THEY SAY A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

I found three scrapbooks today containing more pictures which I have added to the previous posts. The first ones are my going away party before leaving for training. So, if you have been following me in the past, you can look at older posts for new pictures.

Here are a few borrowed from others. 

                                         

            When boarding passes were hand printed.

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The tripple tail Connie

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Cockpit of Connie

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Mary Gordon was a ficticious name - like Betty Crocker - for TWA's Travel Advisor

OLD PEOPLE FLYING WEST ~ ENGINE STUCK IN REVERSE ~ CHRISTMAS CHEER

December 6, 1963

Dear Mother,

    Here I am in PHX at the Skyriders Hotel, which is right by the airport. It's December and I am at the pool!  It is so funny to hear Christmas music while we are just sitting in warm sunshine. The Captain said, "We just have to do something about these working conditions." We all laughed. Sure is a tough job sometimes. I could get very used to feeling warm sunshine in winter.



December 15, 1963                                 MKC-PHX

Dear Mother,

     This flight is so easy I have time to jot a note. Of course, since it's Sunday, there aren't many passengers. We have a lot of old people going west to visit their relatives for the holidays. They're already starting to bring their shopping bags filled with presents. (Oh my..."old people flying west"....I was only 20, going on 21 when I wrote this...now I resemble that remark.)

    I'm getting ready for my trip home. So far, I have two suitcases besides my crew kit full of Christmas presents. I'll have to put three more large gifts in a refuse bag I guess. The hostesses are sure going to like me when I get on!!! (The good old day without restrictions.  Check two suitcases..no charge...carry on my crew kit and a huge trash bag full of gifts, no charge and no "authorities"with concern about what they contain.)



December 18, 1963

Dear Mother,

    My trip home went non-routine on our very first stop out of PHX at Tucson, when we reversed engines, #4 engine wouldn't "un-reverse". (Lockheed 1011 - piston engines)  We were stuck there for five hours and I knew I would be late for our big party. We all went in the terminal and ate delicious Mexican food.

     I didn't get home until 10:00 instead of 5:00 and to top things off, Mack wouldn't start so my flying partner gave me a ride home. (Mack was the name of my 1953 Packard for which I only paid $50. I called it Mack because I thought it was like driving a Mack Truck. It was very "temperamental", especially in the cold weather. I sold it to another TWA gal for $50 and it finally "died" as she was crossing the Broadway bridge on her way to the airport for a flight.)

     I was sad to have missed most of the party, but a few people stayed. It was a big success. Sarah bought fresh shrimp and shelled them (50!), plus cheese dips, crackers and chips. They made a punch out of Hawaiian Fruit Punch, vodka, and I think club soda. Anyway, it was delicious. They bought holly and had two big sprigs of it in the punch bowl and around the candles on the table.

     Everyone in the whole apartment house was invited and came. One man is quite good at magic tricks and brought some and performed. Mrs. Able brought of bottle of bourbon and Larry and Helen brought a bottle of Vodka. (Notice no one brought wine in those days). Bill gave the four of us a bottle of "White Shoulders .Too bad I can't stand the stuff. (Introduced in 1943 and very popular in 1963, it can still be purchased today.)

Two more days I will be 21.



December 27, 1963


My Hallmark Contemporary Thank You card to my mother.

OLD FRIENDS ARE THE GARDEN OF LIFE

A letter to a friend I worked with
November 5, 1963

Dear Gloria,

I realized I hadn't written since I paid my visit to you and the gang at C/R last July, so its time to bring you up to date again. I haven't been home since then, but plan on a visit this month.

My mother came to K.C. for three days last month and I worked the flight she took from K.C. to LAX. She had not been on one of my flights before. I gave her the Royal Ambassador treatment in First Class and she loved it.

Tomorrow I am flying to Butler, PA for my roommates wedding. We've been together since training, so I will miss her as a roommate. (My roommate, Jan and I have maintained our friendship and get together often. She and her husband will be celebrating 53 years of marriage this November.)

Kathleen (my sister) is expecting her baby around Thanksgiving and we're very anxious for the big day. I hope it's late so I'll be home for the baptism early in December. (My niece, Kelly, is now a very successful business woman, happily married with two sons and three grandchildren.)

Guess I'll just be in K.C. for another five months. I put my transfer through to fly International. Training is in April and I'll be based in New York. I finally made the decision about two months ago. I like Kansas City, but it's time for a change. I don't know how to explain it, but I need to learn more, see more and experience more. Although  I don't relish the thought of living in a big city like New York, flying International will be completely different and I'll be able to hold flights to Paris, Rome, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and England. If I'm not happy in New York, I can transfer back to domestic after six months. I may give San Francisco a try then. (Little did I know that a whole new wonderful world was awaiting me the following Spring.)

TURBULENCE AND LIGHTNING - HORSES AND THE WORLD SERIES

September 30, 1963

Dear Mother,

    Was I ever glad to get home Saturday. I never had such a terrible flight. (ORD - MKC) First of all, they told us we would have a four hour delay because of a mechanical. Most of the passengers got off and were protected on other flights. Then, in only an hour, they told us the plane was fixed. You can't tell me that plane was fixed in an hour when they said it would take four. You know how I dislike the Convair 880. The doors are so heavy, I fear I would not be able to open them in an emergency, and when you take off, you feel like the tail almost scrapes the ground. The jump seats in the back are the worst. I'd rather be on the jump seat in the woman's lave on the 749, that's how much I dislike it back there.

We ended up with only three people in coach, but the seat belt sign was on all the way. There was lightning on the right wing all the way. We went up and down and back and forth. I literally was hanging onto my seat. When we came into K.C., the cross winds were terrific. I never had a landing like that before. The blankets, pillows, coats and hats flew out of the overhead racks. We were scared to death. My knees were shaking when I walked down the stairs and hit the good 'ol terra firma. I've never been so frightened before. The pilots were laughing at us like it was no big deal, although they said the plane was being towed to hanger for "work".
(I still remember this flight and only had one more that was as frightening. That was prior to landing in Washington, DC on a flight from Tokyo. I was working TWA's press plane for President Lyndon Johnson's Asian Mission Tour. Lady Bird Johnson wrote about it in her published diaries. Air Force One was just ahead of us experiencing the same turbulence. More about that later.)


October 4, 1963

Dear Mother,

     I had a fabulous day of horseback riding yesterday. You know how much I have loved horses since I was a child. What ever happened to my collection of horses? Anyway, I loved the freedom of riding at a gallop and feeling like I was Dale Evans. Gosh! Remember how I used to play cowboys? I guess I always have had this "tom boy" streak in me for adventure.

   I got a call from my supervisor yesterday to do publicity of what TWA does for the World Series. On certain jet flights, we serve hot dogs, peanuts, beer, pass out pennants and wear ball caps. WDAF TV filmed me and another girl pretending we were serving passengers. I left on flight after that so I didn't get to see  it, but the girls saw it and said it was good. (The years before taping or DVR)

VICTOR BORGE ~ I'M IN A HERTZ AD ~ NO SMOKING?

August 31, 1963

Dear Mother,

     I had a date with Bernie last night and we saw Victor Borge at Starlight Theater. I wore the black dress I bought at I. Magnum in SFO. Bernie is so nice. He brought me a jar of his mother's home made grape jelly, and a single white rose. That's the first boy that ever brought me flowers on a date.                                                 

September 2, 1963

Dear Mother, 

     My trip was routine except for a substitute of equipment: a Boeing 707 for our Convair 880 out of SFO to ABQ. I hadn't been on a 707 since January and felt like I was working for a different airline. They sure are spacious compared to the Convair. We kept it the next day until we got to LAX and then we got a Convair again.

     A funny thing happened in LAX. While we were preparing the aircraft for passengers, we saw all kinds of men with movie cameras on the ramp. One of the men climbed up the steps outside the Jet-Way to chat with us. They were filming a commercial for Hertz and had filmed our airplane being directed and parking into the ramp. So, when you see that commercial on T.V. you can say, "Tishie was on that plane." Boy, I'm bound to get discovered sooner or later!

September 11, 1963 

Dear Mother,

    On Saturday, some girl dropped the axle of her car and the whole front fell to the ground on the street in front of our apartment. She asked to use our phone to call someone to come get her and they just left the car there, It was on the hill and a curve and we were sure someone would crash into it. I was gone all day Sunday and when I came home at 6:00 there was a policeman sitting at our kitchen table. He had found the car and had it towed away. Anna had been out front washing her car and this policeman got friendly and so she invited him in for coffee. He came back after he got off work and stayed for dinner and didn't leave until 8:00. We all played cards after that.

     My supervisor called today and asked me to do some publicity work on Sunday. Its for a Restaurant deal at the Municipal Auditorium from 2 to 8.We pass out samples of bread and wear some type of pinafore. The good deal is I get paid $25! (Yes, that would be $4 an hour.)

P.S. My "no smoking" is going along fine for me. I know it is time for to stop the Pall Malls. Besides they have gone up to 35 cents a pack. Isn't that ridiculous?

The Journey Continues

July 22, 2016

Letters to My Mother....the journey continues

What took me so long? I do not have the answer. Thankfully, the "spark" hit me again and I know I must finish. I owe it to myself and I owe it to my mother who saved every letter.

My Mother, Ardelle Elizabeth Cosley Rellihan, was a remarkable woman. Not only was she a mother of three daughters, she was a successful business woman in an era of "housewives". Forced to work when she was widowed at the age of 39, she raised her girls by herself. Fiercely independent, we grew up in the shadow of a woman who did it all. She worked hard and her hard work paid off with several promotions. She taught us, through her example of hard work, how to be successful in our own right.

It wasn't all work and no play for Ardelle. Even though she was at her office six days a week, she always made time for family fun and vacations. We celebrated every special event: birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Graduations, in grand style. She taught us the importance of entertaining with warm hospitality, a gift which she inherited from the Cosley family. Her attention to detail in her table settings, with candles and flowers are just one example.

Other examples of her influence on us were: a meal was never served without a table cloth or place mat. A celebration was never celebrated without a cake. A Sunday was never a Sunday without church. A Saturday was never a Saturday without her girls cleaning the house. A night never ended without kisses and hugs.

We were taught to have respect for ourselves and for others. Through her example and great personal style, we learned the importance of dressing well and looking our best. She would be proud. My two older sisters defy their ages of 80 and 80+. They are the epitome of aging gracefully, just as our mother did until the day of her passing at the age of 90...with hot pink nail polish on her toes.

So, let's take off again. Let's continue the journey. The road is long and takes us many places, and, as we know, "It's not about the destination....it's about the journey to get there".