Remembering Reagan

Dennis Baird remembers “an unbelievably nice guy” who turned out to be a celebrity. Anna Mae Graham remembers a president who took extra time to listen to the plight of her daughter and son-in-law.

Pamela Pierson remembers the most powerful man in the world being able to joke about something he couldn’t control.

Inland Northwest residents shared their recollections of personal encounters with Ronald Reagan this week as the nation prepared for the state funeral for a former president.

Some, like Bunny Bippes of Tekoa, had been Reagan fans since 1964, when the well-known actor gave a nominating speech for Barry Goldwater at the Republican National Convention. By 1976, Bippes was the Washington state committeewoman and a Reagan delegate for the presidential nomination.

Reagan lost that year, but won big four years later, and Bippes said she had many official trips to White House receptions and Republican events where she talked to the Reagans.

“He was never put on. He was just like your next-door neighbor,” Bippes said. “When he came in, it was just like turning on a light in the room.”

Dennis Baird was a 19-year-old assistant manager at the downtown Sheraton Hotel in 1978 when he noticed a man waiting outside a banquet room to address a women’s group inside. Baird knew the women were running about 20 minutes late on their program and invited the man to wait in the nearby office while Baird counted receipts.

“I had not a clue who he was,” said Baird, now an area superintendent for nutrition services for Spokane Public Schools.

At the time, the Sheraton was the fancy new hotel in downtown, the place where every visiting big shot stayed. During his tenure, Baird held the door open for Elvis, met actor Fred McMurray and saw KISS band members without their makeup.

“There were celebrities galore, and most couldn’t give a rip about you. They treated you like a servant,” recalled Baird.

The man sat down and within seconds began asking Baird about his family – his wife who was pregnant with their first child, his parents and brothers and sisters – and what his plans for the future were. The young hotel worker forgot about counting receipts, and they talked until it was time for the speaker to go into the luncheon.

“He stood up, came around the desk and shook my hand,” Baird said. “I went home that night told my family ‘I met a really neat guy today.’ ”

They asked who; he said Ronald Reagan. It was only then that a family member reminded him that was the former California governor who had run two years earlier for president and was likely to run again in two more.

Reagan was the first president Baird voted for, and “I’ve never missed a vote since then.”

Spokane’s biggest Reagan fan may have been George Springer, a retired Air Force master sergeant and computer programmer who also became a supporter after that 1964 speech for Goldwater. Springer died in 1999, but his family still remembers his Reagan wardrobe – ties embroidered with the president’s name; T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweater vests imprinted with his face.

A picture of Springer wearing one of those sweater vests outside the Coliseum for a 1986 Reagan visit ran in Sunday’s Spokesman-Review and brought back fond memories the family shared this week.

Springer met Reagan at a luncheon in Great Falls in 1967 and kept the autographed ticket among his collection of prized memorabilia. His daughter Deborah remembers watching the 1976 Republican convention as a 4-year-old with her dad and crying because dad was so upset that Reagan lost the nomination.

George sent the Reagans a note of condolence after the convention and mentioned that Deborah was saddened by his loss. Reagan sent back a photograph signed by him and Nancy, with a note thanking them for their support.

The entire family – George, wife Renie and three children – donned Reagan shirts for a picture in late 1980, and sent it to the president-elect in a Christmas card. Springer respected every president, regardless of party, and always sent them a Christmas card, Renie Springer said. Not all sent a card back, but the Reagans always did.

After Reagan was elected, The Spokesman-Review printed a story with recipes for Reagan’s favorite dinner, which included chicken, rice, beans and bread sticks. The week of the inauguration in 1981 George had Renie fix that dinner, and they served it to guests.

“It was good, and it was actually quite simple,” she said.

When Reagan came to Spokane to support Sen. Slade Gorton’s re-election campaign in 1986, George had a ticket. Before going in, however, he noticed a crowd of protesters gathering on the street where the motorcade would pass. He went and stood in the front, and when Reagan’s car passed, he opened his coat to show off his sweater vest.

It was during that same visit that Anna Mae and Bob Graham were able to meet with Reagan and ask for help for their son-in-law, a Soviet citizen named Matvey Finkel.

Their daughter Susan had married Matvey some nine years earlier, and he had been repeatedly denied permission to immigrate to the United States. In the fall of 1986, Susan was pregnant with their first child and Matvey no closer to being able to leave the Soviet Union. On Oct. 28, when the young couple tried to collect signatures on a petition to allow him to emigrate, the couple was detained by the KGB. After talking to the congressional staffs in Spokane, the Grahams decided to try meeting with Reagan when he came to Spokane.

Anna Mae tried to buy a ticket to a $5,000 political reception, to hand him a letter outlining Matvey’s plight. Campaign officials refused to sell her one but said they’d try to help arrange something. The Grahams were sent to the Sheraton Hotel, where Reagan was spending the night before the rally, but could only meet with an assistant to Adm. John Poindexter, the president’s national security adviser. The aide seemed generally uninformed about the issue, the couple told a Spokesman-Review reporter.

Reagan read of the Graham’s problems in the next morning’s paper, contacted the reporter, who put the White House staff in touch with the Grahams. They were ushered into a waiting room to meet Reagan privately between the rally and the $5,000-per-ticket reception.

“The president came in, and I had a letter typed up. He shook my hand and said, ‘Tell me about this story,’ ” Anna Mae Graham recalled this week. They told the story quickly and got up to leave. “He took hold of my husband’s coat sleeve and said ‘Tell me some more about this.’ ” They did, and when they started to leave again, he asked for even more information.

The Grahams didn’t hear anything for several weeks, and Susan returned to the United States to have her baby. But in December, they received a personal letter from Reagan, saying he discussed the matter with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Matvey didn’t emigrate in time to see the baby born on New Year’s Day, but with help from the White House and the congressional delegation, he was in Spokane by the end of the summer.

Matvey, now an American citizen, and Susan live in Spokane and operate an Internet business.

While a word from Reagan at the right place and time could do wonders, the president was able to joke about things he couldn’t do, Pamela Pierson said.

Pierson, now an assistant manager for two assisted-living facilities in Spokane, was the assistant editor for the Republican National Committee’s monthly magazine in 1984 when Reagan was cruising to re-election. It was her job to write about the 1985 inaugural celebration. But to meet the magazine’s tight deadlines, the story had to be written before the celebration took place. She researched all the bands and parade units planning to attend and wrote a story about what everyone expected to happen.

Then the worst blizzard in years hit the nation’s capital; airports were closed, bands were stranded and the parade was canceled. She rushed back from the inaugural parties to rewrite the story.

Six months later, Pierson was invited to a White House barbecue and went through the reception line to shake hands with Reagan. But she was nervous.

“You’re always trying to think about something to talk about with the president,” Pierson said. When the time came, she stuck out her hand, explained who she was and the problems with the story for the magazine.

“He put his other hand on top of our two hands, looked me in the eye and apologized for the weather,” she said. “It was one of the things he said he hadn’t been able to control.”