union since they had surprised us by putting up sputnik and then later beat us into orbit with uri gargaren before we could get alan shepherd into sub orbit and ultimately john glenn into orbit. and those were exciting times. i will never forget one time i heard thom as we were sitting around one day, he says i'm just impatient having to sleep because i'm so excited about getting up in the morning and going out and doing all these things, and of course i just listed all of those important positions of public service. along the way, thom became a good friend of another brevard countian, george barley -- well, actually, i think george was from orange county. george was married to mary, and both of them dedicated their lives to restoration of the everglades. george and mary established the everglades trust and the everglades foundation, and then when george died in a very tragic death back in 1995, thom joined with mary to make sure that george barley's dream of a restored everglades became a reality. thom was an active member of the republican party, but i can tell you that the friendship bet