Westerly – Lois Leveille was an airline stewardess back when passenger planes had propellers, when it took eight hours to fly from Kansas City, Mo., to Newark, N.J., and when stewardesses passed out magazines and Raleigh 903 cigarettes.

Leveille is in her late 80s now (she declined to give her age), lives at Mystic Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center, and she wanted to fly again.

On Monday, she got her wish. The national nonprofit Seniors Have Dreams, Too, Inc., which grants wishes to seniors age 70 and older living at or below the poverty line, sent Leveille up on a helicopter ride with her nurse.

“That was really wonderful, wasn’t it?” she told her nurse, Amy Jordan. “What a view.”

Leveille flew in the late 1940s on DC-3 planes, which seated 24 people, flew 200 mph and cruised at 10,000 feet.

“It was such a prestigious job,” she said.

She attended stewardess school in Kansas City, learned extensive first aid as part of her training and was part of a three-person crew along with a pilot and co-pilot. She worked for Viking Airlines, flew the eight-hour trip to Newark, back to Kansas City, and eight hours west to Burbank, Calif.

Once, she said, the stewardess in Newark got sick and Leveille had to fly eight hours back to Kansas City after arriving, and then the West Coast girl got sick also, and Leveille ended up with a 24-hour shift.

“I actually got down and kissed the ground” when they landed, she said.

But mostly, she loved it. She could see the nose of the plane from behind the pilot’s shoulder, she recognized the cities below by the patterns of lights she saw from the sky, and she loved the way the clouds looked when the sun hit them just the right way.

“They were the softest, most beautiful pink you’d ever want to see — baby’s blanket pink,” she said. “They looked like you could step right down on them.”

Leveille spent two years as a stewardess, then went to New York, married and had four sons: John S. Traskas of Groton; Joseph B. Paquette, of East Haven, who passed away; Markham D. Paquette of Oakdale and James L. Paquette of New London.

Denice Senior, therapeutic recreation director for Mystic Healthcare, learned of Seniors Have Dreams, Too, and knew that Leveille had worked as a stewardess. At first, she wished for a hot air balloon ride, but companies worried about rough landings and Leveille said couldn't stand for an hour in the basket.

Then the nonprofit group arranged for a helicopter ride.

Sally Smith, president and founder of Seniors Have Dreams, Too, said Monday she was granting Leveille’s wish “because we could.” The organization is all-volunteer and doesn’t handle home repairs, pay bills or provide medical supplies.

Smith made arrangements with Bird’s Eye View Helicopters, of Newport, R.I., which offers tours, and they flew to Westerly Airport. The ride cost the organization $490, or the cost of a flight with the pilot’s time donated.

Leveille was so excited she said she couldn’t sleep Sunday night. She dressed up, wore lipstick and put her hair in a twist. Owner and pilot Jeff Codman flew Leveille and Jordan over Mystic and Misquamicut State Beach, looping around so she could see Block Island and Ashaway, R.I.

The staff at Mystic Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center gathered outside to watch from the ground, Senior said. Leveille couldn’t see them, but they could see her.

The half-hour ride covered about 60 miles.

“It was magnificent,” she said. “Being up in the air, it’s a wonderful feeling. I love flying. ”

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim