Those attending Tuesday's reception for McCall astronaut Barbra Morgan got a sense of the noise of the space shuttle she traveled in this summer.
Morgan entered the gym amid the din of cheers, applause and the blaring of the McCall-Donnelly High School band. Young children covered their ears in the deafening fanfare.
McCall City Council member Bonnie Bertram said Morgan taught both of her daughters when they were in third and fourth grade.
"Barbara is a hometown girl; I'm going to be here," Bertram said.
Festive posters in various combinations of red, white and blue decorated the walls. One showed the space shuttle piggyback on its rocket booster shooting through space.
"Way to make your dream a reality," read one poster. "You are an inspiration to us all," proclaimed another.
Harold Hoff from Asotin, Wash., came to see Morgan at the urging of his great-granddaughter, Anisa Ryan, a McCall Elementary School third grader.
Emotional Reunion
Tears gleamed in Morgan's eyes as she looked across the audience. When her turn to speak came, her voice and countenance were warm and sincere. Her voice choked with emotion when she spotted friends' faces among the crowd.
Morgan presented a video slide show of her favorite photos from her space mission. Eyes riveted on the screen as the images slid past. Youngsters stared in wonder and didn't fidget in their seats.
McCall Hotel owner David Carey brought his 3-year-old daughter, Ella, to meet Morgan. She clamped her hands over her ears because the clapping scared her.
"Even if she doesn't totally take it in now, for her to understand in the future, she was here to meet (Morgan)," Carey said.
The cheerleaders who were part of the welcome committee weren't born yet when Morgan embarked upon the adventure of her lifetime, but they still could appreciate her endeavor.
"It's really cool to have someone who has actually been in space and really accomplished something to be from McCall and come back here," Megan Licht said.
"Not many people get to see a real astronaut in person," Caitlin Andrew said.
"It was pretty amazing to see her go up in the shuttle and to come back down, pretty amazing to see her again," Kassie Herbst said.
The event was exciting for Mikayla Goodwin, a McCall fifth-grader. "I think it's cool because she went to space and now she's visiting her home town," Goodwin said.
Her mother, Lynn Goodwin, said the family talked about Morgan's visit a lot at home. Seeing Morgan return to McCall in triumph carried special significance for Goodwin.
"Because I was there at day one," she said. Morgan was Goodwin's fourth grade teacher, and she was an aide in high school for Morgan the semester after the space shuttle Challenger blew up in 1986.
"I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was really excited to see her," Goodwin said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I could tell that she was happy to be home," she said. "This is her community; this is her school; this is where she grew up as a teacher."
Morgan was already gone to Houston 10 years ago when Wayne Ruemmele and his family moved to McCall, but he still felt pride seeing her walk in. He was pleased to learn McCall students gave the space shuttle Endeavour its name.
As Morgan finished, the crowd stood for a rousing ovation. Hands clapped and waved in the air amid cheers and whistles. The audience was awash with faces beaming with pride. A group
of well-wishers pressed toward the stage.
McCall resident Marilyn Arp was touched to see her longtime friend again. Arp was on the M-D school board when Morgan was still teaching for M-D in the years before she became an astronaut, and now she sees her friend every few years.
"Looked like the same old Barbara ... Brings tears to my eyes; always does," Arp said.
