The world is mourning the death of former astronaut and United States Senator John Glenn, who passed away on Thursday.
Some 48 years ago, on March 4, 1968, then Colonel John Glenn paid what may have been his first visit to Mansfield and Richland County. The occasion was the recognition of Eagle Scouts in the Johnny Appleseed Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. 1,500 Scouts and guests filled the Madison Theatre on Park Avenue West; prior to that event, the Recognition Dinner took place at the Mansfield Leland Hotel.
Glenn, who also carried out a question and answer session and press conference, was quoted in the Mansfield News Journal as saying that had “no political aspirations now but it is an area I am interested in.” He was accompanied on his visit to Mansfield by his wife and mother. In the room that night? A 16 year old Mansfield boy and now United States Senator, Sherrod Brown.
Glenn was, of course, an Ohio boy, having been born in Cambridge and grown up in nearby New Concord. His Bachelors degree was from Muskingum University. In 1974, he was elected to the United States Senate from Ohio, a post he held until 1999.
Earlier this year, Port Columbus International Airport was renamed the John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
Back to 1968 in Mansfield. As the News-Journal reported, when presented with a gold-plated telephone as a memento of his trip to Mansfield, Glenn quipped, “I’ll be the fanciest gold-plated telephone talker around.”
