Africa's Astronaut

Leo M. Cyr is the son of a career diplomat who represented the United States as a consular officer and U.S. ambassador during 20 years of service in post-independence Africa. The African Astronaut is centered on the years of 1956 to 1961 and some of the changes taking place in both Morocco and Cameroun where the Cyr family was stationed. What is different about this story is the author initially penned the outline and most details of the story while still living in Africa as a teenager. He did not write the final text until more than 50 years later when the original manuscript surfaced unexpectedly in the family archives. Cyr took great care to preserve the youthful sense of discovery and wide-eyed exuberance of his earlier years and that enthusiasm pervades the entire story. The story chronicles the author’s journey as a 17 year old leaving his family in post-independence Cameroun and traveling 6,000 miles to attend university in the United States. His departure from Yaounde was anything but ordinary or boring. He was a passenger on the largest aircraft ever to land on the dirt runway in Yaounde. The four-engine Constellation was easily twice the length and weight of the DC-3s which regularly used the airport. No one, including the pilots, knew if the “Connie” could overcome the combined challenge of monsoon rains, mud and trees at the end of the runway and make it into the air. With his brief life flashing before his eyes, the young author is busily (and nervously) making notes for posterity. His journey is about to begin and everything is going terribly wrong. As he waits the next disaster, he reminisces briefly back to their home outside of Washington, D.C. and to their experiences after his father was stationed in the exciting and exotic international city of Tangier (Morocco). He already knows his traveling companions will be problems. The extent of those problems has only just begun to be manifest. The journey to the United States will not last the planned 5 days but over two weeks. The disasters will be daily and the laughs constant. Actually, there are probably more laughs in this book than many works written and advertised as comedy. Cyr and the Constellation crew ended up demonstrating more patience and resiliency than, literally and figuratively, a barrel full of monkeys. Leo Cyr attended Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) where he studied at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He entered the U.S. Army in 1964 and served as a medic until honorably discharged. He holds a Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree in Government from Ohio University and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from George Washington University. During his working career he held positions of increasing responsibility for national trade associations including: the National Association of Plumbing-Heating Cooling Contractors; the Rubber Manufacturers Association; and, the National Glass Association. In 1990, he was named Executive Vice President of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association. In 2003, he was recruited back to the National Glass Association as Vice President of Auto Glass, and, Executive Director of the Coalition for Auto Glass Safety & Public Awareness. He remained with the NGA until he retired in 2010. Leo and his wife, Elizabeth (Beth) Morris Cyr, moved to Gulf Breeze, FL in 1995. After retiring, Leo and Beth traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central America. They particularly enjoyed their four African wildlife safaris. Leo has one daughter, Nicole Cyr Picollo, and three grand-children Michael, Ryan and Lauren Picollo.

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1985878534

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