Mamie’s story intersects with so many crucial moments in U.S. history, often just one step removed from events that ultimately shaped the world. Yet she met the world around her with sincerity and openness. Her place in time makes us curious. Her multi-layered personal story keeps us reading, for her story is a real-life page-turner.

When I first thought of portraying Mamie, I imagined performing a one-woman play for one weekend—and that would be that. I hoped my work would bring awareness, not only to Mamie, but to the financial difficulties of her birthplace home museum in Boone, Iowa.

Planning my work, I envisioned the First Lady sitting down to coffee or tea with some friends while visiting in Boone, which she did throughout her life. I approached the local community theater. Theater president Christopher Levi offered production guidance, including a stage and co-directorship—but he preferred a campaign speech format. Since the script was still being written, the change was easy.

Over the next two years I performed I Like Mamie, a one-woman play portraying Mamie whistle-stopping in Boone during Ike’s 1956 re-election bid. I appeared on stages in Boone and the surrounding Central Iowa area. My friend, Vicki Palmquist, made a stunning website to tell the world about the work.

My work did not seem to affect the fate of “The Mamie House,” as the birthplace is known in Boone. Its furnishings, on loan from the Colorado site where Mamie and her family lived throughout her teen years, were removed from Boone. The house was seldom open to the public. Nevertheless, I started preparing to film the play in front of a live audience. In early 2020, I reserved a public auditorium for March 20, 2020.

Instead of filming that day, I found myself one step removed from an event that shaped the world: the Covid-19 pandemic.

The next year was one of change, around the world and, of course, close to home. I knew, with Covid rates climbing, filming Mamie on-stage with an audience was impossible. So the play’s original concept came back: Mamie meeting with a few friends in a relaxed, informal setting. Gathering a small, healthy group to film across a wide table was do-able—though we still had to reschedule and recast due to an actress undergoing quarantine.

The script was re-written, and re-christened with its original name Tea With Mamie. A gathering of angels has made this all possible, angels who daily amaze me with their great abilities and greater hearts.

I am surrounded by the presence of these angels every day. Knowing they are there makes me feel that the world might pull through after all, just as I believe Mamie’s presence lifted President Eisenhower, making it possible for the President’s spirit and presence to lift the world.