Annie Glenn, widow of astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn, dies at 100 due to coronavirus complications
- Annie Glenn died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications at a nursing home near St. Paul, Minnesota
- She was the widow of astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn, who died in 2016
- Annie was a communication disorders advocate who was on the advisory boards of numerous child abuse and speech and hearing organizations
- William Cohen honored Annie Glenn with the Department of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1998 and called her ‘a hero in her own right’
- She was praised for being ‘a strong voice for children, speech and communications, and the disabled’
- A virtual memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 6, with no parishioners or guests in attendance due to the COVID-19 restrictions
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Annie Glenn, the widow of astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn and a communication disorders advocate, died Tuesday at age 100 after contracting coronavirus.
Glenn died of COVID-19 complications at a nursing home near St. Paul, Minnesota, said Hank Wilson, a spokesman for the Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University.
At the time of John Glenn’s death in 2016, the two had been married 73 years. She had moved out of the apartment they shared in Columbus in recent years and gone to live with her daughter, Lyn, according to Wilson.
Annie Glenn was thrust into the spotlight in 1962, when her husband became the first American to orbit Earth. She shied away from the media attention because of a severe stutter.
Annie Glenn died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications at a nursing home near St. Paul, Minnesota. In this December 16, 2016 file photo, Annie arrives to view the casket of her husband John Glenn
She was the widow of astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn. Pictured, Annie and John wave to friends at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 8, 1998 after a nine-day science mission
Annie was a communication disorders advocate. In this December 8, 1983 file photo, Annie Glenn speaks during an interview in Newport, New Hampshire
Later, she underwent an intensive program at the Communications Research Institute at Hollins College, now Hollins University, in Roanoke, Virginia, that gave her the skills to control her stutter and to speak in public.
By the time 77-year-old John Glenn returned to space in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery, Annie showed she had become comfortable in her public role when she acknowledged that she had reservations about the retired senator’s second flight.
‘John had announced one year before that he was going to retire as a senator, so I was looking forward to having him as my own because I had given him to our government for 55 years,’ she told a NASA interviewer.
Her career in advocacy for those with communication disorders included service on the advisory boards of numerous child abuse and speech and hearing organizations.
The Annie Glenn Award was created to honor individuals who overcome a communication disorder.
Defense Secretary William Cohen honored Annie Glenn with the Department of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1998.
He called her ‘a hero in her own right’ and praised her for being ‘a strong voice for children, speech and communications, and the disabled.’
In 2009, Glenn received an honorary doctorate of public service from Ohio State, where she served as an adjunct professor of speech pathology in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science. The department bestows an Annie Glenn Leadership Award annually.
John Glenn and Annie (right) pose with their son Dr. David Glenn (left) and daughter, Lyn (second left) after the senator arrived with his shuttle crewmates at the Kennedy Space Center from Houston, Texas on October 26, 1998. Annie moved in with Lyn when John died in 2016
Astronaut John Glenn gives the thumbs up as he rides in an open car with his wife Annie during a ticker tape parade down New York’s Canyon of Heroes on November 16, 1998
In this February 3, 1962 file photo, astronaut John Glenn poses with his wife, Annie, outside their Arlington, Virginia, home during his first news conference
Marine Major John Glenn, Jr. waves as he walks from his Navy F-8-U-1-P Crusader jet plane after it set a new speed mark by zooming coast-to-coast in the elapsed time of three hours, 23 minutes and about eight seconds. He’s pictured with Annie, Lynn, 10, and David, 11
Pictured: (l-r) President John F. Kennedy, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, John Glenn, wife Annie Glenn, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson during Glenn’s presentation ceremony of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal on February 23, 1962 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
American astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. and his wife Annie ride with American Vice President (and later President) Lyndon Baines Johnson during a tickertape parade in Glenn’s honor, New York, March 1, 1962. The parade was in celebration of Glenn’s historic space flight in the Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission (also known as Friendship 7)
Glenn was born Anna Margaret Castor on February 17, 1920, in Columbus.
Senator John Glenn and his wife Annie Glenn pose in 1984 at City Hall in Tallahassee, Florida
She met her husband while they were children growing up in New Concord. She was offered an organ scholarship to The Julliard School, but World War II began and John proposed – so she decided to stay with him, according to a biography on the Glenn College’s website.
The high school sweethearts attended Muskingum College and were married in 1943. They had two children, David and Lyn.
The Glenns served on the board of trustees of the college, now Muskingum University, and Annie Glenn was named a distinguished alumni fellow in speech communications at the school.
A virtual memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 6, 2020, at 11am EDT.
The service will be officiated by the Rev. Amy Miracle, pastor for the Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus. The memorial will be virtual with no parishioners or guests in attendance due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
She is survived by her two children.
Pictured, Annie and John arrive at The White House for the State Dinner honoring President Jiang Zemin of China on October 29, 1997
She is pictured with US Sen. John Glenn – who was an Ohio senator – on May 14, 2015
In this April 6, 2017 file photo, Annie Glenn, seated, widow of John Glenn, watches as members of the US Marine Corps from Marine Barracks Washington carry the casket of her husband during his graveside service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington
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