I was saddened to hear about the death of former U.S. Senator and astronaut John Glenn.

He was a true American hero. And he was a hero of mine partly because we shared the same birthday, July 18.

A former combat fighter pilot during World War II and the Korean Conflict, he flew 149 combat missions.

He was selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts and on Feb. 20, 1962, he put the United States back into the lead in the space race with the Soviet Union when he completed three orbits of the earth.

He was 40 years old when he took his historic mission in space. Add to that he had become an American icon, it was felt that he could not risk any more space travel.

He did get another chance to go into space, when he was 77 years old as a member of a space shuttle

In between his astronaut days and politics he served as a consultant to NASA and as an executive of Royal Crown Cola.

He was president of Royal Crown when he decided to enter politics and served four terms in the U.S. Senate representing his native state of Ohio.

He served until 1998.

I attended a National Newspaper Association event in Washington, D.C. in 1997. I was riding the underground people mover when it made a stop and a man got on board and sat across from me. I looked up and it was Sen. John Glenn. He even said hello to me after I nodded to him when we made eye contact.

It made my entire trip worthwhile.

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Glenn was the second astronaut I have met. When I was a senior in high school, Buzz Aldrin came to our physics class at West Phoenix High School. This was during the 1964-65 school year so nobody knew him. I was sitting by the door when he walked in and he shook my hand.

Little did any of us know that he would be the second person to walk on the moon some four years later.

Aldrin was in the news recently as he became ill on a vacation trip to the South Pole. He was air lifted to a hospital in New Zealand. He was said to have suffered from shortness of breath and heavy congestion. He spent a week in New Zealand receiving treatment.

The former astronaut is now 86 years old.

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Tomorrow at noon is the deadline to turn in your coupons for the final weekly drawing and the grand prize drawing in our Holidays Cash in the Hills contest.

You could win one of three grand prizes of $500, $300 or $200. The prizes are in Fountain Hills Times dollars. which can be spent in any of the participating businesses. The money must be spent by Jan. 31, 2017.

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We had a story on the front page last week about the first graduating Class of the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy.

The graduates completed an eight-week course covering such topics as Town government, the Sanitary District, public safety, youth and senior services, environment stewardship, schools, Chamber of Commerce, cultural and Fort McDowell.

I think this is a wonderful program that can pay many benefits to the town.