Where Were You When John Glenn Orbited the Earth?

by jphilo | Feb 17, 2012 | Reflections on the Past

February 20, 2012 – this coming Monday – is President’s Day. It is also the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s space orbit of earth. For those of us who were alive on that momentous occasion the question is this: Where were you when John Glenn orbited the globe? Do you need a minute to think about it? Well, while you do, I’ll report on my February 20, 1962 whereabouts.

I was in kindergarten. I looked kinda like the girl on the left in this picture.
Except wearing winter school clothes, not a summer play outfit.

And I wasn’t standing outside with my great uncle Phil and my sister. I was sitting cross-legged (or as our teachers said back then “Indian style”) on the gym floor at Franklin School.

But I wasn’t the only one sitting cross-legged on the floor while my feet fell asleep. About 60 other kindergartners and two frazzled teachers (though they sat in folding chairs when they weren’t scolding kids who couldn’t keep their hands and feet to themselves) were sitting with me. We kindergartners stared at an itty, bitty TV on the stage at one end of the gym and tried really hard to keep our hands and feet to ourselves and use inside voices. But, we were pretty pumped about watching TV at school, especially after one of the kids said the teachers were gonna let us watch cartoons. Which I found hard to believe because my mom was a teacher, and she never allowed us to watch cartoons at home.

Still, we were hopeful.

Until one of the frazzled teachers made an announcement. “Boys and girls,” she said, “today the astronaut John Glenn is orbiting the earth.” Then, she used a globe and an orange to demonstrate the word orbit. Once that was done, she continued, “Now, we will watch the historic event.” At which point she turned on the television and we all strained to see the orange in space.

Except there wasn’t one.

All we could see was a fuzzy gray and a grayish-white blob moving across the screen. At least we could sort of see the blob. If the teacher pointed at it with her finger. It was pretty boring. So we all started not keeping our hands and fingers to ourselves and not using inside voices until the teachers gave up and turned off the TV. No doubt, they thought their attempt at imprinting a moment of history in the minds of their students was a bust.

But it wasn’t.

My memories of kindergarten are few. Some vague vignettes of trying to lie still during nap time and being a failure at coloring between the lines. Except for February 20, 1962 when John Glenn orbited the earth. That day, I remember clearly.

I remember watching our teacher point his spaceship’s progress through space.
I can still feel my feet falling asleep.
I can picture the wonder on my teacher’s face.
I can hear the excitement in the television announcer’s voice.

Thanks to 2 frazzled teachers, I remember much about the day John Glenn orbited earth fifty years ago on February 20, 1962. How about you? What do you remember? Leave a comment to share your memory of that day.