John Glenn's funeral: His service to country never ended

Jessie Balmert
Cincinnati Enquirer

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Marines transport the body of Sen. John Glenn outside of the Ohio Statehouse, where he lay in repose the previous day, to begin his funeral procession.

COLUMBUS - Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past, all safe and blessed, we shall meet at last.  

The bittersweet lines lifted across Mershon Auditorium at Ohio State University, where thousands gathered Saturday to remember an American hero and Ohio icon, U.S. Sen. John Glenn.

A lifetime ago, nice Glenn heard the same notes as his childhood sweetheart, Annie, played an organ concert. It was Dec. 7, 1941, the same day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor a day which lived in infamy, and the same day the red-haired, freckled Glenn decided to enlist and serve his country.

His was a service that never ended.

Glenn, born in Cambridge and raised in New Concord, lived an incomparable life. (MNCO may restore) He flew 149 combat missions as a Marine pilot in World War II and the Korean War, then became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. He served 24 years as a Democratic U.S. senator from Ohio, then returned to space at age 77. He devoted his "retirement" to public affairs education at Ohio State. 

Glenn died Dec. 8 at the age of 95. He is scheduled to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on April 6 – his 74th wedding anniversary with Annie Glenn.

On Saturday, officials from all corners of public service remembered Glenn for more than his prodigious accomplishments.

Annie Glenn is escorted to her seat by a U.S. Marine before her husband's body arrives at his funeral Saturday in Columbus.

He was a humble public servant who showed the same respect to presidents as Boy Scouts. He spent countless hours with students who traveled to Washington D.C. to ask the astronaut questions about what he ate in space and whether he had any pets. They were boys, like now-Sen. Sherrod Brown, who first met Colonel Glenn at an Eagle Scout dinner in 1968.

"John Glenn, perhaps the most famous man of his generation, took a picture with us – one at a time. He always took time for you, no matter your station in life," Brown said during the memorial service Saturday. Although Glenn was shy about his celebrity status, he never refused an autograph. On Capitol Hill, Glenn would pat the shoe-shining man on the shoulder and give him a hug, Vice President Joe Biden recalled.

He valued everyone regardless or race or gender, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. Glenn advocated for NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, a black woman, in the 1960s. He wanted the "human computer" to double-check the math on his Friendship 7 flight.  

When Glenn's son, David, arrived home with shoulder-length hair and bell-bottoms in 1971, his Marine father flinched and blinked a couple times.

"He must have made some wise cracks at the time, but it was clear that he accepted me for who I was," David Glenn said.

 

John Glenn, astronaut and senator, dead at age 95

Public service was key to Glenn, the son of a World War I veteran, who learned at a young age how government can help ordinary Americans. Glenn, the son of John Herschel Glenn Sr. and Clara, overheard his parents worrying about losing their home during the Great Depression. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt's public works projects brought business for Glenn Sr.'s plumbing shop. 

"The potential for government to do good was something he never forgot," David Glenn said.

It was a lesson he instilled in his children. His daughter, Lyn Glenn, recalled showing her father an impressive grade card only to be told, “Yes, but what have you done for your country today?”

That was Glenn, the statesman. 

“Although, I admit that as an 8 year old I wanted a little bit more ‘Atta girl’ and a little bit less ‘God Bless America,’ ” Lyn Glenn said.   

Perhaps that is why Glenn was so beloved: his character, which was forged in rural Ohio and tested in the halls of Washington, D.C. After the most divisive presidential election in recent history, Glenn represents something pure, something we've lost and desperately want back. 

 

Remembering John Glenn: Why they came

"John came out of the heart of the country, like you kids do, and he stole America’s heart," Biden said. "He knew by his upbringing that ordinary Americans can do extraordinary things."

Glenn kept an eight-inch wrench from his father on his desk in the U.S. Senate as a reminder. 

"That wrench tells me all I need to know about myself and about the country that I love," Glenn wrote in his 2000 memoir. He also collected buckeyes while on walks. He would place them in a bowl for Ohioans visiting his office to take as a souvenir. Similar glass bowls were set up outside Glenn's memorial service Saturday for well-wishers to take home.

He also was a father, grandfather and a husband deeply in love. Looking at a picture of John and Annie Glenn walking together, Biden was inspired by the words of English poet Christopher Marlowe.

" 'Come with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove,' " Biden quoted then stopped, his voice caught with emotion. really nice "Together, you and Annie proved all the pleasures."

 

Glenn: A 'hero for all the right reasons'

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In his memoir, Glenn recalled waiting for Annie to finish her concert in Muskingum College's Brown Chapel on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. Listening to the rise and fall of the music, Glenn knew he must enlist. In his hometown of New Concord, patriotism wasn't an option. It was an obligation.

"I loved the piece," Glenn wrote. "In the beauty of her playing, I was agitated as I thought ahead to what I had to do."

When Annie finished, he pulled her aside. She held his hand and nodded with tears in her eyes.

"I have to go."