ELKHART — News of Neil Armstrong’s death scrolled across the bottom of David Hudson’s TV screen Saturday.

“It was quite a shock, quite a shock,” said Hudson, chaplain at Elkhart General Hospital.

As a young pastor in the midwest, Hudson had developed a friendship with the legendary astronaut’s father, Steve Armstrong. Hudson moved to Neil Armstrong’s hometown, Wapakoneta, Ohio, a few years after Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon in 1969.

“His dad, when I met him, was an elderly gentleman,” said Hudson, who met Steve Armstrong through the local Lion’s Club. “He was very involved in the community, very kind and had a lot of stories to tell. He was always proud of his son, and why not?”

Hudson recalls running into Steve Armstrong while preparing a sermon at the local library in 1979. Remembering Hudson’s interest in aviation, the older Armstrong recommended checking out “Kill Devil Hill” by Harry Combs, a book about the famous Wright brothers and the mechanics of flight. As he flipped through the pages, Hudson noticed that Neil Armstrong had penned the foreword.

Hudson later bought a hardback copy of the book, and Neil Armstrong autographed a page just below the foreword. For years, the book sat on a shelf at Hudson’s home, but now the cherished keepsake is securely locked in a safety deposit box.

“A couple of years ago, I saw some news article that was talking about the most valuable autograph in the world,” Hudson said. “And I thought that has to be Shakespeare or someone like that. It turned out to be Neil Armstrong.”

Hudson moved away from Wapakoneta in 1980 but never forgot his friendship with the Armstrong family.

“Neil Armstrong was very humble, and so was his dad,” Hudson recalled. “I was there in ‘77, and he landed on the moon in ‘69, so the town was just filled with people who grew up with him or graduated from school with him. Neil Armstrong was part of the fabric of that community.”