcontinental flight. In 1941, Garner started a female flight attendant program at

Yukon Southern Air Transport United Air Transport was a Canadian airline founded in 1933 by George W. “Grant” McConachie and R.B. Phillips. McConachie, an experienced pilot, had previously operated Independent Airways. McConachie established that airline in 1931 to transpo ...

(later

Canadian Pacific Airlines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian ...

). She left the company the following year when she reached the retirement age 32. In 1941, Garner married Norman Dennison, who died in 1955. She married Jack Grant in 1956. She was interviewed for the book ''Canadian Maple Wings Association: Flight Attendant History,'' published in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Lucille Canadian nurses Canadian women nurses Flight attendants 1910 births 2013 deaths