Letters: Presidential Ethics

This is the story of an honest president. In 1975 Roffe skiwear outfitted President Gerald R. Ford and family. I was the designer, and I remember Betty [Ford] wearing a size eight. We were asked to supply an invoice, which we did at wholesale. We were told the president must pay for his own skiwear. The check arrived. It was a check on President Ford’s personal account, handwritten and signed by him. We framed the check and hung it on the wall in the reception area of our factory in Seattle. A month or so later, we received a call from the treasury department requesting that we cash the check, and they said they would then send it back. We did, and they did. We put the check back in the frame and back on the wall by the front door. 

Wini Jones
Vice president, ISHA board of directors
Bainbridge Island, Washington

Boots in the Snow at the 1956 Cortina Games

In a recent issue of Skiing History, you used a photo of me from the 1956 Cortina
Olympics, identifying me as a “female racer” (“Cortina’s Olympic Rewrite,” January-February 2026 and “No. 38’s Record-Setting Olympic Race,” Letters, May-June 2026). It was a few years ago, so I will forgive you. In fact, I have never seen the photo in my life, but the start number is correct! It was such a tough year for me I probably trashed the photo. I had spent three months in the hospital in 1955, then another five months in a cast, all resulting from a bad spiral fracture. At Cortina, my goal was to beat my bib number. I wore start No. 38 in the giant slalom and finished 29th. In the downhill, I started 37th and finished 22nd. In slalom, I started as No. 43 and finished 30th.

The great news for Canada and for me was Lucile Wheeler’s bronze medal in the downhill. She was always my inspiration. The 1956 Cortina Winter Games were a great disappointment to many athletes as there was no village. We were put in various scattered hotels, with no chance to meet team members from elsewhere. The best arrangements were had by the officials, leaving many athletes in crowded sleeping conditions and makeshift beds. The men’s downhill conditions were horrendous and about half of the first 25 men did not even finish the race. The women’s slalom was no better. Keep up the good work with Skiing History. In this house, it is always a race to be the first one to pick it up from the mailbox.

Anne Heggtveit Hamilton
Cornelius, North Carolina