America lost an icon this past week…Jimmy Carter. In many ways, he was an anomaly in our national politics–a peanut farmer who came from nowhere to win the Presidency.

When I say “nowhere,” I do not mean to disrespect the people of Plains, Georgia. But, even people from Plains would never have predicted it. To bring it close to home, it would be like someone from around here predicting that Robert Jackson from Frewsburg, N.Y. would become a U.S. Attorney General, Supreme Court Justice and Chief American Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

These things just don’t happen very often.

What drew me to Carter, I expect, is just that fact–he came from the kind of rural background that I grew up in. He was what, in New York, we would call an “upstate Democrat,” and both he and his wife, Rosalynn, came and campaigned here in Western New York.

In the process, in 1980, I became a Carter delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Though his prospects for re-election didn’t look good at the time, I believed that he personified the kind of human being that we should want to have in the White House. The fact that he lost that election, has never changed my mind as to the genuine humility, kindness and goodness of this man.

A lot of things can cost people elections, but character was not one of them as far as Jimmy Carter was concerned. He was smart, strong, and, sometimes, could be a stubborn man. He was also a person of faith. He not only taught Sunday School, but he believed that the principles he was teaching there should be carried out in real life.

After the Presidency, these attributes magnified themselves. His involvement in the early days of Habitat for Humanity is a case in point. One commentator called it “the theology of the hammer.” It wasn’t good enough just be a Christian in church. You had an obligation to serve others and to work for their benefit in the wider world.

Recent comments on his passing may well remain true–that he may be the only President whose high office was a stepping-stone to something perhaps more significant. Carter could have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just for his work as President in forging peace in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel. But, the Nobel award was also based on his post-Presidency efforts through the Carter Center in advancing health, peace and democratic initiatives throughout the world.

During the time I was involved in Washington with the World War II Memorial, I became good friends with one of Carter’s former staff leaders in the White House, Frank Moore.

After serving in the White House, Frank and his colleague, Jody Powell, stayed in the Washington area and purchased some property on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. For 25 or 30 years, the former President would come there late in the fall for duck hunting. Carter, the country boy from Georgia, loved the out-of-doors and was a sportsman at heart. Yet, it was also the camaraderie of the hunt, and the personal friendships that surrounded it that really made it special.

Frank and the former President became good friends during those times. In 2002, Frank and Nancy Moore were invited by the Carter’s to accompany them to Oslo where Carter would receive the Nobel Prize.

Frank told me that in the week or two preceding his death, the former President remained cognizant and responsive. Rosalynn Carter died last year. She and Jimmy had been married for 77 years. As the end drew near, Jimmy Carter told those caring for him that he was ready to die and “wanted to be with Rosalynn.”

His prayer was granted. He is at peace now.

Jimmy Carter…a life well-lived.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.