St. Louis Downtown Airport's
New Air Traffic Control Tower

Mrs. Marvine Molla unveils "Molla Drive"

ACCESS ROAD NAMED IN HONOR OF THE LATE GENE MOLLA

The road being constructed to access the new air traffic control tower from Jerome Lane was named in honor of the airport’s long-time maintenance manager, Mr. Gene Molla. Gene’s wife, Marvine, and sons, Bryan and Chris, were present to unveil the “Molla Drive” street sign.

Gene Molla was a successful businessman and gas station owner who earned his private pilots license in the mid-1960’s. His love for aviation quickly grew to become a love focused on this airport. He sold his service station business and began working at the airport in August 1967.

In that era, all aircraft line service and airport maintenance functions were performed by the same small team of contract employees. Gene managed that employee team and dedicated his life to this airport. He was always present and on-duty six or more days a week, often 10 or 12 hours each day.

Those were lean times around the airport and Gene was the right man for the time — he was the ultimate scrounger. The only airport vehicles at the time were an old World War II surplus Willys jeep and a 1940’s-vintage John Deere tractor. So he used his own pickup truck for most airport work. He searched the government surplus property channels and found a dump truck with a snow blade on it. Since the day that truck arrived in 1968, the airport has never been closed due to snow and the airport’s vehicle fleet continued to grow and improve.

During his tenure, Gene oversaw the construction of the existing control tower in 1973; the extension of the crosswind runway; realignment and construction of the primary runway; construction of the railroad overpass, the east ramp and access roads, and the Midcoast terminal. He introduced jet fuel to the airport and installed in-ground fuel tanks on the west ramp, and several years later oversaw the removal of those same tanks. He expanded the west ramp to six times its size. He picked up the pieces and recovered from the storm and microburst that destroyed many of the west ramp hangars and again from the fire that destroyed hangar four. The list of changes that took place under Gene Molla’s watch could go on for hours. His handprints are all over the airport. His handwriting is still on the labels of most of the Airport’s switches and circuit breakers.

No one has given more of himself to this airport than Gene Molla. For over a quarter century, he was the driving force that kept this airport running smoothly.

We lost a dear friend when he passed away in the fall of 1998. But, his presence here will continue to be felt for decades to come through the improvements he made and through the lives of the people he touched along the way. Gene trained and mentored half of our current airport staff.

"Molla Drive" will be approximately one-quarter mile long and will provide access to the new control tower and administrative building as well as the hangars and buildings to be constructed in the area in the future.

Chris, Bryan, and Marvine Molla