Nation's longest-serving flight attendant dies at 88: "Fly high, Bette"

The nation's longest-serving flight attendant has died of cancer at 88 years old, according to statements from American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

Bette Nash started flying with Eastern Airlines in 1957. The D.C.-based flight attendant preferred to work the American Shuttle flight from Washington, D.C., to Boston, because it let her be home every night. She planned to just fly for a few years, but in the end, wound up taking care of passengers for nearly seven decades. 

The name on the plane kept changing - from Eastern Airlines to Trump Shuttle, U.S. Air Shuttle and now American Airlines - but Nash stayed. Frequent fliers on the route even came to recognize her.