FDR
By Scottie H. Freeman
 

When I was 11, in 1934, Sister was 13 and Brother was 6 months, the family made a two day journey to Nashville to see President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor in a parade. Travel was slow so we spent the night on the way, at Dickson at a boarding house. There were no motels. We arrived in Nashville and got good viewing spots for the parade. It was so exciting! They were in an open touring car and we saw them well. Eleanor was much more attractive than her pictures.
   
The minute the car passed by, we hurried to our Essex and rushed to the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home, where the President was having lunch. We were the first to arrive there and had to wait at the gate until the Presidential party (all Democrat of course) left. We waved goodbye to them as they drove out and we drove in.

Being the first to go in, the staff was all excited and let us go into the roped off dining room. We sat in Roosevelt's chair. They told us how since he was crippled, they had a hard time finding one, for the correct period of the house, to meet his requirements. The highlight of the trip, of course, was we ate the leftovers on the President's plate, still on the table. What an experience. It is as if it were yesterday.
 

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Scottie H. Freeman is a west Tennessee resident and the proud grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of five. Her work has appeared in The Dead Mule, and The Mid-South Review.