Woman, 96, who became honorary flight attendant dies

“I grew up in the country,” said Ferguson in a previous interview. “I thought it would be glamorous to travel as a flight attendant.”

Ferguson died Wednesday of pneumonia after a brief hospital stay.

A service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Thomas L. Scroggs Funeral Directors, 6362 South Lee St. in Morrow. Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

"Christian City was honored to care for Clem Ferguson for the last 10 years," said Steven Sheets, director of the Nursing and Rehab Center at Christian City in Union City. "It was an incredible pleasure to fulfill Clem's lifelong dream as an honorary Delta flight attendant. Little did we know that her next flight would be on angels' wings."

Ferguson went to Berry College in Rome, where she studied home economics.

She moved to Atlanta and worked at a company doing filing and mailing.

Her dream came true, thanks to a joint effort by PruittHealth, Christian City, Delta and Second Wind Dreams, which grants wishes for senior citizens.

“She was so excited over that,” said her sister, Thelma Head of Covington. Head said the airlines offered her a chance to fly. “She really enjoyed it but she said she didn’t really want to fly. She was afraid to fly.”

P.K. Beville, founder of Second Wind Dreams, said previously, “We believe that our elders still have hopes and dreams. We live in a culture in which everybody believes that children are our future, but, in fact, the elderly are our future. That’s where we’re all headed — where they are now. We need to focus on making their lives happy and joy-filled.”

Ferguson, a widow, used a wheelchair after a fall a few years ago.