Mar 2, 2023 3 min read

The first time I didn’t meet Jimmy Carter was in 1976.

I was asked to meet a former governor of Georgia running for president. Only seven people showed up. I was not one of them. Later that year, I heard him speak to a crowd of thousands of cheering voters.

Carter is a remarkable man and remarkable teacher. Carter began teaching Sunday school when he was 18 years old. He continued teaching it in the Navy, as governor and during his term in the White House. After leaving the presidency, he taught in his hometown of Plains, Ga., population 600.

I decided it would be interesting as a teacher to be taught by a former president. For over 20 years, I made an annual pilgrimage to Plains, attending his Sunday school class with family and friends. He was a gifted teacher who taught and lived the principles of faith, hope and charity. No one was ignored or invisible in his class. Everyone was made to feel important. All students were encouraged to participate, share and contribute.

Mr. Jimmy, as the locals have called him, was bright, funny and a great listener. There were times when only a few of us were in the church. Other times, people from around the world, international tourists and pilgrims, atheists and evangelicals, Democrats and Republicans, filed into the tiny church. He seldom forgot a name, always remembered a face, and was a master at creating community. After the service, most people quickly left Plains. It has only one street. But if you went to Mom’s Kitchen, a little restaurant in town, you could sit next to or with the Carters.

On one occasion, when we were spending the weekend at the local inn, decorated by Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, we were asked to go to a local fundraiser. It was a mystery theater dinner raising money to restore Plains’ haunted house. The Carters had lived in the house after retiring from the Navy. About 20 of us sat at a long table, enjoying homemade cooking. We talked, tried to solve the mystery, and then had a ghost tour led by the Carters, sharing “real” stories they experienced there.

I often heard them speak warmly of the teacher who changed their lives. Her name was Julia Coleman, the only educator to teach a future president and first lady. She had a talent for listening, for sharing her time, and believing in students. Great teachers do it every day. The Carters never forgot her. Coleman is the only teacher celebrated and quoted in a president’s inaugural address, and in an acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. Carter was the speaker on both occasions. Coleman’s quote: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold on to unchanging principles.” That was something that Carter has lived every day of his life.

I learned many lessons being taught by the 39th president of the United States. Among them: Remember where we are from; thank those who listen to us; never forget those who gave us their time; live the principles we believe in.

Thank you for allowing me to be your student, President Carter.

Dr. Jim Longo is the author of “From Classroom to the White House.” was a public-school teacher and is the retired chair of the Washington & Jefferson College education department.