The TWA reunion at JFK puts a spring in the step of pilot’s daughter Carolyn McGreevy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Part 2: TWA Travel Memories Reveal Vision of Tomorrow

(Part 1, “Growing up ‘TWA’,” here.)

Heard the one about 700 people spending several days at the airport—on purpose? As storms drench New York’s JFK Airport, Trans World Airlines alumni gather for a TWA reunion, and travel memories come flooding back.

Not even a storm can dampen our excitement about the TWA reunion.
© Joyce McGreevy

TWA Time Machine

Amazed, my sisters and I stare at the TWA Terminal, then at each other to make sure it isn’t a dream. For 18 years, the terminal lay vacant. Now all is restored. Once more we enter the familiar tubular walkway with its cherry red carpets and marshmallow walls, reliving memories of childhood travels with our TWA pilot dad.

Margie captures the moment as Joyce, Carolyn, and Erin savor a sense of homecoming.
© Margie McGreevy

Flights of Fancy

“I want the greatest airline terminal the world has ever seen and I don’t care how much it costs.”

That’s what TWA visionary Howard Hughes told Finnish designer Eero Saarinen in the late 1950s. By 1962 the architectural wonder was complete. Forty years later, TWA and the terminal shut down.

Then along came Tyler Morse.

As a boy, he’d often visited the TWA Terminal with his dad. As a developer, Morse, like Hughes and Saarinen, had a bold, blue-sky vision for the terminal and the means to carry it out. In May 2019, following a three-year, $265 million restoration, the terminal soared gloriously back to life—as the TWA Hotel.

Spotting Morse at the reunion, former TWA flight attendant Yvonne Greenwood asks why he chose this particular airline. Says Morse, “Because it’s always been the best!”

TWA alumna Yvonne Greenwood meets TWA Hotel developer Tyler Morse.
© Jim Greenwood

High-Flying Hotel

Emulating TWA, Morse has transformed going to the airport from mere necessity into marvelous experience.

TWA Hotel’s 512 ultra-quiet guestrooms reflect retro chic and offer aviation geeks exhilarating views of JFK’s runways and the iconic TWA Flight Center.

There’s nothing unusual about a dip in the hotel pool, unless . . .
© Erin McGreevy Bevando

. . . it features runway views!
© Erin McGreevy Bevando

A 1958 Constellation, or “Connie,” has been transformed into . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

. . . a lush cocktail bar.
© Joyce McGreevy

L to R: TWA alumni Yvonne Greenwood, Mike Fliniau and Ron Kleiboeker,
McGreevy sisters Erin, Margie, Joyce. (Carolyn must be in First Class!)
© Jim Greenwood

The historic Paris Café offers fresh takes on TWA First Class gourmet classics.
© Joyce McGreevy

Like Kids Again

Immersed in TWA history, my sisters and I become carefree kids again.

McGreevy sisters dress up as 1962 housewives, a playful contrast to . . .

. . .the real-life glamour of our mother, Helen Collins McGreevy.
© Joyce McGreevy/© McGreevy Archives

Heavens Above

The heart of the TWA Hotel is a soaring, light-filled structure, with wing-shaped roof,  fantastically vast windows, a sunken lounge, and overhead walkways.

This renovation is the nerve center of airline nostalgia, yet in 1962 it was futuristic.
© Joyce McGreevy

To recreate the Solari split-flap message board with authentic mechanical operation,
Morse found the original manufacturers in Udine, Italy.
© Joyce McGreevy

It All Just Clicks

“I love hearing the clicking again!” TWA alumnus Steve Bonniwell grins, recalling New Yorkers who’d gamble on which destinations the board would reveal after each round of clickety-clacks. “You’d hear someone say, ‘I think the third line will be Paris’, and then they’d bet on it!”

Steve Bonniwell was TWA’s Marketing Director for the International Division in London.
© Joyce McGreevy

Recalling his career with TWA, he beams. “Greatest company I ever worked for. Great people! It was a family. I spent so much time going through this terminal during my 20 years at TWA. Seeing it the way it was is unbelievable.”

Bonniwell’s family reflects the influence of the airline. Son Mark Bonniwell is a pilot, flying 737s for United Airlines.

Margie meets TWA alumnus Derwin “Dee” Grimm. In 1974, Dee flew co-pilot with our dad
to Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, Cairo, and New York.
© Joyce McGreevy

Sky’s the Limit

As a kid in Kansas City, TWA’s original headquarters, Tracy Briggs dreamed of flight.  Given the family’s tight finances and Tracy’s physical challenges, Briggs’ mom worried that “such dreams were not meant for people like us.”

But Briggs persisted. “I soloed in 1977 and had so much fun I decided to make a career of it.”  Today, Captain Briggs has 40 years of experience in the cockpit. A veteran of TWA, he’s now a pilot for American Airlines. “This is my life, my joy, my passion!”

As for his love? That’s Myra Briggs, the spirited woman who’s been with him every mile of the way.

L to R: Myra Briggs and Capt. Tracy Briggs reunite with TWA alumni.
© Joyce McGreevy

TWA Hotel crew model TWA vintage designer uniforms. L to R: Pearls Daily in 1965 Balmain
and Sarah Conrad in 1970s Valentino.
© Joyce McGreevy

Beyond Nostalgia

Coined from ancient Greek, nostalgia combines “homecoming,” with “pain,” as if revisiting the past must always be bittersweet. But what my sisters and I witness among alumni at the TWA reunion is joy, gratitude, and zest for new adventures. No wonder everyone looks hale and hearty.

Oh, I see: The glory days of travel are not confined to travel memories, but available to all who travel through life with curiosity, appreciation, and a sense of service to one another.

The realization deepens as we meet the TWA Hotel staff. There’s something familiar about the high standards and heart they bring to their work. Something familiar about .  . .

• Stephanie Villada reporting for duty on her day off . . .
• Gail Martin, Tony, Chelsy, and Catalina’s  pride and joy at learning about—and becoming part of —TWA’s history. . .
• The finesse of Chef de Cuisine Amy Sir-Trevino . . .
• Sam’s warm welcome at check-in, Donna Lopiccolo’s daily greetings, and Jennifer Jacks’ seamless problem-solving.

The TWA Hotel crew are top-flight!
© Joyce McGreevy

Then it dawns on us: What we loved in the airline is now taking shape at the hotel. Beyond our personal travel memories, a promising  new generation of TWA family is forming at the TWA Hotel. We wish them a sense of homecoming and a lifetime of TWA adventures all their own.

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