Fans turn out for Coolidge birthday
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By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: July 5, 2009
PLYMOUTH — For a girl who is such a fan of the U.S. presidency that she knows whose portraits are on $500 and $5,000 bills, a little rain — or even a lot of it — wasn't going to keep 6-1/2-year-old Jaden Thackston from wishing Calvin Coolidge a happy birthday.
While some Americans might not know that bills in those denominations were ever printed, Thackston, who is spending the summer in New England, far from her home in Atlanta, Ga., knows that William McKinley and James Madison grace the two bills, respectively.
She also knows a bit about Calvin Coolidge — who she quickly points out was the 30th president.
So, when Thackston got the chance to visit Plymouth on Coolidge's 137 birthday, a little bad weather wasn't keeping her away from the event.
She wasn't alone.
Hundreds of people marched in the pouring rain Saturday to stand at Coolidge's gravesite, where a wreath from the White House was laid on the former president's grave by Vermont General Matthew McCoy.
Proceeded by color guards and veterans, a procession of spectators with and without umbrellas made the short march from the Coolidge homestead to the gravesite, where Vermont Humanities Council Executive Director Peter Gilbert recalled the combination of idealism and pragmatism that Coolidge embodies.
"It was his concern for the spirit that animated and inspired his idealism," Gilbert said. "The economy to Coolidge was idealism in its most practical form."
Gilbert, who braved the heaviest showers to deliver his address, said the challenge for Americans today is to practice the essential essence of Coolidge's ideals in their own lives.
Thackston and Gilbert weren't the only history buffs at the ceremony.
Yale Hauptman and his wife Laurie came to Vermont from their home in New Jersey for, among other things, to say "happy birthday" to Silent Cal.
Hauptman, who has visited the homes of several former presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Buchanan said he was enjoying his second visit to the Coolidge homestead on Saturday.
"It's a great site and I always enjoy little events like these for the presidents," he said. "These are the kinds of things you never hear about that keep the presidents and what they talked about alive."
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
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