Posted on 08/22/2015 6:51:06 AM PDT by conservativejoy
It was September 1986, and Annabel Hill, 66, was facing an auction where she would lose the farm that had been in her family for five generations.
Hill’s husband, Lenard, had committed suicide eight months earlier, 20 minutes before a scheduled auction, in a last-ditch attempt to save his property with life insurance money. The life insurance money wasn’t enough, covering only $175,000 of debts than ran in excess of $300,000, from two years of a drought that Hill said had ruined their livelihood. Even when several hundred acres of the 1,300-acre Waynesboro, Georgia, farm were sold, the now-widowed Annabel still found herself deep in debt and facing an auction.
That’s when real estate tycoon Donald Trump and a series of other personalities stepped in to help save Hill’s farm.
The push to save Hill’s farm began with Frank Argenbright, a well-regarded Atlanta businessman. Argenbright had helped another farmer keep his land, according to reports. Argenbright asked Hill to appear at a news conference with him in the city. That news conference made its way onto NBC’s Nightly News and was watched Trump.
“I saw a story on the news about Annabel Hill, who’d hit bottom,” The Donald writes in his book The America We Deserve.
“It was a very sad situation, and I was moved,” Trump writes in The Art of the Deal. “Here were people who’d worked very hard and honestly all their lives, only to see it all crumble before them. To me, it just seemed wrong.”
Trump reached out to Argenbright, who was able to put Trump in touch with bank that held Hill’s mortgage.
“The next morning, I called and got some vice president on the line,” writes Trump. “I explained that I was a businessman from New York, and that I was interested in helping Mrs. Hill. He told me he was sorry, but that it was too late. They were going to auction off the farm, he said, and ‘nothing or no one is going to stop it.’”
It was then, Trump claims, he decided to talk tough to the banker.
“That really got me going,” he writes. “I said to the guy: ‘You listen to me. If you do foreclose, I’ll personally bring a lawsuit for murder against you and your bank, on the grounds that you harassed Mrs. Hill’s husband to his death.’ All of a sudden the bank officer sounded very nervous and said he’d get right back to me. Sometimes it pays to be a little wild.”
“An hour later I got a call back from the banker, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to work it out, Mr. Trump.’”
At a press conference at the entrance to the Burke County Courthouse where the foreclosure sale was set to begin, Argenbright and members of the Hill family discussed their plan to save the farm. Neighbors and friends of the Hills, who had planned to console the family after their sale, were instead “stunned” with the news of a rescue plan, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Argenbright and Trump had put up the money with Federal Land Bank that morning for a 30-day option to purchase the farmland. The auction was called off less than two hours before it was to begin.
“It was a business decision that waiting a month doesn’t put the bank in any worse position, and [the earnest money shows] that this is no sham,” the bank’s manager said. “In this case, there was a lot of cooperation and effort on their part. We don’t always get that in foreclosure cases.”
Annabel Hill told the media her husband “would be overjoyed with the idea that the land will be saved. Truly, I don’t believe he will have died in vain, because one of these days this land will be coming back to the Hill family, and crops will be raised on it again.”
During the 30-day option period, a donation drive to collect the $187,000 necessary to pay the debt was launched. It instantly took off, thanks in no small part to Trump’s celebrity and his connections.
“By the end of the week, we’d raised $40,000. [Don] Imus alone raised almost $20,000 by appealing to his listeners,” writes Trump in The Art of the Deal. After a successful swarm of donations the debt still stood at $78,000.
That was when Trump offered to help pay half and Dallas farmer and landowner Tom McKamy matched Trump’s offer.
“Financially this was obviously no big deal,” writes Trump in The America We Deserve. “But in human terms, there aren’t words to express what Annabel Hill gave to me. Most of us have a few things in life we would never give back, no matter what. Helping Annabel is that way for me.”
That Christmas, at the atrium of the Trump Tower, The Donald and Annabel Hill, flanked by the media and others who had donated, burned Hill’s mortgage.
“It feels wonderful, it really does — especially at this time of the year,” Hill said. ‘I’m just so grateful to these men. It’s really hard with the main person in your family gone. This kind of eases the ache a little bit.”
”I never gave up hope. Farmers don’t ever give up hope,” Mrs. Hill added.
“It was unreal, almost like my mom was Cinderella,” Hill’s daughter Betsy told BuzzFeed News. “We couldn’t believe that we were going up to New York to actually meet Donald Trump in person and sit down and have a meal with him. He was just precious to help save our farm. It was just like we couldn’t believe it.”
“It’s nice to see that other side of a big real estate, investor and businessman to want to help such small, little unknown people,” she added.
At the Christmas event, Trump, struck a similar chord to what he says today.
“We give a lot of money to foreign countries that don’t give a damn about us, but we don’t help the American farmers,” Trump said.
Annabel Hill passed away at the age of 91 in 2011. She said about the motives of Trump’s charity, “the only way I can explain it was God touched his heart.”
Trump kept in touch with Hill for a while after the mortgage burning.
“I would see Annabel, whether it was in church or whether, you know, out in the community and she was always saying, ‘Well, you know I’m praying for Mr. Trump, I am praying for Mr. Trump,’” Marty Baker, a pastor at the local church, told BuzzFeed News. “And she just, you know, really stayed in contact with him some and continually just prayed for him.”
“I saw a side of him that was very caring, very sincere,” Argenbright told Lost Tycoon author Henry Hurt in his book.
“He would call her up and check on her [even after the publicity died out]. There was no feeling of, ‘well, Frank, okay, you’ve done the deal. Annabel’s gone. The publicity is over with. There’s no benefit to Donald Trump now.’ Not any of that ever.”
The Hills, according to Annabel’s son, Jim, who spoke with BuzzFeed News by phone, had never heard of Trump before he called up their family.
“It was a small Southern town,” Jim Hill said.
Jim Hill said that after their farm was saved, the family became the unofficial spokespeople for farmers losing their lands to banks in foreclosure.
“She sort of kind of became the spokesperson of the entire group of farmers that committed suicide or were losing their properties or losing the remainder of their properties,” he said.
Leonard Hill, Annabel’s son, who currently lives on the farm, says the family is deeply indebted to Trump.
“I’ve got three daughters and it allowed them to grow up on the farm,” Leonard Hill told BuzzFeed News. “We have been very blessed, very blessed.”
“My wife was pregnant with our youngest daughter when Mr. Trump came into the picture, and she grew up and decided to be a lawyer and went to the Catholic law school in Washington, D.C., and probably would not have been able to do that without Mr. Trump,” he stated.
“We about lost our names, I wouldn’t even know who I was. It was a tremendous blessing.”
Our savior! Our hero! Trump will save us!
I am not just into hero worship, prove to me you will do what you say you will do and i’ll vote for you. But you wont get fawning idol worship from me.
I see that you are a killjoy like Humblegunner. If it means anything to you, I was merely pointing out Trump’s own money versus Obama’s stash. There is a difference. That does not mean I am a Trump worshipper.
There happens to be a lot of rich people who are generous with THEIR OWN MONEY. In most cases they tend to lean conservative. There are a lot of examples where Reagan and others have quietly helped out others. It is a matter of character. If you have a problem with that, you might be more happy hanging out with the DUmmies.
Oh I understand your point, and wasn’t accusing YOU of being a worshiper. But have you looked at the faces of Trumps crowds? I have seen those faces before, and the last time in a political context was Obama’s 1st election campaign.
You see them all the time at rock concerts.
Speaking of REALITY and TRUTH, Donald Trump did do these things, correct ?
No one, except you, on this forum has derived the 'conclusion' that TRUMP will give them FREE STUFF from his stash.
Had that been the case, they would have received money for the farm. They wouldn't be 'homeless'.
Your argument reeks of fresh straw.
I think they are pulling it from some website. They (FR posters who seem to hate Trump) keep repeating the same talking points.
While I agree with that in general terms,it's not just Trump supporters that seem that way.
The difference between TRUMP and other candidates (past and present) is that none of them had a history of even doing such things. They just PROMISED they would. And never did.
In Luke 11:11-13 Jesus says, "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
While Jesus is speaking of the Father's love for us, He mentions something that is very important to remember about human nature. The most vile and evil human being was created in God's image and will display some redeeming qualities. Even Hitler displayed a few good qualities like a love of animals and children. Does that minimize the evil he caused? Most certainly not!
Donald Trump is human, in spite of the near worship of him by some 'Trumpettes' (or is it 'Trump Pets'?) on FR. Before any of the 'Trumpettes' attack me for comparing him to Hitler, I most certainly am NOT comparing him to Herr Schickelgruber! I am merely making the point that EVERONE has good and bad qualities. Trump has not got to where he is, without stepping on, and crushing some opponents. Business is, after all, often a zero sum game. Has he helped some people? Yes, most certainly. What I see on FR is a number of people who almost deify Trump and a number who demonize him. He is neither a god nor a demon, he is merely a man, evil like all of us, yet having some good characteristics.
To me, a Canadian living North of the 49th parallel, Mr. Trump comes across as someone with a vision for the US, parts of this vision are conservative and parts of which are not. He does however, have a vision to make the USA a leader in the world, rather than the spineless, socialist nation that O'Venal, ValJar, Klintoon, Mr. Heinz and cabal, are working their damnedest to do. Somehow, when I think of Trump, President Reagan's '84 election ad, "It's morning in America again" comes to mind. I don't get that sense with any other politician. While he is certainly no Ronald Reagan, the times now call for a meaner, brasher, more direct leader. That leader needs to quickly overcome the freefall of America that O'Venal started and the complacency of lil' Jebbie's brother, to the Saudi Islamists. Trump seems to have the brashness needed to stand Islamists back on their heels.
As I don't have TV, limited access to internet, and Canadian radio only rarely covers US politics (only the most sensational of stories), I only hear snippets on Hillary, O'Venal and Trump. From what I've seem on stories linked to FR posts, I like Cruz, but to me, he comes across somewhat like PM Stephen Harper, a policy 'wonk'. While I like much of what he says, I don't see the 'charisma' that so many uninformed voters need. Trump has that charisma, that 'my way, or the highway' attitude. THAT appeals to many LIVs, much more so than anyone else, in either the jackass or elephant party.
Just my opinion.
If it is, just like MOST of the publicity TRUMP has received so far, he didn't even pay for it.
Look here! Don’t look anywhere else? What is this some pac that I’ve stepped into?
Just like the protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. Why did you step IN IT, if you don't like it ? No one forced you to read this or even click on the thread.
If what people say here bothers you, you have only yourself to blame.
Thanks, I thought that was true but I still don’t know how to post a link! But I guess I could of at least looked it up!
You apparently don't read very 'deep' into threads and simply pounce on any remark you disagree with, usually trying to insult the author of those words.
If you step out of line here in Freepville around certain crowds, everything about you is questioned and you’re thrown into the pile of lurkers and goons just out to cause an issue.
YEP. Personal attacks and brash displays of ignorance do that.
It’s a scary thing to see this radicalized unquestioning idolization a man.
Again, it's just YOU who perceives TRUMP as an IDOL .
Most normal people see it as a man of his word and a man who can reach out to those less fortunate and give them a hand.
There are many people like that. Just very, very few in politics.
He is being NOTED for it because it is rare.
If you do the same thing, maybe we'll NOTE you.
Ted Cruz shows presidential qualities while grilling pork and lesbian activist
Thanks for your comments and the Scriptures. It is good to get the perspective of those who have lived outside the U.S.
I think you have accurately zeroed in on Trump’s appeal. This has already been the most interesting election I can remember.
The folks you name in your post are some of the most tight fisted, least generous people on earth. At least we can tell from some of the stories now coming out that Trump has a good heart.
That’s your break down of it.
The reality of it is if you step into a crowd of Freeper’s for Trump and say you’re against something or try to ask a question pertaining to what you’ve heard otherwise, you get a third degree.
Also no, I’m concerned that it’s white wash season on Trump on Free Republic.
I find it hardly charitable to try to use imminent domain to try to take peoples property.
Agreed. While he looks great on paper, Canadian born Cruz just can't get the general election votes from independents and Reagan Democrats like Trump can, or even (shudder) Yeb.
Have you ever considered that it's the WAY you do it that causes the problem ?
I find it hardly charitable to try to use imminent domain to try to take peoples property.
See... you made a statement about an issue instead of attacking me or someone else. It's much easier to debate an issue than to defend an unwarranted attack.
Trump said he agreed with Imminent Domain. Whose land did he take away ?
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