Nan Witcomb attended a number of different public and private schools, according to the rising and falling fortunes of her father, a generous-hearted gambler. She said, 'We lost the grass tennis court and the "live-in" maid by the time I was eight.' She attended, among other schools, Girton, South Australia; CEGS and The Junction State, Newcastle; Meriden College, Sydney; Rose Park Primary School, South Australia; and Strathalbyn Primary School, Strathalbyn High School, and The Wilderness School for Girls, South Australia.
Witcomb left school at fifteen, when money became scarce, and worked in the Bank of Adelaide. At eighteen, she began her training at the Adelaide Children's Hospital. In 1950, Witcomb became a flight hostess with Australian National Airways (later Ansett), and over the next twenty-three years worked with this airline in several different capacities. Witcomb became President of the South Australian Branch of the Ansett Down to Earth Club for ex-hostesses and flight attendants in 1996.
When she left Ansett, Witcomb managed The Barn, a restaurant and art gallery at MacLaren Vale, and later co-hosted an afternoon radio show on 5DN with Ken Dickin until 1984. She then she began to research and write her book about air hostesses in Australia, Up Here and Down There (1986). Witcomb wrote lyrics for her friend Lorrae Desmond's ABC television shows, and wrote scripts for The Mavis Bramston Show in the 1960s and for 'On The Fringe' revues. Four of her plays have been staged in South Australia.
In 1996, Witcomb published a book of nostalgia, In My Day, or, You and Me Before TV. Between 1971 and 1998, Witcomb wrote eighteen volumes of poetry, published as Thoughts of Nanushka, and sold over 300,000 copies. Her poems have been widely used at weddings and at funerals (including 'To Mourn Too Long for Those We Love' at Michael Hutchence's funeral) and in newspaper death notices. Her poem 'Beautiful Unlined Faces...' (from Thoughts vol 1-6) is published in Dr Charmaine Saunders' book, Teenagers and Stress (2nd ed., 1998).
