77-year-old janitor once worked under subcontractors of Apollo space program

Maury Forrester, the 77-year-old janitor of Coulter Grove Intermediate School near Knoxville, Tennessee, is the living proof that first impressions are not always accurate.

Even though Forrester’s current work consists of cleaning the school’s halls and classrooms, he was part of the team that helped put a man on the moon, reported CBS News.

Since he graduated as an electromechanical designer, he worked for a subcontractor that created important launch components for the Saturn and Apollo programs, which ran from 1961 to 1972.

Back in Forrester’s home, he has so many certificates and awards that he could fill a small office with them. Unfortunately, life had different plans for him. In 2014, he suffered something similar to a stroke that severely damaged his cognitive functions.

A man with that problem couldn’t work as an electromechanical designer anymore, but he knew he had to find another job quickly. Forrester confessed that even though it was ‘humbling and humiliating,’ he took the janitor job for the exercise.

However, he has become a member of the school community and is a known personality among the students. He confessed to being happy to see the children and that children are also happy to see him.

Forrester pointed out that some students even tell him ‘I love you,’ which is seen as a boost for his job. He was asked if he would leave his current position as a janitor to go back to his old job.

Much to people’s surprise, he replied: ‘I can't say that I would give this up.’ Forrester proved that it doesn’t matter what you do. What’s really important is if you enjoy doing so.

The Apollo program, one of the projects in which Forrester participated, was the third human spaceflight program that the U.S. worked on. it was carried out by NASA and they successfully placed the first man on the moon.

Forrester also worked in the Saturn program, which created rockets to be launched to Earth orbit and beyond with military satellite purpose. However, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo program.