One of two things about this blog. Either no one is really following it, or they are either too young or too ignorant to recognize Neil Armstrong on the left of the picture, Bob Hope in the middle, and the one that many might not know is, James Rhodes, Governor of Ohio for I think three terms.
For some history on the picture: Vie Fast was my fathers office manager at O'connor McLaughlin for many years. She happened to be Neil Armstrong's neighbor when he was growing up in Wapak. She had been talking about him daily when there was a chance that he might get the assignment to be the first man on the moon. It was definitely not a clear assignment for many months. Once they found out that he would be the first man on the moon, Wapak and Vie went crazy.
There were two other Wapak related friends of ours that were also very excited about his accomplishment. Merl Harrod and Mr. Fisher, our neighbor on State St. They were two very wealthy men and wanted to have a great party for Neil when he returned. Merl came to the JC's in Lima and wanted their help to find a person with a motorcycle who could drive the AP photographer around the day of the event. That's where I came in. They also wanted help with crowd control and manning different stations around the town during his return.
Merl had some beautiful coins made up with Neils picture on the front, and a picture of the moon and the orbiter on the back. For helping that day, and then volunteering to help raise money for the Neil Armstrong Museum, he gave me one in silver and one in bronze.
Mr. Fisher owned Fisher Cheese Co. and decided to make a special cheese called, you bet: Moon Cheese. It just happened to be round and had some holes in it. They sold it as a way to raise money for the Museum, and I'm sure it didn't hurt Fisher Cheese to get all the national coverage they got on TV and the press. The JC's were selling it the day of the event and we must have sold it for darn near the next year. We had some, but for some reason it didn't keep very well. I think we had some in the freezer for at least two years.
Now for the day of the event. My assignment was to drive the AP guy around getting pictures and then driving back to a photo booth they had set up to get them developed. This guy was crazy, he was standing on the back of my motorcycle taking pictures of the parade while we were just ahead of the car with Neil in it. In those days if you had a press armband on, you had access to the entire place. No one stopped you or asked you any questions. The picture you see was taken at the viewing stand when we were off the motorcycle. As a matter of fact, I was sitting on the steps of the viewing stand talking to Ed McMahon. We were both waiting for that part of the event to end and I wanted to meet Neil. When it finally ended, they came down the steps and Governor Rhodes was first and then Bob Hope and then Neil. As Neil came down I told him that Vie Fast was my fathers, Pud McLaughlin, office manager at O'Conner McLaughlin. He acknowledged growing up next to Vie and asked how Eddie, her son was doing after his wound in Viet Nam. While we talked briefly, Mr. Rhodes was standing right there and asked me if I was T.D. McLaughlin's son. I explained who I was and he said he knew both my dad and my grandfather. I then got to shake hands with Bob Hope as well. I was 27 at the time and have never forgotten that and have these pictures hanging in my office.
I'm feeling better today and will be leaving soon to get the bread order for the Essen House. They had another killer weekend and need a ton of bread.
Winners of the contest: Tom Whitney was first in with the correct answer, followed closely by someone much older than him and me, my sister Margo. She told me that Neil actually lives in the Cincinnati area and she sees things about him on occasion. Brother Larry came in today with the correct information also. I'm not sure if he talked to Margo or if he knew it on his own. I'm sure he will let me know however.
Thanks for taking part, and I hope you enjoyed the picture and the information.
No comments:
Post a Comment