In for the long haul -- 43 seconds at a time


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	Elevator operator Jenny Dibley will celebrate 30 years at the Space Needle today by doing what she does best: going up and down and entertaining visitors along the way.

Dibley, who is one of roughly 20 people who operate the elevators, said she never envisioned making the 43-second trip up (or down) the Space Needle for 30 years when she first took the job in 1976. She was 19 then, had just graduated from the Seattle Christian School and a cousin's girlfriend told her they were hiring.

The years changed her life and the view from the elevator. She said she used to point to the only skyscraper and say, "That big black box over there was the box the Space Needle came in."

But the years have not always been so lighthearted.

The Space Needle closed early during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and then-Mayor Paul Schell canceled the next New Year's celebration at the Seattle Center as a security precaution.

"I wouldn't say I was afraid," Dibley said about working after 9/11 in the city's most recognizable landmark. "But aware. I'm much more aware of what's going on around here."

Dibley, 50, raised two children, now 26 and 23. She kept running the elevator during both pregnancies.

"I'd made this maternity dress that looked like our uniform," she said. "It was heavy-duty material, polyester." On windy days, "when the doors opened, it was like the Marilyn Monroe-thing where my skirt would flare open."

The dress kept getting stuck in the elevator doors, so Dibley would yank it out. Except for one time.

"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," she said. "Everybody was quiet. And it's really true what your mother says about wearing clean underwear."

She was asked whether going up and down the Space Needle -- traveling the equivalent of about 30,000 miles over her career -- ever got monotonous.

Her passengers make "the days go by really fast," she said.

She's traveled with actor Don Knotts. George Takei and James Doohan, who played Sulu and Scotty on "Star Trek," beamed up with her once. So did wrestler Andre the Giant -- at a nerve-racking 7 feet, 4 inches and 500 pounds.

During the ride, she points out Puget Sound and she pushes souvenir space needles at the store back on the ground.

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

When she started, she was afraid of heights, she said. But not anymore.

"It's something I tell people, that if you keep with it, you're going to be able to overcome your fears."

Dibley, who describes herself as deeply spiritual, said she began teaching Bible study classes and assisting at services at the Pierce County Jail nine years ago. Now, she's thinking about going to college and studying counseling.

But she still will be on the elevator. "This gives you such freedom to be creative," she said.

"What's that blinding light in the sky? That's our greatest novelty here in Seattle," she joked as the elevator was flooded with sunlight.

"What you do isn't what you are," she said. "You do what you are."

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