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FEBRUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
Hand-Cut, artistic lines, instill beauty and
ArtGlass Urn Series.
With matching keepsake and name
medallion, your customers are offered a
perfect opportunity to memorialize the
passing of a loved one.
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Ask your local sales rep about ordering our
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let’s honor our loved ones with the style and
grace – that is and always will be, Elegante.
charm to our
from University of Texas and her doctorate from University of
Colorado. She told students from India who were part of the In-
ternational Space School Foundation, “Whatever you believe in
do-just follow your dreams. Don’t worry about whether people
encourage you.” Dr. Chawla was cremated and returned to her
parents in India.
David Brown was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
along with Laurel Clark and Michael Anderson in separate cer-
emonies. Their burial site is next to the Challenger monument.
Brown was remembered as “the most humble overachiever we’ve
all ever known.” This was his first flight. Michael Anderson, pre-
paring for his second space flight on Columbia told his minis-
ter, “If this thing doesn’t turn out right don’t worry about me;
I’m just going on higher.” Anderson had been to the Mir space
station in 1998. Laurel Clark was laid to rest on what would
have been her 42nd birthday. In her last email to her family and
friends, she wrote, “I feel blessed to be here representing our
country and carrying out the research of scientists around the
world. I hope you can feel the positive energy that I beamed to
the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet.”
Congressional Space Medals were conferred posthumously on
all members of the crews of Challenger and Columbia. Seven as-
teroids were discovered and were officially named after the fallen
Columbia astronauts. On Mars, the site of the landing of the
rover the Spirit was called Columbia Memorial Station, a com-
plex of seven hills on Mars were named Columbia Hills, various
buildings and structures and roadways were renamed after the
individual astronauts. Colleges renamed buildings after the crew
collectively and individually. Congress renamed the Downey
California’s Space Science Learning Center the Columbia Me-
morial Space Center.
We were shocked by the accident, grieved with the families
and as a country, mourned during the various tributes and ser-
vices and will forever remember these seven brave souls by the
monuments in their name.
It is the only sensible and civilized path from chaos and crisis
to coping and healing.
We will never forget the sacrifice of these seven celestial mari-
ners of the space shuttle Columbia.
“The final days of their own lives were spent looking down
upon this earth. And now, on every continent, and in every land
they could see, the names of these astronauts are known and re-
membered. They will always have an honored place in the mem-
ory of this country. And today I offer the respect and the grati-
tude of the people of the United States.”
–President George W. Bush, February 4, 2004, LBJ Space Cen-
ter in Houston, Texas
Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors
graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences.
He has been licensed on both coasts, he owns the Westcott Funeral
Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ. Steve offers his obser-
vations on current funeral service issues. He may be reached by mail
at PO Box 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-
9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuner-
alhome.com or through his website at
com or on Facebook.
Observations
Full Devotion,
Ultimate
Sacrifice
“Generations from now, when the reach of human civilization is
extended throughout the solar system, people will still come to this
place to learn about and pay their respects to our heroic Columbia
Astronauts. They will look at the Astronaut’s memorial and then
they will turn their gaze to the skies, their hearts filled with grati-
tude for these seven brave explorers who helped blaze our trail to
the stars.”
–Sean O’Keefe, NASA Administrator, dedication of the Colum-
bia Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, February 3, 2004
A great sadness falls upon us as we watch Space Shuttle crafts Dis-
covery, Enterprise, Endeavor and Atlantis find final resting places
at museums. Their accomplishments were historic, their destina-
tions impressive and their crews consisted of brave pioneers.
These marvels of human ingenuity will be toured by visitors try-
ing to imagine what flights into deep space were like. As President
John F. Kennedy said at Rice University in 1962, “We set sail on
this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new
rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress
of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technol-
ogy, has no conscience of its own.”
Two space shuttles never made it back to earth safely. One was
the Space Shuttle Challenger, lost 72 seconds after launch in 1986
and the other was Space Shuttle Columbia, lost ten years ago this
month on February 1, 2003.
The Shuttle flights became routine. Flight STS (Space Transpor-
tation System) 107 seemed to be no exception. Columbia (named
after explorer Christopher Columbus and his namesake the sailing
sloop Columbia) was the 113th shuttle mission. Columbia was the
oldest shuttle in the fleet; its maiden voyage was in 1981 and this
was Columbia’s 28th mission.
The launch on January 16, 2003 at 9:39 CST gave concerns to
the ground crew as they saw a piece of foam insulation break off of
the external propellant tank 82 seconds into the flight. The piece,
reportedly the size of a small briefcase, struck the forward edge of
the left wing, knocking off thermal shield tiles.
STS-107 accomplished many experiments in its 16 day, 6 mil-
lion mile journey. Experiments for the treatment of prostate can-
cer, flame and soot reduction, testing of synthetic nutrients (with
worms as test animals), moss to test gravity’s effects on cell organi-
zation, a protein crystal experiment for developing a drug to fight
cancer, study of zero gravity on bacteria, experiments on slime
mold and several other experiments were completed in space. The
worms were found alive in the wreckage.
Reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere is always dangerous. A
space craft with damage in a very vulnerable place is even more
so.
As Space Shuttle Columbia came back into earth’s atmosphere,
hot gases enveloped the craft. It found the weak spot on the left
wing left by the foam insulation launch hit. The gases penetrat-
ed and destroyed the structure of the wing. Reports have stated
that 7-8 minutes before the disintegration of the ship, gauges
lost their readings on the left wing and landing gear.
Alarms sounded and Columbia tumbled out of control. The
pilot, William McCool was pushing buttons to stabilize the
ship. The cabin went dark, air pressure was lost and not all crew
were in their pressurized suits. The craft was violently rocking
and rapidly disintegrating. On the ground a large boom was
heard and many streaks of light, the various parts of the space
craft, began their descent to earth.
Pieces of the craft fell between Texas and Louisiana. James
Couch of Norwood, Texas had many pieces of the space shuttle
rain down upon his ranch. Among the falling wreckage, a 12’ x
1’ piece of metal fell near his chicken coop and an empty helmet
was found by his grandson. Other Norwood residents found
more grisly remnants, that of human remains.
Other parts of Columbia and its crew were found in other Tex-
as locales such as Dallas, Nacogdoches and Palestine.
The shock and the grief set in on the nation and around the
world. The crew was mourned and remembered: Command-
er Rick D. Husband, 45, US Air Force Colonel; Pilot William
C. McCool, 41, US Navy Commander; Payload Commander
Michael P. Anderson, 43, US Air Force Lt. Colonel; Payload
Specialist Ilan Ramon, 48, Colonel, Israeli Air Force; Mission
Specialist Kalpana Chawla, 41, Indian born aerospace engineer;
Mission Specialist David M. Brown, 46, US Navy Captain, avi-
ator and flight surgeon; Mission Specialist Laurel Blair Salton
Clark, 41, US Navy Captain and flight surgeon.
NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe remembered these brave
souls this way:
“They were pilots, engineers and scientists all motivated by a
fire within, a passionate eternal flame within each of their souls
that compelled them to live lives of distinction and bring the
heavens closer to our grasp.”
Rick Husband had piloted a shuttle in 1999 to the first dock-
ing with the international space station. He still thought that
loving his family and the Lord were the most important things
in life. His favorite hymn was Amazing Grace with the lyrics, “I
see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout
the universe displayed.” Husband is buried in Llano Cemetery,
Amarillo, Texas. “Willie” McCool’s space patch was discovered
in the debris that fell to earth. His final resting place is an un-
marked grave, a patch of grass in a cemetery in his wife Lani’s
hometown of Anacortes,Washington. She made a strong friend-
ship with Rona Ramon, widow of Ilan Ramon. Ramon, the first
Israeli astronaut, was returned to Israel and buried in Moshav
Nahalal Cemetery with full honors. In 2009 his son, Lt. Asaaf
Ramon, an Israel Air Force pilot, was killed in a F-16 fighter jet
crash during an advanced pilot training course. Kalpana “KC”
Chawla came to America from her native India to further her
education in aerospace engineering. She received her master’s
Quinn-McGowen Funeral
Home takes delivery of
New Lincoln Federal MKT
Hearse
BURGAW,NC—
Mrs. Ann
Debnam
of the
Quinn-
McGowen Funeral Home
,
Burgaw, NC takes delivery
of their new 2013 Lincoln
Federal MKT Commercial
Hearse sold by
Bill McKei-
than
of
Crain Sales
.
Quinn-McGowen Funeral
Home, Burgaw Chapel was
established in 1919, as one
of five branches bearing the
Quinn-McGowen name.
Over the years the branches
were separated and sold all
acquiring new names with
the exception of Quinn-
McGowen Funeral Home
of Burgaw. In 1979, the
Debnam family purchased
Quinn-McGowen Funer-
al Home and is continuing
the legacy of family owner-
ship. With a dedication to
continue serving their com-
munity the Debnam family
has broadened their area of
service to include New Ha-
nover, Brunswick and sur-
rounding counties.