This past week, a few milestones worth noting from 50 years ago: the tragedy at Chappaquiddick Island when local native Mary Jo Kopechne, then 28 years old, lost her life in an automobile accident at the hands of the driver U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the lunar landing of Apollo 11 when astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
A month ago, after having lunch with a friend, we took a drive out and about town. We visited the gravesite of a mutual friend who had passed away earlier this year.
Later, we visited a few more cemeteries when my friend asked if I had ever been to the grave of Mary Jo Kopechne, who is buried in St. Vincent DePaul Cemetery at Larksville. I had never been there but he told me he and his wife had visited the cemetery in the past, never having found Mary Jo.
The challenge was on and we made our way to Larksville.
We parked the car and started at one end of the cemetery, scouring the hillside. Lo and behold, just as I was ready to throw in the towel, there was her tombstone.
I called my buddy to the site and we both stood there staring at the stone where the remains of Mary Jo and her parents rest.
It was a weird feeling to stand over the grave of a person who is a part of history.
At first, I felt a great accomplishment in finding the site, but that feeling was soon followed by sorrow. After all, this was a 28-year-old woman who never got to live a full life.
She was 17 years old than me, but she will forever be 28.
I’ve seen plenty of interviews of her parents and how sad they were throughout the years. Now, they lie beside here. That made me happy, knowing they were eventually reunited with their daughter.
Now that I’ve been there, I’m sure I’ll visit again.
At the same time of Mary Jo’s tragic death, another historical event was taking place; man was about to land on the moon for the first time ever.
This past week has been filled with TV specials on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Being just shy of 12 years old, I have great memories of watching all that unfold before my eyes on TV.
It seems like everyone who was alive at that time remembers watching the God-awful black and white TV videos of the landing … all of it live, of course.
The TV video was upside down at first and extremely grainy. It didn’t help that the descending ladder was on the shady side of the lunar ladder. It made it very dark to see Neil Armstrong take the first step off the lander, making him the first man on the moon and an instant historical figure and icon.
It was a period in time when just about the entire population of earthlings stopped what they were doing to watch Armstrong take that “giant leap for mankind.”
People in countries all around the globe literally stopped what they were doing and we all became one.
Armstrong became an instant celebrity. Over time, though, he was very misunderstood and became a recluse.
He wasn’t in the game to be famous; he never wanted to be a celebrity — he just wanted to be the best pilot, test pilot and, eventually, the best astronaut.
One piece of history I did not know — Armstrong and his wife lost their 2-year-old daughter Karen due to brain cancer in 1962.
His daughter’s death may have made Armstrong even stronger and more focused. The folklore is, he left something on the moon for Karen or in Karen’s memory but neither of her brothers can confirm that.
As a young child, a lot of things were lost on me such as the U.S. being in a space race against the Russians or the Cold War.
I know lives were lost on both sides in order to get to the moon first.
I was 9 years old when three American astronauts lost their lives on the launch pad during a simulated liftoff on Jan. 27, 1967.
I remember my parents being very sad. We watched the funerals of the three brave men on TV and yes, it was in black and white.
President Kennedy laid out the mandate “of landing a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth” in a speech on my birthday, Sept. 12, 1962, and, after the Apollo 1 disaster four years later, it was a gigantic feat to accomplish what the U.S. did.
I could probably write two more columns about the moon landing through the eyes of an 11-year-old; it was an amazing year and an amazing time of life and history.
Quote of the week
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” – President John F. Kennedy
Thought of the week
“Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next 10.” – Neil Armstrong
Bumper sticker
“Space, the final frontier.” – From the original “Star Trek” TV show.
