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BETH N. GRAYThen a starstruck teen in a 1940 Hollywood photo with actor Ronald Reagan, she has special memories today.
SPRING HILL - Bette Kalwitz had special reason to be glued to her television this week.
As she watched world leaders and common folk remember former President Ronald Reagan who died on June 5, Kalwitz, 81, could not help but be overwhelmed by her own fond, distant memories of the 40th U.S. president.
She was starstruck teen, Bette Barstow, when she met Reagan on a movie set in Hollywood in 1940. That year, her father, a vice president at Kemper Insurance in Chicago, had some insurance business with Warner Bros. films.
"My mother and I accompanied him, because they thought I'd enjoy a movie lot," said Kalwitz, who lives in Spring Hill with her husband George. "Back then you didn't even leave a 19-year-old home alone."
After her father's business with Jack Warner concluded, the studio executive asked if the Barstow family would like to visit a movie studio. He didn't have to ask twice.
They first looked in on a stage for The Sea Wolf, starring the late John Garfield.
"We didn't speak to anybody on that set. They were filming," Kalwitz said. "Then we went to the set next door. There was a break in the filming."
The actors struck a casual pose. Reagan had loosened his tie.
"I was absolutely excited. I was thrilled to tears at that age," Kalwitz recalled. "How many people get to go on a movie set, especially at 19? Probably a lot these days, but not back then."
At the time, Reagan, then a 29-year-old B-grade actor, made quite an impression.
"He was so handsome," she said. "I was most impressed with how personable he was. He was absolutely delightful. I have admired him because he asked me where I went to school and what I liked. He was smiling all the time."
Warner asked the Barstows if they would like to be photographed with the actors, Reagan and Jeffrey Lynn. In the black-and-white photo, Bette Barstow wears a wide smile and has dazzle in her eyes. That encounter made her a lifelong Reagan fan.
"I have kind of watched him all these years because he asked so much (about) me," she said of that long-ago conversation.
When Reagan was elected president in 1980, her sons, Kurt, , and Kent, , urged Kalwitz to send a copy of the 1940 photo to the White House with remembrances of when the picture was taken.
At first Kalwitz demurred, figuring that many others with similar memories were already sending in their pictures and their rememberances to the Reagan White House. But eventually she gave in and forwarded a copy of the picture along with her personal recollections to the new president. At the time, Kalwitz didn't know the name of the second movie set she had visited decades earlier.
In a letter addressed to Mrs. George Kalwitz dated Sept. 14, 1981, Reagan wrote that the photo was taken in 1940 on the set of Million Dollar Baby.
"I have two special memories of this film. One was that I had the opportunity to work with May Robson, a fine actress, who passed away the next year. Also, I portrayed a piano player in this movie and, for someone who cannot produce one note on any instrument, I was proud of my imitation of an accomplished pianist ...," Reagan wrote.
In her letter that accompanied the photo, Kalwitz had written "something about "I think your wife is one of the loveliest First Ladies and I am proud to have her in the White House."'
Kalwitz said she wasn't really talking about Nancy Reagan's physical appearance, but about her poise, sophistication and regal demeanor, "a perfect lady at all times."
Reagan's reply suggested he liked the praise showered on his wife.
"I appreciate your support and the way in which you have complimented Nancy. We both send you our best wishes," Reagan wrote.
Kalwitz received the president's response within a couple of weeks of mailing her letter.
"I was floored," she said of the president's letter, which is framed, just like the 1940 photograph.
With President Reagan's death, Kalwitz's sons asked her to send copies of her photo and Reagan's letter to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif. Kalwitz expects the library to be inundated with thousands of similar mementos, so she is hesitating. Then again, she may change her mind. Her sons' advice served her well before.