Armstrong memorial is planned at local site

Staff/wire report

WARREN

The public is invited to attend a memorial celebration for astronaut Neil Armstrong noon Wednesday at the First Flight Lunar Landing Module replica, 2553 Parkman Road NW, near Kmart.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin is expected to attend the celebration, being organized by a local family.

Armstrong, 82, who died Saturday in Cincinnati, was the first man to walk on the moon.

He made the trip in the Apollo 11 spacecraft and took the step July 20, 1969.

Armstrong lived about two years in the mid-1930s in Champion and took his first airplane ride at age 6 on July 26, 1936, at an airstrip near the location of the Lunar Module replica.

Pete Perich of Warren and Champion, an admirer and friend of Armstrong’s, began a campaign in 2003 to build a replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module as a tribute to Armstrong.

It was completed in 2008, and Armstrong visited the site in 2009.

Perich now lives in Tampa, but his family is organizing the celebration, said Perich’s granddaughter, Olivia Simpson.

Meanwhile, a private service is planned in Cincinnati on Friday for Armstrong, and President Barack Obama has ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday had Ohio flags on all public buildings and grounds flown at half-staff through Friday.

There have been preliminary discussions about a national memorial service for Armstrong, but a family spokesman said there were no details yet.