What do you want to be when you grow up?

At the tender age of five, Donna Fera, a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, decided she wanted to be a stewardess. At age 22, she attended Airline School in Union.

While in Airline School, Donna contended with many since-rescinded practices. She wasn’t hired as a stewardess because she was too short, definitely discriminatory. The job title changed from stewardess to flight attendant, less sexist. She acknowledged airlines are hiring more “mature” women and men these days, “perhaps because the company won’t have to pay as much, as long into a pension,” she pondered.

After Donna finished Airline School, she worked for Eastern Airlines in Iselin as a reservationist, but soon discovered that wasn’t her cup of tea. In 1980, she worked for a travel agent in Bloomfield. At one point, she attended Hair School, but ultimately returned to waitressing, which she’s happily done for over 50 years.

Living in Hackettstown since 1980, Donna has waitressed at the River Star Diner, along the Musconetcong River, for 28 years. Although she recently cut back on her hours, she continues to work, thoroughly enjoying her time spent at the River Star. She mentioned, “I’m not always able to talk to my customers as much as I’d like, sometimes it gets so busy, but after all those years I have a lot of regulars.”

She also relishes visits with her son, beautiful daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters, ages two and five, who live just outside Philadelphia.

River Star Diner
14 NJ-57, Hackettstown, NJ 07840
Phone: (908) 979-0626
www.riverstar-diner.com