Sandwich historian Joan Hardekopf and I recently found out we have a couple of things in common.

Talking about what famous people we had seen in person, she mentioned Eleanor Roosevelt and Bob Hope. It turns out we were in the same audiences more than 50 years ago when they made appearances in DeKalb County. The former first lady spoke at Altgeld Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus when Joan and I were students there.

Then there was Hope. We were in the crowd when he flew into the Sandwich Airport on July 20, 1969, to do a benefit show as a favor for a friend. Coincidentally, it was the same afternoon that the Apollo 11 astronauts were making the first moon landing. I was covering the Sandwich event for the Daily Chronicle, along with staff photographer Chuck Richardson.