Palin's Proud Parents

My photographer for the day, Dan, slowly pulled the SUV into the driveway... "Is this it?" he asked. The sign in the front yard read: "Welcome to the Heaths." I told him to wait in the car until I could ask the family if they'd be interested in talking to us. I knocked on the front door and was welcomed in by Chuck Heath. I told him, "I'm so sorry to bother you today, but my station was wondering if you and your wife would be willing to do an interview with us about today's big announcement concerning your daughter." Both were hesitant. I could tell Chuck was interested, but Sally was worried since neither of them had spoken to Sarah or Todd yet.

While we were there, the phone was ringing off the hook... Journalists calling from all over the world and leaving messages on the Heath's answering machine. Some as far away as Europe and India. And we -- Channel 2 -- had an exclusive with the couple. Chuck assured me it was because he and Sally are "big fans" as he put it, of our station. Their daughter actually worked for our Sports Department right out of college in 1988.

Gov. Sarah Palin's parents say they were surprised, just like the rest of the world, at the news their own daughter could become the first female U.S. vice president. Thursday, Chuck and Sally Heath were in the mountains on a hunting and gold panning trip, but high waters kept them from making it to their camp so they came back home -- had it not been for that turn of events the proud parents would have probably missed out on the big announcement.


(Photographer: Dan Carpenter/KTUU)