Annie Glenn, Widow Of Astronaut John Glenn, Dies Of COVID-19 Complications In Minn. Nursing Home
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- One of Minnesota's latest COVID-19 victims was a well-known historical figure.
Annie Glenn was the wife of Astronaut and Senator John Glenn. She moved to Minnesota in 2016 after her husband died to be close to her daughter.
"My mother and dad knew each other from the time they were two and they never went with anybody else," Lyn Glenn, Annie's daughter said.
The couple got engaged on the day Pearl Harbor was hit.
"Cross my heart I swear, Dad said to her, I can't promise you anything except life will not be boring," Lyn said.
And it was anything but -- John became an astronaut and a senator, and Annie, a renowned advocate for people with disabilities.
"She was an 85% stutterer," Lyn said. "It was almost impossible for her to communicate, she could not use the phone."
But the mother of two worked hard, enrolling in rigorous programs to later in life become a nearly fluent speaker, working to bring awareness and dignity to people with disabilities.
"As Dad said, she could walk with kings or paupers and still love them all the same so that's who she was," Lyn recalled.
Annie lost her life on Monday night to COVID 19. She caught it in her care facility, she had just turned 100 in February.
"No matter the age, if it was a child or an older person, she was still my Mom," Lyn said.
A Mom she didn't properly get to say goodbye to because of COVID.
"There are no words about what it's like not to be able to see or touch a person you love a lot," Lyn explained.
Amidst the loss, she's focusing on the love and the lives, even the sky couldn't limit.
"If there is a heaven I know they're together and I have no doubt about that," Lyn added.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association created an ANNIE award in Glenn's honor, for people who had battled with stuttering. Lyn says James Earl Jones was one of the recipients, as well as Joe Biden.
