Only The Story Matters

This past week, I packed up the last of my father's space memorabilia: brittle newspapers, photos, publicity papers, decals, etc. and shipped them off to a retired Air Force vet with a passion for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space program.

The last of my Dad's space stuff

He's putting together an exhibit on the West Coast because most of the major museums like the Smithsonian Air and Space (which got the bulk of my father's collection- you may be able to see some, labeled Donated in Memory of William P. 'Swede' Johnson), the Intrepid Air and Space, and Cape Canaveral are all here in the east. Mission Control in Houston is in the middle and there's little on the West Coast.

I posted on a Facebook group I belong to, Mercury Gemini, & Saturn/Apollo Program Era that I had these items and wanted to give them to someone who would preserve and cherish them, as my father had. While I hate giving up these treasures, it's more important that the history and records of our early space program be preserved, rather than sitting in a box in my office. The story of the men and women, the places and the companies, the failures and the successes, is more important than nostalgia. Only The Story Matters.

After contacting a museum which didn't respond back, I chatted with Michael. He not only had a passion for space, but a desire to preserve history. He was knowledgeable so I was convinced he was genuine and not someone who would want the memorabilia to possibly sell it. We chatted by email and I was surprised when he told me that he was not only humbled by my entrusting him with something sentimentally valuable to me but historically important, that he wanted to write a book. He was a bit afraid of such a big undertaking.

Being the author that I am, I gave him some basic writing advice, how to start, how to make the task manageable, etc. I also gave him several ideas on collecting his research. I was humbled that he thought so much of my advice that he asked more questions. To me it all pointed to not me, as the daughter of someone who worked on the Lunar Evacuation Module (LEM) who had lots of stuff, or to this retired Air Force vet who loved space, but to The Story. I'm not going to divulge the subject of his book, but suffice it to say it's important, it needs to be written. The author is not important, Only The Story Matters. I hope to help him not only with the process, but with whatever information I can collect about my Dad's days at Grumman; stories of the astronauts, the space program, the company that built the LEM which safely landed our men on the Moon- and brought them back.

It's bittersweet since my dad has been gone almost 15 years. He and Michael would have hit it off, trading stories. But the story will get told. And as an author, that's all that matters.

Char