BILLINGS - Former three-term Billings Mayor Chuck Tooley has fond memories of President Jimmy Carter.
"I was a Carter delegate to the National Democratic Convention in New York City in 1980, and he was running for re-election at that time," Tooley said.
Tooley believes that Carter's greatest legacy is "who he was as a human being. He always kept his moral values. He always realized that he needed to love God and love his neighbor, and that’s how he lived his life."
Carter's one term in the Oval Office was overshadowed by the Iran hostage crisis and a struggling economy, but Tooley credits Carter for several accomplishments.
"He negotiated the SALT II treaty successfully with the Soviet Union, and he fully recognized the People's Republic of China, which became our biggest trade partner," Tooley said. "He did things domestically, too, like deregulating airlines, railroads, and trucking companies so the competition would drive prices down."
However, those are not the things that most people will remember President Jimmy Carter for.
"He has had a real influence on my life and ministry," said Billings Central Christian Church Pastor Doug Garner, who took a class under Carter while in seminary at Emory University in Atlanta.
"He came in, he taught the class, and he actually taught several classes that semester just about how to put your Christianity to work in the real world," Garner said. "Of course, he was great at that."
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As a student, Garner also worked on a Habitat for Humanity project with the Carters in the Appalachians.
"They worked hard," he said. "They were there from sunup to sundown, putting everyone else to shame at that point."
A few years later, Garner visited Carter's hometown of Plains, Ga., and was surprised to see Jimmy and his brother Billy outside building a fence. He was even more surprised when the former president remembered him.
"They were out there in the bright sun working hard, and they looked up. I kind of waved to them. Jimmy and Billy both actually came over and said hi to us. It was amazing, and he remembered me from class. He said, 'Oh yeah, you are the student from Idaho.' My jaw hit the ground right there. I was probably never prouder in my life."
Tooley also has a similar tale of meeting the Carters at the Billings airport when they came to Montana on a fly-fishing trip.
"I went over there, there were Secret Service agents outside. I handed him my business card, and on the back I wrote, 'Carter delegate to New York convention,' and the Secret Service guy took it downstairs. He came back up and opened the door and said the president will see you. I went down there and had a nice private chat with him and Rosalynn, with some Secret Service agents in the room."
In the fall of 2016, my wife and I had a chance to meet President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. Carter had miraculously bounced back from cancer that had spread to his brain and returned to teaching Sunday school in his hometown, something he had done for more than seven decades.
There was no talk of politics whatsoever. Carter spoke about things he still hoped to accomplish, like building more homes and eradicating the Guinea worm, a parasite that had caused thousands of people to go blind in Africa and Asia.
That has now nearly happened.
"He always lived his faith," Garner said. "He didn’t have to tell you that he was a Christian. He walked at all times. Being president of the United States, it was sometimes difficult to put that faith into action, but he always did."
Tooley added: "So I think his career beyond president is what people will remember him for, and I hope they do."
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