Have you ever asked yourself why we have museums about famous people, like astronaut Gus Grissom? Maybe it’s a curiosity we all share, something that makes us wonder about the circumstances that led to them being famous and how they differ from us. Taking a tour inside Gus Grissom’s boyhood home can tell us many things and maybe even answer that question.
Inside the living room are humble accommodations, not unlike most families in Mitchell, Indiana. A bedroom at the front of the house is where two tired parents called it a night at the end of a very long day. Dennis and Cecile Grissom had four children living with them under one roof. Gus had a younger sister named Wilma, who had a pleasant view to the east through her window. Gus had to share a room with his two younger brothers, Norman and Lovell. Gus was in Boy Scouts and loved to hunt and fish, and when he could pull enough money together from a job, he bought his rifle—typical things that most boys his age were into. But one of his favorite things was building model airplanes and dreaming about flying.
Gus was hooked when a local attorney took him for flights in his airplane. Even though he did well in mathematics, he was an average student in everything else. But he didn’t let that stop him. Somehow, he was going to fly airplanes someday. The Grissom family ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner in this kitchen, praying before meals and sharing their time, talking about life plans and dreams around a small table. From this humble place, Gus would launch his life as an adult. He joined the Army Air Forces, worked at a factory that made school buses, and then took a leap of faith by enrolling in college. He just kept taking the next chance and opportunity. He became an accomplished combat pilot, astronaut, and the first human to fly into space twice. He helped design early NASA flight controls, enriching it all to propel the United States space program.
After you walk through the rooms of his humble boyhood home, something becomes more apparent. It wasn’t money, good grades, or connections that got his name in history books. It was a solid determination to keep moving and taking chances, no matter how the odds were stacked against him. And it all started here in a little house in a little town called Mitchell, Indiana.
