02/24/06 Close encounter with a former first lady

Greg Nelson was armed with a veterinarian degree, a commission in the army and ready to take on the world in 1961, until he got the 'greetings' letter. NELSON "I had a letter from my draft board saying that if I didn't go as a lieutenant in July I'd be going as a private in August. Ended up assigned to the Pentagon in Washington DC." That's when he was put him in charge of the Kennedy's two horses. Macaroni was a Shetland, Sardar was a gift from Pakistan to first lady Jackie Kennedy. NELSON "When she received this horse it couldn't go through the quarantine station in New York like it should have and it was under a sealed quarantine. So she came in and decided that she was going to ride the horse. Of course I said at the time to my boss 'she can't do that.' She overheard that and came right over and got in my face. Anyway it wasn't too long after that they needed a vet, I went to Vietnam." Nelson has a signed photo from Mrs Kennedy but he's sure he wasn't as he put it, 'one of her darlings.' However he was honored last week with a Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Agriculture. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott