Published: May 08, 2008 11:53 am            

Oh, the people you’ll meet

People who love celebrities must have their own personality category. Some of the Clinton fans I’ve met are certainly entertaining. My favorite is Mary Virginia. During the fall of 2004, I talked with her on the phone about a letter she’d written wanting Clinton’s autographed My Life editions for her grandsons.

We started visiting. She told me she was an 88-year-old divorced woman, born in Alabama, who lived in a small northeastern state in a retirement center where she also cared for her sister, an Alzheimer’s victim. She even had a steady companion, although she still mourned the loss of her husband who decided after years of marriage to leave her for another woman.

In early 2005, she decided to visit the library and asked, “Would I be her guide?” Of course, I agreed.

Two months later, I spent three days taking Virginia and her two elderly friends to see the sights, including the Hot Springs horse races. She turned out to be lively despite then being 89 years old. One evening, we went to the Flying Fish, a local seafood favorite. I noticed her waving her leftover fish at the people at the next table, inquiring whether they wanted it. She had been drinking beer at that point.

After their Little Rock trip, Virginia continued to call, telling me about her family, companion Jerry, her various cocktail parties and dinners along with her plans for her 35th trip to Europe. She begged me to visit her, so I finally did. Cara and I attended her 90th birthday held in a fancy New York hotel in March 2007. There, I met her family and the very patient Jerry.

Lately, Virginia, being a Hillary Clinton fan also, has been worked up over the election. On Super Tuesday evening, she stayed on the phone while I read results to her because she couldn’t bear to watch the television.

She isn’t a quiet supporter. She quit speaking to any Democrat in the retirement center who isn’t a Clinton supporter or she alienated them so they quit speaking to her. She cornered everyone she knows for contributions for Clinton. She called to tell me “I’ve done all I can do” and then she started looking for more contributors.

I sent her a list of her state’s uncommitted super delegates. She called them, telling a state official’s secretary the country would be destroyed if Clinton isn’t elected. She is friends with one of her state’s U.S. senators. When she called him, she reminded him of favors she’d done for his son.

Rev. Wright set her off, but she knew what to do. She called the FBI suggesting they investigate him.

Last Wednesday, she sent her Republican bridge playing friends away early so she could watch Clinton on the Bill O’Reilly show.

Sunday afternoon, she called to say she’d decided at church earlier that morning to quit following the election and read her Bible instead. “Julie, I’m ruining my health,” she told me. She’d recovered enough by Monday to call wanting me to give her polling results.

Tuesday evening I talked with her. We don’t know yet whether we’re hanging in there or anticipating the country’s demise.

Julie Couch is a Stillwater resident.

        

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