Remembering Annie Glenn

Age 100, St. Paul, Minn.
Passed away on May 19, 2020

Overcoming her stutter

Annie Glenn struggled with a chronic stutter and sometimes had to write notes to others instead of speaking. She bravely went on the campaign trail for her husband John in 1964 when he ran for the senate. In 1973, then in her 50s, she underwent a new treatment at the Communications Research Institute, curing her stutter. She devoted herself to helping those with a stutter and other disabilities. She was awarded by the American Speech and Hearing Association in 1983 for “providing an inspiring model for people with communicative disorders.”

Her love story with John Glenn

John and Annie knew each other as children in New Concord, Ohio, as their parents were part of the same community organization group. They were high school sweethearts and continued dating through college. They were married in 1943 shortly before John, a marine, would be shipped to the Pacific in World War II. When John became an astronaut in the Mercury 7 program during the space race, Annie was one of the celebrated astronaut wives who were known as the “Astronaut Wives Club.”

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