Rebecca Anderson

Becky was born in Sweetwater, Texas to Roscoe and Inez Wade in 1933, the middle of the Great Depression. She later lived in Earth and Muleshoe, in Texas. They moved to Roswell, New Mexico, which they thought was beautiful because it had a tree. She was there for the UFO crash. She finished her last 2 years of high school in Albuquerque, and attended a couple of years of college in Portalis, New Mexico. She tried out for, and became an Air Hostess with TWA. In the days of propeller planes, this was probably the most prestigious job in the country. She went to Kansas City, Missouri for training and thought she was about as far North as anyone could go. She was then sent to be based in Chicago, which she thought was as far East as anyone could go. She married Fred Macnair in 1956, for which she was terminated by TWA as was normal in those days. They lived in Ithaca, New York and their daughter Leslie was born in Syracuse, New York in 1965. They moved back to Phoenix in 1968 and later divorced. She met Leroy Anderson playing tennis and married him in 1984 in Paradise Valley, Arizona. This gained her three step-daughters. Terri, Vicki, and Judi Anderson. Marriages and births have produced 9 grandkids and 5 great-grandkids. She and Leroy honeymooned in Fiji. They traveled Europe on a Eurail pass, visiting Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Monaco, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Lucerne, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Cologne. Becky and some other ex-hostesses were hired back by TWA to be spies in the sky as a quality assurance measure. The pay was minimal, but the pair of tickets to anyplace TWA flew was super. Went to Oahu, Kauai, and Maui on one trip and the British Isles on another. Saw London, Tipperary, Dublin, Belfast, and Edinburgh. When Lufthansa started service to Frankfurt they offered rock bottom fares for the first month. We arranged to stay with host families in Moscow, Vladimir, Tver, Novgorad, and St. Petersburg. Our host in Moscow was the USSR’s best test pilot and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He had met Stalin. He and Khruschev had next door neighboring Dachas. Their wives were best friends and she took us to visit their graves. We helped the Red Cross with Disaster Relief. Probably averaged 2 trips a year for a decade. Waterloo, Iowa floods, Austin Texas floods, Wilmington North Carolina Hurricane, New Orleans Katrina, Hattiesburg Mississippi tornados, New York City 9/11. Florida Hurricanes, Colorado Wildfires, California Wildfires, Arecibo Puerto Rico Hurricanes. Becky went to Saipan which is a US protectorate. We went with our camping friends to numerous trips to Rocky Point. We had excursions to Copper Canyon, Mexico and to Costa Rica/Honduras. We went from Memphis to New Orleans on a paddle boat. We went around the world on our combined frequent flyer miles. Had stays in Beijing, Jerusalem, and Athens. Visits to Nazareth, and the Dead Sea. Becky had her full share of pain. She had a-fib and high blood pressure for over 40 years, lost a kidney to cancer, was on dialysis every night for over 3 years and suffered from dementia. Tennis was her greatest passion. She loved and was loved by everyone she met. The world is poorer now that Becky is not in it. A woman was once asked the secret of a long marriage. She responded, “neither of us died”. In our case, both of us lived. Goodbye, Pretty Lady