Source: Smith Collection/Gado / Getty
God Bless Ms. Katherine Johnson (Grandma) a long life family friend.
The friendship started with my parents then formed into a family bond that has stood for a lifetime. We called her Grandma. As a young teen, I would go over to the house with the rest of the family & friends, eat, fellowship and just do what teens do, not really knowing what Grandma did. I just knew she worked at NASA.
She was such a humble soul, non-judgemental and just a beautiful person. It wasn’t until late in life that we understood the impact of how her simple love for numbers, transcended her precision skill as the go-to mathematician that John Glenn (first astronaut on the moon) said if Katherine Johnson can’t give me the coordinance, I’m not going. That was 1961. She was putting someone on the moon when I was coming out of the womb.
Myself & Michele Boykin,(Granddaughter) talked before her passing and to her I said, you know where my heart stands right about now. To you and the family know that she received her flowers while she was still with us and now she has her wings. Her story, her life, and her legacy will live on forever in the hearts and minds of everyone across this country especially with little girls and young women aspiring to reach the height of heights and say like Katherine Johnson. I can do it too. What is so beautiful about this story in death, is that God allowed her not only to achieve greatness but to see her greatness. She will always be an inspiration to me because when you work not unto please people, but to please God along with a humble heart, he will show you things that you can only imagine. Pioneer, Trailblazer & Hidden Figures Icon… What a wonderful life of a great woman. I pray for peace for the entire family at this time of loss.
Sending out love to Douglas Boykin Gregory Boykin Laurie Hylick Braxton
