Last week's 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbiting the earth reminds me of something. My parents were in New York at that time, staying at the Plaza Hotel, I think. They were walking down the hall to the elevator that evening, when they passed a suite with an open door, and a group of people inside. It was all the other astronauts and their wives (minus, of course, John Glenn, who had come down in his capsule somewhere in the Atlantic.) Someone…I think it was Alan Shephard…recognized Dad and called to him to come on in. They did, and I believe they had a drink with them. Dad found a sheet of hotel stationary, and asked them all to sign a note he wrote to Chris, who was then 8 years old. Alan Shephard's wife took the note to give to John Glenn to sign when he returned. I reminded Chris of this yesterday, and he had no recollection of the letter. I'm thinking I must have put it in a safe place. We've moved three times since then…but I'll search.
Diane Disney Miller
Co-Founder of The Walt Disney Family Museum
Above: John Glenn okays the artwork for his Friendship 7 spacecraft.