Dr. Wernher von Braun (center), then Chief of the Guided Missile Development Division at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, discusses a “bottle suit” model with Dr. Heinz Haber (left), an expert on aviation medicine, and Willy Ley, a science writer on rocketry and space exploration. NASA, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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Willy Ley was a science writer in New York City from the 1920s through the 1960s, who according to The New York Times was hailed as a “prophet of the space age.” Ley wrote several books and articles during his career that famously predicted space travel, man landing on the moon, and what the first rocket ship to carry astronauts would look like.
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While cleaning out the basement, the superintendent noticed a tin can on a shelf amidst the array of clutter. Upon closer inspection, the can read “Remains of Willy Ley. Cremated June 26, 1969.
The superintendent informed the co-op president, Dawn Nadeau, of his finding, and she immediately began searching records to determine who the man was and how she could lay him to rest peacefully. Curiously, her search failed to unearth any record of him or relatives under the name “Ley” living in the building.
Continuing her quest for answers, she Googled his name and was floored upon what she discovered: Willy Ley was a revered science writer and historian of science who “introduced the idea of space travel to the American public.”
Born in Berlin, Ley’s first foray into the world of space was fueled by his interest in rocketry. He researched and wrote several articles on the novel idea for German and other foreign papers and was one of the first members of a German rocketry society. During World War II, Ley fled Berlin and eventually ended up in the United States.
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Ley’s first published article in the U.S. was, “The Dawn of the Conquest of Space.” Following articles included “The Conquest of the Moon” and “Beyond the Solar System,” among others.
Clark Publishing / James B. Settles, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Galaxy Publishing/Ed Emshwiller, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Galaxy Publishing/Walt Disney Company, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
After futile attempts to find living relatives, it has since become Nadeau’s mission to respectfully find a suitable resting place for this pioneer of the Space Age. Fittingly, she is trying to find a way to scatter Ley’s ashes where his passion lay, on the moon.
There are still no answers for how a man of such great revere and notoriety ended up in that Upper West Side basement.
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My name is David and I worked as a porter at 2 West 67 street during 1987-1991. One of the other porters found the can of ashes which had been put out with the garbage. His widow, Olga Ley, lived in the building in apartment 6G. None of his daughters lived in the building while I worked there. Before I left in 1991, I asked one of Ley’s daughters whether she wanted the can of ashes, to which she said no. The can was stored in the basement, hoping that one day it would be claimed by some relative. Since I left in 1991, throughout the years I wondered what happened to the can until I recently read that it was found in the section we dubbed “the dungeon”. When I heard the news saying that it remains a mystery how the can got there, I had to call and share its history. Glad to hear that Willy’s ashes will finally be given a proper ceremony and disposition.