Cape Girardeau woman recalls connection to Reagan legacy

Forty years ago Tuesday, the 40th president of the United States was shot and seriously wounded outside a Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C.

Three other men were also hit with gunfire from a .22-caliber revolver wielded by John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, remaining under institutional psychiatric care until released Sept. 10, 2016.

Former President Ronald Reagan's assailant now lives full time at his mother's home in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is subject to several prohibitions and restrictions.

Jenny Goncher, 39, of Cape Girardeau is a former employee of Young America's Foundation, which years ago acquired the Reagan Ranch, known as the Western White House, outside of Santa Barbara, California.

Jenny Goncher of Cape Girardeau is a former Major Gifts development officer for Young America's Foundation at the Reagan Ranch in California.Submitted

"When (YAF) acquired (the ranch), the goal was to preserve it and share (Reagan's) legacy with the voice of conservatism on college campuses, which is (YAF's) purpose and mission," she said.

Goncher said she never met the former president because by the time she initially arrived at YAF in 2001, Reagan was in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93.

"I initially went to a YAF conference at the Santa Barbara Reagan Ranch Center while vice president of College Republicans at the University of Missouri-Columbia," Goncher said.

Later, Goncher went back to YAF in California as an intern in 2002 and later a development officer in Major Gifts there from 2006-2007 before coming home to Cape Girardeau.

"We spent a great deal of time at Rancho del Cielo with the president's former Secret Service members," she recalled, with a strong memory of the late agent John Barletta, who joined Reagan's protective detail after his 1980 election and was chief of the service's equestrian team.

"(Barletta) was very close to (Reagan)," she said, noting the two were frequently found riding horses together when the ex-president was physically able.

Goncher said she got to ride a horse on the ranch during workdays.

"(Barletta) did speak of the (1981 shooting) but did so cautiously out of respect to the Reagan family and the country," she added.

Goncher remembers Barletta telling her the Secret Service, regardless of any agent's personal political beliefs, is sworn to protect the president "at all costs."

"Michael Reagan, the president's son, had a radio show (and) meeting him was a great experience," she recalled.

Goncher said as part of her YAF duties, she introduced former Reagan administration adviser Ed Meese at a conference held in San Diego.

Goncher, who today is a consultant for female-owned businesses, was formerly Southeast Missouri field representative for former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) and interned in Jefferson City while a college student with Peter Kinder, then the president pro tempore of Missouri Senate, later the state's GOP lieutenant governor.

She credits Kinder and lawyer, author and political commentator David Limbaugh with encouraging her to apply for the YAF internship.

"It changed my life," Goncher said.