I shook hands with my father, who shook hands with General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower shook hands with Churchill and a host of other luminaries, which gets us back into the beginnings of the nineteenth century. I shook hands with a World War I veteran, who had shaken hands with Civil War veterans. I shook the hand of a Bishop who had shaken the hand of John Paul II and that gets us going down the line of Popes.
Handshake Chains
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Not a handshake chain exactly, but: this gentleman, who had to have shaken hands with George Washington at some point, is my husband’s and our daughter’s multiple great-grandfather:
https://kentuckykindredgenealogy.com/2016/08/11/joseph-timberlake-member-of-washingtons-guard/
I shook hands with St. Mother Teresa. I assume the chain from her is pretty long and impressive. A good buddy from college is Bill Hemmer of Fox News. He’s interviewed many world leaders from the Dalai Lama to Boris Yeltsin. Finally, my son graduated the Air Force Academy and shook hands with President Trump.
Doubtless there is a handshake chain there Elaine.
No cool handshakes here.
It’s really neat to contemplate the connection to the past.
I have two notables.
I was born in Providence RI on July 10th ’61. My mom was from Taunton Massachusetts. A certain Senator was running for the office of the President of the United States and, my mother couldn’t take the chance of missing to see him when he was campaigning through the State. She took me, 2mo. old, and stood on the sidewalk as he was walking through the street in her hometown. My mother gleefully told this story. He made eye contact with my mom and walked over to her, and asked if he could kiss the newborn on the head. Ofcourse, my mom said.
JFK became the President of the United States that autumn.
A retired 87th District Court judge moved into our facility a few years ago.
Judge Ormand Danford. We become friends as his chapter of Life on Earth was nearing its end. A great man.
He had a 40 acre tree fram in Williamsburg Michigan and was nominated Forester of the year during the Carter administration. As an extended honor, one of his pines was selected to be placed in the rotunda at the White House. He and and his wife were invited to meet Roslin and Jimmy at the White House. His recounting of this moment filled his whole being with light, and he was tickled when the White House aid was waved away by the President when the scheduled amount of time was up for the visit.
According to the Judge
The President said; “I need more time with this tree farmer from Michigan.”
They spoke for 15 minutes as Madge and Roslin became acquainted.
Judge Danford left a whole in my heart when he finally went on to Chapter 2, Life after Death.
Seeing as how these famous good people had to shake hands with many bad people, that chain goes in the wrong direction as well.
One of my daughters does dance classes with a girl whose father received White House Press Photographers award for a Foreign Correspondence Story “Inside the NRA from Obama. Obama would have shaken the hands of his share of bad people. So that one goes to Greg’s theory.
My uncle shook hands with Eisenhower (I actually saw this on a Wings episode on the Lockheed C-121; my uncle served on the Columbine). It should be noted that Eisenhower shook hands with Henry Stimson, who as a child likely held his great-grandmother’s hand when she told him how she had met George Wahington when she was 14.
Fascinating Tom!Five handshakes back to the Father of Our Country!