William (better known as Bill) has worked in the space industry from early on, through the time when we landed on the moon. He worked initially (I believe) in rocket propulsion and then moved into designing and building satellites and building equipment to go into various space ships and shuttles. He worked with Apollo astronauts, training them to use some of the instrumentation. He worked for TRW while we lived in southern CA when I was a little girl.

He now lives in Lebanon, IN, but three years ago visited my family in Culpeper, VA. We brought him to the museum and were shocked to hear how many artifacts he had been associated with, including instrumentation in the Shuttle and a small, pyramid-shaped satellite -- this I have a large photograph of from the time it was created.

On a previous visit, when we toured the Air and Space Museum on the Mall, my father stopped at the circular display of tall rockets. He said very quietly, "That's my rocket." I was astounded. He said he and other had signed the rocket under the nose cone, as I understand was tradition.

My father has always been a very quiet, private person, not discussing with us his effort, products, and other work. So you can imagine that it was big news to us when he shared these quiet comments. And when we found the satellite, I forced him to stand while I took his photo. A few other people stopped to listen to his comments; he is not accustomed to speaking about himself or his accomplishments. It was a wonderful moment in time.