Longest-Serving Flight Attendant Retires After 63 Years

When United Airlines first hired Ron Akana as a steward, the first commercial jetliner was still making test flights, cabins were equipped with sleeping bunks and Harry Truman was president. Akana, 83, of Boulder, Colo., made his final flight with the airline on Saturday, capping off a 63-year career that has earned him recognition from Guinness World Records as the longest-serving flight attendant. A Honolulu native, Akana was a student at University of Hawaii in 1949 when he answered a newspaper ad to serve aboard United’s inaugural Hawaiian fleet of eight Boeing Stratocruisers. Over the years he served such celebrities as Red Skelton, Bill Clinton, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr. and the cast of From Here to Eternity, including Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift and Deborah Kerr. Between his hiring and his last day on the job, a flight from Denver to Kauai, Akana logged 200 million miles. startribune.com