Pilot Recalls Meeting Bush 41Pilots sometimes cross paths with well-known folks, but few get to hang out with a former U.S. president.
Warsaw resident Jerry Hudson had the opportunity to meet President George H.W. Bush shortly after he left the White House, and details of those moments came back into focus with the passing of America’s 41st president last week.
Hudson, working as a pilot for then-state lawmaker V. Richard Miller, was asked to provide travel assistance to Bush in early July 1994. The president was scheduled to travel to Atlanta and Florida for campaign stump speeches, including one for his son, who eventually became governor of Florida.
On the return trip to Maine, weather forced the corporate jet owned by Miller and two of his sisters to land in Portland, Maine, rather than Sanford, Maine, which is near Bush’s summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
After landing in Portland, Hudson and others waited for Bush’s driver to arrive, which created a 40-minute window for small talk.
Hudson recalled Bush, a former World War II pilot, passed some of the time talking about airline-related subjects.
It was late in the evening, close to 10:30 p.m., Hudson recalls.
“He’s been going at full throttle all day and he sat there and talked with us like a couple old friends talking,” Hudson said.
Hudson found him very personable. “He talked to us. He didn’t talk down to us,” he said.
Despite having met other celebrities through work, Hudson said he had never sought an autograph until his interaction with Bush.
Bush obliged by signing his log book, which Hudson still has.
Bush also took time to pose for photos with Hudson and others. Copies of the photos were processed during a layover. Bush autographed those and then mailed Hudson other autographed photos for family and friends.
Hudson also received a tie bar that had the presidential seal on the front and Bush’s name engraved on the back.
Hudson, who works for Soutwest Airlines, looked back at the moment as a neat opportunity.
