Alice Ramsey
The Spirit of Delta got a little pinker today, when we installed a Zac Posen pink flight attendant uniform. Not just any pink uniform, though, this was the last pink dress worn by Alice Ramsey, who in 2007 became the first Delta flight attendant to wear pink in October for breast cancer awareness. (Alice retired from Delta in the summer of 2020).
Alice Ramsey, who started her Delta career in 1986, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. During her months of treatment and recuperation, Delta adopted new uniforms. Staring at a Richard Tyler red dress, she wondered whether she could make a similar dress out of pink material and use it on flights in October. Her seamstress constructed a prototype and in October 2007 Ramsey began to wear the dress and raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
The following spring, Ramsey met with then Delta CEO Richard Anderson and suggested that other flight attendants could wear the pink uniform in October to create awareness and raise funds. Anderson agreed and an annual tradition began that now includes not only pink dresses, but also pink ties for men and pink lemonade.
"I want to be an example that we learn how to survive from our pain and that out of survival we find victory. Out of victory we learn how to best serve others by teaching them to overcome of life's hardest battles." -Alice Ramsey
