Stephen Beck's Autograph Page

Moonwalkers

By Steve Gruber

There have been only twelve humans who have walked on the surface of the moon. We are very fortunate that the events leading to the Apollo moonwalks unfolded in our own era, and that ten of the twelve are still alive today.

In 1993 I wrote my first letter to an moonwalker. That letter happened to be to the most famous of them all, Neil Armstrong.

I was 13 when I wrote him and knew that he was important figure because he was the first person to walk on the moon, but honestly I did not quite understand what the event meant in terms of world history. I was lucky enough to receive an index card signed by Mr. Armstrong in about three weeks. Soon after receiving this I found out that he stopped signing through the mail. I consider myself lucky to get an autograph from him now, especially since I have now learned more about the history of the space program and Armstrong’s significance in it.

Always the persistent autograph collector, I keep my eyes open for any opportunities to receive in-person autographs. In December of 1997, I was skimming through a local town newspaper and I saw an advertisement promoting an appearance by Charlie Duke, the Apollo 16 moonwalker. Duke was appearing at a religious function in the next town over from my house. I grabbed the phone and called the location to see if there would be an appropriate opportunity to get an autograph from Mr. Duke. The lady on the phone told me that he and his wife would be speaking to the congregation, but afterwards there might be an opportunity for autographs.

The Sunday of the event rolled around, and I was all excited to meet the famous moonwalker. I pulled in about forty-five minutes after it was schedulled to start and took a seat. I regret being too late because Duke was just finishing up a speech about walking on the moon and what it was like. He finished the speech, and I thought the service would be almost over--but I was very wrong. Duke, sharply dressed in a suit, resumed his place at the podium and began a talk about finding God in his life and gave details about the “high" he experienced after walking on the moon, and what came to pass afterwards. He said that after becoming successful and famous his life was very empty because his marriage was failing. He and his wife went to counseling, and then Duke found God on a weekend retreat. Charlie and his wife, Dottie, started their lives over much simpler and happier.

So, after talking about this subject for about an hour and a half, I thought Duke was finished once again. But Dottie stood and talked further about finding God for about a half hour. After she concluded, the pastor of the small Faith Tabernacle stood and also gave a powerful speech to the congregation of people who came to see the famous astronaut. I actually began to feel a bit uncomfortable as songs, hand holding, prayers, and other worship took place. People began crying for repentance while praying. Duke and the pastor stood up and asked people who wanted to be saved, to come up to the altar and kneel down. “Faith healing" began. After about three the service concluded and I got my chance to meet Duke. He had just finished signing a paper airplane for a little girl, when I gave him an “earthrise photo” and politely asked him to sign it. He took the photo and autographed it with a pen that writes in silver ink that I brought along. Overall, this experience was one the most interesting in-person encounters that I have had in my ten years of collecting autographs.

The two photographs that Duke signed for me in-person. Note that I've added a few signatures to one of them since he signed it!

A year later I was "surfing the 'net" one day and I found out that the Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan would be appearing at Borders Books in New York City. Since I live on Long Island, about an hour by train from the city, I knew it was a unique chance to meet another moonwalker.

On the day of the event I arrived at the bookstore early, and bought books for myself and friends who could not make the signing. Apparently the bookstore did not publicize the event well enough because some of the store employees never even heard of Cernan!

The bookstore had set up a dozen or so chairs for customers. Since I arrived nearly two hours before the signing was schedulled I sat in one of the chairs and started reading his book. About twenty minutes later I looked from the pages and Cernan was walking right by me---ahead of schedule! Cernan introduced himself to the handful of people assembled there and started signing copies of his book so that the bookstore could sell them later. Then the store manager told us that he would sign our books early, so we lined up. I had brought two photographs with me, just in case he decided to sign other items besides his book that day. (It’s rare at booksignings that a celebrity will sign anything other than his book, but I took my chances.) I got up to Mr. Cernan and gave him my copies of his book to sign. He signed each copy "Gene Cernan Apollo 17". After he signed my books, I nervously asked him if he would be kind enough to sign the two photographs that I had brought with me. He looked at me and said "sure.” I walked away with my autographed books, photos and, more importantly, the memory of meeting the last human to set foot on the moon.

I’ve had other experiences with moonwalkers. I have all twelve of them represented in my collection, most of them having signed through the mail. I also have had the opportunity to speak on the telephone several times with Apollo 12 moonwalker, Alan Bean, after having written him. He is a class act, and provided his telephone number to me. His leaving a message on my answering machine saying "Hi Steve, it's Alan Bean....call me back, you know the number", was an unforgettable experience! I hope to meet Bean in-person, as well as Charles Conrad, at the UACC show in Beverly Hills in June.

Steve Gruber can be reached via email at Autogrph34@aol.com