The Death of Sally Ride
The death of Sally Ride last
week caught me by surprise as it did many.
Her smiling face was frozen in an earlier time. She had asked that people not talk about her
battle with pancreatic cancer and her wishes were honored. For those of us who knew her at a distance
she will be forever young.
She also ought to be forever
remembered. Her career reflects many if not most of the changes that have
impacted the lives of American women over the last half-century. We should read her story with unveiled
appreciation. Here at MIT her life lies behind the evolutionary changes that
have brought women to nearly half of the undergraduate student body. It is no longer foolish to dream of a life in
science if you are a girl. We all owe a
debt to Sally Ride.
She was fortunate to grow up
in Southern California, the child of educators who valued learning and
exploration. Her parents were elders in
their Presbyterian Church and her sister is a Presbyterian minister so the notion
of “calling” would not have been foreign to her. The exploration of space became her calling
and that translated in later years to opening the doors of the world she knew
to young women.
She went to the Westlake
School for Girls in Los Angeles and there found a mentor, Dr. Elizabeth
Mommaerts. When she became an astronaut she learned that she could not share
her triumph with the good doctor for she had taken her own life. Instead Ride
dedicated her first book to Dr. Mommaerts and to the fallen crew of the
Challenger. Exploration is a dangerous business and the casualties are not all
remembered.
For a time sport was a
passion. She thought she might one day crack the line-up of the Los Angeles
Dodgers and then she toyed with being a professional tennis player. At Stanford she excelled at Physics,
Astrophysics and English earning degrees in each. She chose to soar above the
earth calling it “The most fun I’ll ever have in my life.”
She was a role model for
many, a woman who shattered glass ceilings and left a legacy of accomplishment
marked by personal privacy. Her life partner was a woman, her work was to
encourage young women to pursue their interest in science and the sky was the
limit. She showed us how to reach for it. It is seldom in the trajectory of one
life we can see so much change unfold but her life is an encouraging tale
reminding us that individuals do make a difference. Read her story and be
reminded on whose courageous shoulders we stand.
