Brenda sue Reger 1990’s

Account written by D C Gifford
One Friday afternoon in the early 90's after arriving home from work we decided that we needed to get out of town for a break. We scanned the phone book to look for some possibilities and came upon an entry for the Buford House Bed and Breakfast in Tombstone. The woman answering the phone indicated that usually she is booked several months in advance, but just got word of a cancellation so we were in luck. We explained that we just needed to get away for a few days to forget about the stresses of the job, and she laughed, stating that she knew just what we meant. We said we could be there in less than two hours, and she said OK.

Upon arriving, we entered a small foyer where we noticed several large framed photographs hanging on the walls. There was a locked door which turned out to be the entrance to the parlor. We rang the doorbell and waited. While waiting, we looked at the photographs more closely. There was a picture of Ronald Reagan shaking hands with a petite, 50'ish blond woman in the oval office. There was a picture of Colin Powell shaking hands with the same petite blond woman. There were several other pictures with various other men in expensive suits standing next to the same woman with backdrops indicating they were in some official government office.

The door opened and we were warmly greeted by the woman in the photographs. It turns out that our host, Brenda Reger, was the Director of the Information Policy Office in the 1980's at the same time that the Iran-Contra scandal was going on. We came to find out that during the investigation in the late 80's she would often get calls to immediately fly back to Washington DC to testify.

The Iran-Contra Affair was one of the largest political scandals in the United States during the 1980s. It involved several members of the Reagan Administration who in 1986 helped sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund the Contras, an anti-communist guerrilla organization in Nicaragua.

Below is an excerpt from chapter 5 of the Independent Counsel's report on Iran-Contra.: The following Tuesday, November 25, 1986, President Reagan publicly fired North because of his involvement in the Iran/contra diversion. NSC director of information policy, Brenda Reger, then secured suite 302 of the Old Executive Office Building -- a two-floor suite that contained the offices of North, Hall, Lt. Col. Robert L. Earl, Cmdr. Craig P. Coy, and two other staff members -- and refused to allow any removal of documents without her approval.

So besides the fact that Brenda had a job that was probably at least as stressful as ours, she was also very interesting and gracious. She bought the Buford House years ago so she would have something less stressful to occupy her time after she retired. Brenda said that when they were excavating the basement of the Buford House to install some plumbing, they found the skeletons of several Chinese men. Tombstone was founded in 1879, and an extensive service industry (laundry, construction, restaurants, fine hotels, etc.) was provided by Chinese and other immigrants.

Brenda Sue Rgeger

She retired from the NSC in 1988 and moved to Tombstone, AZ where she owned a couple of Antique Shops and owned and ran the Buford House Bed and Breakfast for several years.

Brenda Sue Reger, age 71, passed away Wednesday, October 15, 2014.  She was loved by all of her family and many Tombstone friends and shall be missed greatly. She was buried in Lorentz, West Virginia in the family cemetery with four generations of her family.