Fire in the Sky
by Kathleen Fitzgerald, 3rd daughter of Miles and Ruby Fitzgerald

My father Miles, eldest son of John Horsager, was a hardworking man who arose by 4:00 AM every morning to milk our cow Betsy and care for all the farm animals before driving over 20 miles to work a full time job in the blacksmith shop of the Armour meat packing plant. When he returned home more farm chores were waiting for him, and he often worked late into the night caring for the animals and fixing cars or machinery. Although we all heard his alarm clock, most mornings we all went right back to sleep for several more hours.
On the morning of November 17th, 1966 he did not let my mother Ruby drift back to sleep. He has seen something so amazing he had to share it with his wife. She also worked very hard to care for their 8 children, and at first she did not appreciate Miles insisting she get up. But Miles was not an overly excitable person, and was never prone to exaggeration, so when he said she had to see what was happening she grudgingly believed him.
When Ruby saw what Miles had to show her, she realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and woke each of her children to witness it. I was only 9 years old at the time, but I recall her nudging me into wakefulness and insisting that I look out the window. We could not contain our exclamations of wonder as we watched the most amazing spectacle most of us would ever see.
At its peak, the Leonids meteor shower of November 17th, 1966 produced 50 meteors per second, according to the astronomers at Table Mountain Observatory in California, and is recognized as one of the strongest meteor showers in recorded history. While the sheer volume of meteors was astounding, the fireball quality of many of the meteors was just as amazing as they left glowing trails across the sky. A popular musician later wrote of that night in a song, “I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky.”
I am grateful to my parents for so many reasons, but allowing me to witness this historical event is definitely one of the top 10.