Dorothy Rowe, the longest-serving Air Force civilian, retired after 70 years of service last week, announced service officials. Rowe, 88, served as the financial analysis chief for the 56th Comptroller Squadron at Luke AFB, Ariz. Acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning presided over the Nov. 5 retirement ceremony, which attracted some 150 people. “Dorothy’s 70 years of service is a remarkable accomplishment,” Fanning said. Rowe began working for the government in 1943 as a typist at the Columbus Army Depot in Ohio, according to the Nov. 8 release. In 1953, she transferred to Luke, where she remained for the rest of her Air Force career. Throughout her service, Rowe worked for 40 wing commanders, witnessed the base shift between four major commands, and blazed a trail for women in the financial management field, Fanning said. “The energy, passion and spirit that Dorothy brought to her job over the past 70 years will live on in the hundreds of airmen she has impacted,” he added. During Fanning’s visit to the base, he also spoke to about 400 airmen at an all-call and met with senior leadership, according to a separate Nov. 8 release.
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