west palm beach magazine
What was it about the Apollo Space
program that made you want to be a
part of it?
My husband was a member of both
the Mercury and Gemini launch support
teams. He came home regularly with
photos of himself with John Glenn, Alan
Shepard and the other early astronauts.
It all seemed so exciting.
When it came time to view his launches,
I hurried the kids to the beach, or stood
out in our front yard and watched the
missile-trail overhead. My kids grew up
thinking that everyone only had to walk
outside to see the missile go up. When
the kids had all entered school I wanted
to work on some aspect of the Apollo
Program, even if it meant working as a
typist or secretary, and driving an hour
to work…I just yearned to be a part of it.
All of our neighbors were either in the Air
Force at Patrick or working for one of the
contractors. We lived and breathed the
space program.
How did you break through this male
dominated situation and at a time
when it was difficult for women in the
workplace in general?
Of course, my goal had always been to
be a writer someday…in some capacity.
I also didn’t have a degree, which made
it even more challenging. It was just
accepted at the time that women would
begin as a typist or secretary. I paid my
dues in both of those positions, fetching
coffee and baking birthday cakes. I knew
I had to work harder than the others if I
wanted to succeed. Eventually I went to
work in the writers’ department,
learning as I went along from this
amazing woman who had worked at the
Washington Post. She was my mentor in
every sense of the word. I think she understood my fervor to learn quickly and
succeed. After Apollo 11 some of the
writers were transferred to different
facilities and I was able to take a spot in
Marketing Communications.
I had to go to the Vehicle Assembly
Building (the VAB) for my interviews,
which was very challenging, as the only
women working out there were in the
administrative sector. When women did
90
come through it was as if these hardworking guys had been without the
graces of women for years. Remember,
these were the years of miniskirts. Catcalls, obscene ramblings were hurled at
us as we walked across the catwalks to
get from one side of the VAB to the other.
As a woman, you could either run as fast
as you could, return the gawkings with a
dirty look, or as I choose to do, just wave
to the guys and give them a smile.
When it came time to interviewing the
brilliant engineers who were doing things
that had never been done before, they
couldn’t have been more helpful, nor
kind to me. They always stayed with me
to be sure I understood what they were
saying. They always found time to look
over my articles for accuracy. We were
a team, and no where did I feel it more
than when I interviewed them.
Marketing Communications meant we
were marketing the idea of the whole
space program to the public. We were
selling the concept of going to the moon,
step by step. Each week as new tests
were run, or new concepts developed we
put out more PR stories about exactly
what IBM’s role was and how its equipment would play out in the launches.
How did you balance being a single
mother with the job?
One word…organization! By the
early part of the Apollo program, I was
divorced so I knew the girls had to chip
in with help. I had a chore chart for my
daughters. As I left the house at 6:30
every morning, the oldest daughter was
responsible for getting her sisters up
and dressed for school. They rode their
bikes the two blocks to the school. After
school, they were responsible for unloading and loading the dishwasher, and setting and clearing the table so that things
were all accomplished when I came
home to cook dinner. I think these
responsibilities helped carve my daughters’ strong, capable personalities. I am
very proud of the women they are today.
The girls would spend time with their
dad and his new wife on weekends so it
allowed me to have a social life. In the
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- premier lifestyle magazine in west palm beach
summers they went to a girls’ camp in
North Carolina courtesy of their grandparents. During launches, sometimes
I worked into the weekends but it always
seemed to work out.
What was it about going to the moon
that so captured America and the
world’s imagination?
I think it was mankind’s greatest
achievement to date. I believe America
latched onto this concept of good old
American teamwork that was Apollo.
Over 420,000 people worked on the
Apollo Program, each contributing their
unique, remarkable talents to make this
goal a reality. Each of the contractor
teams worked together in unison, documenting every step along the way. We
answered a goal set by John F. Kennedy
who believed in the ingenuity, perse verance, and possibilities of the American
space team. Then, all America climbed
aboard, cheering us along each step of
the way.
It was a time when America was one.
Apollo gave its citizens a unified team to
root for…a team for all America. I think
Apollo gave Americans pride…
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