ARGIE ELLA HOSKINS IS SIGNING AT THE SALT LAKE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

My face book friend did this presentation for me. Thanks Chad Smith!

This was the day called historical for the airline world of travel. It was January 25, 1959 from Los Angeles to New York. The picture was taken in New York at the New York International Airport which is now called the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

This is the interior of the Boeing 707. I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

Photo by Jon Proctor

Photo by Jon Proctor

Photo by Jon Proctor

Check out the ashtrays in the seat rests. Remembering how my hair was a smoke filter as I ran up and down the aisle serving our guests and feeling like I was smoking. Dear, oh dear!  I didn't smoke! I really like the headrest covers, no fear of crawling critters from these seats. All nice, clean and starched slightly for the crisp feel and look. Yes, to be changed between flights. Can you see the pillows and blankets in the overhead racks? The flights were comfortable and even with hot meals. Coat closets for the coated traveler and magazines racks with the current copy of the most popular readings which were handed out before anything. Everything for the experience to be a special memory. And for me, the stewardess who really loved to be a hospitable hostess with a touch of caring for the welcomed friends of American Airlines.

And for old times sake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cA7_JBkV2s: 

So I wrote a book with some very special contributors who added a touch of class. And another month has passed.  The Weller Book Works at the Salt Lake International Airport wants me back.  It is so hard to believe that they support my book by having it stocked and displayed in the store. They like me and I am honored. 

In Terminal 1 the store has rather nice chairs where you can sit and read before or after your flight. Passengers are so nice as they hurry to their gates.  You will find me at a table in front of the store on November 27th from 8:00 til 12:30. I welcome passengers as they hurry through security on their way up the escalator  and searching for their gate. I ask them to take a look at More Than a Ticket  Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets.  

Here are a few pictures from last signing on Oct. 6th. Click on picture to find a more large presentation. I was delighted to have granddaughters with me again. This time Brianna and Noel.  It is my privilege to invite guests to join me.  We are escorted through security and to the bookstore. Fun for all of us. And that reminds me that you need to be flying somewhere to get to where I am signing the books.  See you soon!

MORE THAN A TICKET MEMORIES FLYING WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES FROM PROPS TO JETS by Argie Hoskins

                                            

 

 Friend and sister(in-law) Ruth sent me a doll.

 Update: It is happening!

Yeah! That means undoubtedly, I am excited for another opportunity to sign my book More Than a Ticket  Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets at the Salt Lake International airport.
WHERE:  Terminal 1 After you go through Security and are walking to the escalator with all your luggage, I will try to stop you. Well, you do have a couple of hours, so before you board the escalator, I will be seated at a table in front of Weller Book Works.
WHEN:  October 9th
TIME:  8:00 til 12:30 noon

An important thing to know is that you need a ticket to get through Security. Yes, you will be going somewhere to enjoy time to sit and read a book.

Another treasure from Ruth:

Serving for eight! Come on over for home-made ice cream.

 Now it is time for another chapter from the book: More Than a Ticket    

JOAN (SCOFIELD) SHELDON Class 59-1
Joan and I were based in Los Angeles at the same time. I saw her name on the bid sheet. Did we fly together? Memory is a fleeting puzzle. Time has brought the crossing of our paths, if not in the air, certainly by mail. My new friend Joan is terrific. Time and space are intriguing and both have the power to change the wind, rain and friendships. 

Now for Joan's story to toll, yes, toll
“Firsts . . . are always fun stories to tell and to
remember for a long time. The day American
Airlines inaugurated its first flight of a 707 jet
aircraft from Los Angeles to Philadelphia in the fall of 1959, I was one of the stewardesses on board. It was an exciting event for the public as well as for the passengers and flight crew. I felt honored to be one of only eight stewardesses who were awarded the schedule that included that flight. 

Having flown for only a few months, I did not have enough seniority to serve up front, so I wouldn't see any of the first class passengers during the flight. My only chance to see if any celebrities might be on board was to enter the plane through the passenger gate. The rest of the crew, as usual, avoided the passenger entrance or 'holding tank', as we called it, and went to the ramp directly from the crew lounge. This day, however, I headed for the passenger gate to see what kind of people would be flying on this big jet. I also liked the idea of being the first person they would let on board. 

The crowded gate area was tingling with excitement. Two or three reporters were interviewing passengers. Important faces stood out in the crowd. One could sense the over- abundance of standbys. One particularly dark, handsome teenage boy, about 16, pressed
the ticket taker for any news of no-shows. His foreign-accented grandmother hung onto him, looked out at the plane, and worriedly said "but dare are no propellers". He glanced at me (enviously, I thought) and seeing me in uniform, knew I would be getting on board, while he and his grandmother might not. I sadly looked back at those who would perhaps not make it. 

Soon we were on our way to the East Coast in less than four hours. We were met at our destination by yet another crowd which included the mayor of Philadelphia who gave each person, as they deplaned, a souvenir to remember their first jet flight . . . a small copper replica of the Liberty Bell. 

Twenty years later, that bell "tolled" a remarkable story. I met my dark, handsome husband on a skiing trip in Switzerland. He lived in San Francisco and I in Southern California. In 1979, after a year of 400 mile courting, I moved to the Bay area. As he helped me unpack, in my new house, he noticed the bell and asked me where it came from. When I told him, his eyes lit up in amazement as he replied "You were on that flight, twenty years ago? Unbelievable! I tried to get on that same plane for two weeks." 

Then he told me that his Russian-born grandmother and he were at the airport, in Los Angeles, that day, trying to fly standby to their home in Philadelphia. . . they made it on the next day's flight.Is there yet another story here, one I don't know how to tell? Is there a strange link, perhaps, between the envious glance of a sixteen year old boy at a twenty-two year old stewardess who is headed for a jet-ride he wants to be on, and an unconscious remembrance that attracts him to her twenty years later? Now, when anyone asks us how we know we were meant for each other, we answer: "Oh, it was jet fate." 

(More pictures in the book)

The book is filled with story after story!  Enjoy!