Maybe you read in Thursday’s Salisbury Post that at least one local resident — Marc Hoffman, Rowan County’s well-known band leader and composer — had a personal reminiscence when he heard that Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died Tuesday.

And he shared a memory of when he entertained at the wedding of President Ford’s granddaughter.

That memory quickly prompted another.

Salisbury Resident Charlie Peacock, well-known in railroad circles, called to “add another Rowan County connection to Ford. I haven’t seen one word about Earl Ruth, long-time athletic director at Catawba College, and the late President Ford.

“He and Ford were congressmen together, played handball together and were good friends.

“And when Earl Ruth was defeated seeking another term in Congress, President Gerald Ford appointed him governor of American Samoa, a small American trust island in the Pacific.”

— Rose Post