The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

Billy writes to Fritzi and apologizes for the news about the WASPs. He says it’s a bad deal. He tells her he loves her for the first time.

Fritzi lands a plane as a WASP for the last time on December 17, 1944. Three days later, there’s a celebratory dinner. Afterward, she finds a plane on the airfield and decides to take it home. Ultimately, no charges are filed against her.

Fritzi feels she has no purpose. Her records, like those of every other WASP, are sealed. It will be 30 years before another woman flies a military plane.

In 1945, news of the war’s end reaches Pulaski. Fritzi is relieved that her brother will be coming home. Over 400,000 Americans have died, and 1.7 million have been injured. Many Americans do not know that 39 WASPs and 16 Army nurses were also killed. Sixty-seven nurses were also held in a Japanese concentration camp, including Fritzi’s friend Dottie.

Headlines suggest that women can now finally be housewives again, but many want to continue to work, just as they did during the war. Fritzi wants to find Billy and go back to California. Gertrude hopes to get a job at Ford Motor Company, but she ends up teaching accordion. Wink returns and reopens the filling station.

Sookie feels down. She forgets to cancel lunch with Dee Dee and is still in her nightgown when her daughter arrives. Dee Dee asks what’s wrong. Sookie admits that she hasn’t done anything with her life; her mothers were both brave. Dee Dee recalls that she was a great mother and their hero. Sookie also saved a dog when it fell into the water when Dee Dee was a kid, even though she isn’t a good swimmer.

Dee Dee also points out that it takes fortitude to raise four children and support them even when they make mistakes. She commands Sookie to get dressed. She does, and they have a wonderful lunch. Sookie thinks about how Dee Dee has grown up.

In January 2006, Sookie goes over to her mother’s house to start planning for her birthday. Lenore says that she’s upset that so many people she once knew are dead. She worries that only Sookie and Buck will remember her, because she had always planned on an acting career but never had the time to pursue one.

Sookie asks if Lenore has ever been happy. Lenore thinks this is a ridiculous question and believes Sookie has been thinking too much. She eventually gives Sookie instructions for her own birthday.

On the way home, Sookie thinks about her own birthday—her real birthday—and wonders if anyone else might have been celebrating it too.

Dee Dee and Sookie start meeting for lunch more regularly. One day, Sookie comments that she’s been thinking about why she is the way she is, since she always thought her behavior could be explained by being a Simmons. Dee Dee points out that Sookie could change her name if she wanted to. Dee Dee promises to support her if she wants to make some changes in her life. She and her siblings discussed it, and they’re proud of her for being so patient with them and with Lenore. She adds that even though Sookie thinks she’s not important, she has heart.

Sookie receives a package for “Alice Finch” while Lenore is over. Lenore asks who it is. Sookie says that she’s a friend of Marvaleen’s.

When Lenore leaves, she opens the package to find the first photos she’s ever seen of her real mother. There are clippings from 1930s and 1940s newspapers. Sookie is amazed by how glamorous Fritzi looks as a pilot. She decides to find her. With Earle’s help, she discovers that her mother—now known as Fritzi Bevins—is still alive. She gets her phone number.

Sookie is frozen with nerves. Eventually, she dials the number. Fritzi answers, and when Sookie admits that she might be her daughter, she says that she’s been wondering when she would call. She invites Sookie to California.

A few days later, Sookie lets Lenore know that she’s going to California to a health spa. As she leaves, Lenore thinks about how she’s worried about her daughter.

Sookie arrives at Fritzi’s home in Solvang, California. They make small talk. Fritzi eventually asks how Sookie’s life has been. Sookie says that her mother doesn’t know she is here. Sookie also asks about health problems, and Fritzi reassures her that their family is pretty healthy. 

Fritzi shows Sookie pictures of her siblings, and Sookie sees the resemblance between her daughters and the Jurdabralinskis. Fritzi explains that after her brother passed away, his wife sold the family’s house and that the filling station is now closed.

When Sookie comments that she never expected to not meet her real mother until she was 60, Fritzi reluctantly says that she’s not Sookie’s mother.

In 1944, Fritzi visits Sophie at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Sophie is in love with a Royal Air Force pilot named Jimmy, who is there on a special assignment. Jimmy is taking Sophie to Houston for the weekend. While Jimmy has gotten a room for Sophie at a hotel and plans to spend the night with friends, Fritzi is nervous for her sister. She warns Sophie to be mindful that men will do anything to take advantage of women. Sophie promises that Jimmy intends to marry her once the war is over.

Sophie and Jimmy go on their date, but after a couple of months, Jimmy’s letters stop arriving. Sophie worries that he has died. She goes to the Red Cross office and gives them information. An older woman promises to look into it. A few days later, Sophie receives a call from the woman asking Sophie to come by the Red Cross’s office because they have found Jimmy’s home number. Sophie is sure that Jimmy’s parents will know where he is. However, when Sophie calls, she learns that Jimmy is married because she ends up speaking to his wife.

Fritzi visits Sweetwater three weeks later. Sophie confides that she is pregnant. Fritzi tells her that she can keep flying because the flying suits are baggy anyway. Fritzi tells Sophie that when Sophie needs to stop flying, she has to call Fritzi.

Fritzi also goes to see the head nurse of the Sweetwater base because she owes Fritzi a favor. The nurse eventually puts Sophie on sick leave with a fake diagnosis. After Sophie gives birth, she spends as much time as she can with the baby. She doesn’t want to give her up. However, three weeks before the end of the WASPs program, Sophie is killed in a midair collision.

After telling Sookie the truth, Fritzi apologizes. She thinks that she could have stopped Sophie from going to Sweetwater. Part of her liked that two of her sisters were pilots, and it felt like showing off.

Fritzi ended up sneaking Sookie to an orphanage, having promised Sophie she’d never tell their parents about the baby. Fritzi wanted Sookie to have some sort of connection to her family, so she put her own name on the birth certificate. Fritzi thought that leaving Sookie there was the best move.

Sookie asks if she’s Catholic. Fritzi replies that they tried to have her baptized, but the priest wanted to see a marriage certificate. She adds that she thinks Sookie is just like Sophie, who was much softer than she is. She can see that Sookie is well-behaved and good like Sophie. She adds that Sophie loved Sookie very much.

Later that night, Sookie looks at the photo Fritzi gave her of her mother and thinks that she can see how shy she is, just like Sookie. Sookie stays up all night reading about the WASPs. The next day, she praises Fritzi for her work. Fritzi admits that she doesn’t like to live in the past, but she’s still amazed by how the country rallied together. She is happy she got to serve her country and feels she contributed to the war effort by doing what she loved. It was a tiring time. It was difficult when the WASP program ended. It was hard when the program was classified too because it seemed like the world would never acknowledge them. Even when women pilots were finally allowed in the US Air Force in 1976, the Pentagon claimed that they were the first women to be military pilots.

The next day, Fritzi tells Sookie who her father is. She admits that while she hates what he did to Sophie, no one knows if he would’ve made good on his promise to return to Sophie after the war. It was a difficult time, and people were scared. Fritzi and Billy were fortunate: They moved to California and opened a flight school. She’s proud of her role in women’s and American history.

Sookie stays in Solvang for a week. She’s happy that no one knows who her mother is there. She makes new friends. When she calls her husband one day, he says that she sounds very happy.

On her last day in California, Sookie asks Fritzi about the name on her birth certificate—Ginger. Fritzi laughs and apologizes, saying that she didn’t know what else to put on it when she dropped Sookie off at the orphanage. Ginger Rogers was her favorite actress, she explains. Sookie’s real birth name is Fritzi Willinka Jurdabralinski. Sookie is proud to be named for her aunt.

When Sookie leaves, Fritzi tells her to keep in contact and gives her a gift. Privately, Fritzi feels guilty for lying about what really happened to Sophie. She didn’t want to put Sookie through anything else.

In the car, Sookie opens the gift. It is a rosary that belonged to Sophie.

On November 23, 1944, Bud Harris decides to meet Sophie when she returns from a flight. He has tried unsuccessfully to get her to go out with him numerous times. He has also bet his friends that not only would she say yes to him, but that she would sleep with him after two weeks. Sophie is not interested, she just wants to spend time with her baby.

When she lands, Harris pushes her against a wall as she walks out of the hangar. He grabs at her, but his attack is interrupted by a mechanic, who tells Harris to let her go.

A few days later, Harris’s unit spots Sophie in the air, and he breaks off from their formation. Mysteriously, Sophie crashes. Harris testifies that she made a mistake while flying, bringing the tip of her plane into his. In reality, Harris hadn’t meant to kill her, only scare her. He pulled in too close, and when she went to veer away, her plane went into a spin, causing the crash.

Another flier tells Fritzi that he suspects that Harris did it on purpose. She tracks down Harris and confronts him.

All of the Jurdabralinski siblings are present for Sophie’s funeral. She even has a flag draped over her coffin, despite not being in the Army.

In New York after the WASPs are disbanded, Fritzi’s friend Willy runs into Bud Harris at a bar. She tricks him into going back to a hotel room and he removes his clothes. He thinks she’s going to sleep with him. Instead, Willy, wearing steel-toed boots, kicks him in the groin and throws his clothes out of the window.

In the present, Sookie arrives home in Alabama and is happy to return to normalcy. She realizes that her trip to see Fritzi was the most important journey she’s ever taken. She’s learned so much about herself. She likes that she’s becoming someone else. Her life feels like it’s beginning all over again. She learns more about her Polish ancestry, taking pride in her brave country’s history.

Dee Dee tracks down Sookie’s real father, but he is dead. However, one of his daughters is still alive. Dee Dee suggests that Sookie contact her. However, Sookie knows that this would be difficult information for her half-sister.

Sookie also views Lenore differently. In learning about Fritzi and Sophie’s struggle, Sookie understands that Lenore probably experienced a lot of restrictions as a young woman. She wonders what Lenore would have done if she’d been born later. She thinks about what her birth mother and aunts did for the women who came after them.

Dr. Shapiro decides to move back to New York. He will miss Sookie.

Sookie watches her birdfeeders and is sad that the little birds still haven’t appeared. She watches the blue jays and asks Walter Dempsey, a handyman, to make her a specific birdfeeder. When it is delivered, it deters the blue jays because they can’t balance on its small ledge and eat at the same time. However, the smaller birds can. She orders five more. The handyman suggests that she turn it into a business. He has already spoken with someone at a bird store, who agrees to sell them.

Sookie and Walter name their business “Blue Jay Away.” They each receive half of the profits, and they become so busy that they need to hire an assistant and bookkeeper. A year after that, they advertise in Southern Living. The local paper does an article on Sookie, and she is pleased that it refers to her as an “inventor.” The company continues to be successful.

The years go by, and soon Lenore is 93 years old. After her nurse passes away, she moves into a retirement community. One night, they call Sookie and reveal that Lenore has had a small stroke.

Sookie goes to the intensive care unit. Lenore recognizes Sookie and calls her the “best daughter in the whole world” (324). Sookie tells her that she loves her. She stays by Lenore’s bed. Later that night, Sookie goes home to get some rest. The doctor calls that same night and says that Lenore has passed way.

The next morning, Lenore’s lawyer arrives with a letter. In it, Lenore has included her obituary and instructions for her memorial and family reception. At three o’clock that afternoon, a man from a local monument company rings Sookie about the large headstone Lenore ordered. He wants to know where it should be delivered.

The funeral service is perfect. The monument is also so big that Sookie has to buy an additional cemetery plot. She knows that she will think of Lenore every day and miss her very much.

A few weeks later, Sookie goes over to Lenore’s house to start cleaning it out. She sits down to polish the Simmons family silver. After offering it to Dee Dee, Sookie ends up giving it to Buck’s wife. When Sookie makes her promise never to split up the set, Bunny promises that she would never. Sookie feels like she made the right choice.

Dee Dee calls a few weeks later and excitedly reveals that Sookie’s birth father’s grandfather married a woman named Victoria Anne Simmons, making them Simmonses after all, even if it might be a different Simmons family. Sookie doesn’t really care, but she’s glad that Dee Dee is excited. Sookie thinks that Lenore would have been happy because she would’ve been right about Sookie still being a true Simmons.

Marvaleen calls and tells Sookie that she’s getting back together with her ex-husband.

Sookie finally goes to her sorority’s reunion with Dena. After that, Lenore’s theory that the mayor is no good is proven true when his embezzlement is exposed. Dee Dee also leaves her husband, and Fritzi sends Sookie updates about her life.

When Earle and Carter go on their annual camping trip, Sookie enjoys the time reflecting by herself. She knows now that success is not about achievement but about what has been overcome. She is happy she married Earle, despite Lenore’s complaints. As a result, she has a happy and loving family. She relaxes on the pier.

Sookie and Dee Dee go to a World War II military plane exhibit in New Mexico. Sookie is disappointed to see that her mother’s name is not on the list of people who flew the B-17 Flying Fortress. Only men’s names are included. She also overhears a man connected to the exhibit talking to another group about flying the B-17, and Sookie adds that her mother and aunt flew them too. Those around him are surprised. The man who was talking acknowledges this is true, but he clearly doesn’t care.

Inside the plane, Sookie is amazed by her mother’s courage. She feels so proud. Afterward, Sookie and Dee Dee tell one of the male museum workers that they should share how women also flew the plane. He ignores them. Sookie thinks that she now understands how so many of the WASPs worked so hard for their country, and part of that meant being ignored.

Fritzi invites Sookie to the WASP reunion in Pulaski as her special guest. Sookie arrives in Wisconsin and meets her aunt Gertude, who is now a nun, and several of Fritzi’s friends. Fritzi makes a toast and welcomes Sookie.

At the ceremony the next day, Sookie sees a picture of her mother on the wall. During the ceremony, Sally Ride comes to give a special speech as a surprise. She thanks the WASPs for what they did for women pilots.

Later that evening, the town throws a party for the WASPs, and Sookie is swept up in the celebration. She meets so many people and dances the night away.

Fritzi picks up Sookie the next day and takes her to the site of Wink’s Phillips 66 filling station. There is a large banner that reads “Welcome to the All-Girl Filling Station” (340). Fritzi introduces her to Tula, Angie, and Tula’s husband Nard. Tula comments on how much Sookie looks like Sophie.

Fritzi and her siblings regale Sookie with stories of their mother and their family. They talk about how fun it was. As Sookie leaves, she imagines what it used to look like, with her mother and aunts running the filling station.

They go to the cemetery the next morning. Sookie sees her mother’s gravestone and those of the relatives she didn’t meet. At the airport, she thanks Fritzi, who reminds her that she’s always there for her.

Carter calls Sookie right after she returns from Pulaski. He is getting married. He explains that his fiancé’s name is David. He visited once with Carter. Though initially shocked, Sookie tells Carter that she’s happy if he is.

She isn’t sure what her role will be in a wedding with two grooms. She wishes Lenore was there. She watches as Earle plays fetch with his new Great Dane.

It is 2014, and Sookie is 70 years old. She has five grandchildren. She also feels like she has become the person she was always meant to be. She cares for her grandfather Simmons’s grave in honor of Lenore.

Her most prized possession is the Congressional Medal of Honor finally awarded to her birth mother, Sophie, years after Sophie’s role as in the WASP program.