Titusville, Florida is where I grew up. My family moved there in 1966 when I was four, and we left in 1974 when I was 12, so if I’m asked, that’s “where I’m from.” My father worked for IBM’s Federal Systems Division as a quality engineer for the Saturn V Instrument Unit, the guidance system of the rocket. We didn’t see dad a lot during those eight years. After the last Saturn V launch put Skylab in orbit IBM no longer had a contract, and Dad had to transfer back to the division that made commercial products – this time the first of the grocery store laser scanner cash register systems. We relocated to North Carolina.
Titusville was a great place to grow up during that period, but since the manned space program has been shut down, it’s fallen on pretty hard times, apparently. I haven’t been there since my wife and I honeymooned in Florida in 1995. We stayed at the Holiday Inn there the evening of August 3 when Hurricane Erin came ashore just a few miles South of the hotel.
Good times.