John F. Kennedy Space Center, N.A.S.A.

JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER N.A.S.A.

The original 7 Astronauts selected by NASA.  From left to right, Navy Lt. Comm. Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Air Force Capt. Leroy Cooper, Jr. Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn, Jr., Air Force Captain Virgil Grissom, Navy Lt. Comm. Walter Schira, Jr., Navy Lt. Comm. Alan Shepard, Jr., Air Force Major Donald Slayton.

postmarked March 29, 1968 Evanston, Ill.

Bob-

Just wanted to say "hi" -

Love,

John

Robert A, Strain

The Maytag Company

Oakbrook North

700 Harger Road

Oakbrook, Illinois

Bob Strain passed away in 2008.  (Coincidentally that same year, a different Robert Strain took over as director for NASA's Goddard Space Center.)  Bob did indeed work for the Maytag Corporation, retiring after 35 years.  After reading his obituary, I've decided against using any Maytag Repairman jokes- the man lived a full and happy life, well after his career at Maytag was over.  

As far as the original seven Mercury astronauts pictured on the front of this card, many are still with us:

Malcolm Scott Carpenter was the pilot of the second U.S. orbital flight, and is currently retired with his third wife, Barbara Curtin.

Leroy Cooper, Jr. , also known as Gordon Cooper, flew the last Mercury mission.  He passed away in 2004, still steadfast in his belief in UFOs and the government conspiracy to hide their existence.  

John Glenn, Jr.,  was the pilot of the first U.S. orbital space flight, and famously became the oldest human in space on board the Space Shuttle in 1998.  The former Congressman is retired and living with his wife in Ohio.

Virgil Grissom, the pilot of the second U.S. suborbital spaceflight was killed the year before this postcard was sent in the Apollo 1 fire. 

Walter Schira, Jr.,  the only astronaut in the Mercury group to receive an Emmy for the live television feed inside his Apollo mission.  After his retirement, he became a spokesman for Actifed, which kept his famous cold at bay during his mission.   Wally Schirra died in 2007.

  

Alan Shepard, Jr., pilot of the first Mercury flight passed away in 1998.

Donald "Deke" Slayton went on to found a company in Houston that launched the first private vehicle into space, the Conestoga.  He passed away from a brain tumor in 1993.

The links go to their official NASA biographies, but there is much more of their story (as well as Bob Strain's story) to tell on this little post.  Check it out, and go visit the Kennedy Space Center to learn about the rich history that went down in central Florida.

JFK Space Center, Vehicle Assembly Building

Postmarked March 27, 1968 Evanston, Ill.

Hi-

We went on this bus tour of Cape Kennedy on Friday.  We went into this biggest building in the world & we also saw the Saturn V rocket to be launched in April.

JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA NASA

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Bldg. (VAB) 525 ft. tall, occupying 8 acres of land, world's largest building in volume, where Apollo- Saturn Space Vehicles are assembled and prepared for lunar launch.

Andy Strain

583 Brookside Rd.

Barrington, Illinois 60010

With the recent scrub and retry on Tuesday of the SpaceX Dragon launch vehicle, I thought we'd travel over to the space coast for these next two cards, from the same sender, John.  You may notice that John refers to a Cape Kennedy, which is the name given to Cape Canaveral shortly after the President's assassination.  Since the Canaveral name had been established since the time of Ponce deLeon, many Floridans on the Space Coast objected, and finally got the state of Florida to restore the Canaveral name in 1973.  The Kennedy name is still memorialized in the title of the launch center and tourist attraction, of course.  

The Vehicle Assembly Building, built in 1966, was originally built to assemble the Saturn rockets for the Apollo missions.  It's one and half times the height of the Statue of Liberty, and contains nearly twice the volume as the Pentagon.  It was the tallest building in Florida until the Wells Fargo (Modis/Independent Life) Tower was built in Jacksonville in 1974.  

The 3 bedroom, 2.25 bathroom house in Barrington was built in 1962, and was sold in 2000.  Andy never owned the house, since he was most likely a child when he received this card.  Today, he is the chair of the Tahoe Transportation District Board of Directors in Lake Tahoe, California.  I'll update this post if he replies to my email.  

Angebilt Hotel Skyline Across Beautiful Lake Eola

postmarked January 22, 1954, Orlando, Fla.

arrived 10 P.M. Tuesday night.  Left Newark Airport 6P.M. and was here in 4 hrs.  Did not stop until we reached Orlando.  Some speed Flew 20 thousand feet.  

Do write.  

Love, Marion

Very warm.

Mrs. Frank L Mason

70 Chestnut Street

West Haven, Conn

Hopefully Marion is not on amphetamines, and is talking about her flight.  If you were flying from Orlando to Newark today, the 938 mile journey would take you a little over 2 hours, averaging a flight speed of 434 mph.  So think of how much progress has been made, from jet airliners that fly around 35,000 feet, all to save two lousy hours!

I thought the recipient's name was "Mason," but Google corrected me with the right spelling.  The recipient is Mrs. Frank Nason, and she is a graduate of Wellesley College in 1882, with a Bachelor of Science.  Marion probably knew her best as Thalia Painter.  Frank Nason was a mining engineer, and they had at least one son, Alexis, who died fighting for the Canadians in World War I.  According to his commanding officer, Private Nason was killed while leading his men in the attack on a machine gun post.

A View of Lake Eola Bandshell and Downtown Orlando

A view of the Lake Eola Bandshell and downtown Orlando, Florida.

postmarked February 25, 1984, Orlando FL

Dear Marion and Fred

Little cool today- 75 degrees.  Went shopping in Altamonte Mall.  After lunch at "Denny's" in Longwood.  Bought a steak for supper Saturday and a roast for Sunday.  Will be coming home as planned 3/11/84.  Miss you both- nice to get back home.  Wrote most all of my cards.  See you next week.  Hope Fred feels better.

Love, Betty

Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Blokland

218 Bullard Street

Holden, Mass. 01520

Here's a great view of downtown Orlando with a few less high rise condos and one less Suntrust Center, which was built 4 years after this postcard was sent.  According to Wikipedia, Denny's had expanded into all 50 states in 1981, almost 30 years after its 1953 California beginnings, so Betty's air-quotes around Denny's may actually denote the newfound Florida presence of the restaurant chain.  Altamonte Mall had been open for ten years, so I guess Betty didn't feel the need to introduce the concept to the Bloklands.  

Speaking of the Bloklands, Frederick and Marion Blokland bought the property at 218 Bullard in 1951, where they live until Frederick's death from cardiac arrest in 1989.  Shortly thereafter, Marion moved to Lake Orion, Michigan, where she still is today at the age of 93.  They had at least one son, Frederick, Jr. who still lives in the town of Holden, so perhaps we'll be able to find out who Betty was!

(Big thanks to the Worcester County Reigstry of Deeds, who has a great public records search!) 

Hotel Lucerne, Orlando, Florida

Orlando is the seventh city of Florida and the largest inland city in the State.  It is the county seat of Orange County and located in the very heart of Florida's brick highway system, the heart of the citrus belt, and the heart of the lake region of central Florida.

postmarked January 18, 1956

Hotel Lucerne Box 1793

Wednesday. Jan. 18.

You are not sick are you?  I hope not- but I've missed hearing from you.  

Guests are arriving in full numbers now tho it is not too warm here.  What is the news in Beverly?  Mildred Horne writes that she plans to come to Florida later this spring.  

Mabel? Hicks

Mrs. Robert O. Small

70 Dane St.

Beverly, Mass

Ms. Hicks is a doomsayer!  Great numbers of snowbirds!  Run!

A closer and later view of the Hotel Lucerne, which was fairly large for the burgeoning city of Orlando.  

Beverly, Massachusetts is an historic resort and manufacturing town of about 40,000 people today.  It is one of two cities that claim to be the birthplace of the U.S. Navy.  The tidy white house at 70 Dane St is still there, just blocks from Mackerel Cove.  Robert O. Small, an 1896 graduate of Bowdoin University, and served as Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts Board of Education, as well as the Beverly Library Trustees Board.  

So it's weird that there aren't property records in Essex County, or a mention of his wife.  Or Mabel Hicks.  

Lake Lucerne, Orlando, Fla.

postmarked November 30, 1905, Winter Park, Fla

Dear I.,

How are you this Thanksgiving Day?

PAC

Miss Ida Hawkins

East Greenwich, Rhode Island

A lovely photograph of how Lake Lucerne appeared over a hundred years ago.  You can see the Historic Inn on the other side of the lake, unobstructed by the Spessard L. Holland East-West Expressway.

East Greenwich, Rhode Island is a town of about 13,000 people today.  It was a waterfront town with a prominent mill built by one of the early developers of steam mill technology, Charles Tillinghast James.  It turns out that Ida Hawkins was his niece.

According to her gravestone in Glenwood Cemetery,  Miss Ida Hawkins was born in 1873.  She attended the East Greenwich Academy, a prominent boarding school, graduating in 1893, then went on to Brown University complete her Bachelor's in education at  in 1897.  She was 32 when she received this card, which would be well after she started her career in teaching at an undetermined high school and before she was married to Alexander Morrison.  After a long life of teaching, she passed away in 1944 at the age of 71.  

Let's hope she was well on this Thanksgiving Day, whoever P.A.C. was. 

Sanibel Island Causeway, Sanibel Island, Florida

postmarked January 26, 1967, Fort Lauderdale, Fla


1/26/67


Have you run out of ink.  Hope you are well and find things you like on T.V.  Remember Jeopardy on 21 at 12:00 to 12:30.


Halls & Mother plan to come on Sunday for a visit.  Don't know how they'll like trailer life.  Mother will stay longer.  Must get busy.


Love Margaret & C.A.


Mr. and Mrs H.W. McConnell
R.D. 2
Sharpsville, Pa 16150


Happy Mother's Day, everyone!  I thought I'd take a break from the Orlando postcards to bring you the best postcard dialogue I've seen yet.  There's no credible search results for an H.W. McConnell in Sharpsville, PA, so just enjoy the T.V. advice from "Trailer Life."