Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 8, 2023

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Mountain View News Saturday, July 8, 2023 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side

by Deanne Davis

“One small step for man, one giant 
leap for mankind.” 

This year’s July 4th celebration could not 
have been better. So many fun things to do, 
so much to see and enjoy. We do live in the 
best place possible! Ice cream from Mother 
Moo’s…awesome!

July is full of birthdays for our family: 
Grandson, Luke Simon’s, on the 11th, and 
he’s in his 20’s now. Unbelievable! Granddaughter, 
Emily Brown, will be 13 on the 
22nd, which is also unbelievable, and our 
daughter, Crissy’s, birthday is the 30th. I’ve 
got birthday cards ready for all these people 
and, thinking about Crissy’s birthday immediately 
brings me to Apollo 11. It’s been 54 
years since Neil Armstrong spoke those immortal 
words above on July 20, 1969. Apollo 
11 was the culmination of the Apollo program 
and a massive national commitment 
by the United States to beat the Soviet Union 
in putting people on the moon. In case you 
don’t remember, 24 Apollo astronauts visited the moon and 12 of them actually walked 
on its surface. Word has it that additional NASA astronauts are scheduled to return to 
the moon by 2025 as part of the Artemis space program.

So much has been written about Apollo 11 landing on the moon…slipping the surly 
bonds of earth to touch the face of God. That last phrase was taken from a World War 
II-era sonnet, written by a 19-year-old American airman, John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who 
had volunteered with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Airman Magee was killed in action 
near Great Britain on December 11, 1941. This phrase was spoken by President Reagan 
on January 28, 1986, when he used these words to console a grieving nation following 
the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the whole sonnet, but it’s magnificent, and when you 
consider that it was written by a 19-year-old American who was already a pilot flying in 
the Canadian Air Force, it kind of boggles the mind. 

“High Flight”

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds—and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . 

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Touched the face of God! Unforgettable words. That’s not really what I was planning to 
write about today, but I wanted to share this with you friends. Here’s something else I 
wasn’t really planning to write about...what the Apollo 11 guys left behind:

Lots of footprints! Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s footprints are still there today 
because there is no weather on the lunar surface.

Also left behind, messages of hope, peace and goodwill from leaders in 73 countries, 
with words inscribed microscopically on the edge of a silicon disc. It says, “From Planet 
Earth, July 1969” and lists the names of the members of Congress who signed legislation 
making Apollo 11 possible and the names of top NASA officials. This disc is about the 
size of a half dollar coin!

They left a patch from the Apollo 1 mission to honor Gus Grissom, Edward White and 
Roger Chafee, the astronauts who lost their lives when a fire swept through the Apollo 
1 command module during a training exercise at Kennedy Space Center on January 27, 
1967. They also left medals honoring Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri 
Gagarin. 

An American flag was left behind, not so much to “claim” the moon, but a symbolic 
gesture. It is theorized that flags left on the moon during the Apollo era have faded to 
white under the sun’s harsh ultraviolet rays.

What was I really going to write about? It was that when men walked on the moon I was 
a couple of weeks away from giving birth to our youngest daughter, Crissy. I was about 
the same size and circumference as the moon and lying flat on the floor with my feet up 
on the couch as my back was killing me. It was an amazing July back there in 1969. Men 
walked on the moon 
and I gave birth to 
a fantastic person. I 
can’t believe it’s been 
fifty-four years, can 
you? God is so good! 

Today’s picture is of 
Crissy and Emily, the 
July birthday girls. 

Let’s Celebrate Everything! 
Especially 
Birthdays!

My book page: 

Amazon.com: 

Deanne Davis

Where you’ll find the 
Emma Gainsworth 
Kindle novelettes, 

Along with other 

goodies like 

“A Treasure Map, A 
Drunken Owl And 
47 Rattlers in A Bag” 

True Tales of Early 
California


L to R: SM Councilmember Kris Lowe, Assembly Candidate Philante Riddle, Former Mayor 
Rachelle Arizmendi, Mayor Pro Tem Kelli Kriebs and SM Councilman/Former Mayor Gene 
Goss at Memorial Park on July 3rd.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com