Lounge is oasis amid airport din

Lounge is oasis amid airport din

Acorn Fautanu wouldn't have had many options a few months ago at the airport -- just stiff seats and coffee-kiosk fare to pass the time while he waited for a ride after a long flight from American Samoa.

Instead, the 27-year-old Army sergeant was sprawled out in a leather recliner, watching football on a large-screen TV. Free chips, cookies, fruit, drinks and other snacks were a few steps away at Raleigh-Durham International Airport's four-month-old USO lounge for service members, veterans, retirees and their families.

"It's pretty comfortable," said Fautanu, who was on his way back to Fort Bragg on Monday after a 15-day leave. He is preparing to leave for Afghanistan in March and went home to drop off his wife with his family.

"It's helped a lot," he said.

Fautanu can thank Jim Van Strien, called a driving force in the opening of the USO lounge at the airport, for his relaxing morning.

Though Van Strien doesn't like to take credit for much of anything he has done, friends and colleagues call him humble, quiet, flexible and determined.

"He's totally selfless," said George Tuskey, the airport USO's operations director. "He just cares. He truly cares about these folks, and he is passionate about the military."

Van Strien, 72, retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel in the Army's Special Forces. He went into the plating business, putting chrome, brass, gold and silver on ceiling fans and other pieces. Then, he moved to Raleigh to work as an area coordinator for the state's emergency management division, helping in hurricanes, floods, tornados and chemical spills. He retired in 1995, started driving a limousine and then bought his own.

That job drew Van Strien to his volunteer gig at the airport, where he had spent time picking up passengers, including Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and actor Gregory Peck.

He started out his volunteer service three years ago responding to general questions at the airport's information centers about luggage, rental cars, hotels and directions. A man who walked up hand-in-hand with a woman Monday wanted to know whether there was a place the woman could have a cocktail before she went through security. Are there any big shopping malls in the area? asked another woman.

Van Strien also noticed that service members came to him, needing help. There had been attempts to open a lounge at the airport, but they were unsuccessful. Van Strien took up the cause.

He lobbied the airport authority, Tuskey said. And he brokered the relationship between the airport and the USO of North Carolina, in Jacksonville.

The airport authority eventually spent $100,000 to renovate the room, which includes a kitchenette, Internet connections, food, books, television and a place for children to play. Food, furniture and money also were donated.

"He's just one of those folks, when he thinks something's right, he's going to make it happen," Tuskey said.

Since August, more than 1,000 people a month have passed through the USO room. David Coe, a 19-year-old private from Raleigh, checked his e-mail messages Monday, while his parents, Debby and Jeff Coe, sat at a table nearby. Coe was headed to Iraq for six months after a two-week break.

"It's very nice to know it's here," Debby Coe said.

Van Strien volunteers at the lounge every Monday from 7 to 11 a.m., taking out the trash, putting away groceries, finding rides and talking with the people who stop in. When he leaves the lounge, he walks down to the airport's information booths, where he gives more of his time, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

He doesn't usually talk about his own military experiences with the people he meets at the lounge, though he is writing them down for his five children. The Michigan native, who lives in North Raleigh, would rather strike up a conversation with a stranger than talk about himself.

"Everybody's got a life," he said. "Everybody's done something."