American Airways, Nash’s employer, introduced her passing on social media Saturday. The carrier observed that Nash invested virtually 70 years warmly caring for prospects in the air.

“Bette was a legend at American and all over the marketplace, inspiring generations of flight attendants,” American wrote on Facebook. “Fly large, Bette. We’ll miss you.”

In accordance to the Association of Qualified Flight Attendants, which also shared a tribute to Nash on line, Nash began her flight attendant profession with Japanese Airways back again in 1957. The union pointed out she was based out of the Washington, D.C. space.

Nash’s position at Japanese ultimately brought her to American, which acquired out numerous of Eastern’s routes in 1990.

The Linked Press reached out to American and APFA for even more facts about Nash’s dying on Tuesday. ABC Information noted that Nash died on May perhaps 17 when in hospice care pursuing a current breast most cancers prognosis. She in no way officially retired from American Airways, the outlet extra.

In accordance to Guinness Planet Documents, Nash was born on December 31, 1935 and began her flight attendant career at the age of 21. In 2022, Guinness named Nash the world’s longest-serving flight attendant — officially surpassing the prior document one 12 months earlier, with 63 yrs and 61 times of assistance as of January 4, 2021.

“I wished to be a flight attendant from the time I obtained on the initially plane — I was 16 years outdated, I was sitting down with my mother on a environmentally friendly leather couch at Washington (Reagan National Airport),” Nash advised CNN in a 2016 interview, recalling the awe she felt on observing a flight crew walk by.

Nash advised CNN that she utilized for the in-air position after graduating from higher education, “and the rest is history.”