Beatrice Aikman wasn’t an astronaut, but the Santa Clara resident, who celebrated her 105th birthday Thursday, had a front row seat to the Golden Age of space travel.
Aikman spent more than two decades as the receptionist in the administration building of the NASA Ames Research Center, serving as the gatekeeper for NASA Ames founder Smith De France and his successors from the 1950s through the ’70s.
“You didn’t get into that place without going through her,” said her daughter, Marylin Townsend Stuart. “She met everybody. She met world leaders, dignitaries, everybody who came there.”
Aikman, who now lives in a residential care home not far from her house in Santa Clara, arrived at the Moffett Field facility in 1950 when it was still known as the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, a division of NASA’s forerunner, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Her job was to greet and direct VIPs who visited the facility, and as the Space Age bloomed in the early 1960s, that meant an endless parade of politicians and celebrities stopped by her desk. She met President Lyndon Johnson, the Shah of Iran and pretty much every astronaut from Mercury days to the Apollo moon landings. Even famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, who did some work with NASA in the early 1970s, was a visitor. He flirted with Aikman, her daughter said, and wanted to take her out to lunch, but she would have none of that.
In March 1962, Aikman received an award for Sustained Superior Performance from De France, and the commendation letter that came with the award emphasized — somewhat obliquely — what a difficult and delicate position Aikman occupied at Ames.
“The increase in visitors in recent months has placed upon you an even heavier burden of responsibility to which you have responded with unfailing tact, courtesy and resourcefulness,” it read. “Your skill and efficiency in dealing with difficult situations, arranging prompt contacts with Center officials and in welcoming large numbers of people agreeably and tactfully has been a valued contribution to the fine public reputation Ames Research Center enjoys.”
Translation: Thanks for saving our bacon with the VIPs, Bea.
When she finally retired in the 1970s, NASA was beginning the shuttle program, and a good deal of wind-tunnel testing and other development took place at Ames. In 2012, Townsend Stuart took her mother out to watch the space shuttle Endeavour fly overhead on the back of a 747 on its way to its own retirement home at the California Space Center in Los Angeles.
Aikman’s 105th birthday will be a bit quieter than her 100th. While her health is as good as could be expected at her age, she started having problems last year and moved into the residential care home on Pruneridge Avenue. That’s where the staff put together a small party for her, including cake and balloons. “She’s excited about her birthday,” said Townsend Stuart.
With the life she has led, another birthday should be a piece of cake.
THE FURRIES ARE BACK: It wouldn’t be January in downtown San Jose without Further Confusion, the anthromorphic animal/costuming convention better known as FurCon, taking over the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The furries will be in town through the weekend, so don’t be surprised if you see a lot of people with tails walking around.
Looking for the best views of the costumes? Check out the Fursuit Parade at 3 p.m. Saturday in the convention center. For more info on the event, go to www.furtherconfusion.org.
RADIO TRAFFIC: KLIV (1590 AM) traffic reporter John McLeod is getting a lot more airtime thanks to a new policy that started this week to provide a traffic report after every song on the country station. That’s about 14 traffic reports an hour, McLeod says.
Empire Broadcasting President Bob Kieve hit on the idea — probably while he was stuck in traffic.
