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March 7, 2000: We buried most of the rest of Greg's cremains in the
cemetery yesterday, beside my Dad's grave in the veteran's section, saving a
bit for whenever we find that perfect urn. The flower bulbs we had
planted in the fall were starting to come up around their headstones, the
tulips and daffodils had bulbs, and some of the hyacinths and crocuses were
blooming. There was a dried bouquet of flowers laying on Greg's
headstone that somehow survived the rains and harsh winds we had last week,
and stayed put. His home-school teacher had placed a beaded eagle in his
coffin to help him fly, back in September right after he died. The eagle
was given to his daughter, the first surviving leukemia patient at St. Francis
Hospital where Greg first started getting his treatments, and had grown,
married, and had just had her first baby. Someone had made it for her
when she had leukemia, and she wanted to pass it on to Greg, so we placed it
into his little vault with his ashes. Angela put in a stuffed dog from
the Austin Powers movie Greg liked so well, and our friend Joe put in his
guitar pick. Terry and William placed the lid on the vault, and everyone
(except me) put a handful of dirt in, then we left. Because Greg's bone
marrow donor is in the Navy, and because the Navy pilots that brought his marrow to
him had made him an honorary member of their squadron, the cemetery placed
Greg's name on the list to receive a flag on his headstone each year on
Memorial Day. March
1st marked a year since he was first diagnosed with Leukemia. In some
ways, it seems like an eternity has passed since then, but in other ways, it
seems like time has really flown by. I've noticed over the past month that
I'm finally coming to terms with his death in a positive way. I'm starting
to look forward to doing things again, and I'm getting out of the house
more. I've started initiating phone calls and letters again, instead of
just answering them. We got a videotape in the mail last month from Greg's
bone marrow donor, Richard Simpson, and they buried him at sea from his ship,
the USS PEARL HARBOR. I had sent him a vial of Greg's ashes, hoping he
could sprinkle them from the ship privately, so as not to upset his commander,
but was I ever surprised when I saw the tape! They had the whole crew in
their dress blues, and they stopped the ship about 25 miles off the San Diego
Coast. They put the flag at half-mast, then said the Lord's Prayer.
They presented Richard with the ashes, then he scattered them from the
ship. They gave Greg a 21 gun salute, played Taps, and closed the ceremony
with another prayer. The commander sent us the videotape, folded flag, and
three rifle cartridges, one from each rifle volley, along with a letter
explaining it all. There were some photos, too, so I've put them on the
photo page. There's also some close-up shots of his handsome donor, and
our hero. We feel honored that Greg was able to have such wonderful
tributes to his memory. Though his remains are now part of the earth, sky,
and sea, Greg will truly remain forever in my heart.
January 1, 2000: We launched the Silver Comet model rocket yesterday, in honor of what would have been Greg's 15th birthday. That's the one Greg's sitting next to in the picture, on the photo page, that they printed in the Tulsa World. Some of his ashes were placed in the nosecone, which opened to deploy the parachute, scattering his ashes over the schoolyard where he loved to launch his model rockets. After a few minor set-up glitches, in which Greg would have been amused, the rocket finally went up in a perfect launch, landing just a few feet away from the launchpad. Our friend Joe captured it on videotape for us, which we will add to our collection. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a slight crisp breeze, just before the last sunset of the year. Greg's friend Joey came with his dad, William's friend Steven was there, and our friends Charlie & Glenda came. Afterwards, William said our prayer before our dinner of corned beef brisket, new potatoes, carrots, ranch-styles beans, and bread & butter. William and Steven went to a party at the church, and Angela went to spend the night at her friend Stacy's house. Terry and I stayed home and nursed our colds until it was time to pick up the boys. Thus ends 1999, and our final formal tribute to Greg. Here's the December 20th Taurus rocket launch video! You will need a real video player to watch this. If you don't have one, go to www.realpayer.com and download the freebie basic version. December 22, 1999: The following photos (December 17-22) have been lovingly lifted from the Celestis website. Thanks for sharing guys! You're the greatest! Wow! What an awesome launch! First things first, though. Monday afternoon we had the Memorial service in the courtyard outside the hotel, near the swimming pool.
They set up rows of chairs, and a four piece orchestra ensemble played. Those who wanted had the opportunity to get up and say something about their loved ones. When it was my turn, I read a poem written by a 13 year old named Ben who had given it to his mother shortly before his death in December 1997, following his four year battle with brain cancer. Several people asked me for a copy of the poem, so I have reprinted it here. My First Christmas In Heaven I had the opportunity to tell Greg's story to some reporters which several people referred to as "September's paparazzi". I didn't mind, though, as it was Greg's last chance at his fifteen minutes of fame. Later, we had a pre-launch briefing, and a buffet of finger foods. We met so many wonderful people, all with a different story to tell, but there with a common purpose. Finally, we loaded the buses for the launch. We went to a hilltop area across the valley from the rocket site, and set up vigil. They had two large-screen televisions powered by generator that changed scenes between the rocket and the mission control centers. Through them, we were able to witness the pre-launch systems checks, and hear the countdown.
The 23:13 PST lift-off was spectacular with a fiery blaze in the clear night sky. We couldn't cheer right away, as it would be another forty seconds until the first, second, and third stages were completed, but everything went perfectly, and finally, we all cheered, whooped, hollered, & hugged each other. The reporters from several countries and all the major US networks were frantically capturing people's reactions, and I think most everyone agreed that there just weren't adequate words to describe the feelings and emotions of the event. They've added the launch video to the Celestis website, and I hope to have it here soon, as well. After returning to the hotel, we all gathered for a launch party.
The next morning (yesterday), everyone started their journeys home, and we said our goodbyes to our new "family".
After driving back to Santa Barbara, we turned in our rental car, and boarded the first of three planes that would take us home. We finally arrived this morning in Tulsa, and learned that one of my bags was still in Dallas. No harm done, though, as it was returned by courier to my front door this afternoon. Steven and Joey stayed the night with us, as we returned home so late, and they went home this afternoon. We all made it home safely, and had a wonderful time that we'll never forget. Now, every time I look up in the night sky, I know that Greg's remains will be circling the earth every ninety minutes for at least the next 100-1000 years. There has been lots of media coverage over the past few days, and I've added all the links to all the stories that I could find on the links page. I hope to have some photos available in the next few days as well. December 20, 1999:
What a great time we're having! Saturday, we went down the block and watched the Atlas rocket launch that we would have missed if it had flown on schedule on Wednesday. Even from seven miles away it was an awesome sight! Everyone started coming into town for the big event tonight, and it's been nice getting to meet everyone. There's people here from Holland, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland. The German group brought their TV crew, and they're doing a documentary type of filming. The hotel is nice, and so are the people here. After we watched the launch, we went to the beach, where the water was ice cold and the kids jumped in anyway. They didn't stay in very long, but we had a blast walking along the beach, picking up shells, skipping stones (or trying to anyway), and climbing the rock bluffs. Yesterday, the Santa Barbara CBS affiliate came out to do an interview for the evening news. They said that they had shown some footage of our family on Friday, and that they were cooperating with KOTV in Tulsa to share film footage. Then, all the launch participants took a tour of Vandenberg Air Force base.
First, we went to several of the Atlas and Titan launch pads, including the one from yesterday's launch. Then, we went to the shuttle launch pad that was built, but then never used after the Challenger disaster.
That's one huge building on that site! They told us that nobody can be within three and a half miles of any launch because the launch forces can stop a human heart. Also, the toxins from the rockets aren't safe to be around. That means that we'll need to watch the Taurus rocket launch from a distance. After that, we went to the space museum, and finally, we got to see our rocket. Wow, what a sight! Coming over the hill, there it was, down in the valley, pointing skyward, poised for flight!
As we got off the bus, several men approached me, some from Celestis, some I learned were from Orbital, the Taurus rocket builders. They told me that the Taurus team had written Greg's name on the rocket! I ran to see, and a couple of people handed me their binoculars. Sure enough, right underneath the Celestis logo, written in black marker, were the words Greg Brown What an honor! I couldn't believe my eyes! Needless to say, I took pictures. It seems that there's a tradition among rocket builders to sign all their rockets with something, so the Orbital team signed this one in Greg's honor! Our two hour tour wound up taking four hours, but outside of getting hungry, nobody complained, as it was so fascinating. We got back to the hotel & swamped the restaurant. The bar next door had two TVs, and they said that as long as they were still serving food and I was with the kids, they could go in there with me to eat, so that we wouldn't miss the interview when the news came on. A few minutes later, it came on , and everybody got quiet and the bartender turned the volume up. They did a fantastic story, and even showed some of the footage taken at home. Afterwards, everyone cheered, and one by one they came over to hug me. They were all so nice. I tried not to get too emotional, but it was hard not to. About that time, our food was ready, so we just went back to the restaurant to eat. Later today, we're having the memorial service, then a press conference, followed by the launch tonight. The time window is between 11:11 and 11:19 pm, with a desired time of 11:12. This is so exciting! December 17, 1999:
Well, we stayed up all night Thursday, afraid we'd oversleep & miss our flight, so here we all are, half asleep at the Tulsa airport at 5:00 am, when a KOTV cameraman shows up and starts filming this interview with a half-asleep mother and four teenagers. (Terry's sick, and wasn't able to come with us at the last minute, so we invited William's friend to join us.) Then, he got some footage of us waving as we boarded the plane, and he left. Needless to say, all the other passengers were wondering what the deal was, as several of them asked us about it later. Then, just before the plane taxied away, the stewardess comes running down the aisle. "Are you the Browns," she asks? "Yes." "These are for you," she says, handing over a dozen yellow roses. They "roses" are actually each made from two Hershey kisses, stacked bottoms together, wrapped in yellow cellophane, with a floral stem and ribbon leaves. The attached card is from a family at church. We look out the windows and see them standing in the terminal with their faces pressed to the glass. They see our waves, and wave back. We hold the "roses" up to show them that they made it to us. They had come to see us off, and almost didn't make it in time. The next six & a half hours are marked by crowded airplane aisles, frantic terminal changes between flights, a broken luggage strap, a broken wheel on another bag, hunger, and fatigue. Fatigue not so much from the flights, but from the lack of sleep the night before. We finally arrive in Santa Barbara, and the airport was lovely. It's designed to look like a quaint Mexican village, with each gate like a little house, with their clay roofs and stucco walls. The circular drive out front is studded with palm trees and tropical flowers blooming brightly in the warm sun. We shed our coats, hardly believing it was a cold December morning in the low 30's only a few hours ago. Getting into the white Intrepid that was waiting for us, we headed off to the hotel in Lompoc. Our first stop, though, was the drive-through at McDonald's, where we all got a happy meal. Wouldn't you know it, but our toy was Legos! Only fitting for Greg's tribute! After exiting onto Constellation Blvd & Apollo Way, we arrived at the Spaceport Inn. I was exhausted & went to sleep while the kids went swimming in the outdoor pool. Hard to believe it's December. We went to dinner at the hotel restaurant later, and it got cold enough for a coat tonight. They went swimming again anyway, but they didn't stay in very long this time. The Celestis bunch arrived tonight, and I got to meet most everyone from there. Everyone was so nice! Not one of them looked like I had pictured them, but I guess nobody ever does. They all knew who I was from the news, so I was at a disadvantage when they walked up & said "Hi, September!" They're all meeting with us in the morning for official sign-in & registration, then we're going in a caravan to an off-base weather observation site to watch an Atlas rocket lift-off from Vandenberg, which is much larger than the Taurus rocket that Greg's remains are on. It was supposed to launch on the 16th with a NASA weather satellite, but was delayed, so we have the opportunity to watch that launch as well. Whoo-hoo! The Mayor of Lompoc's wife is another passenger to be buried in space on this flight, and he is going to give his welcome to the group either tomorrow or the next day. We tour Vandenberg on Sunday, the memorial service is Monday evening, and the launch is Monday night, with a window of 11:11 pm - 11:19 pm. I heard that the Youngs might get to be here sometime Monday. It sure would be nice to see them again. I finally spoke with Terry tonight, and he said that KOTV ran the story at 5, 6, & 10, and they did a great job. He said that they played the tape of Greg's goodbye, showed the picture of him and his friend Jason with a model rocket, and showed us at the airport, as well as some previous film footage. The only thing he didn't like was that it left the impression that the house would be vacant for five days, and he's afraid someone will try to rob us, even though he's home. Otherwise, he said it was a GREAT story, and he taped it all three times. The waitress here in Lompoc said she saw the space burial story on the local news here, which featured Celestis. One of the Celestis guys said he had just finished an NBC interview tonight for national coverage, which will be added to launch footage on Monday, and an interview with the Youngs, and possible me. NBC is the only one I know of who's committed to being here, but the other networks have the satellite link coordinates, so they'll be able to get the live launch video feed. So, now it's after 11:00 pm, things are winding down, and the kids are all asleep. This has been a real nice day.
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Sign my guest book! www dot gregsleukemiajournal dot com
forward- slash guest dot htm Richard Simpson is Greg's bone marrow donor Assistance with the web pages was provided by
George Kasica, The Celestis Foundation is seeking your support to offset some of the costs of fulfilling Greg Brown's dream of space flight. Contributions of any amount will help the Foundation to continue the Honorary Commemorative Spaceflight program on the next Celestis launch. Your contribution is not tax deductible, but is greatly appreciated. Please send your contributions to: The Greg Brown Fund All contributions is excess of actual launch related expenses will be donated to the National Marrow Donor Program.
Jill E. McGovern, PH.D. Send us E-Mail! gregb at netwrx1.net Last Updated: 02/11/2009 19:01 |
