Valentine’s Day 1965

I went to work at NASA in June 1964, just ten weeks after Eva and I got married. Then, in November, I got promoted to a new position in building 30. This was during the transition from Cape Kennedy to the Manned Space Center in Houston. Mission Control was on the first floor of Building 30. Mission Control Support was situated on the third floor, next to the computer center, which I was assigned to oversee.

Gemini II mission was on January 19, 1965, and was the last mission controlled in Florida and MSC provided a shadow control function. Gemini III was on March 23, 1965, and was the first spacecraft flight controlled at MSC. I worked overtime frequently and barely saw Eva before Valentine’s Day.

I had worked the 2^nd and 3^rd shifts on Saturday, February 13, so I was gone from 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and when I got home at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, I went to bed. When I got up at 1:00, Eva had cooked me a steak dinner and decorated the apartment for Valentine’s. She had bought me a box of chocolates like I had given her the year before when we got engaged. I had been working so much, and I had not gotten her anything, but I was planning to take her to a nice restaurant that evening.

After dinner, Eva sang one of our favorite songs that we liked dancing to, “To Know Him Is To Love Him”. We danced while she was singing these words:

To know know know him
Is to love love love him
Just to see him smile
Makes my life worthwhile
To know know know him
Is to love love love him
And I do
And I do
And I do
I’ll be good to him
I’ll bring laugh to him
Everyone says there will come a day
When I’ll walk alongside of him
Yes Yes to know him
Is to love love love him
And I do
And I do
And I do
Why can’t he see?
How blind can he be?
Someday he will see
That he was meant for me, oh oh yes
To know know know him
Is to love love love him
Just to see him smile
Makes my life worthwhile
To know know know him
Is to love love love him
And I do
And I do yes
And I do

I have never forgotten how I felt that day, one year since our engagement and five weeks until our first wedding anniversary. I knew we had something special, but I could not have anticipated how many more years we would spend together.