30,000 miles in Space Needle

SEATTLE – From the ground, Jenny Dibley has a decidedly mundane view. Forty-three seconds later she has a sweeping vista of the city, Puget Sound and – on clear days – the Olympic and Cascade mountains.

That’s how it has been, over and over, since Nov. 1, 1976, when Dibley started work as an elevator operator at the Space Needle.

She’s heard all about the ups and downs of her job, and she also has given it right back by telling visitors, “This elevator goes 10 miles per hour, which is three times the speed of rush-hour traffic.”

On each ride she points out landmarks and pushes souvenirs, especially miniature space needles.

“I personally recommend buying at least six space needles,” she tells passengers. “One for your mantle, one for your car, one to give away. I’m not kidding, you should see my house.”

Dibley had just graduated from the Seattle Christian School when a friend told her the Space Needle, one of the city’s top visitor attractions, was hiring.

Thirty years later, at age 50, she has reared two adult children and has gone the equivalent of about 30,000 miles. Her passengers have included actor Don Knotts, George Takei and James Doohan, as well as Andre the Giant, a 7-foot-4 wrestler weighing 500 pounds.

She worked through both her pregnancies, although the maternity dress she made to resemble her regular uniform had a tendency to get stuck in the elevator doors.

Most of the time she just yanked the fabric free, but on one descent that didn’t work.

“We started going down. My skirt just went up and up. I actually got lifted off the ground and I was hanging from my armpits,” Dibley said. “Everybody was quiet. And it’s really true what your mother says about wearing clean underwear.”