Lesley University

Catherine Stratton, Trustee Emerita

On May 9, 1979, Lesley's proposed Center for Economic Education for the Nation's Children was recognized by President Jimmy Carter in the White House. Mrs. Stratton, a Lesley trustee at the time, remembers what happened in the Oval Room.

Catherine Stratton:

Hollis Gerrish was one of the Trustees who was very prominent. He was a peanut manufacturer here in Cambridge. We were invited down to the White House to meet President Carter. And we all went down and it was great fun walking into the Oval Office and looking quickly to see as much as you could in a few minutes. And we all stood in line - the whole Board - and one by one went up to shake Mr. Carter's hand. And when Hollis Gerrish got there he laid a package of peanuts in the President's hand. And the President, Carter, opened his hand and looked at the peanuts and laughed and laughed. And we all thought it was a great joke. That was a fun afternoon.