Fannie Watson combs through her Jimmy Carter memorabilia while recollecting the time she spent on his presidential campaign staff in the mid-’70s.
By Becky Long
Publisher
Many speak of a deep respect for 39th president Jimmy Carter’s honesty and post-presidential life devoted to helping others. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age 0f 100, but for a few local residents, his life before and after Washington left a lasting effect on a personal level.
Fannie Watson, who has long served in the Clay County Historical & Arts Council, became part of history herself when she was invited to attend Carter’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.
A Clay County native, Watson was living in Smyrna, Ga. at the time. She and her future husband Tom Watson attended the inauguration on a frigid day, on Jan. 20, 1977. “It was so cold,” Watson recalls.
She witnessed Carter take his oath of office and the couple attended one of the accompanying galas at $25 per ticket. Watson said she did not recall ever meeting Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter in person, but she did watch them take a spin on the dance floor.
“The inauguration had many galas at different locations and the Carters came to ours for a dance together as they probably did others,” Watson said.
The invitation to the inaugural stemmed from Watson’s volunteer time and later as a paid staffer on Carter’s campaign team.
“We started small, stuffing envelopes,” said Watson. “When Mr. Carter won the primary some of us who had been volunteers were invited to work as hired staff.”
Watson did meet Jimmy’s mother, Lillian Carter, who invited the staff down to the Carter’s lifelong hometown of Plains, Ga.
“In Plains they served us barbecue sandwiches. They called us the Peanut Brigade,” Watson said referring to the Carter’s peanut farm. “We walked around Plains — it was a lot like Hayesville.”
Watson had worked on the Domestic Policy staff for Stuart Eisenstat before Carter was elected president. Afterwards, she said a few calls came in from Washington inquiring about her taking a secretarial position there, but she declined because of family obligations.
Watson acknowledges there were “many critics,” during Carter’s four years in office, but the political highlights are not what she remembers most about Carter. “He was level-headed, a family man and his faith helped him hold up during all the adversities that came toward him,” she said. “I admired his service to community.”
Another local couple, Richard and Willene Haigler had a chance encounter not with Carter, but with the Secret Service who stayed at their Deer Lodge in Towns County after an unexpected visit from the president.
“I remember when he flew in, it blocked traffic both ways,” Richard said.
Richard explained that President Carter was staying with Don Carter, who was staying at a farm behind the Deer Lodge. The group had gone trout fishing. “Mr. Carter loved to fly fish,” added Richard.
The Haiglers have been in business over five decades and in all those years, they never had a surprise quite like when the U.S. Secret Service showed up on July 17, 1980 to fill their cabins. It could have been profitable too, but it wasn’t.
“I’ve got a check from the White House that’s never been cashed,” Richard said with a grin. “I’m saving it for hard times.”
The $267 check was payment for the Secret Service’s cabin rentals. It is check No. 28,193,518 issued on Aug. 22, 1980 from the U.S. Treasury.
Willene Haigler, a fan of the president’s, wrote him a letter and he sent her a signed picture of him and Rosalyn. The Haiglers have collected other Carter-era memorabilia over the years including a framed photo of the Carters landing via helicopter in Hiawassee.
The Towns County Herald reported the visit on its front page noting that Carter was on a two-day fishing trip and he was met at the field by a crowd of about 300 spectators “some who had waited in the heat for as high as four hours.”
“I liked Jimmy Carter,” said Richard. “He was a working man. He came home and worked the peanut farm. After he retired he built houses for the needy. He was always on the go. I will remember him as a good man.”
President Carter, the longest-lived president in U.S. history, is survived by his children — Jack, Chip, Jeff and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Rosalyn, and one grandchild, according to an obituary from the Carter Center.
There will be public observances in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., followed by a private interment in Plains. The schedule will be released by the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region at https://jtfncr.mdw.army.mil/statefunerals/.