Recently, my teen-aged daughter and I saw the movie “Hidden Figures.” I thought it was a well- done, thought- provoking movie. For my daughter, the poignant scenes created a harsh reality of life in the south in the1960’s as well as those who unified it, too. When the character of astronaut John Glenn appeared, I whispered to my daughter that he was the one whom her grandmother had known. She was fascinated with that since she had not yet read 'Around the World in 93 Years. ' Following is a statement from Sue Dabney Catalano regarding her friendship with John Glenn and his family:
“We were members of the same church in Arlington, Virginia in the early 1960’s. Both of our families were baptized together. John was the youth group director and taught Nina and Nancy. He made such an impression on the youth because he was a great hero. We all admired him tremendously as well as his sweet wife, Annie. John also taught Nina and Nancy how to water ski. He was a very sweet man.”
My fondest memories of Arlington were playing in the snow. We used to sled down the hill behind our house and go boot skating on the frozen creek at the bottom. Once I rode down on my dad’s back on the sled and we ended up dangling half way over the edge of the creek. It was probably only about a foot drop but to my five year old mind, it was a cliff! Nina and Nancy would ride down in the big tortoise shell someone had given to my parents overseas. My parents said it was too dangerous for me but I kept eyeing it hanging in the basement, thinking, “Someday I will be big enough!” That day never came because it was off to Bangkok again! No snow there!