Nolan,
Re: person wanting to contact Charlie Folds, now retired from WSVN
Channel 7 (formerly WCKT-TV), reference Maxine Barrat. Yes, I knew
Ms. Barrat. I can be reached at:
chafol@msn.com
Charlie Folds
Mr. Folds, thanks so much for writing! I have forwarded your email to the article's original author and, as you can see, published it here as well. Hopefully, the interested party will get this information soon!
An honor, sir! ---Nolan
Will!!
Sorry for the delay in answering your e-mail. In regards to Wayne Farris....last I heard he was living in the Naples / Ft. Myers area and in poor health....years of alcohol abuse took its toll, plus he's OLD.
Charlie Folds, who retired from Channel 7 after 30 plus years about 2 years ago....I'm sure there is info on him on the Miami Herald website.
Hope you are well and happy !!!
Regards,
"Miami Mike" Hiscano
Mike, thanks so much for writing! Will and I were both delighted to hear from Charlie Folds (as you saw from the letter above yours), so previous reports of his death were exaggerated! Thanks also for the info on Wayne Harris....we all wish him the best. ---Nolan
Will
After writing a short story about meeting John C. Van Arsdale Sr. and applying for a job as co-pilot, I decided to expand the tale and put it on my blog with other flying stories. I called John C. Van Arsdale Jr. in Naples to update my old journal notes. We reminisced for an hour or more about the death of his father, about the growth and demise of the airline, and about a party I attended at his home back in 1971 posing as a writer.
Certain that I would be exposed as a fraud, I redeemed the typewriter I had pawned and began writing a book. The book failed to interest an agent or publishers, but it boosted my sagging self esteem and I've continued to hack away ever since.
This morning I typed John C. Van Arsdale's name into the Google search engine and came up with your articles about the old commuter airlines. (La Floridiana, PCR #214 Vol. 5, No. 18). Your stuff was almost a verbatim transcript of my conversation with John Junior. Did you interview John for your articles?
My web site doesn't have the flash or bells and whistles but you might enjoy reading some of my tales. OldMack's Tales.
I hope you find something of interest and will comment.
Sincerely,
Ron McKinney, aka, OldMack
WILLIAM MORIATY RESPONDS--
Dear Mr. McKinney:
Thank you for reading our on-line publication and my column.
I had never met any of the Van Arsdales, but in Florida aviation circles it was pretty well known that Old Man Van's sons were taking Naples/PBA on a course that the Old Man would never himself have approved of. Add to that some very unfortunate circumstances and just plain bud luck the airline suffered by the mid 1980's and one of the most colorful airlines in American history was lost forever by 1988.
So sad...
One of the finest histories of this wonderful commuter airline can be found in the book "Sunshine Skies Historic Airlines of Florida and Georgia" by David P. Henderson. I highly advise that you obtain a copy by linking to: http://www.sunshineskies.com/
Thanks so much for writing and I very much look forward to reading Old Mack's Tales!
Sincerely,
William Moriaty
La Floridiana
To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com. Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan
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