Sunday, June 22, 2003
The model stands 12-feet high and weighs 3 tons.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NE SMALL FLIGHT FOR A young boy, one giant volunteer effort for city history.
City resident Pete Perich started planning in 1970 a replica of the lunar landing module Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.
Perich, a retired photographer and artist, had been commissioned to do an oil painting of Armstrong that same year, commemorating the astronaut's first airplane ride at Warren Airways, a small airstrip along Parkman Road N.W., next to Trumbull Plaza.
Perich traveled to Wapakoneta to meet Armstrong's family and to gather photographs and stories of the boy and his father before commissioning the painting.
Armstrong, who in July 1969 became the first man to walk on the moon, lived in Champion as a boy. He was 6 in July 1936 when he took his first flight.
The painting hangs in the Neil Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta.
Plans for the module got waylaid in 1970 because of project's size and scope.
Daughter's suggestion
In July 2001, the Rev. Linda Perich-Carpenter, Perich's daughter and a minister at Warren Revival Center, drove by the intended site and told her dad: "Something has to happen with Parkman Road. It needs a new image."
She suggested Perich resume his efforts for the replica.
After speaking to people familiar with experts in space exploration, Perich opted for a half- rather than full-sized model.
He contacted Lisa Goetsch, adult education coordinator at the Trumbull Career & amp; Technical Center, and volunteers started coming forward with their expertise. Materials also have been donated by area companies.
The replica, standing 12 feet high and weighing 3 tons, is being built at TCTC's adult education center in Lordstown.
"I have about 200 volunteers working with me now at various levels of the project," Perich said.
He calls them the Lunar Module Team. He's the quarterback and Goetsch is the coach, Perich said.
Donations still are needed to compete the project.
Contributions may be sent to Warren Redevelopment, First Flight Lunar Project, 418 S. Main St., Warren 44482.
Vision for site
Perich envisions the completed site as an educational tool and a destination for school field trips.
They're aiming for a late-August unveiling and Perich hopes Armstrong, whom he met last year through Perich's son, Ken, will attend. Perich described the retired astronaut, who lives in southwest Ohio, as a modest person who shies from attention.
"He told me not to build. It's too hard to build and it will involve too much," Perich said.
"He said, 'All I did was press a couple of buttons. It was the 600 people at the Grumman Corporation in New York who did all the work.'"
denise.dick@vindy.com