Harper's Unsung Hero - Karen Westlake

Seeing the World

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

—-St. Augustine

Many people spend a significant portion of their lives working forty hours a week, living their lives in a manner that is typical of most individuals from early adulthood through middle age and into retirement. Memories are made during this time with friends and family, and the years spent earning a living in a career. There are ample opportunities for play during this season of life, with week-long vacations to remote destinations within our country's borders and abroad, as well as long weekend excursions closer to home. These trips are always fun and full of good times, but many look to retirement, saving money for longer periods of time for travel. Imagine spending a long career working hard while having these frequent opportunities to see the world. Wattles Park Elementary lunch aide, Karen Westlake, enjoyed a fulfilling career as an International Flight Attendant, embracing each opportunity to travel across the oceans multiple times each year. 

Karen spent much of her career taking up residence in three of the world’s largest metropolises, while living on the East Coast in New York City, early in her career, moving on to the West Coast and San Francisco and Los Angeles later, before moving back to her childhood home, Battle Creek. She reflected on some of the highlights from her childhood. “I was born on August 26, 1943, at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo to Margaret Averill/Krauchunas and Al Krauchunas. My brother Jim came three years later. I attended kindergarten at Lakeview, and then spent first grade through eighth grade at St. Joseph Elementary.” Karen went on to St. Phillip Catholic High School, from St. Joe, graduating in 1961. “I didn’t participate in a lot of extracurricular activities while in school,” Karen said, “but I was a cheerleader.”

Karen made many memories as a child outside of school hours as well. “Growing up, we spent much of the summers at our family cottage on Gun Lake,”  Karen recalled. “We spent our days swimming and water skiing. When we weren’t at the cottage, we were at Bailey Park, where my dad umpired baseball and coached Little League teams that my brother played on. Another highlight growing up was always having pets, mostly cats and dogs.”  

Karen’s parents moved around some, but eventually established roots in Battle Creek. “I was a toddler when World War 2 started,” Karen said.  “Mom and I stayed in Kalamazoo while Dad joined the Navy and was stationed in the Pacific. Dad was one of twenty-three survivors of three Destroyer ships that were sunk in a typhoon. For three days, he and the others clung to a life raft in raging winds and rains before being rescued by a hospital ship.” It was a dangerous and scary situation for Karen’s father, but fortunately, he was not injured. Karen gave more details about her childhood after her dad’s time in the Navy. “After Dad was discharged from the Navy, we moved to Grand Rapids for a  short while and then to Battle Creek, where he worked as the Director of Parks and Recreation, after which he went to work for the public relations department at Eatons until he retired.”

After graduating from St. Phil, Karen continued with her education. “I attended and graduated from KCC,”  Karen explained. “Then, I went to Michigan State, where I studied English Literature and Education. At the time, I wanted to be a teacher.” Karen seemed content continuing at Michigan State to earn her teaching degree, but an unexpected opportunity intrigued her, and she shifted her focus. “During spring break of my second year at MSU, a friend of mine asked me to drive her to Detroit for an interview to be a flight attendant for Pam Am Airlines. I accompanied her into the Pan Am office, and the receptionist handed me an application, telling me that I might as well fill this out too.” 

Karen hadn’t considered dropping out of school before the drive to Detroit with her friend. She completed the job application for Pan Am on a whim, not expecting to be offered a job or even an interview. “They offered me a job on the spot, and without really thinking about it, I quit school. Pan Am sent me to Miami for training, and my life changed forever.” 

After training in Miami, Karen moved to the Big Apple. “I started working for Pam Am in 1963,” she explained. “Initially, I was based out of New York, staying there for nine years. I lived in Manhattan for three years and then Long Island for six years.”  Karen may have been a small-town girl from the Upper Midwest, but the big city life left a lasting impact on her. “I loved living in Manhattan. I shared an apartment overlooking the East River with four other flight attendants. We were rarely all there together because of differing flight schedules. It was the 1960s. We dressed in nice clothes and high heels anywhere we went, even if it was just to go to the grocery store.”  It seemed that every day in New York City was filled with energy. “It was thrilling, having grown up in the Midwest and then moving to Manhattan. We would go to Broadway plays and take in all the culture that the big city had to offer.”

Karen’s downtime from work was not really downtime, with the time spent immersing herself in the activities of the city that never sleeps. Being at her home base in NYC may have created a buzz for Karen, but the sights she would see as a part of her job in the airline industry had their share of perks as well. Karen reflected on what made her job so special. “While based in New York, I worked on flights to Europe, Africa, and South America. We had a daily flight that actually went around the world. The airplane continued to its destination, while the crew would layover. A new crew would take over and fly to the next destination in the airplane’s journey. While working this particular flight, we were away for up to twelve days at a time, with as many days off after returning to NYC. We would lay over in certain cities and stay at the same hotels each time there while waiting to return. We would get to know the people working at these hotels because we were there so often.” 

During her time working out of NYC, Karen spent seven years working on flights to Africa. “My favorite flights were the ones to Africa,” Karen shared. “Our main layover was on the west coast in Monrovia, Liberia. Next to the airport was the Firestone Rubber Plantation, the second-largest rubber plantation in the world. Depending on the day of the week, from Liberia, we would work a flight out of Kenya and Tanzania on the east coast or down to Johannesburg, South Africa, stopping at different countries along the way. These trips were twelve days long.”

Karen talked about some of her adventures during the time she spent in Africa between flights. “I can vividly remember a precarious situation that occurred before we boarded a plane in Liberia to Doula, Cameroon, on the west coast. Right before we boarded, we were informed that Africa was on Red Alert. Pan Am headquarters in New York had received a call from a terrorist group saying they were going to blow up one of three Pan AM planes in Africa that day. The flight was delayed, the plane was emptied, and an extensive search was completed. Fortunately, there were no bombs found on any of the three flights.” 

Karen explained that at this time in the 1970s, many planes were being hijacked. She shared a specific hijacking incident one of her co-workers experienced. “One of my friends was working a flight when her plane was hijacked. The hijackers made her hold a grenade the entire flight. The plane eventually landed, and the hijackers were taken into custody.”

Some flights would take Karen away from home for a few days at a time, with other flights requiring a longer amount of time away. She explained how this worked. “We would bid on lines of trips each month, and would fly with the same crew for the month. For most of the African trips, we would be out of town for up to twelve days. I was away from home a lot. I never took my job for granted. I got paid to see the world.” 

Karen would eventually pack her bags and move to the West Coast. “I met my first husband, Woody, while we both worked for Pan Am in New York,” Karen recalled. “When Woody was offered a job in Public Relations for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in San Francisco, I transferred to Pan Am’s San Francisco base. After living in San Francisco for a year, Woody was asked to head up Public Relations for Lockheed in Los Angeles. We moved to LA, and I transferred to Pan Am’s LA Base.” Woody and Karen enjoyed their time in LA. “We loved LA,” Karen said, spending most of our free time sailing to and around Catalina Island.” 

Working out of the West Coast allowed Karen to visit places she had not been to while working out of NYC. “When I was based in LA, I worked flights to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Australia, New Zealand, and many other locations.” 

Karen finished her career back in the Midwest. “After my father had a stroke, I transferred to Pan Am’s Chicago Base, so I could help Mom take care of Dad back home in Battle Creek. ” Karen said. “I would drive to Grand Rapids to fly to Chicago to work my flights, many to the Pacific area.” 

Experiencing locations abroad was something that Karen appreciated about her job as a flight attendant. It wasn’t just seeing different parts of the world that appealed to her while working for Pan Am. “Some of my fondest memories from working in the airline industry come from the people that I was fortunate enough to meet,” Karen said. “I met many famous people while working for the airlines, including Jack Costeau, James Michner, Tom Jones, Harry Belafonte, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Sylvestore Stallone.”

Karen retired in 1993 but has remained busy since then. Seeing the variety of wildlife in the many regions of the earth was something that Karen enjoyed during her career. After retirement, she found a way to keep connected to animals found around the world. “Binder Park Zoo was advertising for docents in 1996,” Karen explained. “I have always been an animal lover and decided it would be fun to volunteer at the zoo. I helped out in the education department and worked as a receptionist for eleven years.”  Volunteering at Binder Park Zoo helped to fulfill Karen’s life during her retirement. She could still experience the world without leaving her hometown. Although she hasn’t helped out at the zoo for nearly two decades, animals continue to be a big part of her life. She has a dog and a cat. Her favorite pet is Sonny, her horse. Although she doesn’t ride Sonny as much as she would like to, she still cherishes her time with him. 

After retiring, Karen married again. She reflected on her second marriage. “I met my second husband, Harold Chase. He was a retired teacher, having taught Government at Lakeview High School for many years. We started dating and were married in 1998. We were married  fourteen years when Harold passed away in 2012.”

After Harold passed away, Karen decided to search for something to do to fill her time. “I worked part-time at Horrocks from 2016 until 2020,” she recalled. “I quit during the pandemic, and returned a few years later, but had to quit again because of shoulder surgery.”

Having gone through shoulder surgery, Karen didn’t think she would ever go back to work. After a successful recovery, she decided she was ready to work again. The job opening at Wattles Park as a lunch and recess aide was perfect, allowing her a few hours each day to get out of the house while also earning a little extra money. It has allowed her to utilize one of her greatest strengths, that being nurturing children. She spoke about being a part of the Harper Creek family. “I started working in the cafeteria at Wattles Park in January of 2025. I love working there. It’s a perfect part-time job. I truly enjoy working with the kids. I would like to continue working at Wattles Park for as long as I am able.”

Karen has been blessed with a lifetime of experiences from her time growing up in a small Midwest town, while living in NYC and California, and while traveling across the world in her career in the airline industry. This feeling of a life fulfilled has continued into retirement and moving back to Battle Creek while volunteering at Binder Park Zoo, and now with the rewards that children in our schools provide each day. Upon reflection, she offered these words of advice.  “After all my experiences, I would encourage others to live life to your fullest.”