Delta Air Lines' oldest flight attendant Bob Reardon was retired Saturday.
"Was retired" seems appropriate because I'm hearing the 90-year-old didn't want to go.
"I can't talk," Reardon told me when I went to his St. Paul residence Monday to find out what's going on here. Reardon started flying Oct. 1, 1951, when what is now Delta was Northwest Orient.
On Bruce Retrum's Facebook page, featuring a profile photo of him with Reardon, some are expressing dismay. Retrum, who identified himself as a flight attendant, posted a letter Aug. 25 saying, "The company announced the retirement of Robert Reardon effective August 30, 2014. Rather than a date to celebrate, it marks the end of a 62-year, 8-month career marred by a seven-month stressful and unfortunate ordeal. Robert's pending retirement was not of his choosing. Robert has made it very clear that he does NOT want any 'celebrations,' 'parties' or 'events,' planned or hosted by the company. They would be inappropriate and insincere. Instead, a gathering of friends, family and supporters will be held to honor and reminisce with Robert when he is ready to do so. The world will most likely never have another 'Robert-like' icon."
Ladyskywriter.com noted in 2013 that Reardon set a Guinness World Record. "Go to page 69, the Oldest category, where you will find Mr. Reardon at the very top of the page with the heading Oldest active flight attendant. Congratulations, Bob! This is a huge honor," wrote Anne Billingsley Kerr, also known as Lady Skywriter.
Kerr flew with Reardon from 1956 to 1960, when she was forced to quit because she got married — something not required of men.
"I loved flying with Bob," Kerr told me Monday. "I have a small chapter about him in my book, 'Fujiyama Trays and Oshibori Towels.' He is such a unique person. I don't know what happened at Delta, but he did turn 90 in May and evidently he retired not voluntarily. We all hold him in such high regard it would be just awful if anything blew up on him."
Although a couple of Reardon's colleagues concede that he should have retired before now, they object to the way Delta Air Lines handled this departure. Airlines usually make big deals of these kinds of employee milestones. Reardon's colleagues wanted him feted on a final flight, accompanied by a family member; then, as the plane pulled into the gate, the fuselage would have been drenched by fire trucks, which is a way the end of in-flight crew members' careers have been honored.
