ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BETH MACY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: BETH MACY
Gail Montuori is somewhere in the mid-range of the Friends of Bill hierarchy: Close enough to score tickets to private parties for Bill Clinton's recent inauguration, not close enough to get to spend the night in the White House.
Gail was editor-in-chief of her Hot Springs, Ark., high school newspaper, The Spartan Spirit. Billy Clinton, as he was called then, was features editor.
Gail's stepfather was Billy's Sunday School teacher - and remembers Billy walking to Sunday School carrying his Bible.
Gail's stepbrother Bert was killed in Vietnam while Clinton was either - depending on your political preference - a) dodging the war, or b) studying at Oxford. The last person Bert wrote to before he died was Clinton. A 1993 photograph of the president at a Memorial Day service shows him crouched solemnly in front of the Vietnam Wall, staring at Bert's name.
Gail Montuori, a special-education teacher at Christiansburg High School, will tell you all this at the drop of Clinton's name.
She'll be glad to show you the many photos that line the walls of her circa-1880 house and her antique dining-room table. ``Look at this one, at our 20th reunion when he was governor,'' she says. And then, with the tone of a sister, adds chuckling: ``Wasn't he a little fat?''
There's the one of him holding Gail's daughter Marissa when she was 11 months old, next to preschooler Chelsea, outside the Arkansas Governor's Mansion in 1983. ``I took this picture to the president one time, and you know what he said, bless his heart?
``He said, `I remember that dog''' - referring to his old retriever in the background of the photo.
There's the 1963 high-school yearbook with the photo of Billy, then a Boys Nation delegate, shaking the hand of John F. Kennedy, then the president.
There's the personal letter President Clinton wrote back to Gail's husband, Joe, a psychology professor at Radford University. An intelligence-testing expert, Joe had written to offer his opinions on the book, ``The Bell Curve,'' outlining why he disagreed with its thesis.
``And look, here he is in a junior high picture - kinda zitty,'' she adds, employing that sisterly tone again.
Don't talk to Gail Montuori about Whitewater, or Gennifer Flowers or the expensive haircut on the airport runway. And don't say anything mean about his wife, whom Gail does not really know.
Gail takes a lot of ribbing for her FOB status - from Republicans who like to bash Clinton in front of her, from fellow teachers who laugh every time she pulls out the tattered traveling photo album she keeps in her purse. Even her decorator chides her for having too many photos on her walls, mostly of Clinton.
``At least it's a tasteful shrine,'' Montuori retorts.
Gail says she gave up referring to the president as Billy the day he announced his candidacy for president. ``I'm intimidated, oh yeah,'' she says. ``I mean, he is president of the United States.''
Her daughter Marissa can't even speak in the presence of Clinton, she says. Too shy.
But Marissa Montuori did get the perk of attending her first-ever dance - not in some sweaty seventh-grade gym, but at last month's inaugural ball. Sheryl Crow, Michael Bolton and Kenny G were among the performers.
What Gail likes most about Clinton is that he hasn't forgotten his roots - nor his old friends dating back to junior high. When Gail caught his eye by waving wildly just before his Richmond debate against George Bush, Clinton cracked up, pointing her out to then-Gov. Douglas Wilder.
``The next week, my cousin caught his attention at a Des Moines rally by holding up a banner that read, `I remember Scully Street,''' the street Clinton lived on as a child. ``He came over and she started to tell him her name, and he said: `I know who you are. I saw Gail last week in Richmond.'
``That gives me goosebumps,'' Gail says.
``Growing up, he was always just a really nice person,'' she recalls. ``He was the kind of kid who'd come visit my stepbrother and bring his little brother along.''
Her inaugural visit last month was different from the one she'd had the four years prior - back when Clinton rushed into a room, saw her there and gave her a hug. That was before he knew about reception lines and protocol, before he understood how swamped he really was. ``He's too busy now to meet with us individually,'' she says.
The president's aged quite a bit these past four years, she's noticed. And, in that sisterly tone, she adds, ``If you ask me, I think he's looking a little too thin.''
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Montuori family photograph. 1. A prized snapsnot: (fromby CNBleft) Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Clinton, Gail Montuori, her
daughter, Marissa, and husband, Joe. 2. During their 30th high
school reunion, the president poses with classmates, including Gail
Montuori (right). color.