History: Gunn is Grants' Connection to the Moon Landing
Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - by Paul Milan, Historical Society, for the Cibola Beacon
Robert Gunn, son of Wallace and Mary Gunn from Cubero, graduated from Grants Union High School in 1953 and received his Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1957 from New Mexico A & M, Las Cruces (NMSU), with highest honors.
I had the opportunity go to high school with my cousin Robert and we roomed together in college. Although Robert was the quiet type he had a sense of humor that made going through college pleasant for both of us. The college had lots of research going on and they were constantly asking students to fill out questionnaires.
He loved to fill out the part that asked for your ethnic background.
He would check almost every box: Mexican, Spanish, White, Scotch, and Native American. He was one-fourth Scotch, one-fourth Laguna, and one-half Spanish-Mexican and had freckles and was of light complexion.
They would call him in and ask him if he was playing a joke on them because this was serious research and needed to be accurate. In those days the fraternities would not invite minorities to join but they all wanted Robert because of his grade point and he would laugh because they would assure him that they didn’t allow minorities in their fraternity.
Later on a group of minorities started a fraternity, which we both joined, the first year we were number one in grade point average and sports.
During our time in high school we ate lunch together and we played our mothers to get them to prepare great lunches.
I would tell my mother that Aunt Mary was going to fix lunch for all of us and we would brag to my mother about the chicken, pies, cakes, and cookies that we had for lunch and Robert would tell his mother that Aunt Bennie was fixing lunches the following day and he would brag to his mother.
This went on for three years, since Robert was a year behind me. We also played on our mothers in college since we had no Twitters or telephones at the dorm, all our communication was by letters.
He would write his mother that Aunt Bennie sent us a box of homemade candy and a box of cookies would come by return mail.
Then I would write home telling them the same.
We always had visitors to our room checking to see if the package had gotten in yet.
My worst class was math. Robert was a whiz at math and I was told by one of his high school classmates that when the math teacher would ask if anyone had any questions. When Robert would ask, the response was usually, “You are three chapters ahead. I will get to your question then.”
In college he was visited quite often for math tutoring. He got me through my simple math courses. The Physics Department constantly tried to get him to change his major to physics but his dream was to be a mechanical engineer.
After Robert graduated, he was hired by North American Rocketdyne as a Junior Research Engineer.
In 1961 he stopped by on his way to Cubero and told me that he was on a team that was going to put a man on the moon by 1969.
I laughed at the whole idea telling him “How will you get them back, and if you discover precious metals how are you going to haul them to Earth?”
Robert was very confident and worked on the project until they landed on the moon, finishing the project as a Senior Research Engineer.
Robert was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease during this time and died a couple of years after the moon landing.
Each of the crew that worked on the development of the rocket was given a replica of the moon landing sculpture, which his family cherished.
Although Robert was weakened by the disease he still worked full time, bought a house with apartments that he maintained and repaired himself so that he would have something to do. Even falling off the roof and breaking his leg didn’t stop him from working.
Robert also ventured in a few businesses to occupy his spare time. When we came home from college we would celebrate the vacation by doing nothing but visit friends and party. Robert would work at his father’s trading post and mother’s café, and took the time to take apart and clean a Model T or Model A that he and his brother had built during high school. Some people live a long life and do not accomplish what Robert did during his short life of 33 years - like sending a rocket to the moon.
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan, a longtime Cibola County resident, is historian of the Cibola County Historical Society.
I had the opportunity go to high school with my cousin Robert and we roomed together in college. Although Robert was the quiet type he had a sense of humor that made going through college pleasant for both of us. The college had lots of research going on and they were constantly asking students to fill out questionnaires.
He loved to fill out the part that asked for your ethnic background.
He would check almost every box: Mexican, Spanish, White, Scotch, and Native American. He was one-fourth Scotch, one-fourth Laguna, and one-half Spanish-Mexican and had freckles and was of light complexion.
They would call him in and ask him if he was playing a joke on them because this was serious research and needed to be accurate. In those days the fraternities would not invite minorities to join but they all wanted Robert because of his grade point and he would laugh because they would assure him that they didn’t allow minorities in their fraternity.
Later on a group of minorities started a fraternity, which we both joined, the first year we were number one in grade point average and sports.
During our time in high school we ate lunch together and we played our mothers to get them to prepare great lunches.
I would tell my mother that Aunt Mary was going to fix lunch for all of us and we would brag to my mother about the chicken, pies, cakes, and cookies that we had for lunch and Robert would tell his mother that Aunt Bennie was fixing lunches the following day and he would brag to his mother.
This went on for three years, since Robert was a year behind me. We also played on our mothers in college since we had no Twitters or telephones at the dorm, all our communication was by letters.
He would write his mother that Aunt Bennie sent us a box of homemade candy and a box of cookies would come by return mail.
Then I would write home telling them the same.
We always had visitors to our room checking to see if the package had gotten in yet.
My worst class was math. Robert was a whiz at math and I was told by one of his high school classmates that when the math teacher would ask if anyone had any questions. When Robert would ask, the response was usually, “You are three chapters ahead. I will get to your question then.”
In college he was visited quite often for math tutoring. He got me through my simple math courses. The Physics Department constantly tried to get him to change his major to physics but his dream was to be a mechanical engineer.
After Robert graduated, he was hired by North American Rocketdyne as a Junior Research Engineer.
In 1961 he stopped by on his way to Cubero and told me that he was on a team that was going to put a man on the moon by 1969.
I laughed at the whole idea telling him “How will you get them back, and if you discover precious metals how are you going to haul them to Earth?”
Robert was very confident and worked on the project until they landed on the moon, finishing the project as a Senior Research Engineer.
Robert was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease during this time and died a couple of years after the moon landing.
Each of the crew that worked on the development of the rocket was given a replica of the moon landing sculpture, which his family cherished.
Although Robert was weakened by the disease he still worked full time, bought a house with apartments that he maintained and repaired himself so that he would have something to do. Even falling off the roof and breaking his leg didn’t stop him from working.
Robert also ventured in a few businesses to occupy his spare time. When we came home from college we would celebrate the vacation by doing nothing but visit friends and party. Robert would work at his father’s trading post and mother’s café, and took the time to take apart and clean a Model T or Model A that he and his brother had built during high school. Some people live a long life and do not accomplish what Robert did during his short life of 33 years - like sending a rocket to the moon.
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan, a longtime Cibola County resident, is historian of the Cibola County Historical Society.