Read On: How his mother got her way

My mother loved Hillary Clinton and supported her with all of her heart. She was convinced Hillary was going to become the first woman to attain the U.S. presidency and intended to live long enough to witness it.

Alas, it didn’t happen for Mom. She died in January 2010 at 88. But until practically her dying breath, she spoke glowingly of Hillary: her smarts, her spirit, her independence, her persistence. My mother rather idolized her.

So when the opportunity arose for Mom to see Hillary in person, she leapt at it.

It was February 2008. Word came down that Hillary would be campaigning at an event in Sherman Oaks. And my mother, then 86, planned not only to attend the rally but to meet the candidate herself — a revelation that had come more or less out of nowhere.

“What exactly do you mean ‘meet her’?” I inquired.

“I mean I’m going to meet Hillary Clinton,” she said with certainty.

“Right,” I replied. “So you’ll attend this event, squeeze past Hillary’s security and just sort of stroll up to her with your arms outstretched? Or do you have an appointment?”

“Ha ha!,” my mother, named Terri, mocked. “I don’t need an appointment.”

At this point, I just sort of shook my head and smiled. I was trying to imagine how Mrs. Clinton’s security detail might react to seeing a 5-foot-tall Jewish mother waltzing forward while blurting, “I’m here to meet Hillary.” I guessed they probably wouldn’t greet her with, “Oh, yes, Mrs. Richmond, she’s expecting you. Right this way.”

“How do you plan to do this?” I continued.

“I don’t know,” Mom said. “I’ll figure something out.”

OK, now I was scared. “I’ll figure something out” was my mother’s default line for operating outside the law. I’d heard it before, specifically when dodging a wait for a table after a restaurant told her it would be an hour before she was seated. Mom would take that as her cue to snatch a couple of menus, grab me and plop down in a just-bussed booth.

More often than not, she got away with it. But this was different. This was the Secret Service we were talking about.

I asked, “How about if I go with you?”, which was my way of saying, “Perhaps I can save you from yourself.”

“No thanks,” my mother responded. “You won’t be any help. I’ll take a cab.”

And so she did.

The way Mom later related the story, it seemed she used her short stature and aged appearance to shove her way to the front of a crowd separated by a barrier. She had also brought along a picture to show Hillary that featured her and Clifford Clinton, the founder of the Clifton’s Cafeteria chain.

“I told her security people that I thought this man might be related to Hillary because his last name was Clinton, too,” my mother explained. “The guy in the suit with the earpiece and the dark glasses took the picture and said, ‘Wait here.’”

Chutzpah, thy name is Terri Richmond.

Some 10 minutes later, in Mom’s telling, the security guy came back, pushed aside the barrier and said, “Come with me” while hundreds of people looked on in apparent astonishment.

Mom was led to a nearby tent, inside which another handful of guys in suits, dark glasses and earpieces sat, surrounding none other than Hillary Clinton.

“So they walked me up to the table and asked me my name while they were walking me,” she said. “They whispered something to Hillary. Hillary got up and greeted me with a great big hug and said, ‘Hello Terri! Thank you so much for the photograph!’”

“Then I said, ‘You’re welcome. You know, you’re going to be President.’ And Hillary said, “I sure hope you’re right, Terri. Thank you for your support. Let’s keep fighting together.’ And then they led me out.”

I was officially stunned. My mother had done it. She’d actually met Hillary. She knew the picture prop was merely a ruse — “No way were they related,” she admitted — and it was clear this was one of the great moments of Mom’s life.

But you see, my mother was rarely wrong. She said she was going to meet Hillary, and she did. She also said Hillary would one day be president. OK?

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RAY RICHMOND has covered Hollywood and the entertainment business since 1984. He can be reached via email at ray@rayrichco.com and Twitter at @MeGoodWriter.