Bringing Teddy Roosevelt to life

This column was published in the Contra Costa Times newspapers on May 27, 2010.

A man will grow a mustache for many reasons, but to look like a dead president? That’s what Orinda’s Fred Rutledge did last week to bring to life Theodore Roosevelt in an evening lecture series sponsored by Pleasanton’s Museum on Main.

Dressed as Roosevelt and standing at a lectern draped with an American flag, Rutledge told about 100 attendees at a Pleasanton church earlier this month that he’d just returned from spending four days with John Muir.

Working from historical documents, Rutledge took the audience back to May 1903, some two years into Roosevelt's presidency and the day he emerged from his historic Yosemite trip where the president and Muir eluded secret service and the press corps: “Just the two of us,” said Rutledge as Roosevelt, “by the campfire underneath the oldest living trees stretching high above into the starry night sky, talking, laughing, story-telling.”

Employing a mid-Atlantic accent, Rutledge filled his talk with historical tidbits, including the revelation that Roosevelt’s often-quoted “Speak softly and carry a big stick” comes from an African proverb.

Rutledge also illuminated Roosevelt’s shifting view of nature as a source of national raw materials to a source of beauty in need of protection: “I am still sort of a hunter,” said Rutledge as Roosevelt, “although a lover of nature first. When I hear of the destruction of a species I feel as if all the works of some great writer had perished.”

Rutledge, 53, fell in love with history thanks to his parents who often sat around the kitchen table in their Piedmont home talking about historical topics. He attended San Francisco State University and St. Mary’s College. Having served as an Army Reservist, he’s now in the California State Military Reserve.

“Like Roosevelt, I’m a full colonel,” said Rutledge, who is also the Chief of Staff of the California Center for Military History.

His first portrayal of Roosevelt occurred in April 1999 after meeting Muir impersonator Steve Pauley at the Muir House in Martinez. Pauley had been looking for someone to portray Roosevelt to recreate scenes from that 1903 Yosemite camping trip. At the time, Rutledge had been participating in an educational program for schools where he would dress in Civil War and other uniforms to share what it was like to be a soldier in times past, so it was a natural step for Rutledge to portray Roosevelt.

The 1903 camping trip presentation was such a success that the two were invited to do the same dialogue for the Contra Costa County Mayors' Dinner a few months later in July 1999.

“I remember saying to the group after they applauded how nice it was to see such a large group of Republicans,” said Rutledge, referring to Roosevelt’s political party. “That almost got a universal laugh,” he said.

Rutledge has since gone on to appear several times as Roosevelt, including as the keynote speaker a few years ago at a July 4 picnic in Pleasanton. His efforts earned him an Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal by the Army in 2004.

In his professional life, Rutledge oversees educational programs at Santa Rita Jail for the Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program. He said he enjoys portraying Roosevelt because it offers others a glimpse of the past, just as holding a book or historic postcard connects us to those who came before us.

“I love history,” said Rutledge. “It keeps us in touch with our ancestors and gives us a sense of direction.”

For more about the Pleasanton lecture series and upcoming speakers and events, visit

www.museumonmain.org.

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A shorter version of this column and this photo appeared in the Valley Times and the Tri-Valley Herald in May 2010.

This is a story of two inspiring people whose lives connected 12 years ago in an elementary school in Pleasanton, California.

Josh Burger is a senior at Pleasanton’s Amador Valley High School, and Patricia Poor has been his aide since he was in first grade.

“I only expected to work with Josh for a year because doctors predicted he wouldn’t live very long,” said Poor, who lives in San Ramon. “But Josh surprised us all.”

In fact, Burger was expected to live only a few minutes after an ultrasound showed a disfigured 20-week fetus.

“The doctors recommended abortion,” said Burger, who weighs just 32 pounds. “But my parents believed God created me for a reason and it wasn’t their right to end my short life.”

Called Atelosteogenesis Syndrome Type III, Burger’s condition is so rare that fewer than 10 people in the world have it, and he’s the oldest-known survivor. Every bone in his body is misshapen. He has only one functional lung and an enlarged heart. He’s missing bones in his legs and can’t walk. He can’t bend the fingers in his right hand. He is deaf without hearing aids, didn’t speak until age 5, and was born with a cleft palate.

Yet Burger beat the odds and survived his first years of life. Determined to have her son experience life to the fullest, Burger's mother enrolled him in first grade. There they both met Patricia Poor.

Born in England, Poor moved to southern California in 1970 in her early twenties. She eventually moved to the Tri-Valley where she earned her associate of arts degree in Special Education at Chabot and Las Positas Colleges. With this training, she applied to become a special aide for a special boy, and she got the job.

“I’ve enjoyed assisting Josh,” said Poor, who has the distinction of being one of the only adults to attend every single grade all over again as the boy became a young man. “Josh has a positive outlook and every day says something to make me laugh.”

For Burger, his outlook on life has not always been so positive.

“In second grade I realized I was different from everyone else,” he said. “I was frustrated when I couldn’t ride a bike or hold a pencil right or wear shoes.”

Burger’s frustration turned into tears and anger. “I was mad at God,” he said.

But after several months, his anger ebbed as Burger realized that “maybe my little body was God’s gift to me and what I did with it, and with my life, was my gift back to Him.”

According to Frank Burger, Josh’s father, Poor played a vital role 7 hours a day, 180 days a year for 12 years encouraging and protecting his son. “Josh has learned to be more independent through her nudging,” he said. “We’ve never worried about him because of her guiding care and how she taught other children to show respect for him.”

Today, Josh Burger gets around lying on his stomach on a motorized wheelchair he controls. His accomplishments include meeting George Bush and helping raise money for Paul Newman’s Painted Turtle Camp for disabled kids where he met celebrities such as Tom Hanks.

After Hurricane Katrina, Burger raised relief funds by getting a Mohawk haircut, wearing wrap-around sunglasses and having a Chihuahua stand on his back as he patrolled the Pleasanton Farmer’s Market for donations. He and his friends raised $30,000.

In June, Burger and Poor will say their goodbyes as he graduates and she retires. Like his aide, he plans to attend Las Positas College. Although his prognosis and life expectancy is unknown, Burger looks forward to discovering what’s next after graduation.

“Like everyone, I want to do something with my life," he said. "Something great.”