New Apalachin sign honors hometown hero

By JoAnn R. Walter —

The Town of Owego formally recognized the installation of a commemorative sign at the intersection of Forest Hill Road and Rte. 434 in Apalachin that honors astronaut Doug Hurley.

Gathered for the ceremony on Dec. 31 were Hurley’s parents, Harv and Sherry, his younger brother, Dean, two nieces, and a family friend, who all live in the area. Outgoing Town of Owego Supervisor Don Castellucci and members of the Owego Town Board also attended.

Hurley grew up on Forest Hill Road and is a 1984 graduate of Owego Free Academy and a past inductee to the OA Wall of Fame. Hurley earned a degree in civil engineering from Tulane University and was a graduate of Tulane’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) and the USMC Officer Candidates School. 

Hurley, now a retired astronaut after 21 years of service with NASA, was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2023 for his bravery in NASA’s SpaceX Demonstration Mission-2 (Demo-2) to the International Space Station in 2020. He is heralded as one of the first astronauts in history to launch and orbit a commercial spaceflight.

Prior to SpaceX Demo-2, Hurley flew two space shuttle missions in 2009 and 2011, the latter being the final flight of the space shuttle program, the Shuttle Atlantis. Hurley’s prestigious career also includes his service as a U.S. Marine colonel and pilot, and as a civil engineer. 

At the ceremony, Harv Hurley noted, “We are very appreciative of the town for the recognition. We lived fifteen years on Forest Hill Road in a home about three-quarters of a mile up from Rte. 434. We are also appreciative of the community support.”

Harv explained that his son, Doug, was always interested in space, avionics, and flying. At one point in his growing-up years, Harv said that Doug told him he wanted to land jet planes on aircraft carriers. 

Harv reminisced, “We were at the Arctic Circle on a hunting trip and had to cut the trip short so that Doug could go to training.” And that training, he noted, was for NASA.

Looking back, Sherry Hurley recalled that she tried not to worry about her son’s career choice and said, “If that’s what he wanted to do, I didn’t worry,” and also shared that Doug’s reply after learning about the Forest Hill sign was, “That is very cool.”

Doug Hurley’s niece, Jaylin, expressed, “It is nice that he is honored in this town,” and explained that she was only five and eight years old during her uncle’s first two launches, and that she remembers more about the demo launch at age 16. 

Castellucci explained that the Apalachin Lions Club had previously installed a secondary piece to their Welcome to Apalachin sign located at the intersection of West Main Street and Rte. 434, and that recognized Doug Hurley. Since then, he had always wanted to secure some kind of signage on Forest Hill Road. Some time ago, Castellucci had asked residents on Forest Hill about their interest in changing the name to Hurley Road; however, a majority responded by sharing that it would be too cumbersome to update the many levels of address changes.

More recently, Castellucci presented the sign idea to the Owego Town Board, and the Board voted to support the project.   

To learn more about Doug Hurley and his career, visit doughurleyastronaut.com.