1979: Stolte tapped to sew ‘first daughter’ a Becky dress

Brenda Stolte proudly displays a photo of Amy Carter with the parasol that Brenda made to coordinate with a custom dress, which Brenda also made. Amy is flanked by her father, President Carter, at left, and by U.S. Rep. Harold Volkmer, at right. The photo was taken in Hannibal during the Carters’ 1979 visit. Contributed photo

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

These days, Brenda Stolte passes her time working with the flowers in her yard.

But there was a time in her life when sewing was her passion. It was during this era that her talents brought her national attention.

In 1979 - the same year that her daughter, Cindy Moseley, was named the official Becky Thatcher -  Brenda Stolte was tapped to make a “Becky” dress for this country’s “first daughter,” Amy Carter.

Cindy is  among the myriad of Hannibal seventh graders who have represented Hannibal over the years, in the capacity of “Tom Sawyer” and “Becky Thatcher.”

The program enlists students - both boys and girls - to serve as honorary greeters and presenters. The official Tom and Becky are named on the Fourth of July, but throughout the following year, all 10 representatives serve in the honorary capacity of hometown ambassadors.

Back in 1979, while still in the planning stages of President Jimmy Carter’s stop in Hannibal aboard the Delta Queen, local organizers, including Dick and Phyllis McHargue, deemed it appropriate to present Carter’s daughter, Amy, with a dress representative of the Hannibal ambassador program.

Just two weeks prior to the presidential visit, Stolte was asked to recreate her daughter’s dress, which would then be gifted to Amy Carter.

“They put the bug in Cindy’s ear,” Brenda said. They asked her, “Do you think your mom would be interested in making a dress?”

Brenda’s answer, of course, was “yes. That was quite an honor.”

Brenda was asked to get everything that was needed in order to make the dress for Amy Carter. They wanted Amy’s dress to look as similar to Cindy’s dress as possible.

Brenda obtained the necessary supplies from Pat Waelder at the Hickory Stick in downtown Hannibal - including the traditional calico fabric.

“I got everything and started going at it,” she said, working late into the night in order to meet  her deadline.  “I only had two weeks to do it. I had to get my thoughts together. Thank God I had already made one so I knew what I was doing.”

She had to have the dress ready five days before the Carters were to arrive in town so the Secret Service could look it over, “to make sure I didn’t leave something in there that I shouldn’t,” she said.

Brenda was in the crowd when Amy was presented with the dress. “They only let so many people close. I did get to see her, though.”

Cindy, and that year’s official Tom Sawyer, Jimmy Cary, spent a considerable amount of time with Amy during her visit to Hannibal.

Dressed in their costumes, Cindy and Jimmy greeted the presidential party as they left the boat. “When Amy first got off the boat with her parents, Amy looked at Cindy, then turned to her mother and said, ‘That’s the kind of dress I’m going to get.’

“What the presidential family toured, Cindy and Jimmy were with them the whole time.”

Amy was happy to have people to talk to who were near her own age, Brenda said. “You can only take so much of being around adults when you are a kid.”

“I have a letter from the White House, thanking me for the dress, and a picture of Amy.”

Learning to sew

Brenda learned to sew when she was young. “My mother taught me to sew, and I took home economics all through school.”

When Cindy first decided to try out for Becky, that early education came in handy while making her daughter’s costume.

During the following years, Brenda was called upon to make costumes for other contestants, but she ultimately had to say: “No more!”

“I miss it, but to be honest with you, sewing makes me nervous. I am a perfectionist. If something isn’t right I will rip it out and do it again.”

These days, it is her flower gardens that take up much of her time.

“I’m still living in the house, up on North Griffith,” where she and her husband, Ed raised Cindy in addition to three sons. “I love my yard. Drive up by here and you’ll notice my flowers. I’m trying to take care of my yard. Sewing just got pushed to the back.”

“I raised all my kids up here, I’m not leaving.”

One last costume

In 2021, Brenda once again brought out the sewing machine in order to make a costume for her great-grandson, Jaxon Lay. “That was the first costume I’d made in a long time,” she said, “and evidently it brought him good luck, because on July 4th, he was named the official Tom Sawyer.” That same year, Greta Welch was named the official Becky Thatcher.