Hundreds get books autographed
TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Monday, October 29, 2007 12:00 am
Some of the customers in line at Ralph's Books & Cards on Sunday went way back with Lynne Cheney.
"I used to have Lynne in my Girl Scout troop," Vivian Strand said Sunday.
Strand was accompanied by her grandson, Heath Sandefer, as they waited in line for Cheney to autograph her new book, "Blue Skies and No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family" about growing up in Wyoming in the 1940s and 1950s.
Unlike the 93-year-old Strand, some of those in line went way, way farther back with the vice president's wife.
"Lynne's grandfather and my grandfather were brothers," Renee McCarrel said.
She showed the photos of Leonard and Ben Lybyer to her friend Judy Wert and recounted some of the family history.
The Lybyer family moved from Missouri to Salt Creek during the early 20th century oil boom, and her grandfather later homesteaded and became a rancher, she said.
McCarrel was just a young girl when Cheney was a cheerleader at Natrona County High School, she said. "I remember her in her twirling days."
She knew Cheney had contacted her mother - Cheney's aunt - a couple years ago during the research phase of the book, McCarrel said. "I didn't know the pictures would be in there."
McCarrel remembered her grandmother's comment about her first meeting with Dick Cheney, she said. "She said to my mother, 'some day that man's going to be president of the United States.'"
Sunday morning line was old home week for others, too.
"I was her (mother's) bridge partner for years and years," Frances Jones said.
Bill Jones worked at Bustard's Funeral Home, and Lynne was his secretary, he added.
"We've always been proud of Dick," he said.
They recalled the pleasant and quieter days of growing up in Casper - a theme of Cheney's book - when children could play outside until 10 p.m. and not worry about their safety, they said.
Pat Gillingham and Deena McDaniels apparently were among the few hundred Cheney fans who didn't go way, way back or even just way back with her.
They wanted the book with the all-important autograph for gifts, they said.
Gillingham and McDaniels arrived about 10:45 a.m., and didn't mind the wait since they were in line snaking through the stacks of a book store.
McDaniels asked where the line was going, and Gillingham responded, "have you ever been to Disney World?"
As the customers walked closer to the room where Cheney signed the books, her personal assistant wrote down the greetings they wanted her to sign on the title page.
They filed past the books by local authors, politely nodded to the Secret Service agents, and walked into the anteroom where Cheney sat next to her research assistant.
The composed and well-coiffed author politely and professionally greeted each customer, and chatted briefly as she signed her name.
With McCarrel, however, the conversation turned informal and vibrant
The second cousins talked about relatives and shared stories, with McCarrel smiling broadly and Cheney gesturing with her hands more like the hometown gal with a baton and less like the intellectual author and life partner of America's most powerful-ever vice president.
The world has come to know Lynne Cheney as the latter, with the resultant admiration or hatred sometimes spilling over from husband to wife.
Wyoming knows both as the cheerleader and jock who rose to power.
Judy Wert acknowledged the tension of that journey.
"You wonder what evolves, what changes their thoughts from Casper to Washington, D.C.," Wert said.
"For whatever his viewpoints are, I think you should defend him no matter what his viewpoints are because he's from Casper," she said.
Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.