Fifty Years Ago Today

On this day in 1962, I was a student in Mrs. Yarger's third grade class. There's so much that I remember from her class. I remember learning about our community and the various cities in the county where we lived. We learned about our country's newest state in a two-week unit on Alaska.  I recall learning about E.B.White as we read Charlotte's Web and, later,  Stuart Little. 

I vividly remember how proud she made me feel when I was the first in the class to recite all my multiplication facts. Mrs. Yarger played the piano and we would all sing patriotic songs every day after lunch. Then, she would read to us. I loved being read to and there has to be some reason why fifty years after being in her class there are so many memories that have remained as if they happened yesterday.

I remember how the class talked about a special event that happened on this day.  John Glenn was an astronaut who flew around the planet in Friendship 7.  He circled the Earth three times in his spacecraft. He instantly became every kid's hero. In looking back, I can't help but be amazed at the  accomplishment and how this inspirational moment in our history eventually led to the landing on the moon seven and a half years later.

As we sang America the Beautiful and This Land is Our Land,  Mrs. Yarger was helping us all understand what it meant to be an American. She had a way of reminding us that we were proud little kids, our future was ours to make, and we had heroes to look up to – and John Glenn was one of them. 

Here's to heroes everywhere, including Mrs. Yarger.