Imagine the President staying in your home.
Janet Olson, 78, still remembers standing on her front porch on May 4, 1978, and watching in awe as the presidential motorcade pulled in front of her Northeast Portland home, bringing with it an extremely unusual overnight guest: President Jimmy Carter.
The president, who sometimes stayed in regular people’s homes instead of hotels when he traveled, slept that night in the couple’s bedroom while they slept in a guest room.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really happening,’” she said. “And we lay awake most of the night thinking ‘This is really strange; the president of the United States is sleeping in our bedroom.’”
Sitting at their kitchen table over four decades later, Olson and husband Paul said they weren’t surprised to find Carter conversational and warm.
“The fact that you’re entertaining the president in your home is kind of intimidating,” Janet Olson said. “But as soon as he entered our home, he was easy to be around....
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