John H. Glenn Jr. gave his nation 95 years of extraordinary service

Count the achievements of John H. Glenn Jr. during various stages of his 95 years on this Earth – any one of which would eclipse what most people do during their entire lives.

He was a Marine fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, a test pilot who set a coast-to-coast supersonic record, one of the first seven U.S. astronauts and the first American to orbit the Earth, a bottling company chief executive, U.S. senator representing Ohio for 24 years, an astronaut for a second time (becoming the oldest man in space), an author, a senior statesman who continued to campaign for others throughout the state.

And through it all he was a devoted husband for 73 years to his wife, Annie, and father to their son and daughter and a grandfather.

When John Glenn died Thursday in OSU’s Wexner Medical Center, it is hard to imagine that he had any regrets. Well, perhaps a failed presidential bid, but it is difficult to fathom today that Glenn failed to persuade a sufficient number of Americans that he had presidential potential. He was a man of intelligence and talent, who had not only vision, but the discipline and courage to turn a vision into a reality. His sense of compassion and his devotion to public service live on today at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, which he helped found and at which he was an adjunct professor.

During his campaigns for the Senate, his service in the Senate and in giving his support to statewide and national Democratic candidates, Glenn made appearances at chicken dinners, county fairs, parades, memorials and political rallies in every corner of the state. And he never shied away from meeting someone new, hearing their concerns and answering their questions.

Thousands of Ohioans have their stories about meeting John Glenn. And The Vindicator has its own story, one that provides a small insight into a man who was in so many ways larger than life.

Front-page coverage

The hallway leading to The Vindicator newsroom is lined with reprints of historic front pages. The headline on one dated Feb. 20, 1962, reads: “Glenn in Orbit, ‘Feeling Fine’.”

About 30 years later, then-Sen. John Glenn was scheduled for an editorial board meeting and called from his car to say he was running a bit late. When he arrived, the editor went down to the lobby to escort him upstairs. As they got in the elevator the editor mentioned that car phones certainly made campaigning easier in a state the size of Ohio.

As he agreed, he got a gleam in his eye, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded cellular phone that when opened was about the size of the handset of a desktop phone.

“Just look at this,” he said, “Isn’t it amazing?”

Just then, the elevator doors opened and hanging on the opposite wall was that page: “Glenn in Orbit ...”

“Senator,” the editor said, “I have to tell you ... the day that headline was written, I was sitting with a classroom full of high school sophomores, our eyes glued to a black and white television screen, watching your rocket blast off. Standing in the elevator, listening to you talk about the marvels of a hand-held phone ...”

He cocked his head, raised his eyebrows a bit and said, “Well, it is marvelous,” as he folded it and put it in his pocket.

Three decades after being the first American to orbit the earth, Glenn maintained a sense of wonder, even about things that others take for granted.

Perhaps a man who has “slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies” learns not to take anything for granted. Maybe it’s easier for those of us whose feet have remained on the ground to be jaded. Or perhaps it is that men and women who maintain that sense of wonder are the ones who get to do extraordinary things.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that in 2007, Glenn answered a question about coping with the dangers of his space flight. “You didn’t have time to think about it,” he told a group of students. “Long before you actually got to the flight itself, you sort of made peace with mortality.”

During a life of facing dangers and conquering challenges, John Glenn made peace with mortality, and in so doing, earned immortality.