President Gerald Ford passed away last night. If you are a resident of Rancho Mirage as I have been for nearly 25 years, you have, more than likely, seen him and his wife Betty. I ran into him around a year ago. I was leaving my doctor's office on the third floor of one of the medical buildings on the Eisenhower Hospital campus, and when I got to the elevator there was another man waiting there for the doors to open. I noticed the little curly-que cord behind his ear and immediately recognized the fact he was secret service. When the doors opened, the guy asked if I'd step back (I did), and he motioned to someone down the hall. I turned to see another secret service guy pushing a man in a wheelchair out of a doctor's private office, then moving toward me. We all got onto the elevator together - Me, the two secret service guys, and the man in the wheelchair. Of course, the man was Gerald Ford. We rode in silence to the ground floor and they left before I did. Outside, I watched as they put him in a car and drove off. The Fords only lived less than a mile from Eisenhower Hospital.
My day started with an MRI for my bad back. Some quick shopping for some greeting cards, then home. Spent the rest of the morning copying a video to a DVD. Then lunch with Gene Autry on the Western Channel. Usual stuff in the PM and she got home around 5:30. Dinner, some talk, then in here to write here. Later ~