As Reported by the House Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committee

133rd General Assembly

Regular Session H. R. No. 110

2019-2020

Representative Galonski

Cosponsors: Representatives Miller, A., Skindell, Riedel, Lang, Smith, K., Romanchuk, Oelslager, Boggs, Lightbody, Crawley, Perales, Dean, Ghanbari, Holmes, A., Keller, Russo, Sheehy

A R E S O L U T I O N

A resolution urging Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the late Senator John Glenn and Mrs. Annie Glenn.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

WHEREAS, John Glenn was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, in a white clapboard house to father John Herschel Glenn and mother Clara Sproat Glenn on Foster Avenue; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn's parents grew up in historic Cambridge, Ohio, a city internationally recognized for the manufacture of quality glass products and located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in southeastern Ohio; and

WHEREAS, Annie Glenn was born on February 17, 1920, in Columbus, Ohio, to Dr. Homer and Margaret Castor and soon moved to New Concord, Ohio, where the Castor family and Glenn family would soon become family friends; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn and Annie Castor Glenn met as infants in Concord, Ohio, and became best friends; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn launched a career of exploration and service to his nation that would take him from a small city in southeast Ohio firmly rooted in America's heartland to the skies and beyond into outer space; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn graduated from New Concord High School and attended Muskingum College before enlisting in the Navy and later transferred to the Marine Corps, where he flew one hundred forty-nine missions during World War II and the Korean War; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn married his beloved friend Annie Castor Glenn in 1943; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn was accepted into the United States space program on February 20, 1962, and piloted the Friendship 7 spacecraft around the earth three times, becoming the first American to orbit the earth; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn's orbit around the earth inspired other Ohio astronauts, including Neil Armstrong from Wapakoneta, Ohio, who was the first man to walk on the moon and Judith Resnik from Akron, Ohio, who was the second American female astronaut; and

WHEREAS, Thanks to the achievements of the Wright brothers, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Judith Resnick, Ohio is known as the birthplace of aviation pioneers; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel and became a United States Senator representing Ohio from 1975 to 1999; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn sought the democratic party's presidential nomination in 1984; and

WHEREAS, After John Glenn's return from space and upon his retirement from the Senate, John and Annie Glenn founded the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at the Ohio State University to improve the quality of public service and encourage young people to pursue careers in government; and

WHEREAS, Annie Glenn suffered from a stuttering problem and completed an intensive program at the Communications Research Institute at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Annie Glenn is one of the nation's leading advocates for Americans with communicative disorders; and

WHEREAS, Annie Glenn has a special interest in programs aiding children, the elderly, and Americans with communicative disorders; and

WHEREAS, Ohio law designates the seventeenth day of February as Annie Glenn Communication Disorders Awareness Day; and

WHEREAS, John Glenn passed away in Columbus, Ohio, on December 8, 2016, at the age of ninety-five and millions of Americans mourned the passing of a true American hero; and

WHEREAS, John and Annie Glenn have touched the lives of millions of Ohioans and Americans; and

WHEREAS, John and Annie Glenn have made our nation a better place; and

WHEREAS, John and Annie Glenn have inspired America's newest generation to achieve its goals and to give back to its state and nation through public service; and

WHEREAS, John and Annie Glenn are deserving of receiving a Congressional Gold Medal; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the Ohio House of Representatives of the 133rd General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge Congress to pass legislation awarding the late Senator John Glenn and Mrs. Annie Glenn a Congressional Gold Medal; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation and the news media of Ohio.