Newspaper Page Text
LOCAL
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition-March 1-2, 2023 5A
CARTER
■ Continued from 1A
In a 2020 interview,
Shoulta talked about how he
watched from 2014 to 2016
how the couple cared for
the small west-central Geor
gia town of Plains and the
church community.
“It was a joy to walk with
him on this Christian jour
ney and to experience his
teachings up close,” Shoulta
said. “Also, to see him live
out his faith locally and
with his neighbors in Plains
was inspiring as well. That’s
something I’ll never forget.”
While other churches
may struggle to attract visi
tors, Carter’s church never
had that problem, especially
as he taught Sunday school
for years, including during
Shoulta’s tenure.
“He would teach on aver
age two or three times a
month,” Shoulta recalled.
“When those dates were
put on the calendar, people
would plan vacations and
trips to ... be there when he
would teach.
“I would do my part to
help welcome people into
our space and to share our
faith with not just Christians
but ... those who were just
curious about a former pres
ident teaching a Bible study
class.”
Joe Amerling and Jane
White of Gainesville were
among those who flocked
over the years to Plains to
see the president. The cou
ple went about eight or 10
times, Amerling said.
“Last time we went, Joe
said, ‘Do you think we do
this too much?”’ White said.
“And I said, ‘You know, one
day we’re not going to be
able to go. He’s not going to
be able to teach anymore.’”
Both of them recalled a
story about bringing their
nephew to Carter’s church.
Before his appearance in the
sanctuary, a presenter gave
some rules to the audience,
including when to take pic
tures but especially “don’t
touch the president.”
“He had just finished che
motherapy and was more
fragile,” White said. “He
came up to us and saw (the
nephew) in his little bow tie
and said, ‘Shake my hand,
young man.’”
Frozen, the boy didn’t
extend his hand.
“Miss Jan said not to,” he
said. Carter laughed, then
said, “Really, shake my
hand.”
“It was cool,” White said
of the experience.
One of those who served
under Carter in his post-pres
idency was Camille Massey,
who grew up in Gainesville
and now is a human rights
lawyer in New York.
While in law school,
Massey, 57, spent a summer
as the first graduate fel
low at The Carter Center in
Atlanta.
“It was just an incredible
experience, just to see how
down to earth the president
and First Lady (Rosalynn
Carter) are,” she said.
Massey’s work included
research for the center’s
international human rights
council.
“I really got the sense that
it was a priority for (Carter)
to hear voices from around
the world,” she said. “That
really stayed with me.”
She became familiar with
Carter through her father,
Abit Massey, president
emeritus of the Gainesville-
based Georgia Poultry
Federation.
As longtime head of the
poultry group, he knew
Carter in his pre-presidency
days, including when he was
a state senator and gover
nor. He also attended Cart
er’s inauguration ceremony
as president and visited him
at the White House.
He remains a great
admirer.
“He and Rosalynn are
amazing people,” Abit
Massey said. “I don’t think
any former president and
first lady has done more to
keep their service going.”
Another Gainesville
friend of Carter’s was the
late Don Carter of Don
Carter Realty.
Both outdoorsmen,
Jimmy Carter asked Don
Carter — no relation — in
the early 1970s, while the
pair was walking along a
beach on the Georgia coast,
if he would like to serve on
the Game and Fish Com
mission, the forerunner to
the Department of Natural
Resources.
The conversation took
place as Jimmy Carter was
running for governor, Don
Carter said in a 2013 inter
view with The Times.
Don Carter agreed to
Associated Press
Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue after Carter was sworn in as the 39th President, Jan. 20,1977, Washington,
D.C.
Times file photo
President Jimmy Carter and Dahlonega native Frank Moore,
his assistant for congressional relations, walk in the Rose
Garden in 1977.
serve, and would end up
spending 29 years on the
Georgia Department of Nat
ural Resources board and
becoming the namesake for
Don Carter State Park in
North Hall.
When Jimmy Carter was
elected president, “our
entire family, like many
people from this area, went
up to the inauguration, and
that was quite memorable,”
said Doug Carter, Don Cart
er’s son, in an interview this
week.
He recalled the famous
walk by Jimmy and Rosal
ynn Carter down Pennsyl
vania Avenue after he was
sworn in as president in
Washington.
“It was very memorable, ”
Doug Carter said. “I was
supposed to be in the parade
... but when we got to D.C., I
was sick. I was well enough
to at least go to the parade.”
He also recalled a trip
Jimmy Carter took during
his presidency to his dad’s
400-acre farm near Hia-
wassee in the North Geor
gia mountains, arriving
by helicopter and heavily
protected.
“When he was no longer
president, he came back
with a much smaller entou
rage,” Doug Carter said.
“I was able to go up, and
(Jimmy Carter) gave me
some fly-fishing lessons.”
He also remembered
from the post-presidency
trip sleeping upstairs in a no
electricity log cabin — in a
loft above where Carter was
sleeping.
“Each night, I would see
him through the cracks in
the floor with candlelight
and reading,” Doug Carter
said. “Naturally, being curi
ous, when he was out fishing
the next day, I looked on his
bed stand and there was a
Bible there. The Bible was
in Spanish. He had been
reading it to work on his
Spanish.”
Carter’s move into hos
pice has people far and
wide considering the former
president’s legacy, with the
presidency being just one
aspect of his life.
Former Gov. Nathan
Deal’s political career came
after Carter’s in Georgia,
but the longtime Gainesville
resident said he “always
admired” what Carter
accomplished.
“He was always inter
ested in helping people”
throughout the world, he
said. “His work, including
with Habitat for Human
ity, were good examples he
set for public service. He
and Rosalynn set very good
examples for what public
officials should or shouldn’t
do, and I think we should all
be proud of that fact.”
“I loved him as a presi
dent,” White said. “His
willingness to make human
parts as part of foreign pol
icy had never been done
before. His interest in cli
mate change and what we
needed to do for the envi
ronment — I think he was a
much better president than
what he’s given credit for.
“But what he did after
ward was just unmatched
by anybody.”
Carter had a very active
presidency, molded in large
part by world events, such
as the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan but particu
larly the Iranian hostage
crisis, which experts have
said sealed Carter’s fate as a
one-term president.
And then there were
domestic issues, includ
ing the Three Mile Island
nuclear accident, gas lines
and ongoing inflation.
“He gets a bad rap,”
Moore said. “They say he
was a bad president but a
good post-president,” he
said. “His post-presidency
was just a (continuation)
of what he did in the White
House: conflict resolution,
fighting disease.”
He described his former
boss as “a consequential
president” whose priori
ties in office included busi
ness deregulation, energy
policies, human rights and
rebuilding a military that
lapsed since the Vietnam
War, Moore said.
“I’m proud of what we did
legislatively,” he said.
But as he reflects on Cart
er’s life, Moore’s immediate
thought has nothing to do
with politics.
“People have asked me,
‘What’s one word you would
use to describe him?’ I’d
say it is faith, abiding faith,
which has driven his whole
life and everything he has
done,” Moore said.
Times file photo
The Rev. Jeremy Shoulta, holding daughter Maggie, and his wife, Valarie, chat with Jimmy
Carter in 2014 on the former president’s porch in Plains. Shoulta was Carter’s pastor at the
time and is now senior pastor of Gainesville’s First Baptist Church.
HALL
March 9
9am-noon
COME OUT AND
JOIN US FOR
HEALTH
DEMONSTRATIONS,
AND INFORMATION
FOR ALL AGES.
Frances Meadows
Aquatic Center
1545 Community Way
Gainesville, GA
30501
Sponsored by it
Northeast Georgia Health System
Interested in a Booth
at our Healthy Hall
Event?
Email:
marketin3@3ainesvi I letimesxom
today for more information and
to reserve your space.
All vendors are welcome.
She Shtics
gainesvilletimes.com
marketing@gainesvilletimes.com
