Land, sea, and air. All have Clarence Harms in common. In World War ? he was in the Navy and spent most of his time in submarines. The Navy Seaman  commented that at 5’ 8’’ he was able to get in and out of the bulkhead tenders quickly and he was the perfect size for this task. He also was a superb mechanic in his days. Traveling was a big part of the Navy; he went all around the world from across the Equator, to the Panama Canal, and Australia. When I asked him what his favorite place was to travel and he said Australia. Why? Because the people there are very much like us. “Another fella, Larry, and I met two ladies there and were invited to dinner by one of their fathers. We were always good sailors, we never did anything wrong!” he recalls.

It wasn’t long at sea until he took to the air, more specifically space. The Mercury, Apollo, and Gemini missions all have him as one of their engineers. He went to every Apollo rocket launch. He specifically remembers the night of Apollo 13. The phone rang late at night. It was “all hands on deck,” he said. Then told his wife “get the kids up and call Pastor to get the Prayer change going, we do not think we can get the boys home.”  He said that it was a work of God that saved them. He said what saved the Boys along with God’s guidance was an Omega watch due to the navigational system being down.  This was the only thing the engineers could rely on for the maneuvers needed to bring them home. He then retired in 1983.

In 1983, he took to the land with his fix it projects for church and school, as well as his paintings. At 96 years old he is still painting. There is one picture of a horse Rex.  He recalls “ I know a couple of cowboys from out west. Rex one and two. The old man was Rex and had two kids. I visited them out west. I drove in a jeep and almost flew out. The guy driving was a little reckless. A relative of mine was out there. He let me ride a horse.” 

Whether is was the land, sea or the air, Clarence Edward John Harms was successful in whatever he set his mind to. He was passionate in everything he did in life. The advice he gave me was to always look heavenward for your direction, be kind to all, and use your God given talents.