RONALD REAGAN

In the early '80s, I lived in the same Phoenix co-op as Nancy Reagan's mother. One Mother's Day I came home from work to find police cars in the parking lot and cops swarming the complex. President Reagan was visiting his mother-in-law and afterwards he hung around for a while to chat with several of us residents. Amazingly, I was allowed to walk right up to him (this wasn't long after he had been almost assassinated in D.C). I introduced myself and we shook hands. He looked tall, tanned, healthy, and I have to admit, very presidential. Reagan looked me straight in the eye, smiled that familiar Reagan smile, and asked how I was doing. We traded a few sentences, and then he turned and walked to his long black limo with several grim-faced secret service guys in tow.