The award honoree at the Pomona Public Library fundraiser said the library had played a crucial role in sparking his imagination. His words had extra weight, because his dreams had carried him farther than any human before him: 252,756 miles from Earth.
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It was Victor Glover, 50, the astronaut from the Artemis II moon flyby in April, who was born in Pomona and attended the city’s Allison Elementary.
He spoke to attendees at the Mayor’s Gala for the Pomona Public Library Foundation via a short prerecorded video. In his flight suit, Glover said: “Growing up in Pomona, the public library and the school library were the first places I got to go on those flights of fancy.”
Accepting the Mayor’s Award for him were two of his aunts.
“While his work has taken him far from home, and even around the planet, he has never forgotten where he came from,” Tanya Glover-Patterson affirmed.
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“While he was up in space, he would send us emails,” Mia Buis said. “We’d say, ‘space mail!’” Buis called Glover a reader and lifelong learner and shared: “Victor’s grandmother, my mother, was a librarian.” She’s one too.
As the dinner, which grossed $102,000 before expenses, neared its end, I asked Mayor Tim Sandoval to confirm the aunt’s names. He asked if I’d like to meet them.
Minutes later, we were arrayed on plush sofa seats for a chat. Glover-Patterson lives in Corona. Buis lives in Ontario. They are sisters to Victor Glover Sr., the astronaut’s father.
The elder Glover graduated in 1972 from Ganesha High, where he met classmate Cynthia Maxwell, whom he wed, his sisters said. She became a bookkeeper and he was hired as an officer by the Pomona Police Department.
Victor Jerome Glover Jr. was born on April 30, 1976.
The sisters saw him frequently. So did Kim Johnson, whose mother was best friends with their mother. They fondly recall a family trip to Yosemite with “Little Victor,” as they call him.
“He was brilliant since he was a little boy,” Buis said. “He would take things apart and put them back together.”
The Glovers divorced. Glover Sr. left the police force after an eye injury and worked in loss prevention for 7-Eleven, KFC and Motel 6, the sisters said.
First Glover Sr. was sent to Texas, which is where young Victor went to middle school, and then back to Ontario, where his son attended Ontario High, graduating in 1994. Glover Jr. was a standout student, focused on science and engineering, as well as a multi-sport athlete.
“Yes, he’s an engineer and a pilot and an astronaut,” Johnson said, “but he also had a normal childhood.”
He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, graduating in 1999. His goal was to be a pilot.
“He wanted to fly commercially first, with United,” Buis said, but joined the Navy in 1999 after learning that was a faster route to his goal. In two years, Glover had his naval aviator wings. But he stuck with the Navy as a pilot. He’s currently a captain.
In 2013, he was a legislative fellow with Sen. John McCain’s office when he was selected as an astronaut candidate.
Glover around the same time had met President Barack Obama and was invited to be the president’s pilot, the sisters said. Glover, his eye on the long term, chose the astronaut path rather than a short-term assignment with a president, they said.
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He’s had two missions aboard the International Space Station and has gone on four spacewalks. Artemis II took him and three crewmates on the first return flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Glover was the first Black astronaut on a moon mission.
His nickname is Ike. As IKE, it’s his Navy and NASA call sign. Bestowed by a commanding officer, it stands for “I Know Everything.”
“He’s a student 24/7,” Glover-Patterson said. “He inhales knowledge.”
The trio praised him for his giving nature. At events, he talks to everyone in the room, signs autographs and poses for photos.
“He’s an awesome, humble young man,” Patterson-Glover said. “When he comes to my house,” the Corona resident said, “he cooks, he cleans.”
I let this sink in for a moment, then asked: “Would he come to my house?”
“He would, he would,” she assured me with a laugh.
Glover attends a Churches of Christ congregation in Texas, where he lives, and speaks frequently about his faith. His emails to family from Artemis II included biblical references that occurred to him while in space.
“He knows he’s in God’s country,” Patterson-Glover said.
Buis, a librarian at Bon View Elementary in Ontario, said her nephew once spoke to an assembly, encouraging youngsters to be lifelong learners like him. His message, as she remembered it: “Keep working, keep studying, and you can all go to space too.”
The three hadn’t seen him since his April spaceflight, but he will be in the area this week, speaking at Ontario High on Friday, and they will catch up with him then.
How the Artemis II mission may have changed him, or altered his outlook, remains to be seen.
“He emails once a month to let us know what’s going on,” Patterson-Glover said. “He’s just got a new feel, being thankful and grateful for the opportunity he’s been given.”
Going once…
Once again, the Mayor’s Gala silent auction included one-on-one lunches with bigwigs around the city: Mayor Tim Sandoval, Police Chief Mike Ellis, Superintendent of Schools Darren Knowles, and council members Lorraine Canales, Nora Garcia and Victor Preciado, each at a starting bid of $100, proceeds to benefit the Library Foundation.
Sandoval, appropriately, went for the highest amount, $260, trailed by Garcia at $200 and Canales at $170. Lunch with Preciado went for $110. Maybe bidders were afraid he would eat their fries.
Ellis and Knowles each got the minimum bid, $100. Yours truly, meanwhile, was offered up for coffee only — and fetched $140.
What does this say about my appeal relative to the six officials? Probably nothing we would want to dwell on. Joking aside, I’m delighted to have been of small assistance to the library.
Also, the next time a friend invites me to coffee, my first question will be: “What’s it worth to you?
brIEfly
An unknown number of copies of the Pomona city recreation guide mailed to homes contained adult content ads. City Hall is trying to determine where in the production process the pages were substituted, with a spokesperson Monday blaming “a rogue actor.” Ron Jeremy or Stormy Daniels?
David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, roguishly. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.
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