Pan Am Unbuckled: A Very Plane Diary
Ramona Fillman: Ramona Fillman grew up in the small Oregon town of Myrtle Creek.  She earned degrees in Physical Therapy and MHA in health administration from LLU.  She and husband Orvin raised their daughter Tiana on Oahu, Hawaii --where Ramona worked in Pediatric Research with Shriners Hospitals.  Her peer-reviewed publications can be viewed on PubMed.gov under "fillman r".  She  currently resides in Napa Valley with husband, dog and four wild cats --where she met Ann Shelby Valentine. Ann Shelby Valentine: Ann Shelby Valentine signed-on with Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) on March 10, 1969 and remained with the airline until it ceased operating in December, 1991. Initially based in New York, she was also based in London, San Francisco, Los Angeles and temporally in Sydney and Tokyo (for her honeymoon). Pan Am sent her round-the-world on a Boeing 707 for her first assignment. During the Viet Nam War she flew R&R flights onto jungle landing strips and participated in the airlift evacuation in April, 1975.  During her time-off she traveled on free airline passes to places like Timbuktu, Mali; Elat, Israel; and Truk Lagoon in Micronesia. Valentine was born in Richmond, Virginia, and subsequently lived in Dallas, Coconut Grove,  and Tampa. She attended the University of Florida, UC Berkeley and as related in the book, University of Moscow, USSR. She and her husband live in Napa County, California.  They have three grown children. Currently she creates Pique Assiette mosaics at her studio in Calistoga.