By Lindsay Peyton
Nancy Breckenridge enjoys the view of planes flying to and from SeaTac from her apartment at Judson Park, a retirement community in Des Moines. “I helped make those,” she said.
When the 83-year-old former engineer worked at Boeing, she was one of only seven women and 450 men in her department. There wasn’t even a restroom for women in the building.
The issue was, however, rectified overnight, Breckenridge said, to Boeing’s credit.
She explained that she fell into her career on a double dare.
Breckenridge moved to Tacoma from Minnesota in the early 1960s and took a job at the mall. “I was a girdle buyer,” she said. “I loved it. I loved working with people.”
Her friend thought that she should try a career that was more challenging and dared her to apply for Boeing.
“I said, ‘What’s a Boeing?’” Breckenridge recalled with a laugh. “She nagged and nagged. I went to the post office and got an application.”
About four days later, Breckenridge received a call requesting an interview. She did not have a car and had to ride three buses to get from Tacoma to what would become her new office.
“It was full of men,” she said. “There were like six ladies in a corner. I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’”
When Breckenridge learned what her starting salary would be, she signed right up. “It was three times what I was getting paid as a girdle buyer,” she said. “I thought, ‘Yippy skippy.’ I went from buying girdles to buying titanium and nuts and bolts.”
She started in the missile division and eventually moved to Boeing’s Lynnwood facility, where she worked as a buyer for the 747s, a plane that was introduced 50 years ago.
When Breckenridge discovered how much more engineers were paid, she enrolled in night school and earned a degree in the field. After graduation, she was promoted to Boeing’s engineering department.
She spent the remainder of her 30-year career remodeling galleys and lavatories and finding other efficiency and comfort solutions for planes.
Breckenridge retired in 1995. “I loved working there and had a great time,” she said. “But I also love being retired.”
She shared her story with other Judson Park residents at a recent session of the community’s College of Intellectual Inspiration.
Natalie Wilcox McCann, director of wellness and resident services, explained that the program was created in 2016 in response to residents who wanted more opportunities for intellectual growth.
“An anonymous donor came forward, and made it so there’s no cost to anyone to attend,” McCann said.
Guest speakers range from college professors to museum experts. On Thursday, Feb. 2, author Betsy Case discussed her book, “Trailblazers: the Women of the Boeing Company.”
Case wrote about the women who contributed most to the company. She researched individuals who displayed confidence and courage in spite of the odds.
