The 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing brought back some fond memories of a remarkable dinner with Neil Armstong. I had joined a group of friends at the Bakersfield Business Conference, an annual event where 10,000 people gathered under tents to hear the world’s top business and political leaders. Neil Armstrong had spoken at this particular event and one of the members of our group knew him personally. We invited him to dinner at a wonderful local Italian restaurant and spent at least two hours listening to his stories, asking questions and drinking many bottles of great wine.

Well, after a few drinks, one of our friends mustered the courage to ask Mr. Armstrong what some of us had been thinking. “Okay, here goes,” our friend said during a lull in the conversation. “Did you really come up with ‘One small step for man…one giant leap for mankind,’ or did someone write it for you?” Armstrong assured us that he had several hours to think about what to say prior to stepping foot outside of the lunar landing vehicle. Everyone got a huge laugh out of the exchange. It showed Armstrong to be affable, self-effacing, and generous with his time and thoughts. A true hero.

-Carmine