Sunday, May 11, 2008; Posted: 07:32 AM
He soon learned that the woman had used an alias. Her real name is Margaret Chase Hager, the mother of Henry Hager, who Saturday night became the husband of President Bush's daughter Jenna in a private, closely guarded ceremony at the family's ranch.
"It's obviously the highest-profile rehearsal dinner we've ever done!" Mr. Hermann said with a laugh. He and his wife served more than 100 guests Friday night at the Old Salado Springs Celebration Center, where Secret Service agents -- omnipresent in Crawford this weekend -- were "sweeping everyone down with metal detectors" beforehand.
The groom, Mrs. Hermann said, gave the funniest toasts, telling the president "he couldn't wait to be the son he'd never had. He told funny stories about dating the president's daughter." She declined to say, however, what those were. "Everyone," she says, "was respectful of the fact that this is a very private event."
And so it was, with the White House releasing only a few pre-wedding details on Saturday. The bride wore a dress designed by Oscar de la Renta, earrings by Anthony Camargo and Nak Armstrong and picked designer Lela Rose to outfit her "House Party" -- 14 women -- and twin sister Barbara, her maid of honor.
Before more than 200 guests, confined to family and close friends, the couple exchanged vows in front of a Texas limestone cross, one the president himself requested. He plans to keep it at the ranch as a permanent monument.
Officiating was the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a 14,000-member church in Houston. He has been described as one of President Bush's spiritual advisers.
But earlier this year, the pastor endorsed a Democrat for president -- and has vowed to campaign for Sen. Barack Obama.
After the ceremony, guests retreated to an outdoor tent, whose decor was designed by the first lady. Sally McDonough, Laura Bush's press secretary, called the design "very natural. In her words, she's using colors that are already in the landscape. The blues of the lake, the greens of the grasses, the different colors of the wildflowers, which are predominantly lavenders and blues and yellows in May."
No one from Crawford was even invited to the wedding, which represents a new beginning for Jenna. For many here, however, it's an ending.
"It's Crawford's last big fanfare," said massage therapist Kay Owens, 53, who noted with a laugh that some of the town's 750 residents have ended up as "stressed-out" clients on her massage table.
Make no mistake, she said, Crawford is overwhelmingly conservative and Republican and proudly supported President Bush in the last two elections. But seven years of attention has been a bit frenetic.
"A helicopter flies over our place every time we come in," says Ronny Owens, 54, Kay's husband, who works in the used-car industry. "I do a lot of hunting, and I can't go down to the creek no more near the president's ranch."
"We've tried a few times," Ms. Owens says with a laugh, "but the Secret Service always comes running."
Hours before the nuptials, TV crews huddled around trucks equipped with satellite dishes, and tourists by the hundreds flocked to such stores the Red Bull and the Yellow Rose.
The Red Bull offered up punch and wedding cake, said store manager Jamie Burgess, who ran out of her prized collectibles -- Jenna-and-Henry mouse pads and coffee mugs.
Crawford has a single flashing red light, dividing Farm Road 185 from State Highway 317, which was racked with a savage thunderstorm Friday night that pelted the area with a driving rain and quarter-size hail. The president's ranch was not damaged.
Paula Martin, 50, of Temple, drove to Crawford to score big on Bush memorabilia.
She picked up six Jenna-Henry coffee mugs from the Yellow Rose and a T-shirt, which she plans to wear to the real White House in June. Like many in Crawford, Ms. Martin is happy to count herself among the 29 percent of Americans who think the president is doing a good job.
At the Coffee Station, which doubles as a gas stop -- and where President Bush once took Tony Blair of Britain and Vladimir Putin of Russia for one of its trademark burgers -- Althea Rogers, 42, was filling up her tank. Regular unleaded is priced at $3.61 a gallon. When President Bush took office, on Jan. 20, 2001, the national average for regular unleaded was $1.46 a gallon.
"I don't really blame him," says Ms. Rogers, a postal worker. "I don't see where he's the direct reason. One person can't make that happen."
Ms. Rogers has lived in Crawford for 16 years and says that, as the home of the Western White House, the town has changed dramatically and for the better.
"A lot of the town has gotten more involved in politics," she says. "They just seem more upbeat. There are just a lot of things going on now."
Not everyone feels so upbeat, however. Realtor-rancher Mark Mattlage, 57, returned to his hometown in May 2007, but has owned his ranch-style home and the hundreds of acres around it for years, less than two miles from the Bush property.
Before he returned, he allowed anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan to stage demonstrations on a portion of his land. In mid-2006, he retracted the offer, after his insurance company threatened to increase his insurance liability costs astronomically. He was upset, he says, when Ms. Sheehan reacted "inappropriately." (Her supporters later acquired their own land nearby.)
So, he says, he's no fan of her, or the president, for whom he has never voted, but has also never met. Like his neighbors, Mr. Mattlage wishes Jenna a long and happy life, but as for the presidency that forever changed his beloved hometown ...
"I'll be glad when it's over," he says.
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