August 2018 Long Island Edition • Vol. 43 #8
50plusNY.com
‘Airport Matchmaker’ Broke the Glass Ceiling L.I.’s Dolores Hofman First Female Forklift Operator at JFK By Mary Malloy; Photos by Susan Grieco
D
olores ‘Cookie’ Hofman is the epitome of an accomplished woman. As the first female forklift operator at John F. Kennedy International Airport in the 1970s, she broke the glass ceiling, paving the way for the women who followed in her footsteps. But it wasn’t an easy ride for this female pioneer. Hofman started her aviation career with Pan American Airways in December 1966. “My dream was to travel the world,” she said. “However, when I interviewed to be a flight attendant (known as a stewardess back then) they wanted me to cut my very long hair and I refused — so I applied for a ground position as a clerk typist in the
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