The story began in the fall of 1950 at Perkinston Junior College when Fred Haise enrolled at the Stone County campus. Sixty years later, the story continues at what is now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Perkinston Campus with Haise’s dedication of a Full Moon Pine Tree in memory of the late Dr. J.J. Hayden Jr., his former instructor and mentor and former Gulf Coast president.
The Moon Pine dedication, held at Gregory War Memorial Chapel on March 2, marked the intersection of the space seedlings and Haise, former astronaut of Apollo 13 fame, with the late Bill Mauldin, a forester and Gulf Coast alumnus. Mauldin tended the first planted Moon Pines at the Harrison Experimental Station in Saucier during the late 1970s and 1980s.
Haise, who was given the Full Moon Pine, said he immediately thought of planting the tree on the Perkinston Campus because he had so many fond memories at the college. “In the early 1950s, the college only had the Perkinston Campus; it had not expanded at that time. There was such a family-like atmosphere. We knew our instructors, and they knew us. Dr. Hayden, who taught me many classes, including geography and economics, was an excellent teacher and an outstanding man whom I admired. I wanted to not only honor the college, but him as well.”
After the dedication, some school children from Perkinston Elementary participated in a question-and-answer session with Haise, who is one of only 24 people to have flown to the moon and was the lunar module pilot on the famous Apollo 13 mission. The children presented him with a book, “The Longleaf and Me A to Z,” which was created by Stone County elementary students in partnership with Gulf Coast students and instructors. Haise gave each child a personally autographed photo of himself in a NASA spacesuit.
“Everyone is always enthralled with the story of the Moon Pines,” said Kathryn Lewis, former Gulf Coast instructor and coordinator of the event. “The trees are called Moon Trees because Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above the Apollo 14 command module in January 1971 with hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the Forest Service. Some of these seeds ended up in Harrison County, where the late Bill Mauldin, who was also a Board of Trustees member and board chairman for the college, planted and tended them. Eventually, the Moon Pines were tended by Larry Lott, a forester at the Experiment Station and now the official curator for the Moon Pines. Larry is the one who grafted the remaining seven trees so that the legacy of the Moon Pines would continue.”
Lewis said the Moon Trees have been planted all over the world. One was planted on the White House lawn, and another was given to the emperor of Japan. Others have been planted at Valley Forge, at various universities and NASA centers.
“We are thrilled to have a Moon Pine on our campus,” said Dr. Mary Graham, vice president of the Perkinston Campus. “Many people drive all over the country looking for the places these trees have been planted. We are proud to have a role in such an important part of history.”
