Basically it was warmer in Alaska than it was in Greencastle Wednesday but Kristen Kolp still had chills when she talked about her recent experience.

Kristen and husband U.S. Air Force MSgt. Joe met briefly with Vice President Mike Pence when he made a Veterans Day stop at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to refuel Air Force 2 while en route to Japan and a diplomatic trip to Asia.

Kristen, a Putnam County native and daughter of Gary and Cheryl Salsman of Belle Union, called their “brief encounter” the highlight of her husband’s 25-year Air Force career, which will end in retirement this January.

“We’ve had the opportunity to meet other decorated war heroes, including a Tuskegee airman,” Kristen, a 1988 Greencastle High School graduate, said, “but this is the cherry on the top and a special way to wind down Joe’s career. We were misty-eyed and grateful all at the same time.”

Being a ticketed event not everyone on the sprawling base got to see the vice president, and those who did waited patiently for more than four hours as weather delayed his flight. The Kolps were among an estimated 300 servicemen and women and select spouses who got to visit with the veep and his wife.

“He easily could have kept on going,” Kristen said of Pence being behind schedule at that point, “so that really impressed us.”...