dcseain | Twenty Years (Reply)

happypete posted a brief memoir about the Challenger disaster. That brought back a flood of complex, rather melancholy, memories for me. It was a Sunday, and i was finishing some homework in my room.

I think most of you know my father died of ALS in September of 1986, right at the beginning of the fall semester of my sophomore year of high school. He'd been ill, and bedridden, since early fall 1985. At the point that the Challenger exploded, he could still move his arms and write; he could vocalize still at that point, but couldn't talk.

So anyway, i'm doing my homework/sorting papers when Roberta, the day nurse for my father, appeared in my doorway and said that my father wanted me to come see something. I was a bit annoyed and asked if it could wait. She returned momentarily and said that he was insistent. I went into his room, and he pointed at the television, which was tuned to CNN. I stood there, incredulous, as the explosion was replayed over and over with commentary. That was the last time my father summoned me. Interests in space, science fiction, and maritime disasters are three things we shared in common.

Coincidentally, i had a personal connection to the Challenger. When Jefferson accepted me, they assigned a teacher, Judy [Something], to be a liaison to our family, due to my father's illness. She was a Spanish teacher, and was replaced by Barbara Dent. Anyway, she was officially employed by the school until December of 1985, when she left to go to full-time to NASA as part of the Teacher in Space program. Christa Mcauliffe was the teacher who was fatefully selected to go up in the Challenger. Ms. Judy remained with NASA, and may yet work there for all i know.

It's amazing how poignant a memory can be twenty years later. :) I also remember being interviewed by CNN in Mr. Sane's 3rd period (or was the 3rd class called 4th period that year) biology class the next day. And unlike

happypete we lived in Prince William County, so i saw it on Cablevision, many years before they were eaten by Comcast.