The story of Gander's 'come from aways'

When the airspace over North America was closed on 9/11 and planes were grounded, the town of Gander in Newfoundland suddenly found itself playing host to more than 6,500 passengers and crew.

With all airborne planes forced to land at the nearest airport and inbound flights from Europe diverted to Canada, a total of 38 planes carrying 6,579 people and 19 animals touched down in Gander, almost doubling its 10,000-strong population.

On the northeastern tip of a province nicknamed The Rock by locals, these ‘come from aways’ (as the locals call people not born there) were welcomed with open arms. They were fed, clothed, housed and entertained – most notably at a ‘screech-in’ ceremony where kissing a cod earns you the title of honorary Newfoundlander – in and around Gander before aircraft were again allowed to fly.

Come From Away was workshopped in Oakville in 2012 and enjoyed ecstatically-received runs in San Diego, Seattle, Washington and Toronto before arriving on Broadway five years later. Audiences were drawn in by its roster of real-life characters, including Gander town mayor Claude Elliot.

Elliot himself recalls: “On the first day we had 7,000 strangers. On the third day we had 7,000 friends. And on the fifth day 7,000 family members.” Among those strangers turned friends and family members, as featured in the show, were an eager local news reporter, the mother of a New York firefighter desperate for the news of her son, and the first American Airlines captain Beverley Bass.

Being interviewed by Sankoff and Hein for four hours back in 2011 brought back so many memories for the aviation trailblazer. When she and her passengers deplaned, there were tables and tables of food waiting for them in the terminal.

“The people of Gander, I guess, had cooked all night long,” Bass recounts. “I mean, there was food for everybody. I knew immediately that the people were the nicest people I have ever been around in my life. It didn’t matter what you needed or what you wanted, it was there.”

In 2015 she got a call from the producers inviting her to see the show in San Diego. “I went to it sight unseen and I had no idea that my role was so prominent and I certainly didn’t know that a song had been written called Me and the Sky, which chronicles my aviation life. It was astounding. By the end of it, my head was buried in my hands because I was just sobbing.

“I’m honoured that my story is impacting young girls to this day. Sharing my story with audiences has been life-changing and I’m so grateful to be a part of this show’s journey. The musical is so true, it is so real. What a gift it has been to the world. The show gets a standing ovation every time because people like how something so beautiful managed to come out from such a tragedy.”

Strangers Nick Marson and Diane Kirschke were on the same flight from Gatwick bound for Texas, where British oil executive Nick had business to attend to while American Diane, a buyer for a department store, was on her way home after visiting her UK-based son.

They were both divorced and not seeking romance, but across their five-day stay where they were invited to get-togethers and singalongs, they fell for each other. When their plane finally took off again they were, Diane smiles, smitten. “There’s a scene in the show where the stewardess is bringing towels for everyone and she goes ‘Hot towels? Hot towels?’ all the way down the plane. When she gets to us she says ‘Cold towels?’ That’s exactly as it happened.”

The couple kept in touch through emails and phone calls before Nick proposed on the phone two months later. He moved to the US soon afterward, they got married in 2002 and had their honeymoon in Newfoundland, with Marson saying of the time they originally spent there: “I think it’s made me a better person. I try to be my best self every day, be happy, make other people happy and make them laugh.”