Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Rob's and our heros...

[Robert W. Garven Jr. (rgarven]

Rick,

We definitely ALL have our stories!  :-)  I was raised by NASA too, whats up with this new cheap spacecraft, and what happened to the AURORA. I want a ship that takes off and lands and still can go to Mars!

I dont see it on my google earth closeup of "The Ranch" !!! 

Rob

Robert W. Garven Jr.

rgarven [at] gmail.com

 "The Ferrari is a dream - people dream of owning this special vehicle and for most people it will remain a dream apart from for those lucky few." Enzo Ferrari

On Dec 6, 2014, at 4:30 AM, Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com> wrote:

George wrote <to Rob>,

> I'm really impressed by your collection - especially the correspondence

> w/ Enzo. 

That's way cool. In my youngest cognitive days I didn't know who Enzo was, nor had ever head of him. But that was decades earlier than Rob, and in rural Kentucky.

Sundays after church, we would stop at the Rexall drugstore. I don't know why. Perhaps mom needed something or perhaps it was just cheap entertainment. I glued myself to the magazine rack, foregoing the soda counter. Couldn't afford to buy a magazine but I vacuumed content in the little time I had, alternating between Popular Electronics and some sports car magazine, title not remembered. That's where I saw my first Ferrari and decided that if I ever grew up, I would own one! It was probably 20 years later that I saw one 'in the flesh" - and even then, it was a Dino 308GT4. I knew it was a Ferrari but couldn't find a Ferrari badge anywhere! :-) Yea, life in rural America before the internet and 900 channel TV.

In the '60s, my window to the world was a 19" B&W TV tuned to the only channel we got; WLWT Cincinnati. I was glued to the TV for every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launch, flight and recovery. Mom let me skip school to follow each mission. Its why I became an electrical engineer, then other influences took me on to geophysics, but that's another story.

Like Rob, I too corresponded with my hero: Mr. Gene Kranz, Flight Director, NASA Apollo Program. Gene wrote back, surprising me immensely! I wrote to him again just a couple of years ago. He still lives in Dickinson, Texas, not far from the Johnson Space Center (and my home in north-west Houston). This time I just told him what a powerful influence he and his team had on me, especially becoming an engineer, then a scientist. He again wrote back with a nice, if somewhat form letter reply. Pretty cool - and on NASA Apollo letterhead! Still have the letter rat-holed away somewhere.

Thanks for sharing that story Rob. This list is a collection of successful people. I am interested in learning what other childhood heros influenced our lives and helped to make us successful. Millennials could learn something here!

Care to share your story? 

-rick 

PS: Yes, I followed every minute of the Orion test flight. Perfect mission, if we allow for one camera (out of three) on the spacecraft needing recycling, and a flotation air bag partially inflated! Just outstanding.

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