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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Paul Jan Freeman

My late, beloved son David loved astronomy from the start. When he was 3 he used to play with cardboard cut-outs of the planets, and make clay models of the solar system. Before he turned 5 he was reading astronomy books. His favorite planets were Jupiter and Pluto, because they were the biggest and smallest.

On his first visit to the Griffith Park Observatory in LA when David was still 4 years old, he was thrilled to see Jupiter through their largest telescope. He asked the resident astronomer if he would clear up a mystery for him. He wondered why some books listed Jupiter's diameter at 83,000 miles, while others listed it at 89,000 miles. The astronomer complimented him on noticing the discrepancy. He said because Jupiter was a gas planet, and revolved at such great speed, there was a centrifugal force that pushed the north and south poles inward, and the equator outward. Therefore, the smaller diameter was the measurement from pole to pole, and the larger one was for the equator. David was thrilled to get his questioned answered. The people around him were amazed that a 4-year old was having such a learned discussion with the astronomer.

He loved hearing me tell stories of watching Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969, two years before he was born. When Columbia, the first space shuttle, was launched in 1981 he was 9 years old and determined to watch it live on TV. Because we were living in California, he had to wake up at 4:00 AM on a school day to see it. He set his own alarm clock and was up on time. He was proud of it for the rest of his short, but wonderful life.

He passed away too young at the age of 34. At least he didn't have to see Pluto demoted. I know he would have been very upset. He is missed every day.