RIP John Glenn

[cozmik_cowboy]

New Concord, OH, is a quiet Appalachian burg of about 800 people.  It has turned out, to date, Wm. Rainey Harper (founder & first Pres of Univ. of Chicago), Agnes Moorehead (bad actress best known as "Endora" on Bewitched, Sen. Lt Col. John Hershell Glenn, Jr, USMC (First American to orbit the Earth & oldest person in space), and my bad self.
Sen. Glenn left us Thursday at age 95; my logical part says 'Space program??  What a waste of resources!!"
The 1960s kid part of me says "Is there anyone who could possibly be more badass than John Glenn??  Well, no, no there's not!"
I only met him once (like me, he'd blown town at the earliest - but he did blow it a bit farther  ), but my Scoutmaster was his childhood best friend, and my dad knew him fairly well.
And  John and Annie were one the all-time great love stories.  Farewell to a boyhood hero .


Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Seconded.

I had just been born when the crew of Apollo 11 took that Giant Leap for Mankind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

Wouldn't have been possible without John Glenn paving the way.

[dtothec]

Peter, I am also from Ohio and had an opportunity to meet John Glenn. What struck me most about him was how statuesque and calm he was. I also have had the opportunity to see the Mercury space capsule (just big enough for him to fit in) that he orbited the earth in, and realize what size gonads he had to climb into that tiny thing and be rocketed where no man had gone before. That man was not afraid to give his life in the interest of making life better for man here on earth. 

Godspeed John Glenn!

On another note Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon was also from Ohio and up until his passing lived in my area here in Cincinnati.

These were special men!

[pauldo]

Peter/Darrel
I appreciate your stories, they bring some realness to the hero that he was.  A hero in human skin.  Funny how these days people don't recognize the fortitude of those that paved the way for the future.

[edwin]

Um, Agnes Morehead had a long career long before paying the bills on crappy TV shows. Don't write her off on the basis of Bewitched. She debuted in Citizen Kane and went on to act in many other movies, being nominated for an Oscar 4 times. She's no Olivia De Havilland, but still.

OK, back to John Glenn, who was brilliant on a recent TV show.

[edwardofhuncote]

Um, Agnes Morehead had a long career long before paying the bills on crappy TV shows. Don't write her off on the basis of Bewitched. She debuted in Citizen Kane and went on to act in many other movies, being nominated for an Oscar 4 times. She's no Olivia De Havilland, but still...

Edwin- just came to the realization, there was a case of mistaken identity... right on about Agnes Moorehead, she was a brilliant actress, but I think the faux eyelashes threw you off, as my (current) avatar is Barbara Eden in a fairly rare picture from the pilot episode of "I Dream of Jeannie", which coincidentally was filmed on the sound stage next door to "Bewitched", and designed to be in direct competition with it. Granted, neither show was William Shakespeare for TV, but "Jeannie" was my Mom's stand-in babysitter in 1974... so we go way back.   

The change to 'classic' Jeannie is only temporary... I'll switch it back to my musical hero (McVie) eventually, or my new bass maybe, but right now I'm reading Ms. Eden's 2011 autobiography, "Jeannie, Out of the Bottle". Subject for another post after I'm done reading it, but I've been quite deeply inspired by one of her observations early on, leading to a New Year's resolution involving what I'd like to do musically. 

Back to John Glenn, without whom Major Anthony Nelson may not have had a career. At least not as an astronaut. Texas Oil Tycoon, maybe.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I realize Agnes had a long career; I've seen her in a number of noirs on late-night TV; based on this, I stand by by my assessment of her talents.

Peter (who has somehow never actually seen Citizen Kane)

[edwardofhuncote]

Okay, you can disregard my post Edwin... my goof.

  

~Gregory (who should have re-read Peter's original post closer before making another off topic post)