Title
Honoring and congratulating Jackie Pettyjohn, the "First Lady of SEPTA," on her retirement after forty years as SEPTA's first female train engineer.
Body
WHEREAS, Jaqueline Y. "Jackie" Pettyjohn first set out on her trailblazing path as the first woman locomotive engineer when she was hired by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) on August 22, 1984; and
WHEREAS, Pettyjohn studied English but never found work in her field of study. Instead, she found a job opening at SEPTA through an ad in The Philadelphia Inquirer. A few weeks later, the job was hers, and she began training towards a successful promotion to the position of Locomotive Engineer; and
WHEREAS, In 1985, Pettyjohn was promoted to being the first female engineer on the commuter rail lines after a very rigorous training program, enduring many challenges as the lone female in engineer training; and
WHEREAS, Despite the pressure of being SEPTA's first female locomotive engineer, Pettyjohn fell in love with the job and stayed on, balancing her work and family lives despite the demanding hours of the night shift; and
WHEREAS, Through her determination to stay on, Pettyjohn once said in an interview "It's the passengers, they gave me a source of inspiration"; and
WHEREAS, While working as a locomotive engineer, she went back to school to become a certified mortician, and later married her late husband Victor, raising a beautiful family of four while she continued to work fulltime as a train engineer as well as mortician; and
WHEREAS, Pettyjohn is known for her humble demeanor and positive "I will" attitude. These traits have made her a cherished figure at SEPTA and among her union brothers and sisters; and
WHEREAS, Pettyjohn was extremely loyal to her union, her employer, and the community she served. She represented Locomotive Engineers nationwide in the Teamsters Women's Conference; and
WHEREAS, In 2013, Pettyjohn was named a "pioneer" by SEPTA as she and another f...
Click here for full text