BY SANDY THEIS
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — They came with old memories and left with new ones.
Betty Wright, 58, recalled the exhilaration and fear that preceded John Glenn's first space flight 36 years ago.
David Jarvis, 11, told how his fifth-grade class watched Mr. Glenn's second historic spaceflight, the recent trip aboard the shuttle Discovery that he described as “totally cool.”
And Marine Sgt. Jason Falivene remembered a military training class that included tales of Mr. Glenn's heroics as a Marine Corps fighter pilot during World War II and the Korean War.
“There was one story about a plane that came back so shot full of holes that nobody could believe he made it back,” Sgt. Falivene said.
The three were among the thousands who came from across the state Wednesday to honor Ohio's retiring U.S. senator, and America's oldest astronaut, with a welcome-home parade.
After the marching bands, a replica of Mr. Glenn's first space capsule (courtesy of the Ohio Democratic Party) and a replica of the shuttle (brought to you by Cleveland's Lewis Research Center), a cheer went up.
Mr. Glenn, wearing a dark suit and seated next to his wife, Annie, waved to the crowd from a float with a space shuttle in tow.
“I see him. He's waving at me,” 6-year-old Timmy McCormack told his mom.
“What do you think?” Beverly McCormack asked her son.
“He looks like Grandpa Joe.”
At age 77, Mr. Glenn does include “Grandpa” among his many titles.
Parade organizers selected the theme: “The Earth, the Moon, the Sun and our Star.” Onlookers embraced the theme, too.
Small children, perched on parents' shoulders, held model spaceships and toy soldiers; police — some armed with personal cameras — were lenient with those who sneaked out into the street to take a picture as the star passed by.
Jason and Deborah Gibralter took in the spectacle, then debated the propriety of a banner that Doubletree hotels displayed along the route: “Our Suites Have More Square Feet than NASA's Space Shuttle.”
“Anything for a buck,” Mrs. Gibralter said.
Then they decided that capitalism is a big part of America, too.
Special Coverage of the Discovery mission
