BIA abuzz for holidays Reunions, partings emotional

BANGOR – For the first time in three years, Amelia Jervey came home for Christmas.

Unlike some of her earlier flights home from Colorado, including one that arrived 24 hours late, her Saturday flight to Bangor was right on time, and her luggage arrived intact.

Given her exuberance and holiday cheer, even the cab ride to the airport was magical, ending with a hug from the cabbie, she said with a laugh.

Not all were so lucky. On Bangor International Airport’s ground level, a long row of luggage sat forlornly on Saturday, the casualties of one of several flights affected by a snowstorm the day before.

When Jervey landed at Bangor International Airport, her whole family was on hand to greet her with hugs and kisses and squeals of delight. As she made her way through the Delta gate, she waved happily to her parents and younger sister, Emmy Jervey. She carried a bag of gaily wrapped Christmas gifts, among them a long, narrow package to which she had stuck almost a dozen bows.

“I bought a bag of 60,” she said with a laugh.

Bangor International Airport, like countless airports and bus depots across the nation, was the scene of joyful reunions and tearful partings as Christmas approached.

While the airport hummed with activity on Saturday, car rental companies did brisk business with travelers whose final holiday destinations lay to the north or south or along the coast.

While they eagerly awaited the arrival of their oldest daughter, Nancy and Allen Jervey spoke of the plans they’d made for the holidays. Some Cornish rock hens, the main course for Christmas Eve dinner, were marinating in her kitchen back home in Skowhegan.

That Amelia Jervey was able to be home for the holidays made Christmas 2000 extra special for the Jervey household. Jervey, the older of their two daughters, has been attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where she is working on a master’s degree in education.

Because Jervey worked as a ski instructor last year and the year before, she was unable to come home for Christmas because it falls within a peak skiing period, Nancy Jervey said as she scanned the gate for signs of her daughter’s arrival.

This year, the mother said, Jervey is working as a student teacher and as such, has a two-week break before school there resumes.

After collecting Jervey’s luggage, which included two pairs of skis, the family planned to have dinner in Bangor and then head home, where Jervey planned to hit the ski slopes at Sugarloaf early Sunday with her sister, a fellow skier who also is pursing career in education but at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.

Once the initial clamor died down, Jervey said that while in Maine, she plans to catch up with family and friends, write a resume and visit the classroom of her friend, Deidre Belliveau, a third-grade teacher in Waterville. The four Jerveys, along with Belliveau, will ring in the New Year in Montreal.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the airport, Tina VonHolstein of Owls Head was getting ready to put her 8-year-old daughter, Jackie Winegardener, on a plane to Cincinnati, where she planned to visit her father.

To stave off boredom during the two-hour flight, VonHolstein packed for her daughter a small carryon bag filled with such pastimes as a coloring book and crayons. VonHolstein, however, noted that Jackie might not need them because she makes friends so easily. Already an accomplished flyer, Jackie reportedly once charmed her fellow travelers – on a plane filled with teachers – during one of her recent solo flights. When Jackie alit, several of the teachers approached VonHolstein, saying, “You must be Jackie’s mom!”

VonHolstein and her husband, Wolfgang VonHolstein, who left a career in foreign intelligence to become a coastal artist, also were bound for Ohio, where they would reconnect with Jackie. The couple, however, planned to make the trip by automobile, a 19-hour drive, they said.

For Julie Harris of Bangor, however, a visit to the airport represented a temporary parting.

Her boyfriend, Mohammed Farsi, was heading home to Saudi Arabia, via London, for the three-week break at the University of Maine, where he is a junior chemical engineering major and she is about to begin graduate studies in business.

The fact that the plane from Boston that Farsi was waiting to board had been delayed for more than an hour prolonged the couple’s good-bye.

In addition to visiting with family, Farsi looked forward to enjoying the cuisine of his homeland, a rarity here in central-eastern Maine.

“I want to get there before Ramadan,” said Farsi. Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, ends on Dec. 26, concluding an extended period of fasting, discipline and spiritual reflection in accordance with Islamic tradition.

Also departing from Bangor were Donna Bates of Lincoln and her son. The two were heading for the sunny skies of Florida for a visit with Bates’ sister, who moved there eight years ago.

“It’s my first time flying,” she said as she nervously paced outside the airport, puffing a cigarette.

Unlike the hundreds of passengers who flew in to Bangor during the weekend before Christmas, Bates’ bags were packed with warm-weather gear.