World Wings International, Inc.

Last summer, we met for our annual Beach Day at Bay Head at the beautiful beachfront home of Alva Kappy. We elected new officers - President Anne Sweeney, Vice President, Madonna Dunn and Treasurer Else Gallagher. We made plans for the holidays and the year to come. Little did we dream that just three months later some of our members would be plunged into chaos and catastrophe caused by Hurricane Sandy. Florida Biscayne Bay Chapter Treasurer Chris Goldstein, International Vice President Charity Julie Watson and Princeton/Philadelphia Chapter President Anne Sweeney identified people in the most severely hit areas. Thanks to the efforts of Julie, Chris, Manhattan Chapter President Carol Young and Long Island Chapter President, Rita Kaiser, we were able to reach all members affected and send each one a gift card to Target or cash. The funds did not come from chapter treasuries but came directly from other World Wingers (including members as far away as the former Tokyo chapter). They were meant as a convenience for the recipients and a way to tell our members that World Wingers look after our own. Joan Nell Bernstein of Angel Wings worked tirelessly to identify our members who may need more substantial assistance as damages are assessed and insurance and FEMA claims made. Trauma expert Dr. Helen Davey of the Los Angles Chapter offered to counsel hurricane victims by phone. The Reverend Nancy Hite Speck, a member of the Manhattan Chapter whose own home at the Jersey Shore was flooded, offered a Christmas Eve Mass. Birgit Graham and Eva Arvanitis braved the cold and bad roads to help to locate Kirsten Holman. Members from New Jersey and Connecticut offered to house those like Manhattan Chapter Treasurer Serena Smith whose home in Sea Bright was destroyed. All impacted by this terrible storm thank everyone who donated to provide a personal and encouraging message to fellow World Wingers at a very difficult time.


Boston

Twenty-four members of the Boston Chapter met for lunch at the Providence Hotel before attending the October 13 afternoon performance of "Catch Me If You Can" (the musical) at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island. Frank Abagnale (photo center) whose life is depicted in the book, movie, and musical chats with (photo l. to r.) Chapter President Carol Guerrin, Rosemarie Lusty, Mary Lou Bigelow, and Mary Greenfield. During a "Q & A" with the audience after the show, Mr. Abagnale emphasized that his wife of 35 years and three children make up the family he always wanted and points to them for turning his life around. When asked what former role - pilot, doctor or lawyer - he preferred over the others, he said with a chuckle and huge smile, " Pan Am pilot - with all the girls."


Long Island

Our last meeting was held at the home of Jean McCormick in West Hampton Beach with 15 attendees having a wonderful time. Theresa coordinated the luncheon buffet so that each member knew what to bring. And what a selection it turned out -- from appetizers to salads to the most sinful desserts. And we raised funds for our charity by selling Theresa’s famous home-made marmalade. Thanks you both, Jean and Theresa!  Besides selling Theresa’s marmalade, Dorli Retinger also sold more Decals -- and Rosemary Wells will be taking them to the Convention to be sold at the Boutique were we reserved table space for our chapter. At the end of the meeting we had a nice surprise:  Inger Sloan handed out sheets “Pan Am F/A Memories -- Those were the Days my Friend” for us all to “sing-along”. -- Thank you, Inger!


Miami

Several members attended a book review of  Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch at the Coco Plum Woman’s Club. We enjoyed Lunch afterwards at the Peacock Cafe in the Grove. As we had only recently learned that Joanne Swift was moving to California so we gave her an impromptu “Farewell.” Our own Poet Laureate, Nikki Jester, presented an “Ode to Joanne” (Click here for the poem) and a good time was had by all. We will miss Joanne here in Miami but she promises to stay in touch. Photo L-R: Irene, Joanne, Gail, Marlena, Gunilla, Heike, Sonnie, Nikki, Lilian and Renate.


Seattle

WW Member Marilyn Murphy arranged our last meeting at the Seattle Design Center. She is a designer with full access to all the facilities. Marilyn greeted us and introduced our speaker, Chris Fox, who told us about the history of the Design Center which was established in 1973. He wanted us to know that we are always welcome! We enjoyed viewing the Thai silk showrooms of Jim Thompson. Many of us bought our first curtains in his Bangkok showrooms. Many thanks to Marilyn for arranging this special expedition for us. The photo is of us "test driving" the arm chairs on display.


Marin

Marin excursion to view “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” special exhibit at the DeYoung Museum. Top photo: Toni Simon, Barbara Schoen, Gloria Perdue, Petra Dorstel. Mary McGowan, Susan Urquart. Bottom photo: Kirtin Tuttle (new member), Jackie Brown, Susan Urquart, Barbara Schoen, Gloria Perdue.



Miami

The installation of the 2012-2014 Miami Officers was characterized by British undertone and humor. Nikki Jester our Majesty of Ceremonies had thought of yet another inspirational and very British theme in the spirit of the Queens Diamond Jubilee evidenced by her poem (Click here for the poem). She even decorated the table with a beautiful English Trifle Cake, lots of “Diamonds” and her Aunt’s antique and very glitzy broche as you can see in the photo. The poetic installation officer Maggie Kurtzman recited the poem in perfect British native accent. Thank you ever so much to our charming hostess Dotty Avondstond for entertaining 21 Miami Chapter members in her lovely Coral Gables home. Photo L-R: Miami Officers Renate Van Kempema, Harry Frahm, Joan Nell Bernstein, Nikki Jester, Irene Schwarz.


Atlanta

Wow! Our 30th Anniversary Celebration was spectacular. Thanks to all who joined the party, sent in their RSVP's, filled out the questionnaires, provided photos, memories, and contributed in a variety of ways to send the party over the top. Kathy Rainer provided the place -- no, the Palace -- complete with magical fairy-tale flowers that surpassed the imagination! Nancy McAllister created and prepared the incredible menu. All the lovely salads and accompaniments were prepared up at the farm and hauled down to Kathy's home the morning of the luncheon. Nancy spent time combing through old photos to put together and narrate the slide show. In addition she also designed the keepsake programs that served as the place settings featuring a history of our chapter, lists of members, the afternoon's program and menu. Carolyn Davenport worked for several months securing recognition from state, city, and county government officials. They were all in presentation form, on high quality paper or bound folders. Mary Forrest created unique favors in the form of an exclusive blue and white soap scented with mint and rosemary, beautifully presented in silver and blue, complete with pearls, the traditional 30th anniversary gift. Mary also donated several wonderful prizes. Our chapter founder, Joy Losee, spoke touchingly about what our chapter has meant to her, asked everyone to keep "what friendship is" in mind, disregard minutia, and focus on supporting one another. Many thanks to others who helped us out including Nancy Clark, Jane Hansen. Wendy Johnson, Diane Wilkinson and Lorraine Skalko. A number of photos on the World Wings Facebook page. Be sure to check them out.


Oakland

Thirty two chapter members and guests enjoyed a grand evening aboard a Commodore Events yacht on San Francisco Bay. The weather was mild, waters were smooth, dinner was delicious, music was fun to dance to, the views of San Francisco at sunset were beautiful...the entire evening was special. In May chapter member Sally Ward was our docent for a tour of San Francisco's Chinatown. Although we live not far from Chinatown we learned a lot of the history and lives of early San Franciso settlers in this part of the city. Naturally, we enjoyed lunch after our tour.

 

San Francisco

Seven members and two guests enjoyed a beautiful day in the Marin Headlands touring the Marine Mammal Center. Our private guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. We observed a 300 pound sea lion being sedated to have his eye, damaged by gunshot, examined, and many elephant seal pups, deserted by their mothers, fattening up for their return to sea. All this activity was performed by dedicated volunteers. We followed our tour with a delicious lunch at Le Garage in Sausalito. The eager participants were: Helene Hills; Dorene Goad; Mary Jo Hunt; Sheila Red; Liz Worchesin; Edith Kipping and Renata -- her sister from Germany; and Jane and Phelps Euler.
 

Los Angeles

The LAX chapter just completed its 7th Annual Teal and Pink Walk in honor of Allene Cowan and other members who have been affected by cancer.  Proceeds go to Cedars Sinai Cancer Research Center.  Over 100 walkers took part in the walk and a picnic was held afterwards.  This was a very successful fund raising event.





Oakland

In April chapter members enjoyed lunch at The Norseman Restaurant at Diablo Valley College. The kitchen and restaurant are classes for future chefs, cooks, servers, busboys and hostesses.  We were impressed with the 5-course lunch, the service and having all aspects of the lunch follow the proper etiquette as specified by Emily Post. The event for May was a tour of San Francisco's Chinatown with chapter member Sally Ward as our excellent docent.   Lunch followed the tour.


Marin

Members of the Marin Chapter attend the flower show at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. A wet and wonderful time was had by all. We are all standing behind Oakland Chapter member Dianna Kennedy's stunning flower arrangement.


Seattle

Our Annual Chinese New Year Luncheon and Gift Exchange was held on February 13 at South China, Perry Ko's restaurant in Bellevue. The restaurant was festively decorated with dragons and firecrackers. We had a delicious meal and selected gifts while reading our fortunes. We went home with some great swag! One member now has a proper glass cheese tray, another a teapot and cups for green tea, and one will be serving shrimp cocktails in beautiful glass cups. Joyce Fagerland was the winner of the WWaffle. According to our fortunes, some of us will be coming into money and others will be meeting tall, handsome strangers! The charity selection votes have been counted and the results are in. The two winning charities are Friends of CASA and the Prison Pet Partnership Program. These will be the organizations that will receive our monetary contributions between April 2012 and April 2013. We will vote on a new slate of charities again in the first quarter of 2014.


Oakland

In February, Sylvia Ortlieb for hosted a grand evening of BUNCO. After enjoying hearty hors d'oeuvres we played a different form of BUNCO which caused lots of laughs and surprises. A toss of the dice could take your scoring totals back to zero so no one was assured of winning a set. Winners received prizes donated by Sylvia -- as did the loser! In March, Sally Ward arranged our excellent outing to the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. The one-hour tour was very interesting and we all learned a lot. Lunch before the tour, at Boudin╒s. was tasty and provided us with the sustenance we needed. Viewing the old currency, used since the days of our early colonies, was especially interesting.╩ So many of the early bills were beautiful works of art.


San Francisco

Another great Valentine's Day Party thanks to our gracious hostess, Marilyn Porto. An especially meaningful day as we remembered and recognized her late husband and our wonderful friend "Joe", who we are sure was with us in spirit.  Once again a gorgeous spread provided by the talented members of our chapter and the wine, along with her magnificent home from who else but Marilyn. For the 19th time and year in a row, we again say: thank you! About 68 members attended and between the attendance and drawing, a handsome sum was raised for our charities. Thanks also to Maggie, our brilliant treasurer for collecting and keeping track of our funds, and Hildur, as always, our great sales person selling the drawing tickets. For more pictures, please the San Francisco Chapter website at www.worldwings-sfo.org and click on Photo Gallery.


Miami

We recently held our Spring Fling Brunch & meeting. Our President Renate Van Kempema hosted us in Pan Am style and 17 members contributed to a fabulous buffet. Various topics were discussed; a new slate of officers was presented and approved for the next two years. We all marveled at Renate's amazing climb and CARE fundraising venture of Kilimanjaro! A fun afternoon was had by all and we are busy making plans for the new officer installation and future happenings.


TOKYO

The Pan Am tv series is coming to Japan and TYO chapter members are geared up and ready to enjoy the show.   Several have been interviewed about their memories of their time with Pan Am for a BURUTUS magazine article.  The concept for the article was "Return of the Jet Age, What if Pan Am is still flying in the sky?".   They had Maxim's de Paris in Ginza cook according to the first class menu of the 60's.  The dishes like roast beef, rack of lamb, fillet of sole, stuffed quail, lobster thermador, and you name it, all looked nice and delicious and they even opened a can of caviar in a silver tureen with crushed ice in it, unfortunately without minced onion and boiled egg. Kazue Honda says that none of the interviews ended without their saying how they are grateful to Pan Am.  Four models in Pan Am uniform posed for the magazine and we enjoyed watching them posing for the best shot.  Four of them were so young, sweet and beautiful. In the photo, TYO chapter members pose with models for TV series publicity.



MARIN 

With 35 in attendance, the Marin Chapter Valentine's Day luncheon was a wonderful success. Thanks to Mary Ann Dietrich, our president, for making Julia Child's famous Boeuf Bourguignon for the group and all her hard work. They were thrilled to have senior member, Nancy Burkhard (Pan Am 1945) in attendance. They also welcomed Susan Urquhart's return back Boston after spending 12 years there flying for Delta. Many thanks to Susan, Anna Tennenhouse and Toni Simon for all their help with this luncheon. Members were also so happy to have former Marin member Eva Erlingsson Borin from Stockholm join them. Many had not seen her in 29 years! They were thrilled at the amount raised for their charity, Senior Access, from this event.
 

RENO

Eight members from the Reno Chapter met on February 9th at the La Cucina restaurant for a very good Italian lunch: Brigitte Kaneda, Carmen Gage, Mary Ann King, Phyllis Ross, Helga Roghers, Genie Haines, Kathy Gray and Ellie Hyatt. During the business part of the meeting, they decided they would donate the funds we raised at the Reno Air Races to Senior Outreach Services along with thier portion of ticket sales from the International Drawing. From La Cucina, we drove to Fleishman's Planetarium to view at the Imax theatre "Coral Reef Adventures." Everyone felt it was a superb showing.
 

OAKLAND

Many thanks to Diana Kennedy for again securing the Library at the Orinda Country Club for the Oakland Chapter Annual Tea. They had a great group of 20 attendees wearing wonderful hats and looking great. The food was delicious and beautifully presented and Diana's flower arrangements on the tables and at the buffet added bright spots of color. Those enjoying this delightful afternoon were Diana Kennedy, Phyllis Lorenz, Nonna Cheatham, Sylvia Ortlieb, Jane Euler, Marianne Greene and friend Carol Stevenson, Laurie Barton, Sally Andersen, Dot Lake, Dorothy Megeath, Margaret Nolte, Susan Proescher, Genie Pratt and friend Patricia Kraft, Setsuko Takenobu, Ingrid Templeton, Sally Ward and Liz Turlington. Future OAK member, Grethen Lipow was also there and after meeting us I'm sure she'll send in her membership application.


LOS ANGELES

Twenty-three members present at Los Angeles Chapter's first meeting of 2012 on January 14. One of the 23 was Shirley Zellmer, in person, with her beautiful smile and looking wonderful. We met at Diane and Jonathan Silver's home in Newport Beach. Christiane thanked them for their hospitality; it had just been a short time since they'd moved back to Southern CA from up North! The November minutes were read by Paula Hilton, our interim secretary, and they were approved as read. Several members discussed the Christmas luncheon, which was such a success last month. Everyone agreed that the music by "Pick Six" was outstanding. We all thanked Christiane and Niels for arranging this most beautiful location to celebrate our yearly Christmas Party.


LONG ISLAND

Our last meeting was held on October 27 at the Cheese Cake Factory in Huntington. This was a very lively and most unusual meeting -- between photo shoots of our group and individuals -- and trying to eat lunch at the same time. Some of us were in uniform, and others wore their Pan Am scarf. We got lots of attention from the restaurant staff and patrons! “Long Island Newsday” will let us know when the article will appear and possibly do some follow-up interviews on the phone prior. Theresa Brennan was our Delegate at the Boston Convention, Rosemary Wells the Alternate. They were joined by 3 more of our members: Eva D’Angelico, Ellen Lessenich and Gale Muellenhoff. Rosemary Wells also went to the Pan Am Family Reunion in Miami, as well as Inge Seemueller. Our next get-together is on December 01 at 12 noon for our annual Christmas Luncheon at the Milleridge restaurant in Jericho. Our next business meeting will be on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at the home of Theresa Brennan.


SAN FRANCISCO

Approximately 30 guests attended the annual pre-convention party at the beautiful home of Barbara Sharfstein. The fog lifted just in time to reveal a gorgeous view of all of San Francisco. Co-President Carol Crown returned from the Boston Convention where she performed the duties assigned the chapter delegate.  Outstanding job by the BOS chapter – a good time was had by all!!  Carol was asked to install the new international board.  She invited Irene Lindbeck Tibbits to help her share this honor. We are absolutely thrilled that our own Emilia de Geer was installed as Corresponding Secretary. Our annual holiday party will be held at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo on December 11. Please join us for a gourmet dinner, silent auction and lots of holiday cheer!


FLORIDA TREASURE COAST

At the October 24th meeting held at "Mangrove Mattie's" there were 24 members and guests in attendance.  A review of the Boston convention was given and the group was reminded that anyone who has attended an International Convention will tell you how fantastic they are.  The new TV show "Pan Am" was a major topic of discussion at the luncheon.


TOKYO

The Tokyo chapter provided scholarships to "Ashinaga" (the chapter's charity), benefiting orphaned children and adolescents. In 2003, Ashinaga established a "Rainbow House" in Uganda to provide emotional support to children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS.


SEATTLE

Chapter members participated in the Seafair Torchlight Parade which is put on by the South Park Association.  Ronda Ruderman was honored to be one who proudly wore a 1940's Pan Am uniform on a float built by the South Park Business Association. The float was a replica of the 1937 float that commemorated the B314 which was built in Boeing Plant #1 in South Park.  Monique Rounsavelle, wearing her 1972 uniform, chauffeured Pan Am Clipper Pilot Robert Hicks in a 2005 T-Bird in the parade.

The chapter enjoyed a luncheon in June at the home of Bob Bailey and his bride Helen.  The theme of the luncheon was a "layover in Atlanta" and one meal included a Coca Cola Pork Stew.


HEART OF FLORIDA

HFL chapter members held their main fundraiser on February 13th with a Valentine theme. It was called “Give your Heart Away”, as we were giving our hearts to the girls that attend PACE Center for Girls
 
It was the chapter's most successful fundraiser to date.  Because of their efforts, the Heart of Florida Chapter received the “2011 Champion of PACE” award, presented each year by the Marion County PACE Center to individuals or groups for their outstanding work in supporting the Center.  Chapter members are both thrilled and honored to have received this award.


OSLO

In May chapter members gathered at Akers River which is the famous river that divides Oslo.  It is a beautiful, artistic, popular place and restaurants and cafes line the street.  Music is played in the evenings.  After strolling they had dinner and wine and enjoyed each others company late into the evening.  Their summer party, at the end of June, was at Aker Brygg where they sat outside and enjoyed a delicious dinner.