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Calling John Glenn......As kid I I really looked up to the Mercury Astronauts and John Glenn was one of my favorites. I wrote to all of them and they were gracious enough to write me back. Little did I realize that years latter we would become friends and our paths would cross many times. John Glenn always made time for me and answered all my questions. I also got to know his mom and dad who still lived in New Concord, Ohio. The Glenn's were indeed kind people and always took the time to listen to me. John and I wrote back and forth a lot in the 60s even after he dropped out of the space program. John lived in Seabrook, Texas and latter took a job for Royal Crown cola in Fort Lauderdale. One day I decided to give him a call during my freshman year at Wilbur Wright. We had a pay phone in the new addition lobby and there was always quite a line to use it on your lunch hour. On that particular day I had a class very close to it and rushed down to make sure I would be one of the early ones. As it turned out, I was the first. I asked the operator how much it would cost to call Fort Lauderdale Florida and I gave her the number. As I recall it was $1.75 for the first three minutes. Well I had a pocket full of change and placed the call. When the party on the other end picked up I asked to speak to John Glenn. At this the kids waiting behind me couldn't believe their ears! I can still here them say "He's calling John Glenn!". They were cool and didn't rush me. The person on the other end came back on and said I'm sorry but Mr. Glenn is in a meeting at this time can I tell him who called? I told her my name and my heart sunk. The next thing I knew I heard John on the other end asking me "how's it going Rick"? I apologized for interrupting his meeting and he assured me that it was okay. Well we talked and talked and the kids behind me were going nuts. "He's talking to John Glenn" " He knows John Glenn". Then the operator came on and said my time was running out......Damn! Then John told her to reverse the charges! Well I know the kids behind me wanted to use the phone so I cut our conversation short. As I walked away from the phone I really felt good! This was not the first time I called him and it certainly wouldn't be the last. NOTE: Editor of this site remembers this event. I was just passing by and wondering why everyone was so excited about Rick talking to John Glenn. Hell, the guy had been communicating with astronaunts since 1962 or earlier! Throughout our school years, Rick was the go to guy for space flight.
Cape Canaveral.......As a kid if you were to ask me of one place on earth that I would most like to visit I would have answered you without hesitation Cape Canaveral!
The Planetarium.......As a kid attending Orville Wright grade school I was blown away when our class visited our local planetarium! This was one time I was not watching the clock or daydreaming believe me! This school outing had a profound effect upon my life and I hated when the visit ended!!! To see God's creation presented in such a unique way stirred something inside of me and proved to be a love and obsession that would continue to grow! I remember seeing a honest to God meteorite and Oh how I wanted to touch it!!!! To actually touch a piece of another world.... WOW! As I gazed at it I thought of it's journey through eons of time and space and wondered where did it originate? To think it was once the core of some distant star or planet! It was then and there that I vowed to myself tha someday I would own a piece of another world!!! Little did I realize that someday I would, and that my collection of meteorites would rival most museums and even have custom made jewelry incorporating them and even own pieces of the Moon and Mars! Looking back on my life I realized that God opened many doors for me and each of my childhood memories would come true with the exception of actually going there myself. But that's OKAY, He had another purpose and mission for me!!!!!.......Thank you God from the bottom of my heart!
Image under the planetarium is of my 93 year old buddy that came to visit me holding a core of a star one of my iron meteorites! It's a special feeling you get when you make someone happy especially when they are older!
"Lost Moon"......As a child I was infatuated by infinity and the starting wonders of God's creation, I would cast my eyes to the heavens and chart my tomorrows of my life. The awesomeness of the cosmos captured heart at a very early age and in a profound way and proved to be a love and obsession that would continue to grow.I dreamed of how fantastic it would be when tomorrow world arrive.I dreamed of that tomorrow that illusive day somewhere in the future in which my goals and dream would transform to reality and I could journey into the heavens and set foot upon the uncharted sands of another world! It seems as though it was only a few years ago that I gazed at what I now believe to have been a full moon from Grandma and Grandpa's driveway and vowed to myself that evening that I would someday walk upon it's scared face and climb what I had envisioned to be inverted steep ice cycle type mountains of the moon. I often speculated as to what my reaction or interpretation might be as I changed footing and reversed places and gazed back at my homeland. To walk on the face of a new world where humans have never walked before. Where wars never raged, and violence and human ugliness is unknown. To gaze at the earth from a land somewhere deep in the cosmos and to share it's and God's wonders with the world and loved ones that I so willingly left behind. To walk spiritually with God among the stars, and to view his total creation. To see the earth as it truly is, and as HE must see it and to realize that I am a child of the universe, and one of many children in the family of God and to share it with all humanity back on earth. But that was yesterday and it's been many years now since that yesterday back in time and I realized that it was never to be but that lingering twinge of what could have been still lingers in the back of my mind and burns deep within my heart even today! In the years that were to follow mankind broke the orbits of the earth and took the first awkward treks to the moon. I watched other men live my dream, the chosen few, and I like so many others watched live and witnessed our reflection as seen through their eyes and as God must truly see us. It's not so bad now in my golden years you see, because God opened many doors for me over the years and those men that lived my dreams became my friends. And guess what? My name was taken to the moon on several missions and over the years I have been blessed to come into position of multiple lunar meteorites (moon rocks) from various locations of the moon! So you see I can touch the moon anytime I wish!!!!!! Don't you just love happy endings?
My Moon Rock Necklace......As a kid I was always infatuated by the moon and dreamed of journeying there someday as I indicated in a previous posting earlier this week. Just as important to me was owning meteorite specimens from other worlds. To this very day I can well remember seeing my first iron meteorite years ago!!! Oh how I just wanted to touch it, to touch something from another world that has travelled eons through time and space! WOW, just think of it, if it could only talk think of stories it could tell us, and the mysteries of the universe that could be revealed!!!!! Well this kid never made it to the moon but I did achieve a collection of meteorite specimens that would rival most museum meteorite displays. Among my favorites are those that originated from the Moon and Mars. Meteorites that originated at these two places are the rarest and most expensive substances on the face of the earth per gram! I have seen some specimens that have gone as high as $10,000 a gram! Why so expensive you may ask? Because only 240 have ever been found with a total weight of just over 100 pounds! How did they get here? It is theorized that the moon was subjected to an astroid impact and that the lunar samples were ejected into space and eventually reentered the earth's atmosphere. The only places that they have ever been found is Africa, Omon, and the Antarctic. Between 1969 and 1972 six Apollo missions brought back a total of 841.6 pounds of lunar rock, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust totalling 2,200 separate samples. Federal law prohibits the the private possession of the Apollo samples as they are government property! Even the Apollo astronauts were not allowed to keep samples for themselves as the moon rocks were considered a national treasure!.....Last year a very close friend of mine Greg Schnier passed away and willed me a substantial amount of money and gave his wife instructions to to tell me to spend it as I saw fit and to enjoy myself. Greg and I were lifelong friends and our friendship spans a 60 year period! In honor of him and my love for the moon I had a jeweler in Hawaii custom make me this 14k sold gold Lunar meteorite necklace with a portion of the money! The moon rock enclosed is a North West Africa 5000 slice . It is truly one of my most prized possessions.....Thank you buddy!
The Front Steps......As a child I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio as most of you know, and oh how I can remember back to what now seems to be just like yesterday. My eyes were always glued to the sky and the heavens beyond. Yes, I would cast my eyes upward in awe and envy as I sat on the front steps in front of our house as jet fighters and bombers flew overhead. Dreaming of the day that I too could sore upward and play among the clouds, and ultimately the stars! For as long as I can member I have always longed to be a test pilot, uniting or harnessing man and machine together. United in a special bondage as one, with the supreme challenge and purpose of precision and perfection. Defying the laws of nature pushing man and machine to it's limit and sometimes far beyond. To fly a little higher, and a little faster, slicing through the sky in something new and wild. Screaming through the clouds and ultimately thundering across the threshold that separates day from night and being swallowed into the deep recesses of that great unknown among the stars! Well it's been many years since that yesterday back in time and my dreams of becoming a test pilot and eventually an astronaut ended abruptly because of an eye injury in 1969 and I found myself having to deal with the gravity of the situation. Even though I could not fly for the United States Air Force within a year I found myself in a Cessna 150 learning to fly! Well, those front steps from in which I allowed other to entice me are still there on Burkhardt Ave. They are barron today and crumbling with age and neglect . and the sky's above Dayton for the most part are unusually silent but they both will live forever in my childhood memories! A word about the attached photos. The first one is of a B-52 flying over our house and trees in Dayton. They flew so low that dad use to say you could count the rivets. The photo was taken from a home movie. Second image is of my childhood home in East Dayton, Ohio.
My childhood hero.... Scott Crossfield. Little did I realize back then that we would become good friends years latter. As a matter of fact I even named my son after him! Scott is no longer with us but this kid will always treasure our friendship and memories!......Godspeed Scotty!
The Tape Recorder.......With the astronauts blazing their way heavenward in the 60s, I wanted a tape recorder really bad so I could record all the flights! Problem was it was out of my league money wise at that time and birthday and Christmas had passed! The Mercury program had ended and Gemini was just on the horizon and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to record all the flights. I guess I got the point across to mom and dad pretty well because on my day of confirmation one of the gifts I received was a Ross reel to reel tape recorder! I don't think there was a happier kid in all the world that day! What was really neat was dad and mom made me a special tape to play! Dad, mom, Ron and my sister Maggie all left messages for me. As I continued to play it low and behold there were messages from my grandparents, all my aunt's and uncle's and all my cousins! 50 some years latter I still have that tape and it still plays just as good today as it did back then! It is so neat to hear the voices and best wishes from everyone that has long since passed away! Well I sure the heck out that tape recorder to good use and recorded all the Gemini flights from start to finish! When I wasn't able to do it mom or dad helped me out. By the time Apollo rolled around I purchased a cassette tape recorder and continued to record all the flights. Ron and I would also use it and record a lot of silly stuff too. I wish I had some of those recordings as some of them were doozies!!!! Well as you can see by the photo I still have the tape recorder and yes it still works but is in kind of rough shape after all these years!
Orville Wright School.......Childhood Memories......Not all my summer vacations were fun and fishing.....My mom and grandma made me spend many of hours with flash cards and reading to get me "up to speed"for the next school year! Something that I hated at the time but grateful for now. I still have the below items as a reminder!
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"My Hero".....Dad was always reluctant to talk about his days in the service and I never really pressured him but was all ears when he mentioned something every now and then. Kids at school would brag and tell stories about what their dads did while I remained silent. I often wondered how much of it was bull shit, and how much was truth? In latter years I have come to know many veterans from various wars and I found out that dad was in good company when it came to discussing the atrocities of war. Going to war changes a man and undoubtedly there were things you just as soon forget and definitely don't want to share. As a kid I often wondered what it would be like to be in enemy territory and never knowing if a bullet, bomb, grenade, or shell had your name on it. Day and night 24/7 having to be ever vigilant. It's something that I never experienced and something that I would think would be difficult if not impossible to put into words. I can still remember dad and I watching the war movies that were so popular back in the 50s on the weekends. He never once commented on them but you just knew it rekindled old memories of a time that once was in what seemed to be another life. I knew my dad had been shot during the war, and I knew he was involved in the D Day invasion and was in the 101st Airborne Division. Beyond that I knew little else. It wasn't until this past year that mom shared a few pages of dads hand written notes with me that I learned the secret portion of my dad's life and the hell that he went through. Yep, my dad was a a hero, my hero and always will be! He was awarded the bronze Star and the purple heart and that was good enough for me. ALL war veterans are heros and we must never forget that! If you ever lose sight of that take, a walk through Arlington cemetery. The price for our freedom was paid for by remarkable people from all walks of life!!!
The Traffic Boys......