Jenks Resident Remembers Meeting President Gerald Ford

Former President Ford made a number of stops in Oklahoma after leaving office, some to visit his daughter, who once lived in Tulsa. He also left his mark on those he met. <br/><br/>A Jenks woman tells

Thursday, December 28th 2006, 2:53 pm

By: News On 6

Former President Ford made a number of stops in Oklahoma after leaving office, some to visit his daughter, who once lived in Tulsa. He also left his mark on those he met.

A Jenks woman tells her story of meeting the president.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says so many people who had contact with President Ford say he seemed like a remarkably normal person. That was the impression of a woman from Jenks, who spent several hours with Ford on a flight to Hawaii.

Vicki Roberts has spent 30 years flying with American Airlines and she says she never met a nicer passenger than former President Ford. "And the captain came on and said we're having President Ford on board today and it just happened he was in my section to work." Roberts has a couple of pictures from the flight, during which she says the former president was nice enough to sit and talk with everyone who wanted to talk to him. "And during the movie he came up to the front and talked to me a long time and he was just a kind and gentle man."

Roberts met Ford on a plane from Dallas to Hawaii, but the former President has also made several stops in Oklahoma over the years.

In 1989, Ford spoke at Oklahoma State University during the OSU centennial, in a speech about the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Communism is a failure politically and economically."

In 1987, the president spoke at Northeastern State in Tahlequah. And over the years, he made several unpublicized trips to Tulsa to visit his daughter, Susan Bales.

During her time with Ford, Roberts came away impressed with his character. "Very kind, he was very calm, and gentle. But he had strength about him, he was a man of integrity, he was very kind."

And we've heard other stories of Oklahoma residents who were touched by the former president, who came away thinking Ford never thought he was extraordinary.