by Daniel W.
My mother was always, to
me, just my mom. She is now 83, suffering the dire effects of a severe stroke. I
cherish every opportunity to visit with her, although it is usually bittersweet.
This story relates an exceptional conversation we had.
During our last visit, she asked
me how my job was going. I told her that I changed companies and now work for
Lockheed Martin. Her eyes sparkled for a moment and she smiled broadly, saying,
"I used to work for Lockheed! I
worked on rockets, mostly. I worked out of Sunnyvale and sometimes Norton Air
Force, no Vandy, Vandyland, um, Vandenberg."
I never knew my mother
worked with any sort of technology, let alone missile and space systems! She
worked for Lockheed in the 1950s and 1960s, before I was born. She described
crawling into rocket fuselages, riveting and installing wires and various
electromechanical components. She spoke of things I recognized, Titan and
Atlas. She also mentioned something I had never heard of, the Agena. For about 30
minutes I had Mom back, enthusiastically telling me something about herself
that I never knew. The memories were obviously dear to her and they forever
changed how I perceive my mother.
She left me two final
statements before going to sleep. First, she told me never to tell anyone what
she said, "Because it's all very
secret." The second was, "You'll
like working for Lockheed, I sure did. It's a good company."
