People I have met and/or worked with during my life-time.

10/09/2022 | self

[sodpoodle]

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth drove around and waved to crowds of school kids lining the streets.

I attended that school with Maggie Thatcher’s Secretary of Education- Gil Watts.

1963. Worked for Jim Brown, mayor of Tybee Island, Ga

1965 Worked with John Rousakis in Savannah. GA - in insurance - he became mayor of Savannah, Ga.

2012 Johns Hopkins - my physician’s and Ben Carson’s reception areas were adjoined.

Tony Snow was being treated in the DC physician’s office where I worked.

Atty.Gen. William Sessions and I, nearly got hit by a car while jay-walking in DC.

Father of the Metro = Carlton Sickles. gave me his 38 year service pin when a colleague told him I used the Metro every day.

I made a phone call to The Washington Times and Wesley Pruden answered it - we chatted a while - nice man.

2003. Worked with Patrick Hope, now a Dem rep. for Virginia.

Flew on a plane with Cal Ripken.

Saw Gerald Ford up close.

Saw Billy Idol up close at a local TV station - he was sweet.

We all share the oxygen with people who are alive NOW - Enjoy those moments!!

[dennisw]

I remember Officer Joe Bolton and tuned in religiously. After school. What wholesome entertainment we kiddies had back then.

[outofsalt]

Ooops, Sonny not Sunny
Sorry, not sorry?

[Islander7]

I shook hands with President Gerald Ford and Senator John Stennis.

Got an autograph from Kitty Wells and Earnest Tubbs.

Spoke with Charlie Pride after a concert in Biloxi. He was a warm, genuine person; a real classy man.

Used to see Tom Lester around town.

I saw Billy Roy Pitts and Sam Bowers face to face during their murder trial. Total creeps!

I spoke to the pilot of Air Force One in 1974 while Nixon was enroute to Europe. I said, “Air Force One, Alconbury Metro, please stand by.” Handed off the call to the forecaster on duty. LOL!

[Dr. Sivana]

When I was 13, my Republican “uncle” Gabe took me to see my hero, Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole at a charity fund raiser/campaign for Ford speech at the Sheraton Park Plaza in New Haven, CT. WHen Reagan was done speaking and was slipping out, Uncle Gabe grabbed my hand and took me out an exit past Secret Service and I got Bob Dole’s and RONALD REAGAN’s autographs. They hang on me wall today.

I got to see Pat Buchanan, Ford’s son Jack, and Newt Gingrich at campaign events.

I spent an hour interviewing Joe Scheidler for a school newspaper.

I had a fund-raising dinner with Contra leader Aldolfo Calero for the same paper.

Coca-Cola CEO (and perp of New Coke) Roberto Goizueta gave my high school valedictory (it was conservative! He was from Cuba.).

I went to a small fund-raier headlined by Phyllis Schlafley.

The Wanderer Forum featured Joe Sobran and Bob Dornan.

My church sponsored the great theologian/canonist Peter Kwasnieski.

The great Fr. Vincent Miceli taught my Moral Theology course at Christendom College.

Professor Fajida (sp?) (#1 tornado expert) taught my hard science core course one quarter at U of Chicago.

My favorite old rock musician, Del Shannon, came to my home town of Wallingford, CT to perform at Oakdale as the opening act for Dion (after Del left, I scooted out, talked to him, and got his autograph).

I saw Bush the Elder and Frankie Avalon at a large campaign rally in ‘84 outside Chicago.

John Sculley (CEO of Apple at the time) waved to me when he entered the front door at an educational IT conference in Rochester.

Mike Dukakis was escorted in by the Knights of Columbus, in Springfield, Mass. when he was governor for some church event. Yuck.

My partner and I went against (now Sen.)Chris Coons and some very short guy from the Amherst team at the Yale Parliamentary debate tournament. Thanks to my partner Tasso Kaper, who beat Coons by one point, we won, and kept them out of the finals. I tied the short guy, so I held up my end. We all scored really well. My team had to defend the Japanese internment in WW II.

That’s all I can recall for now.

[dennisw]

Glad you nulled him!

[grame]

That happens at our house! When the Blue Angels were doing flyovers I swear I could have handed the pilot a bottle of water! And the C5’s are here maybe once a month. Only a mile from base. My hubby was sad when we moved here, we lived next to the railroad tracks. Now we figure we got a good trade. Don’t have trains blocking the roads but still get the excitement of seeing the planes. We are also very close to the Huey Museum. So we get to see Helicopters too!

[DFG]

I have met the following people:

Paul Tibbets (Enola Gay pilot)
Pappy Boyington (Flying Tigers and VMF-214 pilot)
Robert Lee “Hoot” Gibson (Space Shuttle pilot)
Robert Morgan (Memphis Belle pilot)
Emmit Smith (Dallas Cowboys running back)
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies)

[Gideon7]

In 1988 I was on a Northwest Airlines flight flying coach waiting for takeoff. I was engrossed reading a novel when suddenly some guy shoved his hand right in front of my face, blocking my view of my book. I thought it was rude and looked up.

It turned out the guy was former President Jimmy Carter. He was flying commercial and was shaking everybody’s hand on the flight. There were secret service guys in the aisle and everything.

I had never voted for him, but I thought it was a nice gesture.

[military cop]

Met Mohammed Ali.

Norman Schwarzkopf patted me on the back after Desert Storm.

Met Madeline Albright, William Cohen, and Don Rumsfeld ( huge asshole)

Met John Walsh. Great guy.

Drank beer with Kenny Stabler who hit on my mother in law (we went to same HS and college)

Saw Dennis Kusinich eating a hamburger like a slob in Old Alexandria.

Got on an elevator with Whitney Houston and Booby Brown in ATL My crew and I didn’t as much as acknowledge her so, (get this:) SHE STARTED SINGING! We all continued to ignore them and she stomped out with the boo boo face once we got to the ground floor.

Met Clarence Thomas (awesome), Sonja Sotomayor (kind enough woman) and Antonio Scalia (raging prick)

Saw Jeff Sessions in Reagan International sitting down with his wife pre flight. Waved my hands at him, he looked a little closer, I yelled “Roll Tide” and he yelled it right back. (Also went to same college. Not all of us are winners....)

Met Colonel Hal Moore. Honored to say that.

RLTW

[devane617]

I went to our local airport once to see John Wayne and Ann Margret.

[Night Hides Not]

My life hasn't been very interesting, but I'll give it a shot.

Corresponded with then-Governor Ronald Reagan my senior year in HS. Part of a civics project, to write a letter to a politician. I wrote him over Northern CA water being diverted to Southern CA. It was easy to tell he wrote/dictated it.

Lived across the dorm hall from Lenn Sakata my sophomore year in college. Lenn was the last man to play shortstop for the Orioles before Cal Ripken started his streak.

Shook GEN Alexander Haig's hand after a dining out at Hahn AB in 1978.

Met most of the back up band for Frankie Valli after their NY Eve concert at Winstar. They were in one of the bars, and I toasted them with "Prosit Neu Jahr". Next thing I know, their sax player, Rick Keller, starts rapping at me in German. We spent the next hour comparing notes from our time living in Germany.

Rick had several very interesting stories about performing in East Germany. Mine were boring in comparison.

The rest of my experiences have to do with meeting Gonzaga players after games over the past ten years. If there's a game within a day's drive of Dallas, we're normally there.

Fondest remembrance was after their game in Fort Worth on 12/26/20. A separate area for meeting and greeting was set up after the game, thanks to Covid. We didn't have a special ticket, so we stood about a dozen rows back to enjoy the scene.

Lo and behold, Corey Kispert (now with the Wizards) saw my grandson with us. They had met twice previously, in Spokane and College Station. Corey shouted, "hey Dillon, get on down here!"

Almost forgot: met Fr. Robert Spitzer when he spoke in Dallas a few years ago. I followed him by two years at Gonzaga. What I didn't know was that we both graduated with BBAs in Public Accounting. At that time, there was one professor teaching all accounting classes for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. So we shared a few of our "Black Dan" stories, about that great professor.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I see what you did there.

[Gaffer]

I have nothing so noteworthy other than a couple. One was on the same plane with Robert McNamara just after Viet Nam and the other in shaking Jimmy Carter’s hand on a flight (he went up and down the aisle before takeoff and shook everyone’s hands).

I was/did, however:

Survive the 1989 Loma Prieta centered earthquake when in Palo Alto.
Flew through DFW the same day as the L1011 crash.
Flew through LAX the same day as one airliner collided with another airliner on the ground.

[CFW]

I had coffee with Justice Clarence Thomas and spent about 20 minutes chatting with him one-on-one.

[PK1991]

Went into a bathroom at Reagan airport and Bill Clinton and his secret service agent followed me in. He took a leak a few urinals over. I didn’t say anything to him.
Was at an autograph signing by Larry Czonka and I arrived late and the organizer brought me up to have Larry sign anyway and he growled at me. I chuckled because I thought he was joking and he growled louder and banged his hands on the table. He eventually signed but I somehow lost the autograph shortly thereafter.
Said hello to Justice Clarence Thomas in a grocery store.

[Fair Paul]

I remember Officer Joe on Channel 11. Was he a real cop? I was in the audience one time with my brothers for another kids show, Wonderama, on Channel 5. Do you remember that show?

[Mr. Jeeves]

I'm not a big autograph guy, but I have met and gotten autographs from:

Steve Vai - guitarist
Joe Satriani - guitarist
Al Di Meola - guitarist
Jack Clark - former Giants slugger.
Rita Rudner - comedienne
Tony Curtis - actor
Robert Kiyosaki - financial author

Other famous people I have met/spoken with/been in close proximity to:

Steve Jobs
Steve Ballmer
Bill Gates
Andy Grove - Intel founder
Jimmy Carter
Harry Turtledove - author
Peter Benchley - author (Jaws)
Louie Anderson - comedian
George Hamilton - actor
Jane Seymour - actress
Clint Holmes - singer
Peter Benchley - author (Jaws)
Kristi Yamaguchi - skater
Donald J. Pliner - shoe designer
Kari Lake - next AZ governor...just a few days ago.

I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few.

Note: almost every single one of these encounters happened in major cities - If you live in a suburb or small town it's hard to encounter the People Who Matter. :)

[DoodleBob]

I met Bobby Steele, leader of The Undead and ex-Misfit guitarist (from when they were cool). He's one of the nicest punk rockers you'll ever meet, very intelligent, a Born Again Christian, Conservative (look at the shirt he's wearing), and still swears live. He's the real deal.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

My brother met Pappy Boyington at an air show. Still has his autographed copy of Boyington’s autobiography.

A former roommate once met Hanna Reitsch at an air show.

[AU72]

I'll take a shot:
Senate candidate Ted Kennedy introduce his wife to my family while waiting for the Miss Massachusetts to begin.

Crashed Nixon's 1st inauguration behind the podium and looked inside the President's limo less than a foot away, stood behind Gov. Reagan as he was interviewed by Mike Wallace, shook hands with Hubert Humphrey and as wife. President Nixon waved to me as he drive by.

Marched in LBJ's state funeral as a member of the Coast Guard.

Spent an hour interviewing Governor Dukakis in his office as a business magazine editor.