Anne Glenn has died at 100, the widow of the astronaut and fighter pilot John Glenn who was the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. She was his childhood sweetheart and suffered from the most severe level of stuttering which prevented her communicating until she took a course in her mid-fifties which cured her. In later years, during her husband’s four stint term as Senator, she campaigned tirelessly for those with speech disorders.
Born 17 February 1920 in Columbus, Ohio, no birth time, she was a Sun Aquarius with her Mercury in Pisces conjunct Uranus and opposition Saturn in Virgo and trine Pluto and Mars in Scorpio. So she had an overloaded and frustrated Water Grand Trine of Sun Mercury Uranus trine Mars trine Pluto formed into a Kite by the Saturn opposition.
Ebertin describes Saturn Mercury as leading sometimes to ‘defective speech’ and a blocking of the functional relationship of the nervous system to the organs of speech and hearing. Mercury Pluto can also lead to nervous irritation as does Mercury Mars.
When she was finally able to leave her stutter behind in 1973 tr Pluto was in a successful and confidence-boosting conjunction to her Solar Arc Jupiter; and tr Uranus was in a life-changing opposition to her Solar Arc Sun and Uranus. Tr Neptune was also square her Saturn and Mercury for a healing event which must also have felt quite disorienting after half a century.
Her husband John, 18 July 1921 4pm Cambridge, Ohio, had a powerful, intense, secretive and influential chart with an 8th house Cancer Sun conjunct Mars and Mercury Pluto also in the 8th – not that easy a personality despite his charmingly light-hearted 7th house Venus in Gemini. There are shades of JFK with that hefty 8th house which would make him courageous and attracted to high-risk situation.
Glenn had Jupiter Saturn conjunct in Virgo, sitting on his midheaven which would make him a good organiser and lucky. His adventurous and outspoken Uranus in the 3rd was opposition Jupiter and trine Pluto Mercury. His domestic and emotional life wouldn’t be too straightforward with his Capricorn Moon opposing Pluto, Mercury and Mars – that’s quite a psychological legacy which wouldn’t always make for a comfortable family life. Though he’d soak a good deal of it up in his war years, as an astronaut and later a senator. And those were different days with different kinds of marriages.
It wasn’t an intuitively obvious match with her Aquarius Sun and his Cancer Sun though her three Pisces planets and Mars in Scorpio would provide some cross over with his water planets. Their relationship chart did suggest a rather one-sided relationship where one partner had to sacrifice a good deal to make it work. There was a composite Mars Saturn suggesting a fair amount of work and duty/discipline. Though her disability must have also added an additional strain in the early years.
But for all that it’s reasonably well-knit together relationship chart, despite having stress and strains, with the composite Uranus opposition Saturn providing a platform for a Half Grand Sextile in trine/sextile to the Sun Mercury and Pluto. The composite Sun was also square Neptune for idealism if not realism – though I’d imagine there were disappointments along the way. Plus the composite Venus squares Pluto for passion and attraction. The Sun was also opposition the North Node tying them as a couple into the zeitgeist.
He had no Fixed planets while she had a Fixed Sun, Jupiter, Neptune Mars and maybe Moon, so she’d be the one with staying power.
When he had his five hours in space in 1962 tr Uranus was conjunct his Solar Arc Mars for a high-risk, adrenaline-pumping experience with his Solar Arc Jupiter in a successful square to his Sun; and a game-changing tr Pluto opposition his Uranus, sending his life off in a different trajectory thereafter. He became friendly with the Kennedys who suggested he go into politics and after a stint in business he did win a Senate seat in 1974, the first of four re-elections. He retired in 1999 and died aged 95.