She loved the space program. As a young woman in the fifties, she grew up awash in cultural aspirations for flight. Her father flew. Her brother flew. And she dreamed of flying too. Even better, hurtle into space.
She devoured science fiction books (favorites: Asimov and Heinlein). And we lived in Florida for awhile, so when John Glen was launched in space, for the first manned space flight around Earth… We were all there, blanket on the beach and eyes glued on the gantry.
Dad was involved in the Apollo Program which made Mom proud. He gave her a number of very thoughtful, appreciated gifts over the years, but maybe the most emotional was a bracelet issued by the Apollo program with charms representing each mission.
So the next time you see a spectacular picture of space, maybe like me, you will remember Mom and smile.
Aloha,
Dee
Contributor: Dee
Oh Dee, I’m so glad you realized what today was and what it would have meant to Mom. I remember that bracelet and the necklace, too. I also remember the day we sat on the beach and watched the blast off of that Apollo mission.
I know there’s a film clip from that day and once I can figure out how to segment it out and load it on the site, I’ll post it here or link to it.
Another funny memory involving Mom’s love of the space program: Mom made Dad rent a color TV for one of the space missions only to find out that it was televised in black and white! Ha!
You made me smile today ~ thanks!
Ha, HA,
That was for the first man on the moon walk!
The whole world almost missed out on that day. The dish assigned to handle the transmissions was off line at the last minute and so a small, remote dish in Australia got involved in the biggest televised event to date. If you ever see “The Dish” we can think of mom again. I am sure if she had not been able to see what was going on they would have run into trouble! She watched every mission and “worked hard” to keep them safe.
Dee