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My Geraldine Ferraro moment

FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro at a news conference in New York. A spokesperson said Saturday, March 26, 2011 that Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, has died at 75. (Suzanne Vlamis / Associated Press)
FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro at a news conference in New York. A spokesperson said Saturday, March 26, 2011 that Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, has died at 75. (Suzanne Vlamis / Associated Press)

In 1984, I worked for USA Today in Washington D.C. and was part of a team covering the presidential race that year.

The day after the Ferraro VP candidate announcement, the paper sent me and a photographer to her congressional office. We chatted for about a half hour and then the photog set up for the photo. Ferraro interrupted him so she could put on lipstick first.

This was still the intense women's lib era, which I also covered as a young journalist. It was a time when women didn't even put photos of their kids on their desks, because they didn't want to appear "soft."

So I was a little surprised to see Ferraro -- the first woman vice presidential candidate -- do something as "feminine" as put on lipstick.

How silly it seems in retrospect. And how lucky I feel to have met this pioneer.

Ferraro died March 26 from a blood disease. She was 75.

(S-R  Archive photo of Ferraro in 1984)

Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.