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[[Ralph Garbutt-Retired employee, GE Housewares Division] I'm Ralph Garbutt.]
[The time of my meeting with Ronald Reagan,]
[was working as a sales representative in the Boston office]
[It was during a blinding New England snowstorm--really a blizzard--]
[in 1958 that my fellow GE housewares division sales reps]
[and myself left early in the morning for the 30-mile ride]
[to drive to the Bancroft Hotel in Wocester, MA.]
[We had reserved a private dining room there]
[for a retail sales training meeting]
[including breakfast for some expected 30 salespeople]
[and proceded to set up our GE small applicance products]
[and displays--like the toaster ovens,]
[the portable mixers, the irons, the clocks, etc.]
[Our concern as we did this was ]
[whether or not we would have any salespeople]
[As we were completing our set up,]
[a gentleman entered the room.]
[He came in with an open shirt]
[--a white shirt that was open--]
[and he had on dress pants and advised us that he had seen our GE meeting ]
[listed on the hotel's calendar for the day.]
[He then mentioned that he also worked for GE.]
[He introduced himself as Ronald Reagan ]
[and asked if he could help us in any way. ]
[We thanked him and invited him to stay and have breakfast with us]
[before we realized that our new guest ]
[was truly a famous member of the GE family.]
[Only five salespeople arrived.]
[They were truly pleased to have a conversation ]
[with Mr. Reagan who was a movie actor ]
[as we knew him at that time.]
[My GE partner, Arthur Randall--he is now deceased--]
[told Ronald Reagan that his wife's sister ]
[was the actress Ruth Hussey,]
[and the Hollywood conversation took off from there.]
[[GE] For General Electric, here is Ronald Reagan.]
[Good Evening. We're pleased to present]
[in a repeat performance of Sherwood Anderson's]
[We talked about everything except politics.]
[I don't remember getting into the area of politics,]
[and at that time, of course, there was no indication]
[that Ronald Reagan was going to enter into the field of politics.]
[He thanked us for the breakfast, the great conversation]
