William McCool -
Coronado 1979 Graduate----- Your Memories -----
Thanks for the website. Knew that name sounded familiar. I am proud that he went to Coronado.
Let's see... Willie was in quite a number of classes with me and he was a friend -- not one of my closest friends, but certainly a familiar friend. He was just about the same way in high school as he was at age 41. He was the prototypical clean-cut eagle scout. He was always very conscientious in his work and was an exemplary student.
Beyond that, Willie was a really nice guy. He was rather quiet -- not the boastful sort that we envision when we think of test pilots and astronauts. I think his favorite class was calculus, and our teacher, Mary Hildebrand, was probably his strongest influence in high school. Ed Jarman was very important to him as well. I remember Willie sitting right next to me in Calculus, and Danny Hindes sat right behind him. Danny would always be pulling odd things out of his infamous trench coat to illustrate math problems (once even a raw egg!), and Willie would just look down and shake his head with a big grin on his face. I think that's the image that will remain engrained in my head. Willie was always smiling to himself, as though he found a bit of humor in everything he saw. Nothing had changed over the decades. In all the shots I saw on the news, he was the same Willie I knew in high school.
Willie mostly ran with the math and science crowd -- me, Joe Gregg, Danny Hindes, Ted Crouch, and Molly Mills, to name a few. I've only been in recent communication with Danny Hindes. Now only was he one of Willie's closer friends, but he is also a Boeing engineer, and he's been following the coverage pretty closely.
I had a good cry when I heard the news, but I take great comfort in the fact that Willie died doing what he most wanted to do. I smiled when I saw NASA's press release interview with him prior to the flight. He was grinning from ear to ear -- probably the most eager astronaut I've ever seen. The real tragedy would be if he had died on the way up, not having the opportunity to do his job as an astronaut.
Hope that helps...
Peace,
Sarah Fox
PS Even though the press is calling him "William" he went by "Willie" up until the day he died. The space suit he died in had a patch that read, "Willie McCool." I think the press needs to know that.
I remember Willie as a warm, loving, understanding, caring individual. If u ever needed a shoulder to lean on, he was there to comfort u when you were down. He had a smile that would melt your heart. I knew him from choir and band. I also knew him from Track. My brother was in track with him. I was a Gandy's girl so I went to the track meets to watch him race. I went out with him a few times. He was always the gentlemen. He never had a harsh thing to say about anyone. I was very saddened when I heard the news about him. He died doing what he does best. I am very proud of him. He will always be a hero to me. I hope my kids will remember him and they can tell their kids about him too. I LOVE YOU WILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!