Passing: Wally Schirra, My Hometown Astronaut

Wally Schirra, who died May 4, 2007 at the age of 84 was best known to most as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the only astronaut to fly in all three of NASA's earliest manned space programs — Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

To me he was special. He was our hometown astronaut.

You see, Schirra was born in Hackensack, NJ and raised in Oradell. My hometown, River Edge is nestled in between.

In the early 1960's NASA astronauts were national heroes. The best known was John Glenn, whose stardom as a pop culture hero helped later propel him into becoming a U.S. Senator, and even for a while a Presidential contender. Another was Frank Borman, later to become the CEO of the now departed Eastern Airlines (Remember the "Wings of Man"?).

Still another was Wally Schirra.

When the folks in Oradell decided that they were going to honor Wally Schirra by naming the town square park after him, it was a big deal throughout the area. So big a deal that schools were closed, so we could all get a look at our local boy turned celebrity.

So there I was, maybe 10 years old lined up with my Mom at the corner of Kinderkamack Road and Main Street in River Edge to get a glimpse of the Schirra motorcade passing through our town on its way to Oradell.

Unfortunately, it seems that the entourage was running late. So after waiting for them to arrive for two hours, their arrival and the parade was marked by five cars and a Public Service bus racing by at full speed.

I saw the bus, but never did see Wally Schirra.

He probably never saw us either. If he did, we were nothing but another face along the road on the way to his hometown.

But still, he was and remains our hero - our astronaut.