THE INTERVIEW: REMEMBERING PAN AM: MARY GOSHGARIAN!

New York Times, September 23, 1974

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Pan Am AWARE Airmen Worried About Remaining Employed

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
FROM THE EMPLOYEES OF THE WORLD’S MOST EXPERIENCED AIRLINE
Ask our own government why the Postal Department pays the foreign airlines as much as five times what it pay Pan Am for hauling the same U.S. Mail. Not receiving the same pay for the same work costs Pan Am forty million dollars a year.
Ask our own government why the U.S. Export-Import Bank loans money to “underdeveloped” countries like France, Japan and Saudi Arabia at six percent interest while Pan Am pays twelve percent.
Ask our own government why it is opposed to letting Pan Am fly passengers within our country…it just doesn’t make sense. The domestic airlines now have rights to international routes that we pioneered, and the foreign airlines now serve more cities in the United States than we do.

IF PAN AM WERE ALLOWED DOMESTIC ROUTES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES…OR TO BORROW FROM EXPORT-IMPORT BANK…OR TO PAY REASONABLE LANDING FEES OVERSEAS…OR TO RECEIVE EQUAL POSTAGE RATES FROM OUR OWN GOVERNMENT, WE WOULDN'T NEED ANY SUBSIDY AT ALL!
In fact we wouldn’t need to have taken up a collection to run this is ad.
The Employees of Pan Am

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(A Full Page Ad from the New York Times)

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AWARE is an acronym for Airmen Worried About Remaining Employed--a phrase coined in 1974 when Pan Am personnel sought help (in vain) from the United States Congress regarding the disparity between higher landing fees charged to Pan Am compared to foreign carriers; and, subsequently, higher postal rates paid to rival airlines and lower rates to Pan Am for carrying US Mail, while denying Pan Am domestic route authority. The Miami, Florida-based AWARE store is a must-see for anyone traveling to Miami. It is staffed by volunteers, including many fascinating ex Pan Am personalities. The Manager of AWARE is 83 year-young Mary Goshgarian whose smiling face and enthusiasm is simply contagious! Goshgarian oversees a collectors trove of items for sale including: authentic Pan Am sports wear, china, travel bags, photos, original travel agency-sized posters and desktop models of both piston and jet era aircraft flown by the airline, coats, sweaters, T-shirts, postcards, toys, games and in-flight service items. In a November, 2006 article in USA Today, Goshgarian was referred to as "the unofficial keeper of the Pan Am flame", and this is no exaggeration! This author met Goshgarian in the spring of 1991 over the telephone while Pan Am was still flying. Notorious corporate raider Carl Icahn was making a convoluted bid for Pan Am with American Airlines for $135 million. Goshgarian retired a short time later and we have remained fast friends ever since. Beginning her career as a front-line customer service agent in 1956 (and later a supervisor), Goshgarian spent 15 years as a 'Clipper Skipper' assigned to assist the many VIP's that flew aboard Pan Am. She continues to thrive on the excitement of overseeing the growth of the store under her leadership from 300 square feet to its present remodeled 900 square foot showroom located on the second floor of The Pan Am International Flight Academy at 5000 NW 36th Street on the outskirts of Miami International Airport. I caught up with her on the heels of last months newspaper article that was read worldwide.

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MM: Well, Mary first the Sun Sentinel article on your wonderful store this past summer, and now the USA Today article! Tell us how the store has evolved.

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GOSHGARIAN: Yes. When the Academy approached me and said "Mary, we need the space on the ground floor", I thought to myself, 'They are going to put me way in the back somewhere. Nobody will know where I am and that will be the end of the store!' Well, it's just the opposite. I had 300 square feet (28m) downstairs, and they gave me 900 square feet upstairs. When you enter, you can walk up the giant staircase to the second and third floor. We're right there at the landing. We have a cardboard cutout of a Pan Am flight attendant at the entrance and the Academy has students from all over the world. When the first group of Russians came to the store---they all had cameras, of course---one young man kept looking at her and I said, "Why don't you put your arm around her and take a picture?" Now every group does this.

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MM: Many people become quite emotional and I remember being there years ago on my first visit when people from German and Japan walked in and when they say that unmistakable blue globe (Pan Am's logo) they wept. And you said, "Please. Now you're going to get us all started". There really is a depth of emotion for this carrier.

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GOSHGARIAN: You'll never get on an airline that is as good as Pan Am was. We loved this company. This company was the best. We were family, still are.

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MM: tell us about some of the VIP's you remember?

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GOSHGARIAN: I met Sophia Loren, and once I was dispatched to meet a flight with her husband, Carlo Ponti. And I remember thinking, 'How did she ever marry that little guy?' I went to meet him, and by the time I walked him from Concourse D to E, I had fallen in love with him! He was so magnetic, he had so much charm you wouldn't believe it. I met Burt Reynolds once. I went down to the gate to meet the flight and he was the last one off. I said, "Burt Reynolds! My first cousin, Val Avery just made a movie with you". He said, "You know Val?" I said "Hes' my first cousin". A year later, I met him again at the gate and he said, "Oh, here's cousin Mary!" (Laughing) What kind of memory is that? Julio Iglesias would always give me a kiss on the cheek when he came off the plane and I'd go crazy.

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MM: This really is a labor of love for you!

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GOSHGARIAN: You know, people say to me, "Why do you do this (as a volunteer)?" And I say, "First of all, Pan Am was the most wonderful job I ever had. I was with them 35 years. So I love to give back to the company whenever I can". Did I tell you what happened over the summer? I was about to close the store and go home for the day when the phone rang. The connection was scratchy and I was having a hard time making out what the man on the other end was saying. Finally it got a little better, and he was asking me if we had the Pan Am coffee mugs. I was curious and so I asked him "Where are you calling from?" He said "I'm in Iraq". He was a soldier in Iraq who remembered the Pan Am coffee mugs and when I told him I'd get one to him, he went wild! See? That's what I mean. People miss us.

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MM: Remember back in 1994 when I first stopped in?

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GOSHGARIAN: I do!

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MM: I was here for three hours and I felt like a kid in a candy store. I really loaded up on so many fun things. And all of a sudden a man with a flat-top style haircut walked in and stopped, looked over at the airplane models and pointed to the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and started crying. He was so choked up. I remember trying to console the man. He said, "I'll take one of those (aircraft models) . I trained as a Flight Engineer with Pan Am on that aircraft".

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GOSHGARIAN: That happens--I won't say every week. But people do walk in from countries we served around the world and when they see something that brings back a memory like that, they sometimes get very emotional. Pan Am meant so much to so many people.

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MM: It touched their lives!

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GOSHGARIAN: We touched many lives because we flew to all four corners of the globe. And you know what's funny? I couldn't tell you how to get from one place to another in Florida--from one city to another. But if you put me in Thailand, I know just who to call and I'll be offered a nice room for the night. When a Pan Am Flight Crew walked through an airport terminal, it was unbelievable. There was so much respect for the pilots and the flight attendants. They treated us like we were special. Today that's all gone. Even with the other airlines, I see the crews walking along to a gate and other Captains and Flight Crew members will see them but it's no big deal. And I think how so much has changed.

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MM: Every book I've read talks about how strict the requirements were for the girls that were Flight Attendants. Many were fluent in several languages. And God! Were they attractive!

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GOSHGARIAN: (laughing) You would notice that! But I remember when the girls wore the pill box hats, and white gloves and heels. Their uniforms were impeccable. But you know, when John Travolta--he's a certified commercial pilot--when he stops by the store it's so funny. Because he'll have his back to the door and he'll be reading a book and all the girls come by from throughout the building and peek in and just whisper, "Is that really him? Oh, my God." (laughing). And he's the nicest person you could ever meet! He's so down to earth. And he loves Pan Am and its history too!

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MM: Without you, we wouldn't have this magnificent store.

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GOSHGARIAN: Oh, come on. I mean really. Someone would have it.

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MM: But not like you. The way you interact with every single person who walks in. You make them feel like they are at home.

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GOSHGARIAN: Now you're embarrassing me. But you know something. I am so lucky. On the days I'm here, I can't wait to get to the store--I look forward to it so much. And I say I'm lucky. It was the best job I ever had. It was a wonderful company. I went around the world--I don't know how many times. We were just ordinary workers, but when you said you were with Pan Am, you were treated like royalty. As I say, I've made so many friends all over the world; I could go to Japan tomorrow and I'd know just who to call. I mean that's how close we were. We were a family.

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Author's Note: The Pan American AWARE store in Miami is open Monday through Friday 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. For information, call (305) 871-1028. When in Miami, you won't want to miss this destination. My thanks to Mary Goshgarian for sharing her time and memories with us!

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Post Script: Due to this special week and the necessary space requirements for my special Guests, the "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" feature was not discussed at length but I did want to mention this weeks' choice and it is certainly Pan Am-related: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Brian Howe, Frank John Hughes, Steve Eastin, and Directed by: Steven Spielberg

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Out final Guest tomorrow will be the President of The Pan Am Historical Foundation--and a wonderful fellow--PETE RUNNETTE joins us and I hope you will too!