FRAMINGHAM, MA and PHILADELPHIA, PA – The United States Mint has begun taking orders for a 2021 Silver Dollar to commemorate Christa McAuliffe, who grew up in the and went on the become the First Teacher in Space and was tragically killed in the 1986 NASA Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.
Christa McAuliffe, who was born Sharon Christa Corrigan, but known as “Christa” since childhood, grew up off Water Street and graduated from Framingham’s Marian High School in 1966. She went on to earn her bachelors degree at Framingham State College, studying American History and Education, then earned her Masters Degree in Education from Bowie State College.
FRAMINGHAM, MA – 2014 is a landmark year for the Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni (IAFSA). It was founded 140 years ago in 1874.
Drawing from its archives and loaned items from alumni, IAFSA staff and volunteers have assembled a 140th Anniversary Celebration Exhibit at Alumni House, 42 Adams Road, Framingham.
As honored guests, members of the Framingham State Class of 1964 will officially open the exhibit with a ribbon-cutting ceremony during IAFSA’s annual meeting on Saturday morning, May 17th, 2014. The exhibit will close following IAFSA’s student scholarship award reception in the fall.
The exhibit features student life, alumni achievements and reminisces. It includes a retrospective fashion display, mementos, and (more…)
Will a degree from Framingham State University look better than one from a mere college? And what to do about those who routinely shorten the name to "FSC" ? , (initials which no longer fit!)
FRAMINGHAM, MA – “Framingham State University” is now the official name of the school which has sat atop Bare Hill since 1853.
The school was originally founded in 1839 as a state-funded “Normal School” to standardize, (or “normalize“), the training of teachers in America.
The Normal School was first located in Lexington and then Newton, MA and after outgrowing both locations moved to Framingham where it has flourished and grown for more than a century and a half.
An act which became effective October 26, 2010 changes M.G.L. Ch. 15A, Sec. 5, and creates sub-sections of the law which in addition to renaming (6) colleges, breaks the state’s system of higher education into three segments;
FRAMINGHAM, MA – The MetroWest Radio Reading Service joins Framingham State College in observing the 20th anniversary of the Challenger Accident and celebrates the life of Christa McAuliffe.
The MetroWest Radio Reading Service has a program every Monday and Thursday from 2:30 until 4-00 p.m. called, “Reading at F.S.C.” where we feature books recorded by our volunteers in their entirety.
Beginning on Monday, January 9, 2006, The Metro West Radio Reading Service will present “A Journal for Christa” by Grace George Corrigan.
The episodes will run as follows:
Monday, January 9, Episode One – 2:30 until 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 12, Episode Two- 2:30 until 4:00 p.m.
(Monday, January 16, is a holiday, Martin Luther King Day)
Thursday, January 19, Episode Three – 2:30 until 4:00 p.m.
Monday, January 23, Episode Four – 2:30 until 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 26, Episode Five – 2:30 until 4:00 p.m.
Friday, January 27, a special edition of “Reading at F.S.C.” from 2:30 until 4:00 p.m, Episode Seven.
The Metro West Radio Reading Service is a Community Outreach program of the Disability Services Office at Framingham State College and an affiliate of the Talking Information Center Massachusetts Reading Network under the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.
For more information and a complete schedule you can contact the Disability Services at Framingham State College at 508-626-4627 or the Talking Information Center at 1-800-696-9505 or check our two websites: www.framingham.edu/disabilityservices or ticnetwork.com
FRAMINGHAM, MA – The Christa McAuliffe Center, in collaboration with Framingham State College, will sponsor events during the week of January 23 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Challenger accident, which occurred January 28, 1986. Among the scheduled activities will be screenings of the documentary Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars, by independent filmmakers Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges. The film is narrated by Susan Sarandon and features the ballad “You’re Where I Go” by Carly Simon.
Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin says the film is “a compelling and honest account of Challenger 51L’s ‘Teacher in Space’ mission. A portrait of a courageous young teacher whose enthusiasm for education and optimism in the future of America’s young people came to express the driving force behind the space program itself – our passionate belief in a boundless future. An inspiring tribute to a true American hero”.
Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, a Framingham local and FSC graduate, Class of 1970, was a social studies teacher in Concord, New Hampshire when she was selected from thousands of applicants to be NASA’s first civilian astronaut. Her mission was to make space exploration come alive for millions of school children across America.
The documentary examines Christa’s personal journey as a fledging astronaut. The producers worked closely with Christa McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan, and other members of her family, gaining access to exclusive family photos and home movies. Together the material paints a new and more intimate portrait of Christa’s public and private life.
For more information on the screenings and other activities to mark this anniversary, please contact the Challenger Learning Center at 508-626-4050, or visit: www.christa.org
FRAMINGHAM, MA– Between Mother’s Day and Father’s day, husband and wife, parents, Framingham residents and co-authors, David and Elsa Hornfischer find themselves telling and retelling the story of how their books came to be…
Listening to rock superstar Sting give a commencement address at Berklee College of Music, (where Dave is a Vice President), and hearing how Sting’s mother had influenced his life, and later, when they were discussing how the public was so interested in celebrity lives, and stories of what influenced people to succeed, Dave and Elsa came up with an idea for a book about mothers of famous people…
The Hornfischers knew that finding an agent and publisher were nearly as hard as writing a book — they knew since their son Jim is a literary agent and an author himself, (Right Thinking, by James D. Hornfischer, Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster).
Like many parents, the Hornfischers try to show interest in their children’s work, so Dave and Elsa have presented several ideas for books to Jim, but none were ever written. This idea was different. Jim liked it enough to talk to a publisher, who also liked the idea and gave the couple a contract and an advance to produce the book “Mother Knew Best… wit and wisdom from the moms of celebrities“.
Research for the book was done almost exclusively at the Framingham Public Library, by reading biographys and looking for quotes that reflected the influence mothers had on their famous offspring. While doing research the Hornfishers categorized the subjects based on seven recurring virtues that the mothers had instilled; Ambition, Courage, Devotion, Faith, Perspective, Responsibility, and Self-Discipline. One example, a “perspective” story is that of W.C. Fields who learned his sense of timing and sense of humor from his mom who later seeing him perform a routine in New York, commented, “I didn’t realize you were watching me so closely as a child”.
Having sold some 20,000 copies of the book, the Hornfischers naturally followed with “Father Knew Best…“, which was released in April of 1997. The books each contain 101 quotes and anecdotes about parents of famous people.
Father Knew Best
The couple and their books have been featured in radio, newspaper and magazine articles, and they even maintain their own web site to promote the books and their other interests which include Elsa’s stained glass work, (Elsa is also Framingham Town Meeting Member, and recently on the Rt. 126 Corridor Study). Dave writes reviews on sports and business books and posts them on the website along with info from his academic/financial interests. (Here’s one of Elsa’s stained glass pieces!)
Stained Glass piece by Elsa Hornfischer
Taking a quote from their homepage on why the books are so popular, the Hornfischers write; “At a time when our society is looking to understand, develop and enhance the concept of family values, it is important that we look to our role models for illustrative examples of how their values were shaped by their parents”.
The couple’s has two maried children, Jim, a literary agent living with his wife Sharon and child ‘to be’ in Austin TX, and Amy (Michaud), who attended Framingham South High and lives in Framingham with her husband Marcel and son Jacob.
Here’s a list of just some of the celebrities in the “Knew Best..” books; Milton Berle, Frank Lloyd Wright, Booker T.Washington, Zsa Zsa Gabor, James Whistler, Lou Gehrig, Joan Lunden, Henry Fonda, Dan Rather , Gene Autry, Joan Rivers, Norman Vincent Peale, Shelly Winters, Reba McEntire, Helen Keller, Douglas MacArthur, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Henry Kissinger, Geraldine Ferraro, Jackie Robinson, Chris Burke, Hans Christian Anderson, Andrew Jackson, Carl Sandburg, Sojourner Truth, Hume Cronyn, Dan Jansen, Elvis Presley, Leonard Bernstein, Emmitt Smith, Dr. Charles Mayo, Jack Benny, Sally Jessy Raphael, Bill Cosby, Larry King, Sigmond Freud, Bill Russell, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roger Clemens, Van Cliburn, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Sting, Mohammad Ali, Loretta Lynn, Mahatma Gandhi, Dolly Parton, Mother Theresa, Robert Frost, Robert Louis Stevenson , Marian Anderson, Naomi Judd, Kathie Lee Gifford, Danny Thomas, Diana Ross, Johnny Cash, Rachael Carson, John Cleese, Eric Sevareid, David Brenner, W. C. Fields, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, Will Rogers, Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Harry S. Truman, Meryl Streep, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Shirley Temple Black, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Norman Rockwell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Mark Twain, Dr. Benjamin Spock, David Letterman, Barbara Bush, Lauren Bacall, Warrick Dunn, Barbara Lavallee, Patsy Cline, Louisa May Alcott, Houdini, Bill Gates, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ginger Rogers, Albert Einstein, Marie Antoinette, Jimmy Carter, Dale Carnegie Tom Seaver, Henry Ford, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Edison, Martina Navatilova, Christa McAuliffe, Margaret Thatcher, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Spielberg, Mickey Mantle, Michael Jordan, Carl Yastrzemski, Roberto Clemente, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Bill Bradley, Fiorello LaGuardia, Pablo Picasso, Ansel Adams, Paul Simon, Liza Minnelli, Walt Disney, Conrad Hilton, and many more…
The Hornfischers
will be doing
a book signing at
Borders Bookstore
Framingham, MA
June 7, 1997
Mother Knew Best…
wit and wisdom from moms of celebrities.
ISBN: 0-452-27618-7
Penguin/Plume
(paperback) $9.95
Father Knew Best…wit and wisdom from dads of celebrities.
ISBN: 0-452-27772-8
Penguin/Plume
(paperback) $10.95
![[PHOTO] Stained Glass piece by Elsa Hornfisher, Framingham, MA 1997](https://framingham.biz/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/window1.gif "Stained Glass piece by Elsa Hornfisher, Framingham, MA, 1997")