Exploring an Astronaut's Roots

Exploring an Astronaut's Roots

Lorle Porter, 67, often can be seen walking along a brick street near her home in New Concord, Ohio (pop. 2,651), wearing a 1940s housedress that makes her look as if she stepped right out of history. And in a way, she has. Porter’s costume is part of her portrayal of Clara Glenn, the mother of New Concord’s favorite son, astronaut and senator John Glenn, at the John & Annie Glenn Historic Site—a living history museum that Porter helped found.

"My philosophy of teaching is that you’ve got to make the material come alive, and my acting is an extension of what I did as a teacher," says Porter, who retired from teaching history at New Concord’s Muskingum College in 1999 to devote her life to researching and interpreting local history.

Museum visitors get a tour of John Glenn’s actual boyhood home—complete with historical facts and anecdotes about the Glenn family—from Porter and other tour guides who portray family members. Glenn, born in nearby Cambridge, Ohio, was 2 years old when he and his family moved into the New Concord house in 1923.

Some visitors are so convinced of Porter’s portrayal of Clara that they aren’t sure what’s real and what’s not. "We’ve had people walk out of there and say, ‘I didn’t know his mother was still alive!’" says Debbie Allender, the museum’s site manager.

Porter, a sprightly, energetic woman devoted to the history of the town and its much-heralded astronaut, earned a doctorate in history in 1965 from the University of New Mexico. That same year she started teaching history at Muskingum College, where she now serves as professor emerita and regional historian-in-residence.

She has written eight books about the people and places of southeastern Ohio, including A People Set Apart: Scotch Irish in Eastern Ohio (1998) and Sarah’s Table: Keeping House in Ohio, 1800-1950 (2001). She says she’s happy to be able to provide her expertise as a historian to the local community and region.

"I found that as a professional historian I could help local groups," says Porter, who especially enjoys telling the story of John Glenn, who graduated from New Concord High School (now John Glenn High School) and attended Muskingum College until he left in 1943 to begin military service during World War II.

The idea for the living history museum began five years ago while Porter was working with the local community group R.E.NEW (Renew the Environment of New Concord). She conceived of a place that would tell the story of John, his wife, Annie, and the rest of the Glenn family, as well as the story of the town and the nation in the 1930s and ’40s. She wanted it to be a place where people could participate and better understand the man, who, in 1962, piloted America’s first manned orbital mission around the Earth.

"I don’t like house museums," Porter says. "We wanted to use the Glenn house in a different way." She eventually succeeded, and the John & Annie Glenn Historic Site, which opened in 2002, has since welcomed nearly 14,000 visitors.

From April through mid-November, the two-story, five bedroom house museum welcomes visitors of all ages, from busloads of senior citizens and grade school children, to random John Glenn admirers who happen to pass through town. Glenn, who donated his boyhood home for use as a museum, has himself visited the site several times.

"It’s been terribly gratifying to have it be successful," says Porter, who also serves as the museum’s part-time, paid assistant director and living history coordinator.

"She’s the heart and soul of this whole thing," says Don McKendry, the museum’s executive director. "She’s the one who created and brought to life the living history concept that makes this so unique. Without her inspiration, the program would not be what it is."

In everything she has done, Porter remains committed to the idea of making history accessible and understandable to people—and to making it fun.

"This is what I have done my whole life," Porter says. "You have to make things come alive or people are bored. And you do it through stories."

For more information, log on to www.johnglennhome.org or call (740) 826-3305.

Vivian Wagner is a freelance writer in New Concord, Ohio.

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