I was twelve years old and I watched it with my Old Man. Fascinating being a very small part of an event that will be remembered forever. History being made before my eyes.
Where Were You?
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Neighbor with a pool! (big thing then) held a block party and I (9 years old) got to stay to stay up late! to watch the landing. Great day. One of only a few memories that young.
I watched Armstrong climb down the ladder when I got home from working at my parish picnic. When they landed I heard it on the radio while frying chicken at the picnic. I was 17.
I was fifteen, and I attended Divine Liturgy at St. Elias Church, followed by a small celebration of the patronal feast at a nearby restaurant. Grandma said the prophet’s journey to heaven was the only kind I should be concerned about, and she was generally right about that sort of thing,
I was two years old, and I have a hazy memory of the event. It may seem unusual for a two year old to develop memories carried into adulthood, but I was a gifted child growing up. I began learning to read at two, and by five was reading quite well. I remember being toilet trained at two, and which children’s books I was reading at that age. That said, the memory of the lunar landing is not as vivid as the memories I have from age four onward.
I remember the lunar landings, but not very well. I had no interest in TV other than cartoons, but I was not yet six years old at the time. I wish now I would have appreciated it more.