Traction for a Ford ...It was a sad beginning for the New Year when the sun rose on January 2 and found every TV set trained on the giant Washington, D.C. funeral procession for the man who had been the 38th President of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We had never known much about Gerald R. Ford, other than that he had been the greatest athlete ever to make it to the White House and that you could always identify him by his college picture--depicting a tall, muscular football player bent over a football in the center position. The inscription read: "Gerald R. Ford, U. of Michigan, Center, Undefeated 1932-33 Wolverine wolverine or glutton, largest member of the weasel family, Gulo gulo, found in the northern parts of North America and Eurasia, usually in high mountains near the timberline or in tundra. Teams." We had to like him for everything he was and how he came so highly recommended by a mutual friend, broadcaster Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola, Sr. (born February 12, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American former catcher in Major League Baseball who later became an announcer and television host, popular for his colorful personality. . At lunch one afternoon, Joe told us that he had just heard from the president of the U.S., who had asked a favor: Would Joe accompany him on his last electoral drive of the 1976 presidency? He'd like Joe to present him to the audiences at every whistle stop. Joe was honored by the invitation, and went on to do a great job for the president, right down to the heartbreaking heart·break·ing adj. 1. Causing overwhelming grief or distress. 2. Producing a strong emotional reaction: heartbreaking loveliness. finish, when Ford and his wife, Betty, invited him to spend the evening with them while the votes were being counted on TV. It was a huge highlight in Joe's life, even with its unhappy ending. As we watched the country pay its respects to Ford, we felt somewhere in that procession or wherever Joe Garagiola happened to be, he had to be watching with damp eyes and a lump in his throat. What's in a name? It's hard to believe, but Joe was the first person who ever told us a believe-it-or-not about the 38th president--that he was playing out his life under an "assumed name." The fact: Ford was 2-years-old when his mother divorced his father and moved back to her home in Grand Rapids Grand Rapids, city (1990 pop. 189,126), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state, it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, , MI. She eventually met a great gentleman who she married and lived with happily ever after The term happily ever after is used in association with many works of children’s fiction and romantic fiction. It describes a happy ending, often a cliché in which all the good characters have emerged victorious and all the evil characters have been punished. . So much so that that they decided to change the little boy's name: From his given name, Leslie King, to his stepfather's name, Gerald R. Ford, Jr.! Would Robert Ripley Robert LeRoy Ripley (December 26,1893–May 27, 1949)[1] was a cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, featuring odd but true facts from around the world. ever have believed that (or not)? |
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