Strangers at airport overcome fear, hit the road

Tampa columnist HOOPER E-mail: Click here Archive

By ERNEST HOOPER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 21, 2001

Jim Castellano is the kind of guy who can walk into a bar by himself and walk out two hours later with four new friends.

But he never thought his gregarious personality would produce a similar result in the wake of last week's terrorist attack.

Castellano, a computer consultant for Chicago's i.c.bleu Corp., found himself at Tampa International Sept. 13 hoping against hope to catch a flight home.

As he began what would be a seven-hour wait, he bonded with others in the same predicament. At one point, they huddled around his computer and watched a DVD of HBO's Sex and the City.

When the last flight was canceled about 11 p.m., a Tampa resident named Chuck lamented that he had to get to Atlanta by Friday to be the best man in his brother's wedding.

So Castellano uttered the words "road trip," and before you know it five strangers were in Chuck's Oldsmobile Bravada.

A retired Army colonel from Hernando, an accountant from Grand Rapids, Mich., and a hairstylist from Atlanta made the overnight journey with Chuck and Jim, discussing the attack, talking politics and telling strangers things they probably wouldn't tell their friends.

"There were things that happened in the airport that brought people closer together," Castellano explained. "As Americans, we let our guard down because we are trusting people. We're not mean by nature."

At one point, the quintet stopped for gas, drinks and snacks in the middle of Georgia. Castellano went in to pay, but when he came out, the Bravada was gone. He paused for a moment, gripped by fear, then looked to his right and saw four faces peeking around the corner.

"One of them said, 'We got you,' " Castellano said.

They made it to the Atlanta airport by 6:30 a.m. Jim and Ellen, the accountant, caught connecting flights and Chuck took the others to their destinations.

At a time when fear had reached its zenith in the United States, five strangers found a way to trust each other. Hopefully, we all can fight through that terror to achieve a common goal.

Tampa's Hazel Vanderford is involved in a different kind of fight.

She will be one of 350 breast cancer survivors participating in the Race For The Cure on Saturday morning at St. Petersburg's Straub Park.

"There's an immediate bond, an immediate sisterhood," said Vanderford, whose cancer has been in remission for 31/2 years. "You stand next to a woman you've never seen before or a woman you may never see again, but you know they understand the fear you live with every day, and the battles and challenges you've met."

The race is open to all, and 75 percent of the proceeds are earmarked for the local affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The goal is to heighten awareness of the disease and help fund mammograms for people who couldn't otherwise afford them. For information, log on to www.komentampabay.com.

Someone once told me the distinctive blue box of Tiffany & Co. is so renowned, people are happy just to get one even if its empty. Regrettably, that person was not my wife, and now that Tiffany is at International Plaza, I'm running out of excuses.

To mark its opening, Tiffany has two unique displays. One is American Themes: a priceless exhibit of historic pieces that includes an American Flag brooch designed in 1876.

The famed jeweler also chose Brenda Schwarzkopf, wife of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, to put together a table setting featuring Tiffany items because she embodies Tampa's spirit.

Both the table setting and the collection can be seen in the store through Oct. 3.

Colleague Robert Trigaux recently wrote that demographic research reveals Valrico has the second-highest concentration of millionaires in all of the Tampa Bay area. I was surprised, but a Valrico real estate agent told me she wasn't shocked.

"Why do you think they call Bloomingdale High 'Gucci High?"' she asked.

- Ernest Hooper can be reached at (813) 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com. His column appears on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

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