HOPEFUL WORDS FOR A NEW YEAR 75-YEAR-OLD WHO WORKED ON APOLLO PROGRAM PUTS PEN TO PAPER, WRITES POEM.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

NEWHALL -- She lived in Germany when the Nazis ruled. He's a retired electrical engineer whose hand shaped key U.S. space programs.

The Friendly Valley couple has seen the worst and best life has to offer and is looking to 2007 with optimism.

Gerald Staack even wrote a hopeful poem -- or has ghostwritten it, since the poem is attributed to God -- titled ``Religious Wars, Written for My Children on Earth:''

My children do not be so blind

Not just your own beliefs are right

My paths to Heaven ... they are many

Yet still I see you'd rather fight.

Teach your young minds moral ethics

On which all religions do agree

And pray to Me how you've been taught

For ALL THE FAITHS ARE DEAR TO ME.

Staack, 75, worked on the Apollo program, on rocket reactor engines that steer moon-landing craft, and on satellites. The poetry is a new thing.

His hopeful stanzas were inspired by a book written by a Swiss theologian who plumbed the depths of the world's religions. The book focuses on differences, but more importantly, on commonalities.

``If people would lean toward this, if the word got out to more countries, and the different religions ... if we could communicate better ... they would be surprised to find we're very much alike,'' Staack said of the book's message. ``We need a global ethic to have all religions talk to each other.''

The thrust of global ethics is that the world's religions could help usher in world peace if they would emphasize their shared values and beliefs, and that -- conversely -- peace among nations will not be possible without peaceful coexistence among religious groups.

Staack and his wife, Helga, both 75, glommed onto the concept on a recent trip to Berlin, when they picked up a pamphlet at Checkpoint Charlie. It advertised Hans Kung's ``Tracing the Way: Spiritual Dimensions of the World's Religions.''

The couple first met in Germany, where Staack, an electrical specialist for the U.S. Army, was stationed. Helga spoke fractured English, but he spoke German, taught by his grandmother, who immigrated to the United States in 1922. The recent trip, which retraced the spots where Gerald courted Helga, celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Helga's family, who is not Jewish, lived in Germany during the Nazi occupation and when it was later ruled by communists. In the winter of her 17th year, she and a friend fled across the border in the black of night.

She says an across-the-board change in people's consciousness cannot simply be wrought by shifting political winds.

``The young have to do it,'' she said. ``The old ones won't change their minds. I don't think I will live long enough to see unity ... (people) understanding other people's religions.''

Gerald Staack says tolerance would increase if children were taught the theology of all religions in school, and how people are alike. He urged her to be more hopeful.

``Hope is everything,'' Helga said. ``You always hope. People are afraid of change. But every change I've always made is for the better.''

The couple's two daughters, 42 and 49, and three grandchildren, recently embraced change and moved from Santa Clarita to North Carolina.

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Gerald Staack, 75, is a retired electrical engineer whose hand shaped key U.S. space programs. Now, he's written a poem looking to 2007 with optimism.

David Crane/Staff Photographer