In Remembrance
Where were you when you heard the news about the demise of the Challenger space shuttle and its crew? The disaster happened 20 years ago today. Most of you cats weren't even born! How about your moms and dads? Do your folks remember a kitty before that may have been with them on Jan. 28th two decades ago?I was in college and remember running into a friend on campus while walking to class that morning. She told me the news. It was shocking. My monster talked about it some in an August post on the day the Discovery came home. From student government involvement, I had an opportunity to raise money and pass legislation naming a kiosk area next to the Student Union and near the Chi-O clock the "Challenger Kiosk." Next visit to Stillwater I'll have to check to see if it's still there.
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You know, today likely also is a good day to remember the Columbia crew too and to say a quick prayer for all the families of these folks.
11 Comments:
Oh, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. It will never leave me. I was teaching Nursery School at the time in Voorhees, NJ. We had just finished lunch and it was nap time, and as we got everyone settled, Miss Maureen walked in for her afternoon shift, white as a ghost and herded us into the kitchen area and told us that the shuttle exploded. We tried to keep it from the kids - aged 2 - 5 in the school, until their parents came to get them. One by one, we all took breaks and went to our cars to listen to the radio (KYW in Philadelphia) and cry. Thank goodness the director did not allow any TV's in the school, it would have been that much harder for us. Being that all of us were teachers, it was a special day for us - one of our own going up into space. I had just graduated from college with my teaching degree and was going for my Masters, and nothing that I ever learned in school could prepare me for how to explain that to a 4 year old.
sorry for the 2nd post - but something really strange and trivial - I was just getting out of the hospital the day of the Columbia tragedy. I immediately called one of my sorority sisters in Texas (Nagadoches, sorry if it's spelled wrong) and there was a piece of the shuttle in her back yard. She moved to Alabama shortly after that.
Both very interesting posts! What did the sorority sister do with that piece of the shuttle? Wow.
Thanks for sharing your memory from 1986. Do you still teach?
You know, I have no idea how to spell that town in Texas. I have a cousin that lived there once!
Cowboy- well, she wanted to keep the piece, but the authorities came and took it away. It was a small piece, but it freaked her out completely. Actually, I don't teach anymore - I am an Information Security Officer now out in the buisness world. Just goes to show that we really never know what we're gonna be when we grow up. Oh wait, I have not really grown up yet!
Paul was working on his BS, and I was a secretary on campus. The department Admin had a radio, and we listened to that. At lunch, Paul and I went to a local tex-mex place, and they had a tv, and the whole place was pretty silent, watching the news coverage.
nachdoches.
we didn't realize you are so "young"! my Mom was way out of college and was teachin' a stop smokin' class at a hospital that day. somebody came in the room and told them and everybody wanted to light up a cigarette!! everybody was very sad and upset.
Looks like it's Nacogdoches. I suggest we all meet here for a blog party/reunion/tradeshow/fun event in the future. Thoughts?
Glad the falling debris didn't hit anyone, M's Mom. None of us truly want to grow up, do we?
Everyone gathered around tvs in the Student Union, I recall. Hope the Tex-Mex was good, though.
Edsel, oh yes, I'm a spring chicken. That's a hoot that everyone almost failed your mom's class just at that moment. Hope she was able to whip them into shape! Being able to stop smoking is a very good thing.
Oh man, do I ever remember it. I plopped my 2, almost 3 year old son down to watch the shuttle take off, thinking he would love it. It was kind of special because we were dirt poor then but scraped up enough to get basic cable, and CNN came with our basic package. TV was so new to him, and I figured hey, little boys, space ships...it's a natural.
Never could I imagine what his little eyes would see.
I mistakenly assumed my son was too little to grasp what had happened...he spent the next couple of months making his toy shuttle go =boom= and asked a lot of questions about the people on it and if they were in heaven.
It was a LONG time before I let him watch any news...
(Max's "Woman"...)
Max's Woman, Are you saying you have a 23-year-old son now? Is he an aeronatical engineer? It's amazing what even young child pick up on.
Thanks for sharing these stories.
I remember the day vividly too. I, like Max's woman aka Thumper, was also dirt poor. Newlywed and doomed to be a statistic I'm afraid. Lived in a tiny apartment above a ladies wear store, right downtown in a little city near Vancouver. Had a tiny TV we could barely scrape enough together to afford. B&W even.... I turned on the TV and saw the news was on.... oh a shuttle launch, what fun I thought, so sat and watched.... in horror. I was 19 and "celebrated" my 1st anniversary a little over a month later.
Thank you Cowboy for signing Angel's blog. It meant a lot. I'd like to reach you... can you email me? prairiesunshine@sasktel.net
I had a little b&w tv I bought for $55 while in college. It was my bedroom tv until just last summer! Now I have an awesome panel screen tv in there that I bought after receiving a bonus at work. Times have changed, but I still hope I never have to watch a shuttle disaster.
Five kitties then and five now, Robyn. Great friends then and now!
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