Attribution:Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in marking the 100thbirthday of Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who defined what it means to be a respected and admired member of the human race no matter where you are—a peanut field, the White House or a home-construction site.
The keeper proudly summarizes his fortuitous association with the Carter family that began with the keeper being at the Dem’s New York 1976 convention that nominated Jimmy as their candidate. It includes a couple of personal sessions with brother Billy during his POTUS “brother” notoriety, and it peaks out, of course with the opportunity to be one of three reporters floating down the Mississippi for three days on the Delta Queen with Jimmy and Rosalynn which led to a half-hour exchange of trout fishing stories with Jimmy, and a subsequent correspondence exchange and that unexpected official White House photo of the keeper giving fishing advice to Jimmy and Rosalynn.
The keeper’s Carter association extended to a couple of foreign exchange visits to families in Hungary and Egypt under the Carter get-acquainted plan, and it persists to this day as the keeper patronizes the “Habitat for Humanity” resale store just down the street.
Happy Birthday, Jimmy. Thanks for the memories and let the record show that in our note comparison of both having fishing Yellowstone the previous year, you did indeed catch a bigger trout than I did.
Photo by Bill Stokes
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