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Astronaut's widow never lost faith

By Charles E. Taylor

EL LAGO, Tex. -- When she remembered her dead husband, Pat White had to be happy Sunday.

"Ed would have been lust thrilled to death to see this day come. He really believed in it," she said.

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Edward H. White was one of those who died clearing the way for Apollo 11's landing on the moon. His pretty, blonde widow was the first neighbor to join the celebration at the home of an old family friend after Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. were safely down on the moon.

"I couldn't be happier." said Mrs. White as she walked from her home behind the Armstrong house through the backyards to share the moment with Jan Armstrong. Ed, Neil, Jan and Pat became friends when the husbands became astronauts.

"It's the culmination of a dream, a culmination for a lot of people. It's a happy day for a lot of people," said Pat.

Never Lost Faith

White, the country's first spacewalker, died with Virgil I. Grissom and Robert B. Chaffee Jan. 27, 1967, in the launch pad fire aboard the spacecraft they were scheduled to fly on the first manned Apollo mission.

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Has she ever lost faith in the space program?

"No. l kept thinking Ed wouldn't have wanted us to. He never did," she said.

Mrs. White stayed on in the space community after her husband died to let her two children finish school, and "Because we felt a part of the community. We felt very much a part of the program. This was a special mission for me."

"Neil and Ed came into the astronauts together," Mrs. White, said. "They trained together. They had the same friends and neighbors."

The pretty widow was told for the first time Sunday that medallions struck for the planned flight that her husband would have made went to the moon aboard Apollo 11 and will be given to her.

Her other mementoes are three of White's shoulder patches. Her children each have one, and White's brother has the third.

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