My parents were raised in large farm families near Holland, Michigan. They married and moved to Grand Rapids where my father worked in a machine shop, and my mother was a nurse's aide in a hospital. I was first launched on February 29, 1936. World War II began in 1941. Refused enlistment in the Army due to being nearly deaf, but wanting to contribute to the war effort, my father took a job at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was a riveter on the wings of the B-24 Liberator Bomber and also a power plant operator. After commuting on weekends for about a year, he moved our family to Ann Arbor where we, now four, lived with my uncle and aunt for about a year. They had two sons, both pilots, one in the Army Air Corps and the other in Naval Aviation. Their front window had a banner with two blue stars on it. One horrible day, one blue star changed to gold; the Army Air Corps pilot had been killed. As a youngster, I was indelibly impressed by the grief of my uncle and aunt, and I also vividly recall the patriotism and involvement of nearly all Americans during WWII. We had air-raid warnings in schools and neighborhoods as well as rationing of gas, tires, sugar, butter, and other commodities. We would remove the paper labels from food cans, flatten the cans, and set them in a box on the curb for weekly collection to convert them into bullets, guns, airplanes, etc. for the war effort. We saved money to buy war bonds at school. About 405,000 American warfighters were killed in that 4.5-year war. Almost every American knew someone who was either fighting or killed, and the nation reflected a patriotism, interest, and awareness, on a daily basis, of how the war was proceeding and with the hope it would soon end. Contrast that with the minimal engagement and interest of our general public in America's more recent wars.
In 1945, when WWII was won, my father became employed at the University of Michigan's power plant in Ann Arbor where he tended coal and gas furnaces to heat the university. He retired in 1971. My mother, meanwhile, was a busy homemaker raising me, followed by a sister and three younger brothers, all of whom eventually graduated from the University of Michigan. All four sons also served as active duty officers in the US Marine Corps or US Navy.
Our home life was happy and disciplined. For several years, we lived on the second floor of a rental house near the University Hospital. I started delivering the Ann Arbor News when I was nine years old and remained fully employed thereafter until "retiring" at about 70! Home newspaper delivery for six days was 18 cents per week, which I personally collected weekly in cash; few people had checking accounts in those days. My route swelled from 100 to 200 papers with new construction, but I typically earned about six dollars a week and saved most of it for personal expenses like bike repairs, model airplanes, church donations, sports equipment, etc. I established my own savings account and learned the value of saving money and using it wisely. I had no allowance and bought what I needed with my own money. I also rose through all Cub Scout ranks and began with Boy Scouts, but our troop disbanded, and I dropped out in lieu of other interests, primarily athletics, hobbies, music lessons, reading, and paper route. Television first became available when I was a teenager, but TV was a luxury we could not afford. We worshipped regularly at an evangelical Bible church and were involved in Sunday School, summer camps, and other youth activities. My parents were engaged in my life and insisted on good grades, responsible behavior, as well as knowing my friends and what we were doing. During summer vacations, my mother published a daily "work list" that required completion before an afternoon of paper route and playing baseball, football, hockey, or tennis with my friends. There were no automatic dishwashers or clothing washers and dryers, so washing dishes and hanging clothes outside to dry were among my other regular chores.
As a teenager, and after six years of delivering papers, my mother suggested it was time to find a job with a more enduring future. I was surprised to be hired to sell shoes in a downtown store for about $1.00 an hour plus commissions which were typically low on summer weekdays, but on a good Saturday I could make nearly $20! Most stores were closed on Sunday, and there were no "shopping centers" in Ann Arbor at that time. During high school and college days, I also did part-time and summer work as a general laborer for a friend who was a masonry contractor. Anything that concerns cement is hard work and also good conditioning for an athlete! I mixed mortar, carried cement blocks and bricks, shoveled wet cement, dug dirt, pushed a wheelbarrow, split rocks, etc. to build basements, houses, buildings, sidewalks, driveways, flagstone patios, and fireplaces. Some of the best decisions about my future career were made on the "business end" of a shovel and provided great incentive to study long and hard!
Meanwhile, my parents were fully dedicated to family life, conservative principles, and integrity in thought, word, and deed. They were firm but fair if house rules were challenged. I don't recall of even considering exhibition of a "rebellious streak". To 'make ends meet' my mother took in washing and ironing for several private customers. She was also an active member of church committees. She arranged family trips for fishing and swimming at a lake for a couple of weeks in the summers. My father did odd repair and painting jobs for neighbors. He also practiced baseball with me, took me to the local airport to watch planes come and go, and we had a running competition with baseball, football, and carrom-board games. He attended most of my football and baseball games in high school. Mother enforced regular music practice on the trumpet and French horn I played in the school bands and orchestras in pre-high school years. Later, I would switch to the trombone for solo performances in church.
At Ann Arbor High School, I took a University of Michigan (UM) qualifying curriculum. My grades were acceptable, especially in mathematics, but I would later regret not studying physics and chemistry. I took a full course in auto mechanics for future repairs on my own cars. I played third base on the baseball team and left halfback ("running back") on the football team. I was Captain of the football team in my senior year. It was during this era that my future wife, Gratia Kay Smeltzer, and I began to notice one another. We attended the same church and high school. She was a farmer's daughter, active in 4-H Club, and she won the State Championship for her pen of three hogs. She easily recruited me to help wash and powder "Tom, Dick, and Harry" for the state 4-H shows! That also easily led me into milking cows, hauling hay, feeding cattle, and cleaning barns. As a farm girl, Gratia ("gray'-shah") has always been an expert homemaker and excellent cook. Besides that, she was also the Homecoming Queen in our senior year.
College Days
Graduating from high school in 1954, Gratia went north to nursing school in Flint while I remained in Ann Arbor, entered the UM, and lived at home. 'Back in the day', the purpose of a college degree was to prepare for a career in one's chosen profession, as opposed to seeking a social experience or pursuing a degree in some marginally productive passion. Professors taught classes and were tenured essentially free of personal political persuasion. My first-semester tuition at UM was an outrageous $95! The next semester, students rebelled when it was raised to $125. My tuition was covered by a $200 combined scholar/athletic scholarship. I also played freshman football, but we primarily provided "cannon-fodder" for the Varsity squad practice. In those days, college freshmen were barred from the Varsity team, and "limited substitution" was in effect, that is, one played both offense and defense. When a player was substituted, he could not return to the game until the next quarter or with some similar restriction. In my sophomore year, I lettered at Quarterback, but in the following year's pre-season practice my left elbow was dislocated, substantially damaged, and my football career was ended. This was difficult 'medicine to swallow', but the extra study time resulted in academic improvement. This was necessary because after my freshman year (1955), I had changed my major to Aeronautical Engineering; this was before the words "aerospace" and "astronaut" were invented. Academics now became more challenging, especially because I was now studying college physics and chemistry for the first time, struggling to keep up with my new peers who had the foresight to study these courses in high school. Incidentally, there were no computers at this time; we made our calculations with slide rules!
Meanwhile, Gratia had finished nursing school two years before I would graduate from UM, during which time we had become engaged. She became an operating room nurse at the UM Hospital, followed by a position as office manager and nurse for a prominent pediatric physician, in fact, the same doctor who had tended us as youngsters when doctors made house calls! Having been engaged for about a year, and with Gratia making the great sum of $200 per month, we were married at Grace Bible Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in June, 1956. With that great sum we rented an apartment, drove an old car, and paid our bills without parental assistance. We had time to ponder our future and had no plans to leave Ann Arbor. As Christians, however, we had accepted God's gift of Eternal Life through belief that the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, was His way of forgiving us of our wrongdoings once and for all. The best decision we each ever made was to accept this gift, but we also learned He would direct the lives of His obedient followers according to His best plan, that is, a plan better than one we could devise by ourselves. We had already made choices and taken actions we believed were directed by Him, and we expected this to continue, so we asked for His guidance throughout our marriage and professional future. This is not a mysterious process, but it's one that is clearly articulated in the Bible as being the result of developing a personal, daily relationship with Him, rather than just for a few hours on Sunday or other 'convenient' time. It's a process in which He presents opportunities, arranges circumstances, and alters attitudes to enable our decisions about daily life and long-range planning. At this point, we felt we were acting according to His will and plan for lives, and we were standing by for further direction. In fact, I believe the aimless feeling I had about my freshman curriculum was God's way of directing me to change to Aeronautical Engineering. I was fascinated with airplane design, aerodynamics, power plants, stability and control, structures, and wind-tunnel testing. The profession was on the leading edge of technology, was very dynamic, and presented the probability of continued innovation for a lifetime of professional enjoyment and excitement. In fact, engineers from aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, Lockheed, McDonnell, and others would show up at our monthly aero class assemblies with dynamic movies (before camcorders, computers, and DVDs) of their latest jet fighters and weapon systems. I soon decided I would rather fly jet fighters than design them! That would require military service, but it was too late for me to enroll in ROTC. One day on campus, however, I noticed two impressive US Marine officers/recruiters with red-striped trousers and turtle-neck uniforms standing alongside posters of Marine tanks, trucks, rifles, and airplanes. After conferring with my new bride, of course, I signed up to be a US Marine pilot. All I had to do was to graduate with good grades and make it through twelve weeks of old-fashioned US Marine Boot Camp at Quantico, Virginia, during summer "vacation". Upon graduation, I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps awaiting military orders to report for duty. This program, the Platoon Leaders Course, is still in existence and does not require military classes, formations, drills, or uniforms during the school year.
Coincidentally, the military and NASA were building and testing new rockets in the late 1950's, and the Soviets flew the first satellite (Sputnik) in 1957. I graduated with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from UM in January, 1959, just three months prior to NASA's selection of the first astronauts, the Mercury 7, in April, 1959. I noted this with passing interest, realizing it would be a long time before I had the qualifications, if ever, to even consider such a career.