Flight attendants: A career evolution

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Marty Gardner faced strict standards when she started training to be what was then known as a stewardess in 1954 for Delta Air Lines: Being young and single were conditions for employment, and weight, girdles, hats and gloves were monitored closely. Her flying career ended after five years.

"You had to quit when you got married. That was the rule," said Gardner, 73, a member of Delta Clipped Wings, an organization of retired and longtime flight attendants.

Still, Gardner and other members of the group that gathered this week on Delta's Atlanta, Georgia, campus to celebrate the Clipped Wings' 50th anniversary said they loved their jobs.

"It was a lot of fun. We got to know the passengers," Gardner said. "A lot of times we had the same passengers back and forth."

Marriage restrictions for flight attendants were relaxed after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; men joined the ranks in the 1970s; and by 1994, Delta's female flight attendants were allowed to fly up to 26 weeks into pregnancy.

As the profession and the industry have changed and grown, a sense of adventure seems to be a common thread for the Clipped Wings.

Ann Chapman, 62, was a teacher before starting a 32-year career as a flight attendant in 1969.

"I was teaching seventh- and eighth-grade history and geography, and I had never been anywhere," Chapman said. "And 32 years later I still haven't been everywhere I want to go." Audio slide show: Hear more about flight attendants' professional experiences » E-mail to a friend