First lady full of warmth at tea party
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer
They prettied up the fantail of the USS Missouri with pots of plastic bamboo, wicker furniture borrowed from the bachelor and enlisted quarters and a white rug from under Adm. Thomas Fargo's dining room table in preparation for first lady Laura Bush's tea party with 14 dignitaries late yesterday morning.
"My first thought was, 'Oh she's cute,' but that sounds terrible," said Cindy Gregson, wife of the commander of Marine Forces Pacific. "She was very gracious, very polished. I think she's his best asset when he stumbles a little bit.
LAURA BUSH
"It's no wonder she could handle Jacques Chirac," said Gregson, referring to the kisses the president of France planted on the hand of a bemused first lady in Paris two weeks ago.
As President Bush was briefed by Pacific commanders elsewhere on the battleship, the first lady sat between Gov. Linda Lingle and Vivian Aiona, wife of Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, sipping Kona coffee and pineapple iced tea and nibbling cucumber sandwiches and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
With the tradewinds picking up, the conversation ranged from Sarah Fargo's loaned white rug to how military families, especially children, cope with a life that settles them into a new community every few years.
"She was interested in how well military families are served by the school systems as they move about," said Capt. John Singley, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command. "This is a nationwide issue and as she moves around to the various military bases, she hears about the difficulty transferring from state to state and the impact of a military lifestyle on the children."
The guests found the first lady warm and lively, interested in the way the state and military commands work together through the Joint Venture Education Forum that has brought $15 million in federal money to improve 139 Hawai'i schools, and in the personal lives of the people she'd just met.
"It really sounded like a bunch of mothers (talking about) raising their families," said Vivian Aiona, who co-hosted the tea with Sarah Fargo. Vivian Aiona said the first lady mentioned how much she missed her own college-age girls and how "quiet" it is without them.
Several of the military wives praised Lingle's outreach to Hawai'i's military community, and the first lady "was very pleased that there was a good rapport," said Vivian Aiona.
The high-ranking military spouses, representing the different services based in Hawai'i, gathered by 8:30 yesterday morning for their 10 a.m. half-hour tea with the first lady.
Some had jitters.
"I changed my clothes about six times," recalled Mary Dierker, wife of Lt. Gen. Robert Dierker, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. "I thought I had it all figured out, but a snap fell off an outfit this morning so I had to start all over again.
"And my watch stopped. It's been one of those days. The minute hand was working, but it said 2."
As the tea ended, after the first lady posed for individual photographs with each guest, and warmly thanked the women for the contributions their husbands and families were making, there were dark footprints on Sarah Fargo's white carpet.
But not to worry. It was scheduled for cleaning today — before it went back under the dining table.
Meanwhile, the first lady and the president left the historic battleship with several mementos presented by Hawai'i's own Ret. Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, including a 22-carat gold USS Missouri bookmark, a rare "surrender coin" commemorating its site as the signing of Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, at the end of World War II, and a special Missouri cap — just like the one presented to the president's father more than a decade ago.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
