SENATOR
JENNINGS RANDOLPH (WV)
HONORED
AS "HALLEY’S TWO-TIMER"
and
INDUCTED
INTO HALLEY’S COMET SOCIETY
Senator Jennings Randolph, recently
retired Senator from West Virginia and one of the senior members of the United
States Senate, was honored at Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Saturday, June 8,
1985. Senator Randolph was welcomed
into the “Halley’s Two-Timer Club” by Joseph M. Laufer of Vincentown, NJ,
founder of the organization which collects tales of the last visit of Halley’s
Comet in 1910 from those who saw it then.
“Halley’s Comet is called a
once-in-a-lifetime event by most people,” says Laufer, “but there is a select
group of individuals who have the distinction of having seen the comet in 1910
and who will see it again in 1985 and 1986.”
Senator Randolph is on of those select individuals.
Senator Randolph recalls having seen
Halley’s Comet at the age of 8 (he is a hale and hardy 83 years young) in
Spencer, West Virginia, “near the insane asylum”, a landmark in Spencer! As such, Senator Randolph is one of very few
U.S. Senators alive today to have had this distinction. As a Halley Two-Timer, Randolph has the
privilege of wearing the official two-timer T-shirt and the two-timer button. Laufer said that he had asked the Senator to
serve as National Chairman of the organization.
In addition to the two-timer
distinction, Senator Randolph was made a member of the Halley’s Comet Society,
an organization limited to only 100 members from the United States. Joseph Laufer, who is President of Halley’s
Comet Society – USA, affiliated with the prestigious Halley’s Comet Society of
London, England, presented Senator Randolph with the official society emblem –
a 1986 whose 9 is a red comet, embroidered on a necktie. He also received a Halley’s Comet pin and
will receive an official scroll from Society headquarters in London. The Halley’s Comet Society was established
to honor Edmond Halley, the second Astronomer Royal of England, whose studies
of cometary motion solved the mystery of how comets fit into the cosmic scheme
of things. Because his studies were
borne out by the return of the comet in 1758, it has borne his name since that
time.
Mr. Laufer stated that in addition to
being a member of the worldwide Halley’s Comet Society, Senator Randolph is the
first citizen of West Virginia to be inducted into Halley’s Comet Society USA,
a distinction which will be limited to only 50 West Virginians.
Senator Randolph was in Asbury Park,
New Jersey, to recall a time many years ago when he and his family visited the
boardwalk there on a vacation. A
vintage merry-go-round that appears in family snapshots still exists in this
seaside resort and Senator Randolph returned here to recall his last visit in
the early part of the century.