Rocket PoweR, InteRstellaR tRavel and eteRnal lIfe

Oakley who been attending college. In an undated,
probably 1965 or 1966, letter to Hungerford Sekella
wrote, “I haven’t heard from Pete for a long time. I hear
he moved to Horseheads.”
After ruminating on the benefits of electro-magnetic
drive Hungerford’s solicitation letter (1964) turned to
the answer for all of civilization’s problems.
So vast and comprehensive are our plans that of the
three plus billions and billions yet unborn – human
beings ever thruout [sic] eternity – as individuals or
groups be out of employment there will be no limit
on the amount of time each can serve with the limits
of his strength and capacity.
We don’t seem to realize machinery in our homes
has displaced our Negro men and women servants
as also whites without providing new employment
or place to go. We are in the position of a baby chick
picking at its shell to get out and grow and live.
This may seem sacrilegious to some but we can’t
wait any longer for the return of Jesus Christ to settle
our problems, - we have waited nearly two
thousand years – already, we must now take the
bull by the horns and solve our problems in a way
we know is just and right.
We have tried waste in every conceivable form,
including war, murder and suicide. Now get to
work and live and let live. 218
In an early August 1964 letter to Marvin Hungerford
probably referred to the broadside. “[W]e have just had
a batch of leaflets struck of which we feel sums up our
troubles pretty well – and was inspired by Vincent S.
Jones – Executive Editor of the Gannett Newspaper in
Rochester, N.Y. July 29 – 1964 . . .” At the top of the solicitation
letter in the example preserved by Marvin,
Hungerford wrote, “To you and Who Ever, Our Reply
to the Race Riots.”
The bottom of Hungerford’s stationery of the 1960s is
imprinted with “Yours Sincerely for a New Longevity.”
Jon Elan Steen alludes to Hungerford’s belief in an
extraterrestrial existence.
Uncle Dan always wanted to go to the moon but he
never made it of course, or did he? I remember he
had some interest in or about perpetual motion. I
recall Dad [Stephen Viele] going there and I heard
the chit chat but I wasn’t much interested. It may
have related to the mechanical aspects of jet
engines, turbine power? I have often given thought
to perpetual motion myself, but in a different
aspect which is not at all mechanical. As far as I can
figure the Soul is capable of perpetual motion – or
continuation – i.e., reincarnation, but that doesn’t
have anything to do with jet rockets. I do not know
what Dan’s eventual opinion may have been, but it
is an interesting idea although I consider it to be
somewhat impossible if applied as Dan was interested
in using it, i.e., for a mechanical means of
motivation or power. 219
Following Floyd’s funeral in December 1963 grandnephew
Stan Hungerford drove Daniel to the burial in
Woodlawn Cemetery. En route Daniel Hungerford told
Stan, “We don’t have to die.” 220
In June 1964 Hungerford ruminated about his
advancing years and the possibility of extended life
spans.
As Floyd and I saw it – the time and equipment
inevitably must come when many will be making
trips thru the universe that will consume millions
of years. Recognizing the Destiny of Man – as
involving the conquest of space – the occupation of
the stars and the attainment of eternal life on this
side of the grave – we have got to quit teaching
death and begin teaching life, and methods to
attain it. . . .
This business of living millions of years is a pretty
big order – for which I have no takers. A subject for
another story – later. 221
The March 3, 1963 Sunday Telegram printed that the
“current space race has resulted in the following letter”
according to E. D. French of Waban, Massachusetts. One
assumes the letter was submitted by Erwin French, who
for many years in or near Elmira had maintained a
friendship with Hungerford. 222
To the Editor:-
I am wondering what our good friend Dan
Hungerford is thinking. Will his thoughts go back
when he and few others - very few – had the vision
of space travel?
Will he remember the ridicule from those “modern”
who at that time (1930) referred to him as “a
dreamer,” “up –in-the-air” etc.? Will he think of his
lectures to science groups at Elmira College,
Cornell and other like institutions only to have an
uninterested audience?
Will he bemoan the fact that space travel is near
reality; that he reaped no financial rewards for his
achievements?
56 Daniel and Floyd Hungerford: Rocket Power, Interstellar Travel and Eternal Life, by Geofrey N. Stein