From Wells, Minn., to the White House: How Larry Buendorf's heroics saved the life of a president

When he died in 2006, 93-year-old Gerald Ford was the longest-lived U.S. president. That milestone, however, might never have been reached if not for the actions of a man from southern Minnesota.

On September 5, 1975, Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf was on duty outside a hotel in Sacramento, Calif., when he spotted a would-be assassin in the crowd. He swiftly stepped in front of the president and knocked the gun out of the woman's hand, thwarting the assassination attempt.

It would be the defining moment in a long career of public service for Buendorf, who died on March 9 at his home in Colorado Springs. He was 87.

Buendorf, a native of Wells, Minn., joined the Secret Service in 1970 after serving as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. He was later assigned to the White House detail, where he was responsible for safeguarding three presidents, from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter.

"He used to say his job was hours and hours of boredom for one moment of sheer terror," his wife, Linda, said in an interview.

For Buendorf, that moment came on a sunny morning in the California capital as President Ford left the Senator Hotel for a meeting with the state's governor. With a crowd gathered outside, Ford had turned down a ride in his limousine for the opportunity to shake hands with supporters. In the back of the crowd was Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson.

Flanking Ford, Buendorf spotted Fromme from a distance. On her ankle was a holster carrying a .45 automatic pistol.

"That's a big gun to have on your ankle," Buendforf recalled in a 2010 interview with the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. "So, when it came up, it came up low and I happened to be looking in that direction.

"I see it coming and I step in front of him, not sure what it was other than that it was coming up pretty fast, and yelled out 'Gun!' When I yelled out 'Gun!' I popped that 45 out of her hand. Agents hear this, they covered the president and they're gone. So, now you've got this guy in a suit with this big 45 wrestling with this little girl."

For his actions, Buendorf received the U.S. Treasury Meritorious Service Award and the U.S. Secret Service Valor Award. It would be the first of two unsuccessful attempts on Ford's life within a three-week period.

"For me, it was about being confronted with something and doing the right thing," he said of his actions.

The thwarted attack marked the beginning of a long relationship between Buendorf and Ford. In 1983, after stints in Denver and Omaha cracking down on counterfeiters, Buendorf was assigned to lead up Ford's post-presidency security detail.

Even after Buendorf left the Secret Service in 1993 to become the chief of security for the U.S. Olympic Committee, the two would continue to touch base almost every year on the anniversary of the assassination attempt.

"If I had been looking someplace else, who knows how history would have changed," Buendorf said in 2010.

The hero 'from our little town'

Buendorf was born on Nov. 18, 1937, in Wells, a small farming town near the Iowa border where his father, Merle, managed a furniture store.

In high school, Buendorf was a good athlete and an above-average student who spent his summers as a lifeguard at a local pool, said his cousin Dave Meyer. He later attended Mankato State, where he played basketball and ran track before graduating with a business degree in 1959.

While he would go on to travel the world, first as a member of the Secret Service and then as head of Olympic security, people back home saw a lot of how he grew up reflected in the type of person he became, said Betsy Hermanson, director of the Wells Depot Museum.

"He embodied a lot of what small-town Minnesota is," said Hermanson, who remembers being a young adult when she heard about Buendorf's role in preventing the attempted assassination.

"The whole town was euphoric," she said in an interview. "You know, everyone was talking about it, because not much happens in a small town of, at that time, about 2,800 people. And here was this hero that came right from our little town."

But even years after his brush with fame, Buendorf did little to remind people of his act of heroism, said his wife.

"He never brought it up. People could know him for years and suddenly it would come up in a Trivial Pursuit game and they'd say, 'I never knew that about you,'" Linda Buendorf said. "And that's because he was so humble."

Her husband, she added, was known for a genuine charm and sharp sense of humor that ran against the image of the stoic Secret Service man. He was also a loving father, she said, who especially enjoyed the 25 years he spent keeping the country's top athletes safe.

"He used to tell them that he started protecting presidents back to George Washington and then when they started to believe him, he stopped telling that story," she said with a laugh.

In addition to his wife, Buendorf is survived by his daughter Kimberly, stepdaughter Stephanie and three grandchildren.

In a statement, the Gerald Ford Foundation remembered Buendorf as "someone whose impact on those around him was larger than life."

"We are indebted to Larry's unwavering service to the Ford family, and we mourn with all who are missing him in his death," the foundation wrote.