She met future astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in high school in Mitchell, Indiana; they married in 1945. She worked as a late-night phone operator to help pay for his studies at Purdue University, where he majored in mechanical engineering.
I'm pretty sure he got to the moon before they [subsequent Apollo moon missions] did. Of course he didn't make it, but in spirit I think he was already there.
