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Commander Remembered in Hometown, Amarillo

Aired February 03, 2003 - 13:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The commander of Columbia's last flight, Air Force Colonel Rick Husband, was a native of Amarillo, Texas. He was very proud of that fact, and his town returned the favor. He was the pride of Amarillo.
Joining us from Amarillo, Texas to tell us more about all of that is CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

Hello, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Miles, I'm here not only in Amarillo, but at Big Texan Steak Ranch, and this is the restaurant where Rick Husband chose to have his celebration dinner when they came back from his shuttle mission in 1999.

This is the thank-you that he sent to the restaurant.

He brought his entire crew down here, he brought the whole crew down to this restaurant.

And you can see here, here is Rick Husband, posing for a picture, holding a sign that says, "speed limit, 17,500 miles."

And here with me are two folks from the restaurant who were with Rick Husband during that time.

Danny Lee is one of the owners of the restaurant.

And what do you remember about Rick Husband during that party?

DANNY LEE, KNEW RICK HUSBAND: Well, first off, when he stepped out of the limousine, I thought this is a guy that should be stepping outside an old '65 ford; he would be more comfortable there. But was just a down to basics type guy that was more interested with our operation than he was really talking about space exploration. He couldn't say enough about our restaurant and what they were talking about up in space, and the possibility with even our billboard advertising on the highway, possibly extending it up into space.

Just a person that, like I said, was more interested in what was going on with us as a person. You almost had to fight him to get a word in about, hey, what was in like in space? What was 0-g all about? And what do you up there?

COHEN: That's what I keep hearing, is he was so -- such a regular guy, even though he was smarter than most of us and had achieved much more.

LEE: It was. His parents were the same way. It wasn't just Rick, it was that family that he was from, and the Amarillo-type attitude of being just generally interested in what we were doing, and that extended from his parents, too; they were busy asking us.

COHEN: Thank you, Danny.

And Hody Porterfield is a living historian of this plains area of Texas, and you work here at restaurant also. And tell us, what you remember of Rick Husband from that party?

HODY PORTERFIELD, KNEW RICK HUSBAND: Rick never met a stranger. During the party, I was kind of trying to stay in the background, and he came over to me, introduced himself, and he said, I'd like to have my picture made with you. And I said, why? He said, because we can call it pioneers then and now. He said, I just think it will be neat to have a picture made with you. And I was struck about how sincere a man he was, how he -- he didn't miss a thing, and treated everyone with so much respect. Such a nice guy, with such a good sense of humor.

COHEN: Great, thank you. Thank you, both, very much. Thanks for being with us. Mile, that what I've heard from everyone in Amarillo, that not only was Rick Husband obviously a smart man, a scientist, a man of great learning, but that he was also a man of faith and a man who loved people.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 3, 2003 - 13:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The commander of Columbia's last flight, Air Force Colonel Rick Husband, was a native of Amarillo, Texas. He was very proud of that fact, and his town returned the favor. He was the pride of Amarillo.
Joining us from Amarillo, Texas to tell us more about all of that is CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

Hello, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Miles, I'm here not only in Amarillo, but at Big Texan Steak Ranch, and this is the restaurant where Rick Husband chose to have his celebration dinner when they came back from his shuttle mission in 1999.

This is the thank-you that he sent to the restaurant.

He brought his entire crew down here, he brought the whole crew down to this restaurant.

And you can see here, here is Rick Husband, posing for a picture, holding a sign that says, "speed limit, 17,500 miles."

And here with me are two folks from the restaurant who were with Rick Husband during that time.

Danny Lee is one of the owners of the restaurant.

And what do you remember about Rick Husband during that party?

DANNY LEE, KNEW RICK HUSBAND: Well, first off, when he stepped out of the limousine, I thought this is a guy that should be stepping outside an old '65 ford; he would be more comfortable there. But was just a down to basics type guy that was more interested with our operation than he was really talking about space exploration. He couldn't say enough about our restaurant and what they were talking about up in space, and the possibility with even our billboard advertising on the highway, possibly extending it up into space.

Just a person that, like I said, was more interested in what was going on with us as a person. You almost had to fight him to get a word in about, hey, what was in like in space? What was 0-g all about? And what do you up there?

COHEN: That's what I keep hearing, is he was so -- such a regular guy, even though he was smarter than most of us and had achieved much more.

LEE: It was. His parents were the same way. It wasn't just Rick, it was that family that he was from, and the Amarillo-type attitude of being just generally interested in what we were doing, and that extended from his parents, too; they were busy asking us.

COHEN: Thank you, Danny.

And Hody Porterfield is a living historian of this plains area of Texas, and you work here at restaurant also. And tell us, what you remember of Rick Husband from that party?

HODY PORTERFIELD, KNEW RICK HUSBAND: Rick never met a stranger. During the party, I was kind of trying to stay in the background, and he came over to me, introduced himself, and he said, I'd like to have my picture made with you. And I said, why? He said, because we can call it pioneers then and now. He said, I just think it will be neat to have a picture made with you. And I was struck about how sincere a man he was, how he -- he didn't miss a thing, and treated everyone with so much respect. Such a nice guy, with such a good sense of humor.

COHEN: Great, thank you. Thank you, both, very much. Thanks for being with us. Mile, that what I've heard from everyone in Amarillo, that not only was Rick Husband obviously a smart man, a scientist, a man of great learning, but that he was also a man of faith and a man who loved people.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com