Establishing the Pan Am Museum Foundation
Still Soaring
“Our Mission at the Pan Am Museum Foundation is for us to educate, celebrate, and inspire present and future generations by preserving historical and diverse personal stories of Pan American World Airways.”
To employees, Pan Am meant more than a paycheck. It was a home. And co-workers were family. Because of those relationships, many former employees recall their Pan Am years as the best of their lives.
After the last Pan Am planes landed on December 4, 1991, the employee community never lost their love for the venerable institution that was Pan American World Airways.
In 1992, a group of volunteers led by Ed Trippe, son of Pan Am’s President and CEO Juan Trippe, founded the Pan Am Historical Foundation. They acquired the company’s remaining assets, including 64 years’ worth of documents, photographs, and audio/visual material — and archived them at the University of Miami.
In 2015, several former Pan Am flight attendants and members of World Wings International had the idea of expanding on the Historical Foundation’s work. They recognized that with the community of former employees aging, the first-hand accounts and oral history of Pan Am were in danger of being lost forever.
That’s when Andrea Sidor, Linda Freire, Joanne Swift, Ruth Lowenstein, Julie Watson, Bruce Gately, and Phillip Keene joined forces to establish a permanent museum dedicated to Pan Am. An additional catalyst fueled their mission because many “family” members were still reeling from the 2013 demolition of Pan Am’s Worldport at JFK International Airport.
As long as that building had remained standing, former employees still felt like they had a tangible place to call home. With it gone, they craved a new place to gather and remember.
After securing a $5,000 seed loan from World Wings International and obtaining 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status, the group’s newly seated board of directors started searching for a museum location. The board settled on Long Island’s Cradle of Aviation Museum, which is located on the former Mitchel Field Air Force Base site and is known for its preservation of Long Island aviation history.
directors
Linda (Little) Freire
Museum Chair
Years With Pan Am: 1980 – 1991; Flight Attendant, Flight Supervisor, JFK Manager Personnel, JFK Assistant Base Manager
“Pan Am Museum is the path to bring Pan American World Airways, our family, our legacy and our history to life. You call it the world, we call it a new home.”
Linda (Little) Freire
Museum Chair
Michael H. Levchuck
Museum Treasurer
A University of Notre Dame Alumni, Former Adjunct Professor at NYU and Pan Am enthusiast
“I am happy to be part of this incredible mission to keep and maintain a place to honor the Pan Am Legacy at Pan Am Museum.”
Michael H. Levchuck
Museum Treasurer
Phillip P. Keene
Years With Pan Am: 1988 -1991; Flight Attendant, Purser
“More than just a place to work, Pan Am created a family that I am proud to still be part of.”
Phillip P. Keene
Captain John Marshall
Years With Pan Am: 1964 – 1991; Pilot, Manager of Flight Standards
“I married a Pan Am Purser, Ms. Carla Scheidker, to this day I call her my lovely wife. I am delighted and excited to be a part of Pan Am Museum, a such a worthy endeavor.”
Captain John Marshall
Diane Krumholtz Lyras
Secretary
Years With Pan Am: 1977 – 1991; Labor Relations, Reservations, Account Manager, Sales Administration Manager, Special Projects and Assignments
“I am passionate about helping keep the Pan American World Airways story alive for generations to come and am most grateful to serve the Pan Am Museum.”
Diane Krumholtz Lyras
Secretary
Wil A. Alveno
Years With Pan Am: 1988 – 1991; Reservations, WorldPass Frequent Flyer Department
“As a Pan Am Museum Board Member, I have been given an opportunity to give back to the one entity that made it all happened for me – PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS.”
Wil A. Alveno
Diane (Jeans) Studeman
Years With Pan Am: 1963-1964; Stewardess
“When the founders of the Pan Am Museum Foundation initiated the strategy to provide a Museum to bring to the public and future generations the pioneering history of Pan Am, it was an honor to be associated in this mission. Flying for the ‘world’s most experienced airline’ was a great privilege and it influenced millions of travelers from all cultures.”
Diane (Jeans) Studeman
Deborah Gaudioso
“A Pan Am Brat, my parents met while working together in the Pan Am Building, New York City. So truly, I bleed blue. My background in marketing and photography has led me to help tell the history and legacy of Pan American World Airways through our efforts at Pan Am Museum.”
Deborah Gaudioso
Janice Faia
Years With Pan Am: 1968-1982; Purchasing Clerk, General Telephone Sales – Reservations, Travel Agency Special Services Desk, Reservations, Sales Representative – Manhattan DSO, Account Manager – Manhattan DSO, Manager, Leisure Marketing – Marketing
“In the words of Jim Stengel, ‘Our legacy is how we spend our time and who we spend it with.’ I could not be prouder to have joined forces with a more dedicated group in an endeavor to preserve the heritage of the company that brought us together.”
Janice Faia
Pamela Freytag
Years With Pan Am: 1967-1976; Stewardess, “Quarter-Timer”
“When I was a fourth grader, a Pan Am Stewardess came to my grammar school for Career Day, complete with stories of exotic places and posters of far off lands. I knew then that someday I wanted to wear that classic blue uniform with the winged hat and see the world. My flying career began in 1967, with the 707 (still my favorite airplane) and ended with the 747. My love for Pan Am has never waned and being part of the Pan Am Museum Foundation is my small way of ensuring that the Pan Am Legacy continues.”
Pamela Freytag
Patricia Boyce Iassogna
Years With Pan Am: 1979-1991, Flight Attendant, Purser
“When we say that Pan Am is Family, for me this is quite literally true. My Father was a Pilot for Pan Am for over 40 years, bringing his flying adventures back home to us after every trip. My sisters and I became Pan Am Flight Attendants creating our own flight adventures. It is now my honor and privilege to serve on this Board to preserve the Legacy of Pan American World Airways for future generations to enjoy.”
Patricia Boyce Iassogna
Tom Betti
A Norwich University Alumni with a Masters in History, Author, and former Pan Am Passenger.
“I am most honored to be a part of the Pan Am legacy. As a young boy on the upper deck of a 747 in 1991, my imagination was forever captured by this great airline. Today as a historian and storyteller, what excites me is there’s so much yet to be told. Though the six-decade history of the airline is best remembered for its numerous technical advancements in aviation history and standards in luxury air travel, it is the past stories of the people at the heart of Pan Am that resonate and inspire across generations.”
Tom Betti
Wendy Sue Knecht
Years With Pan Am: 1979-1991, Flight Attendant
"For me, Pan Am was the foundation for a life full of education, adventure and understanding of the world we live in. Experience is the greatest teacher of all, and I will forever be grateful for the experience of working for Pan Am and the extended family that still exists today. It is my great honor to serve on the Pan Am Museum Foundation board."
Wendy Sue Knecht
Penny Warner Powell
Penny Warner Powell
Ed Trippe
Honorary Chairman
Ed Trippe
Honorary Chairman
advisors
Adam Aron
Chairman and CEO of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
His first job was with Pan Am as an intern in the late 1970s and would later invent the airline’s first frequent flyer program called WorldPass. Over the course of his career, he has led companies such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Vail Resorts, and Norwegian Cruise Line. He is also board president of the Pan Am Historical Foundation.
Adam Aron
Chairman and CEO of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
Alfred Gilbert
Alfred Gilbert joined Pan Am in 1978 in New York as a Reservation & Rate Desk agent and later moved with Pan Am to San Francisco in 1981. He still resides in the Bay Area today. In 1985, he left Pan Am for a career in travel agency corporate sales, and worked over the course of his career for Thomas Cook, Carlson Wagonlit, BCD, and American Express.
Alfred also volunteered for the Global Business Travel Association, serving as Program Director, Vice President, and President of local chapters Bay Area Business Travel Association (BABTA) and Silicon Valley Business Travel Association (SVBTA). Today, Alfred and his Australian Shepherd, Roman, are members of the SFO Wags Brigade, offering animal comfort therapy to travelers and airline employees at SFO International Airport.
Alfred Gilbert
Atul Kumria
Senior Director Airports, Head of Ancillary Revenues for Spirit Airlines
His first job was with Pan Am in the 1980s as a customer service agent at the Delhi Airport. Mr. Kumria is an airline executive with over 34 years of experience and has worked for Kingfisher Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.
Atul Kumria
Senior Director Airports, Head of Ancillary Revenues for Spirit Airlines
Gianfranco ``Panda`` Beting
Gianfranco ``Panda`` Beting
James Patrick Baldwin
Adjunct Professor at the University Maryland Global Campus and Visiting Lecturer at the University o
Adjunct Professor at the University Maryland Global Campus and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster and Emirates Aviation University. Frequent passenger on Pan Am, first on a DC-6B in 1958 and last on a Boeing 747 in 1991.
James Patrick Baldwin
Adjunct Professor at the University Maryland Global Campus and Visiting Lecturer at the University o
John A Horvath
John’s passion for aviation began as a three-year-old when his family would spend a few hours on many Sunday afternoons watching airplanes do what they normally do at O’Hare. In fact, his mother learned how to drive on the underutilized taxiways at that time.
Two weeks after graduating from high school in 1966, he began working for Continental Airlines at O’Hare in terminal operations. His baptism into the fast-paced world of commercial aviation was working all forty-two days of the Great Airline Strike during that summer.
He left the industry for several months trying out his college major, architecture, and decided to return to aviation. Pan Am was hiring cargo station service agents at O’Hare. He applied and for the next twenty-one years he worked in various capacities in cargo service and sales and passenger service and sales. He also was tasked with several special assignments. He received the 1981 President’s Sales Award for cargo sales.
After Pan Am’s demise he worked for Olympic Airways in passenger sales for
nineteen years. He also was tasked with several special assignments thanks to his Pan Am experience. After Olympic privatized, he worked as an aircraft broker for four years specializing in the sale of Cessna aircraft and “Jurassic” airliners.
He is currently retired and his passion for aviation continues as a Pan Am historian, archivist and memorabilia collector. He is also a general aviation pilot.
John A Horvath
Nancy McAllister
President of World Wings International, Inc.
Nancy grew up in the world of Pan Am with her father having been a Captain. She became a Flight AttendPan Am, based in Miami and New York, then accepted a corporate sales position for Pan Am in Atlanta. Nancy has also worked for IBM as a Major Meetings Manager and is currently the President of World Wings International, Inc., the philanthropic global organization of former Pan Am Flight Attendants.
Nancy McAllister
President of World Wings International, Inc.
William O. Studeman
Years With Pan Am: 1958-1962; Ticket Agent
“I come from a Pan Am Family dating back to the mid-1930’s, with four members of my family working for the airline, myself included. I had a long Intelligence career in the Navy and was the Director of Naval Intelligence, Director of the National Security Agency and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and the CIA. Now mostly retired, doing part-time aviation history, I am convinced there are still fascinating and compelling Pan Am stories yet to be told and the PAMF is the perfect platform to pursue these stories.”
William O. Studeman
John Luetich
Years With Pan Am: 1975-1991; Pax & Cargo Revenue, RKL; Res Agent, PAB; Programmer/Analyst, RKL
In 2019 I became the Curator and Historian here at the Museum, and since then I’ve been involved in many projects, the most noteworthy being the Timeline exhibit which was unveiled in December 2021.
I am honored to be a member of the Museum Board and a messenger who keeps the Pan Am legacy alive.“
John Luetich
staff
Amanda Anello
Administrative Assistant
Amanda Anello
Administrative Assistant
George Fleckenstein
Museum Administrator
George Fleckenstein
Museum Administrator
Kate Ludwig
Retail Consultant
Kate Ludwig
Retail Consultant
