Sunday, July 19, 2009

Lissa Myers Wolfe - Daughter to Johnny Myers


Lissa Myers Wolfe with Director RJ McHatton

Lissa Myers Wolfe with Director RJ McHatton

We drove to Pismo Beach to meet with Johnny Myers only daughter, Lissa and her son William. Lissa was very nice to us. She led us to her garage where there were tons of boxes full of photos, newspaper clippings, and memories of John and Lucia Myers. We spent the afternoon shooting and capturing digital versions of all the incredible memorabilia. Looking through the boxes brought back a lot of memories for Lissa. As we went photo by photo, Lissa was kind enough to tell us incredible stories behind each moment that the photograghs had captured with Johnny Myers. Lissa told us stories about Johnny’s father, her grandfather, who was a Justice on the California Supreme Court. She talked about her parents and her older brother Lou, who had passed away many years ago. She showed us some great photos from Johnny Myers career as a test pilot, and a terrific shot of Johnny as a kid on a horse when he was going to the prep school Thacher. She talked about Johnny’s love for polo and for flying. Lissa told us about how she learned to fly when she was only 15. Her eyes lit up and then filled with tears as we started looking through a massive collection of beautiful photos of her mother Lucia. Lucia was a stunning, strong woman who was on the board of several large organizations including Bank of America, at a time when there weren’t many women on Boards. Lissa showed us a large book from Northrop with lots of great stories about the test pilot days of Johnny Myers when he was testing the P-61 Night Fighter and the experimental Flying Wing. There were some incredible pictures of when Johnny Myers saved the life of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. We are very thankful to Lissa for allowing us to come into her home and to go through all her boxes. Our next return trip here will be to interview Lissa for our documentary “The Flying Man: Life and Times of Johnny Myers.” To learn more about this project, go to www.flyingmandocumentary.com