Wayne Frantzen:  

After graduating from college in '71 with a double major in physical education and social studies with an emphasis in geography, I was hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) to be one of the first men in the industry to be trained as a flight attendant. You may recall that between 1967 and '72, there were over 135 hijackings, mostly to Cuba. It stopped after men were trained and put on flights. Renting a loft in the Garment District of Manhattan while based in New York City, I crewed on 747 international flights out of JFK to Europe (Rome, Paris, London, Greece), as well as long-haul domestic flights to the West Coast and Vegas (Elvis at the Hilton International, WOW!). My spare time was spent taking private pilot lessons, sailing my boat on Long Island Sound, and making good use of my airline travel privileges. Tiring of the lifestyle as the industry and the job began to change, I married, and we had a son. We relocated back to Chicago (Mt. Prospect). My wife then gave birth to our daughter as I moved into management at the home office of United Airlines (EXO). Already doing low-level PR work at United during the day, I returned to graduate school in the evenings to earn a MA degree in public relations/journalism. I concluded my airline career in 1992 having now run my own office as manager of corporate communications and public relations for Midway Airlines across from Midway Airport. This was thanks to my elementary school classmate, Debbie Bergstrom. She, herself, had been working for Midway Air at the time and had encouraged me to join the new, fast-growing airline in 1987. Never having lost the itch to teach and coach plus remembering how great it felt back in college having taught a 10-year-old girl how to swim challenged with the birth defects of missing both arms at the shoulder and only one leg which faced backwards, I started teaching adapted physical education ...Expand for more