posted 07-10-2011 10:48 AM               

One of the parents on our team offered to host the championship pool party. As the dad is showing me around the house, I noticed a frame with some patches in it, next to it were some photos of a group of people standing around something and when I put my glasses on (it's hell getting old), I almost fell over.

I was looking at a complete collection of Apollo crew patches, the photos were of the Apollo 1 crew standing next to the command module, with a group of white shirted men who had pocket protectors and skinny black ties. Then I noticed that two of the photos were signed by the Apollo 1 crew and that's when things got real interesting. A gentleman standing next to the crew is pointed out to me as the father of this man's wife.

I asked our host about the photos and patches and he said his father-in-law worked on all of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, doing something with the astronauts but he didn't have a clue. I asked if the gentleman was still alive and he said "Sure, he lives about two miles from here, do you want to meet him?" I could only choke out "Uhhhh yeah, I'd love to meet him."

So we walk back to the party, he tells his wife, "Honey, Ray is into the space program and wants to meet your dad." She laughs and says "Ok... but be aware my dad loves to talk for hours." I thought I died and gone to NAA heaven.

An hour later this woman says to me, "I just spoke with my dad and he said you're welcome to come by anytime to talk about the space program, just be prepared to listen to all of his stories because he's got a million of them".

Then I asked her about the photos in the hallway, she said her dad had a ton of stuff from the space program that was given to him by the astronauts, NASA and other awards over the years. The photos on the wall were scans because her dad had the originals. She told me about these cute triangle shaped paperweights with little pieces floating in them from the spaceships and how she played with them as a kid.

She then tells me how many of the astronauts would have dinner with their family and sometimes spend the night. Now I'm feeling lightheaded, I have a playdate with an Apollo management guy. I'm going to video tape our chat, just to document what he did and any other info.