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A very special trip to see a very special person
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Location: Blogs Sly Comments |
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| Posted by: Emory Schley |
10/5/2007 4:50 AM |
When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I hopped into my father’s car. He started the engine, and pulled out into the roadway. “Where we goin’, Daddy?” I remember asking. Actually, I really didn’t care where we were going, I was just thankful to be able to spend a little bit of quality time with my father. My mother had left him a year or two before, and she took me with her.
After the divorce, I still saw my father occasionally, and those visits were always special to me, because I realized that they would only last an hour, maybe two, and then he would be gone again.
To my question, he said, “Well, how would you like to see the President of the United States?” We were in Miami at the time, where I was born and reared.
“OK,” I eagerly responded. Seeing the President was sure to be a very special event, I thought.
We drove along in silence for a bit, then he explained to me that President Harry Truman loved to fish, and his favorite fishing spot in all the world was in Key West. He had read in the Miami Herald that Truman would be passing through the area on his way to a brief vacation. After awhile, we came to a place where a number of cars were pulled off the road, with people milling about the roadside. We found a place to park and joined the crowd. We waited there in the hot sun for perhaps 15 or 20 minutes, when someone in the crowd shouted out, “There he is!” We all craned our necks to see. Daddy hoisted me up onto his shoulders, so I could get a better look. “It’s a bunch of motorcycles,” I reported as I strained to see off in the distance.
Several minutes later, a motorcyle cop roared by on a big Harley. Seconds later, a phalanx of motorcycle cops whizzed by on their white Harleys, followed in short order by a sedan full of important-looking people, and two more cars. Then the entire cavalcade slowed as the next vehicle in the parade, a Cadillac convertible, with top lowered, approached the knot of onlookers. Truman, in the back seat, stood up and doffed his hat to the spectators on first one side of the road, then the other, as everybody applauded and cheered. As the convoy passed the group, Truman resumed his seat, and the entourage once again speeded up, followed by a couple more cars, and another police motorcycle.
Hey, that’s pretty cool, I remember thinking. I’m going to have see all the Presidents in the future.
So now, here we are in the far distant future – and Harry S Truman remains the one – and only – President I’ve ever seen in person.
Too bad they don’t travel around in cars anymore, like us ordinary folk. It would be nice to see a President in person occasionally, even if he’s only on his way to his favorite fishin’ hole. |
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Re: A very special trip to see a very special person |
By Kay McCullough on
10/7/2007 1:15 PM |
| I have always admired Pres. Truman and did enjoy your story about your dad. What a precious memory.<br><br>When I was in fourth grade (1962) in Lakewood, OH (west of Cleveland), JFK was scheduled to drive by our school in his motorcade. All of us (grades 1-6) gathered along the tree-lined sidewalk and waited for a while. Thr principal or a teacher shouted, "Stand up straight, wave and cheer! Here he comes!" I remember seeing an adult male hand (suit coat and white shirt cuff) waving back through the darkened limousine window as the vehicles rushed past.<br><br>Think of how many more years he might have enjoyed -- maybe not in office, but as a former president -- if he had done the same thing in Dallas....<br><br>My husband, Jim, was able to sneak past the Secret Service at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and visit with Jack and Pres. Ford one evening in the kitchen of Jack's rooming house. (They only guarded the FRONT door! HA) Jim has some other good stories about Jack outrunning these guys while in college. They weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. |
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Re: A very special trip to see a very special person |
By Emory on
10/8/2007 8:44 AM |
| Kay; Sounds like you could tell a few interesting stories yourself! |
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Re: A very special trip to see a very special person |
By Kay McCullough on
10/9/2007 12:42 AM |
| THANKS for the compliment! I wrote some pretty good columns during my 11 years at the Casper Star-Tribune. My claim to fame was working as newsroom mom; editorial typist and proofreader; calendar editor; and necrologist (obiturist?) -- all at the same time. Have been rebuffed by head honchos at the S-B and some bloggers, though, so I must have a bad side! ;) |
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