Ronald E. McNair, a native of Lake City and the son of Columbus Carl and Pearl M. McNair, called himself a Christian and said that God has a strange way of using anybody or anything to convey his message. He was a dedicated family man, a devoted husband, and a loving father. In 1976 he married Cheryl Moore, and they became the parents of two children, a son, Reginald, in 1982 and a daughter, Joy, in 1984. He saw karate as an example of the diversified benefits of physical activity, teaching that when the mind pushes the body past the point of wanting to give up, a growing process takes place, and that the discipline and confidence gained through years of hard, dedicated training transfer to other facets of life by conditioning the body and disciplining the mind. He found solace and satisfaction in playing his saxophone on board the Space Shuttle 41B mission, where he performed a medley of songs meant to send a message of thankfulness and hope to all mankind, including America the Beautiful, What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love, and Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand. He also spoke of the joy of experimental physics as the gratification of understanding and unlocking something previously unknown and of seeing scientific theories manifested in the lab, and he urged aspiring physicists to defy and ignore obstacles that might impede their pursuit of science. From space, he regarded the earth as an exquisite oasis and wished that people would allow the planet to remain the beautiful oasis that it is and live more in the peace that it generates.