Author of New Betty Ford Biography to Be 2018-19 Calvaruso Speaker

Lisa McCubbin’s October 4 presentation on the transformative first lady will be followed by a conversation featuring retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill; together, they have co-authored three books chronicling Hill’s service to five presidents

September 19, 2018

Less than a month after a landmark biography of Betty Ford hits the shelves, its author, Lisa McCubbin, will participate in Albion College’s annual Joseph & Donna Calvaruso Speaker Series. Her talk is scheduled for Thursday, October 4, at 7 p.m., at the Bohm Theatre in downtown Albion.

McCubbin (right), a television news anchor and reporter earlier in her career, has written four previous books that reached The New York Times’ bestseller list. The newly published Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster) is an intimate and insightful portrait of the groundbreaking, candid and resilient first lady and wife of President Gerald Ford. The book features a foreword by their daughter, Susan Ford Bales (who spoke at Albion College in 2013).

“Betty Ford really set the standard for the role of the modern first lady,” said Patrick McLean, director of the College’s Gerald R. Ford Institute for Leadership in Public Policy and Service. “More people should know about the life of Betty Ford, who was a true leader in her own right. This evening with Lisa McCubbin will provide that opportunity.”

Accompanying McCubbin at the Bohm will be special guest Clint Hill. The retired Secret Service agent has collaborated with McCubbin on three memoirs, including the 2012 No. 1 New York Times bestseller Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Their most recent partnership was 2016’s Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford.

Joseph S. Calvaruso, ’78, and his wife, Donna, established an endowment fund in 2005 that in past years has supported the keynote address at the annual Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium. Speakers have included Nobel Peace Prize Laureate David Trimble, noted climate scientist Richard Alley, renowned jazz violinist Regina Carter and best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith. An Albion native, Calvaruso currently serves as executive director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation in Grand Rapids.

The October 4 event is free and open to the public. The Bohm Theatre, which received a Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation in 2015, is located at 201 S. Superior St. For more information, contact Albion College’s Office of Marketing and Communications at 517-629-0445 or [email protected].