President Carter passes away

Former President Jimmy Carter passed away Dec. 29 in a hospice in his native Georgia
at the age of 100. Carter was America’s 39 th President, who served a single term. In his
post-presidential life, his name was synonymous with Habitat for Humanity.
Pella historian Bruce Boertje found a few close encounters locals had with the late
President.

During Carter’s first campaign in 1976, four-year-old Michelle Bennett, daughter of
Stephen and Pat Bennett, wrote a letter to him. As a result, Michelle received an
invitation to Carter’s inauguration.

Pella government teacher Norris Hale and eight of his senior students, Sherri Whitaker,
Terry Kamerick, Dee Borgman, Beth Van Hoeven, Carol Vander Leest, Jay De Jong,
Verlan Vande Voort and Jeff Pierson, attended the Iowa Democratic Party’s 1977
Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, where President Carter spoke. Van Hoeven,
Borgman and Vander Leest were stationed on the floor of Veterans Auditorium and had
the opportunity to shake the President’s hand.

While there doesn’t seem to be record of Carter himself paying a visit – his son, Chip,
visited Pella the same week Carter’s primary rival, Ed Kennedy, visited Knoxville in
1979. Chip toured the Central College campus and spoke at Douwstra Auditorium.