CELEBRITIES

graduate-level graduation from Mount St. Joseph.

While walking down a side street, I greeted any passersby, as I customarily do.

One particular "hello," though, was met with a coy smile — from Tom Cruise. Only after he'd passed did I realize who he was.

My husband and I turned around as Cruise walked back onto what must have been the set for a scene in "Rain Man." Also there was actor Dustin Hoffman.

Were were unaware that "Rain Man" was being filmed in Cincinnati.

Funny how you never know who you might see on a warm summer day in Ohio. In 2009, Merrlyn Cahill (right) and her daughter, Mindy Malkie, ran into rocker Alice Cooper in a Macy’s store in the Tuttle Crossing Mall.

question, “No, really, are you Alice Cooper?”

Again, in that slow, deliberate voice, he answered, “Yes.”

Struck by his presence, I emphatically continued: “Oh, my gosh! You are! You’re Alice Cooper, aren’t you?”

He gazed down at me and, slowly and deliberately, said, “Well, I think I am.”

Finally convinced, I relaxed a little, smiled and introduced myself and my daughter.

Cooper, it turned out, was in Columbus to perform that night at the Ohio State Fair. We talked briefly and, before going our separate ways, asked him to take a picture with us.

He kindly obliged.

that we would be traveling close to Plains, home of former President Jimmy Carter.

We decided that a side trip was in order, and, before long, we were pulling into the Plains visitor center.

After visits to the Carter boyhood home and the Jimmy Carter museum, lunchtime was approaching. A National Park Service employee, who also told us stories of her time with the Carters, told us of two restaurants in Plains, one fancier than the other.

We discussed driving to a larger town for lunch so we would have more choices but at the last minute pulled into the small restaurant in the heart of Plains, the lessfancy choice.

Lola and Diane went in while Bob and I parked the car. When we entered, our wives seemed excited. They pointed to two men who were carrying sidearms and radios. Diane informed us that Lola almost confronted these guys because she thought they were “checking us out too closely.”

They then pointed discreetly behind them, and there were Jimmy and Mrs. Carter and several friends. The armed gentlemen were Secret Service men who “checked out” everyone who entered. We kept sneaking peeks at the Carter table and wondered how we could get a picture without looking like tourists. No one else in the restaurant seemed to even notice the Carters.

Before our food arrived, the Carters and their friends got up to leave. They could have walked straight out the door, but instead, Jimmy and Mrs. Carter — noticing that we weren’t locals — came right to our table and struck up a conversation.

We chatted about where Judy Fisher poses with ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev, who she ran into in a cafe after she had attended one of his perfomances.

we were from and their health and travels. We could have sat and chatted with them all afternoon.

The Secret Service men were encouraging them to leave but, before they did, Jimmy asked whether we would like to take some pictures.

We took pictures with both and shook hands all around before the Carters were whisked out the door.

This was the high point of our trip.

I grew up on a farm in rural northwest Ohio near the village of New Knoxville.

From there, I went to college and then taught for 30 years in central Ohio.

During this time, my husband, Bob, and I regularly visited my parents, who continued living on the farm near New Knoxville. Often when we visited, we would go to Brown’s Restaurant in nearby Wapakoneta for a meal. The rear section of the restaurant consisted of long rectangular tables that seated 10 or 12 people.

One day, while seated at the end of one of these tables, my dad said, “Here comes Neil Armstrong and his parents.”

They were seated at the end of the table next to us. My dad and mom greeted them, even though they didn’t know the Armstrongs personally.

That was the end of the conversation.

Still, to this day, my husband likes to tell people about the time he had lunch with Neil Armstrong. As a young 20-something, I had a passion for ballet

— not as a dancer but as an observer of the dance.

In 1969, after watching Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn deliver an amazing performance of "Giselle" in St. Louis, I ended up at a cafe after the show — and both performers were there.

Nureyev kindly allowed my friend to take a picture of him with me.

I cherish it.

Historically, Jesse Owens and I have something in common. In 1936, while he was winning four Olympic medals at the Olympic games in Berlin, I was born here in the United States.

Fast forward 26 years. I was a secretary in the department of athletics at Ohio State University in 1962 when Jesse Owens entered my office outside the assistant director of athletics and wished to see my boss.

My boss had a client in his office, so I asked Mr. Owens to sit down. Knowing who he was, I made small talk with this soft-spoken man. I shared with him the fact that I knew of his daughter, Marlene, who attended OSU the same time I did. I also knew she had been crowned OSU's homecoming queen in 1960, the first AfricanAmerican homecoming queen.

He agreed to sign the program I had setting on my desk for the track meet that was being held that day in the field house building adjacent to St. John Arena where we sat visiting. That program is among my treasures. It was a day I shall never forget.