White Gloves to Washington: A Capital Experience

When she was still Pat Powers, Pat Rothacker joined Capital Airlines on 25 March 1959. She had left her secretarial position at Pepsi-International, almost on an impulse, to become a stewardess. She did not realize it at the time, but her months with that airline were eventful and memorable, as Capital was shaking up the airways with its new prop-jet Viscount aircraft. But she also earned her wings the hard way with many hours in the old DC-3’s and DC-4’s. She retired from Capital because she married Captain Ira Fargotstein, a jet fighter pilot who unfortunately died in a auto accident in February 1961. She returned to flying, at first with smaller non-scheduled outfits, but in 1962 she joined the reputable Seaboard World Airlines and flew on international routes with it for four years.

Pat retired from flying in 1966 to manage the Travel Department at Columbia University Electronic Research Laboratories, which became the Riverside Research Institute. She was in charge of travel, communications, and catering, and while there she met Donald Rothacker, an engineer-physicist. They have one daughter, Marlene. In 1978 they moved to Fairfax, Virginia, where Pat owned and operated a travel agency for eleven years.

She has remained in touch with many of her former stewardess “family” friends, some of whom are featured in this book, which recalls the exciting days when Capital Airlines introduced turbine-engined comfort to the American air-traveling public.