The Day Jimmy Carter came to address the masses at UC Davis

A seemingly ordinary man who did extraordinary things

When I first heard of Jimmy Carter, I liked what he had to say, but I was certain he didn't have a chance to win the Democratic nomination in 1976, no less take the presidency.

Nobody outside of Georgia had ever heard of him and his early candidacy did not exactly poll well.

While he was not the most popular president in American history while he was in office, it seems that everyone loved what Jimmy Carter did with the last 44 years of his life after leaving the White House. Then again, there were a number of us who also liked who he was when he was president.

I always regarded him as a good and decent man, one you would trust to babysit your kids, which is the ultimate test in my book.

That, and who would you call at 3 in the morning when your car breaks down in a rainstorm on the Yolo Causeway.

"I'll be right there, Bob," I can imagine Jimmy Carter saying.

Looking back, following the Richard Nixon disaster, it's not surprising that Jimmy Carter snuck past Gerald Ford, also a good and decent man, who was pretty much a caretaker after Nixon resigned.

Well, as they say, there's always a local angle to every story and Jimmy Carter is no exception.

A while after he lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jimmy Carter came to deliver a speech at UC Davis in what was called "Rec Hall" in those days. (Not "the" Rec Hall, mind you, just Rec Hall.)

A handful of local journalists were invited to a small pre-speech press conference in the lobby at Rec Hall, where Jimmy Carter was indeed the kind and decent and folksy person we had come to know. In short, he treated us all respectfully, no matter what sort of questions we asked.

Fortunately for all of us, Davis' superbly talented photographer, Sue Peri, was there to record it all for posterity, and it's her photo that appears here now.

I don't remember specifically what my line of questioning was, probably which brand of peanut butter this Georgia peanut farmer preferred, but I do remember I was the only person in the room not wearing a tie, including President Carter.

I know it was me in the photo, because I still wear that shirt.

I'm sure the Secret Service was doing a background check on me as I pulled out my ballpoint pen to scribble in my company-issued reporter's notebook.

Because I was an early arrival and wasn't burdened by cameras and microphones and extension cords like the electronic media folks were, I actually got to shake Jimmy Carter's hand and exchange a few words with him.

He didn't pretend to know who I was or what sort of things I generally wrote about, but he did want to know about the city of Davis and what our concerns were in our town and beyond.

Note, he was no longer president and had no political ambitions at that point, but he still wanted to know about our everyday lives.

He no doubt had those sorts of conversations with all kinds of people across the country he loved as he set about to do the Lord's work in profound ways for the rest of his days.

And I'm certain he has already heard those cherished words that people of his faith long to hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com