Barbara Bush and the Curly Burger Basket
- Capt. Greg Handal
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
I posted this story on my personal Facebook page in 2018 when former first lady, Barbara Bush, passed away. I thought I'd post a version of it on my blog in honor of an Orangeburg icon, the Dairy-O. I remember going to the Dairy-O as a child when it was a drive-up restaurant. The current location was opened in the late seventies or early eighties. It has delicious burgers, chicken, hotdogs and more. It is fastfood heaven. I stop by a few times a year as I pass through Orangeburg when visiting family. Well it is in danger of being turned into a parking lot through eminent domain laws (here's a news report https://youtu.be/8KRLlZ4ctFI?si=C_zZLev-3_SKcN8v) . The Dairy-O has been serving the citizens of Orangeburg for 75 years. Even though the owners may not know it, they have served the upper echelons of the United States government. Here's the story:
It was May of 1991. I had just finished my undergrad at the University of South Carolina and I was still living in Columbia. Barbara Bush had been invited and agreed to speak at Orangeburg's South Carolina State College’s (it is now South Carolina State University) commencement. Momma had done a good bit of volunteer work over the years for the Orangeburg Republican Party, so they asked her if she knew anyone who might be interested in driving in Mrs. Bush’s motorcade from Columbia to Orangeburg. Momma asked me, and I jumped at the chance.
My grandfather had passed away a few years prior and my mother had inherited his Cadillac, so that's the vehicle I used (although my Toyota Tercel provided me with years of reliable service, I didn't think it would have been appreciated in the motorcade). I drove to a building at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport per instruction early in the morning. The building was dark as I walked up to the glass doors. I stood there a minute and a man unlocked the door and asked what I needed. I told him I was supposed to be meeting the first lady's motorcade and he handed me a slip of paper with the address of the real meeting.
I found the meeting place and was met by the secret service who patted me down and inspected my vehicle for explosives. Once I was deemed unthreatening, I was assigned Mrs. Bush’s photographer and her chief of staff to be my passengers. They got in the back seat, we took our place in the middle of the motorcade and headed for I-26 East.
On the way to Orangeburg, the two women discussed, among other things, the lunch menu for the plane ride back to DC (they were displeased). I interjected that the Dairy-O on Russell Street had outstanding food, in particular, their Curly Burger. I described the legendary burger with its melted pimento cheese (this was a pioneering addition, way before every restaurant was adding pimento cheese to everything), mustard, and diced onions on a pressed bun. Well they were intrigued; when we got to the football stadium at SC State where the graduation was being held, they came over with a couple of staffers and asked if I could drive the staffers to the Dairy-O. I agreed and we picked up 15 or 20 Curly Burger baskets for the entourage. The Dairy-O never had a clue that they prepared a White House meal! The picture was taken on the tarmac at Columbia Metropolitan Airport just before Mrs. Bush took off. Her chief of staff introduced me and said, “Mrs. Bush, this is Greg! He picked us up lunch for the plane ride home!”
Comments