Hommel Mangas
Historically, this mid-summer day of July 30 has been a date overflowing with joy and sadness, hope and despair, the present and the future. Here is a small sampling of the diverse events that have happened on this very day:
July 30, 1619: The first elected legislative assembly in the New World — the House of Burgesses — convenes in the choir of the church at Jamestown, Virginia. Twenty-two representatives from the areas around Jamestown attended.
July 30, 1863: Henry Ford was born. Ford later went on to invent the Model T Ford, establish the Ford Motor Company and develop the assembly line technique of mass-producing cars, revolutionizing the way that industries function and making automobiles accessible to the common man.
July 30, 1936: American musician Buddy Guy was born and grew up to passionately sing and play the blues on his electric guitar. The Hubby went Wednesday evening to watch him perform another concert full of “slashing electric guitar riffs” at the TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park. Buddy Guy turns 86 today with a Taft Theatre concert in Cincinnati, one of his 67 concerts this year in two countries.
July 30, 1945: The USS Indianapolis was sunk by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Some 900 men died, many who succumbed to dehydration and shark attacks. The ship and the men who died are memorialized in a monument in downtown Indianapolis.
July 30, 1947: Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Austria. After starting as a bodybuilder, Schwarzenegger transitioned into acting where he is known as one of film’s most popular action stars. He later served as governor of California.
July 30, 1971: Apollo 15 astronauts first explored the moon’s surface using a four-wheeled battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle. The rover allowed them to travel further and explore more than previous lunar missions. They spent 18 1/2 hours on the moon’s surface and collected 170 pounds of surface material.
Whatever July 30, 2022 brings us in Johnson County — may your day be filled with music, adventure, cooperation, a beautiful moon and easy-going transportation. But mostly hope and joy.
