They Love the Dance, Exercise, Companionship

The Upbeat Liners at the Pascagoula Senior Center strut their stuff during an annual Christmas celebration and retirement party.

Apollo 11: Memories and Today's Machines

PASCAGOULA -- Since late last week Americans have been gearing up to mark today's 40th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, most with excitement, a few with mixed feelings.

The trip was every kid's dream of finding out if the sphere really was made of green cheese.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins didn't find cheese, but they did put themselves and the United States into history books throughout the world.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," said Armstrong after making that initial step.

Just as she did then, 40 years later Joahan McDole of Gautier wonders what good has come of the moon landing and space exploration in general. She thinks she's outside the norm when it comes to America's excitement over travel to the moon.

"I just remember it was in the middle of the Vietnam War," she said today. "I remember sitting there on the floor and watching it with a group of friends."

McDole was 22 years old when she watched the live broadcast of the lunar landing July 20, 1969, with neighbors at her apartment building. It was a Sunday night and most of America was gathered around their television sets to watch the technological event, sponsored by NASA.

She'd just graduated that year from the University of Southern Mississippi. She later went on to live in Scotland and the Middle East.

"I still wondered, then and now, why do we even want to go to the moon?" McDole said. "I don't see us moving any great mass of people to the moon.

The real estate agent believes the astronauts, engineers and scientists involved in America's space program are people of great minds, but she does not have that kind of interest. Calling herself a realist rather than a visionary, she's more interested in the present.

"It's 40 years later. I have no objection that we do it, but I don't know what it's doing for mankind," said McDole.

The Gautier resident, who is age 62, is not alone in her questioning of the purpose of the space progam and the trips to the moon, which included at least four more moon landings. President John Kennedy declared in 1961 that America would land a man on the moon but the end of the decade.

Several women from The View on the ABC Network have wondered the same thing that has gone through McDole's mind. Elizabeth Hasselbeck said the research by NASA has yield such technological advances as invisible braces, long distance telecommunications, water filters and kidney dialysis.

According to www.wikipedia.org, the Apollo Program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961-1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced a goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was accomplished on July 20, 1969, by the landing of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, with Michael Collins orbiting above during the Apollo 11 mission. Five subsequent Apollo missins also landed astronauts the moon, the last one in 1972. These six Apollo spaceflights are the only times humans have landed on another celestial body. The Apollo program, specifically the lunar landings, is often cited as the greatest technological achievement in human history.

According to www.history.com, which has been featuring space exploration programs today, a number of technological advances have come about, directly and indirectly, because of the trip to the moon. They include laptop computers, Cat scans, news broadcasting, and modern cameras.

All of today, newspaper articles and television, radio and websites have shown pictures, and live broadcasts and videos of the liftoff and landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. The footage comes from the CBS television Network, which originally broadcast the landing live.

The historical footage includes longtime news anchorman Walter Cronkite, who died July 17, three days before the anniversay of an event that was one of the defining moments of his career as a national broadcast reporter. He was 92 and will be buried Thursday, July 23.

Numerous events, ceremonies and talk shows have featured the three original astronauts of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, who are all in their 70s now. Buzz Aldrin would like to see a return to the moon, but Collins wants to go farther, on to Mars.

Interviews with Americans around the country yielded various responses of the moon walk:

"It was the greatest accomplishmnt in the history of the world."

"We are following in the footsteps of our generation."

"If we don't push against the frontier we will be like the Greeks and Romans. We will disappear."

Actress Gloria Stuart turns 99

Actress Gloria Stuart is among a number of celebrities who personally have a reason to celebrate the Fourth of July along with the rest of the country. Man, what it must be like to have the whole country officially celebrate your birth date with you. Extraordinary.

Stuart, ironically, had her most noted role today as a 100-year-old in the 1997 film Titanic, portraying storyteller Rose DeWitt Bukater.

Read Stuart's biography

www.wikipedia.org

Independence Day 2009 marks 233 years since America's Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence from British rule in 1776.

Ironically, in 1826, 50 years after signing the declaration, former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4.

In 1959, 50 years ago today, a 49-star flag was unfurled to honor the statehood of Alaska; a year later in 1960, today's 50-star flag honored Hawaii's statehood.

Other celebrities, now senior citizens, who join other citizens also celebrating their birthday today include advice columnist Pauline Phillips, 91; actresses Eva Marie Saint, 85, and Gina Lollobrigida, 82; playwright Neil Simon, 82; baseball team owner George Steinbrenner, 79; singer Bill Withers, 71; broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera, 66.

Stuart in Here Comes the Navy in 1934

There are several other celebrities who've made it to their fifties, but to remain true to the age-range of 99andbeyond, we will leave them unmentioned .... well, OK. Rhythm-and blues musician Ralph Johnson is 58. Rock musician Domingo Ortiz is 57. Singer John Waite is 54.

But that's the last name ....aaaahhhh .... Malia Obama made 11 years old today.

GriefShare Lets Hurting Grieve Together

PASCAGOULA -- Sandra Sumrall said there are always men present at the weekly meetings of GriefShare.

They are young and old, from teenagers to senior citizens. Some are single, some married, and some single again after the loss of their spouses.

Sumrall, coordinator of GriefShare, notes the number of males because they are not the people society normally prescribes as needing consolation. Men are not expected to cry, she said.

"We always have men," said Sumrall. "There's always been young men in the class. There's always been old men in the class. "They hurt as badly as we do. It's not always acceptable for them to cry, and so they keep coming."

The average attendance is about 10, but ranges from six to 20 participants at any one time. Participation, usually about two-thirds women, grows as the class progresses.

GriefShare participants come from all walks of life. They've lost spouses, siblings, children, parents, grandparents, and others.

"The meetings are for everyone who has lost a loved one," said Sumrall.

Family members have died from a variety of reasons - vehicle wrecks, diseases, suicides, etc.

GriefShare, which takes place at First Methodist Church in Pascagoula, last two hours during its weekly sessions. The spring class runs from January to May, the spring sessions from August to November.

Sumrall said the meetings allow residents to work through the grieving process.

"What many people find helpful is talking with other people. Many people don't understand people who are grieving," said Sumrall. "They think they ought to get over it and get on with life."

GriefShare members share their grieving processes with each other, including celebrations and memorials that mark the life and loss of family and friends. Some members have special ways to observe birthdays, or conduct activities that help them remember loved one no longer living.

"What works for one person doesn't work for another," said Sumrall.

The most recent group of GriefShare participants have formed a very tight group, she said, and are still meeting through this summer, though official meetings restart in early August.

"They are by no means over the grieving," Sumrall said. "They saw the benefit of being together. They have come to depend on each other. They have cookouts over the summer."

GriefShare meets each Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. Residents needing the companionship and help of GriefShare may contact First Methodist Church in Pascagoula at 762-5222, or e-mail Sandra Sumrall at masonsumrall@cableone.net

Millvina Dean: Last Titanic Survivor Dies

The last survivor of the Titanic died May 31, 2009, at age 97.

According to www.wikipedia. org, Elizabeth Gladys Millvina Dean was about nine weeks old when the RMS Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg the night of April 14, 1912, going down nearly three hours later in frigid waters. She was the youngest passenger, along with her older brother, Bertram Vere, who was two years old.

Dean became the last survivor when Barbara West Dainton, 96, died in October 2007.

Dean was born Feb. 2, 1912, in London to parents Bertram Frank Dean and Georgette Eva Light, who were on their way to America to open a tobacco shop in Kansas. Frank Dean was among those who died that night; Georgette Light later returned to England.

Dean's brother was born in 1910 and died in 1992. Dean never married and had no children, according to www.wikipedia.org.

Photo by www.wipedia.org

Mary Bang, 103

VANCLEAVE -- Mary Bang had numerous caregivers at the end of her life, family and friends alike.

Sunday marked the second anniversary those loved ones have been without her presence.

Mrs. Bang, who was 103, died Thursday, May 24, 2007, at her residence in Demopolis, Ala. She was born April 18, 1904.

She had lived in Demopolis for the past nine years and was a former resident of Vancleave, Miss., where she was a member of the Holiness Church of God in Vancleave.

Survivors include her caregivers -- Versa and Bud Simmons, Katie Simmons, Whittni Simmons, Rogerdale Richard Forehand and his wife, April, and Hunter and Moriah Fielder, all of Demopolis, Ala., along with many other family and friends.

Graveside services were held at Vancleave Holiness Church of God Cemetery on Poticaw Road in Vancleave with Brother Sammy Thomley officiating.

The Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home handled service and burial arrangements. View the obituary at www.bradfordokeefe.com

Gertrude Baines -- Oldest Person in World

Since Jan. 2, Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles has been listed as the verified oldest living person in the world. She lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles, Calif.

As a supercentenarian, Baines was born April 6, 1894, in Shellman, Ga., and as of today is 115 years, 49 days. She lived on her own until age 105, and this year celebrated her birthday at the Western Convalescent Home in Jefferson ParK, Los Angeles.

Baines was preceded by Maria de Jesus of Portugal, who had lived to 115 years, 114 days until her death Jan. 2, 2009. de Jesus had lived at home in Corujo, Tomar.

Check the list of living supercentenarians.