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White House Diaries
October
27
1982
October 27, 1982
Wednesday, October 27, 1982
Winners of N.Y. Marathon male & female came by with lovely young lady who finished the 26 miles in 11 hours. She has Cerebral Palsy & did the race on crutches. ABC covered her entire 11 hours. I could hardly keep from crying at the bravery of this girl. She has a twin sister also suffering from C.P. also on crutches. Then lunch with all the relatives alive of T. Roosevelt. It’s his 125th birthday. He won 1st Nobel Peace Prize to an Am. They’ve presented it to the W.H.—1st time it’s ever been on public display. It was a wonderfully warm & enjoyable occasion. Saw Ambassador Hewitt & family off to Jamaica. Bought 1st savings bond to open the drive. Rcv’d. a letter from Mrs. Sharon Gardner out in Hammond Ind. She had written before. She is 42 divorced, a victim of Spinal Bifida—no legs left—in a wheel chair. No complaint—she’s on Soc. Security disability. Her 17 yr. old son Kevin sounds like a great young man. He’s working to help out and getting an ed. at the same time. When I answered in July I enclosed a $100 check made out to him. This latest letter was one of warmest thanks and all, but some banker had told him I probably didn’t intend him to cash the check, so he still has it. I phoned Mrs. Gardner and told her to cash it and I’d send the cancelled check back as a souvenir. It was a lump in throat call for me. She sounds like the nicest kind of person. It’s been a nice day.
