optimism that he s always radiated, i d also like us to remember his many achievements and the pioneering spirit that he exemplified. i also want to thank annie, lynne, and david, and the entire glenn family for sharing their husband, father, grandfather with the world. every one of us on planet earth has benefited from having him on our team. annie, you and john exemplified for all of us what it means to be united as a couple. your love and friendship over 73 years is unlike anything i ve ever seen. i m glad and incredibly blessed that i was able to witness your devotion. i hope that jackie and i can emulate your lifetime of love. i was so moved and humored when
senator glenn, i m here for this flight coming up. but to you guys i m john, just another test pilot, another astronaut with you and i m glad to be back, glad to be part of your group. he came down to our level. you could run down on the elevator and ask him how the training was going. i think one of the things i remember is his humility, a senator and national icon of the space age, a very approachable guy, and so was his wife. they were role models for all of us. the other piece of his life that obviously was very important to him was as his role as a senator. he wasn t really that comfortable with the actual campaigning or politics in general. he was wanting to do service, he ran for president and didn t win. what we keep hearing over and over again was that he wasn t someone that really wanted to
the life he led but we will try, we will try. this afternoon we will also celebrate the unfailing promises of god. we remember that god s love for us is stronger than death. today we hold fast to that truth as we celebrate senator glenn s li life. now please join me in our call to worship. before god spoke the first word of creation, there was love. when we draw our last breath and leave this world, love will be waiting for us.
pad and witnessing a rocket blow up on a pad, that s more impressive than the thin skin of the vehicle. for our viewers, we re breaking away just for a second to look at what s happening there as we get set to remember john glenn, vice president joe biden greeting some of the people in attendance. he will be speaking this afternoon and paying tribute to john glenn as well. tom, did john glenn give you any special piece of advice that you remember and you took to heart in your space career. i met john in 1998 when he came to train for the shuttle discovery flight. he had a lot of research tasks. he was a sitting senator, but he came down to take this flight very seriously. they came to work every day and what impressed me about his presence there was that he came and had a meeting with the astronauts at their weekly staff meeting. he said, yes, you know i m
few words in honor of our esteemed friend and colleague. there are those here today who have known senator glenn for 60, 70, even 90 years. most of us knew him long before we actually met him. we knew him through news reports and flickering events among those so spectacular. the suspense of the countdown, the majesty of the liftoff, the technical brilliance. our nation was proud of the achievement and proud of our brave and dashing hero. more than that, we cared about him personally. we prayed for him personally, for his family, for his happiness and his safety. the mission captured our minds, but john glenn won our hearts. there were many reasons for that. foremost among them was the quality of john glenn the man, a