ALWAYS THERE, ALWAYS GONE

Ross-Dolen, a retired child and adolescent psychiatrist, offers a touching memoir of growing up as the child of an orphaned parent.

The author’s maternal great-grandparents were the founders of Highlights for Children magazine, and their son and his wife—Ross-Dolen’s grandparents—led the magazine for 10 years before they tragically died in 1960, along with more than 120 other people, in a midair collision of two commercial airlines over New York City. The author tells the story of her mother, who was just 14 when she lost her parents; she and her siblings were raised by her uncle, and she grew up in the shadow of major loss at a time when grief wasn’t as understood or accepted as it is today. The book also addresses Ross-Dolen’s own sense of loss over the grandparents she never knew, and her effort to process her mother’s grief along with her own. Her account of her quest to learn more about her grandparents—including their courtship and how they made Highlights for Children into the successful venture it became—showcases some of the many complexities of loss. The work also recalls when the author attended a 50-year memorial service for the victims of the crash, as well as her mother’s lingering fears about flying. In addition to its deeply personal aspects, this memoir/biography valuably grapples with the long-term societal effects of the 1960 tragedy, and it does an excellent job of reminding readers that the trauma that disaster victims’ families undergo effectively makes themvictims, too. The book might have benefited from briefly explaining the circumstances of the crash upfront, rather than later in the book, as it would have provided necessary historical context for many readers. Overall, though, this is a skillfully written work, clearly conveying the sadness of multiple generations.

An affecting examination of the unknown stories behind transportation disasters.