Why President Jimmy Carter’s visits to Fort Worth are still remembered, years later

Many in Fort Worth remember Jimmy Carter’s festive visit to the city early in his presidency, when he spoke with candor and optimism to a crowd of 5,000 about the grave economic problems the nation was facing.

Others may remember his visits decades later as the elder former president with the sole mission of serving the weakest among us with faith and humility. That included rolling up his sleeves at 90 years old to help build homes in Fort Worth.

Carter’s willingness to serve stands out the most to those who reflect on their encounters with the 39th president, who died Sunday at the age of 100, his son told the Washington Post.

His deep faith called him to lead by example, and that was never more true than when he came to Fort Worth in 2014 to build 20 houses with Trinity Habitat for Humanity, said Gage Yager, the nonprofit organization’s CEO.

Carter’s work ethic and dedication to service was inspirational, Yager said.

“He didn’t sit on his hands. He was active,” he said. “May we all live to be his age and active at his age, because he didn’t slow down.”

During that trip with his wife, Rosalynn, the former president gave a 10 minute devotional speech to a crowd of about 600 people. He said people of faith can turn to a higher power when they wake up in the morning with problems.

“We don’t even have to close our eyes,” Carter said. “We can form a direct contact and communication with God almighty, recognizing God is filled with grace and mercy. We have competent available access to the presence of God. That’s a wonderful reassurance to any human being.”

The electricity in the air was palpable, Yager remembers.

“There were no politics. It was about Habitat, and it was about service,” he said.

Carter’s humility always stuck with Jacqueline Wills, an owner of a Habitat house he helped build.

The fact that the former commander-in-chief would want to help her build her home was humbling, but his friendly demeanor and willingness to serve stuck with Wills.

“I’ve always tried to serve God’s people, so meeting him and seeing the way he does it reinforced what I should do on a daily basis to serve other people,” she said.

‘Put me to work’

Jake Schrum was an administrator at Emory University in the 1980s when he got to know Carter, who established the Carter Center in Atlanta.

They stayed in touch, and in 1992 the former president spoke at Schrum’s inauguration as president of Texas Wesleyan University.

Beyond their acquaintance, Carter seemed a good choice for the speech because he and Texas Wesleyan stood for the same ideals, Schrum told the Star-Telegram at the time.

Now retired, Schrum said this week that he believes Carter’s appearance at his inauguration ended up helping efforts to improve the university’s relationship with the surrounding Polytechnic neighborhood.

“Stop gushing over me, Jake. Put me to work,” Schrum remembers Carter saying before speaking to a crowd of roughly 3,000 people.

“He really wanted to do something to improve the human condition,” Schrum said.

Carter used the stage that day to challenge Fort Worth to reach out to the hopeless — particularly people living in poverty.

“I would like to see Texas Wesleyan University as the focal point for these goals,” Carter told the crowd.

“It’s hard to accept that most of you in front of me are rich people,” he said.

But if you have a home, a decent job, a semblance of education, health care and food for the family, you are considered rich. “Many of our neighbors do not have these things,” he said.

‘Foat Wuth Ah Luv Yew’

In 1976, Carter made a campaign stop in Fort Worth on the eve of his defeat of President Gerald Ford. That election was the last time that a Democrat carried the state of Texas in a presidential contest.

Carter returned to Fort Worth two years later with much fanfare. On June 23, 1978, his motorcade rode through downtown to the convention center, where he arrived at a luncheon with nearly 5,000 guests to the song “Eyes of Texas.”

In remarks before taking audience questions, Carter praised U.S. Rep. Jim Wright of Fort Worth, who had become House majority leader after the 1976 election. And Carter relished the event’s “Foat Wuth Ah Luv Yew” theme — he took home a gifted T-shirt with the slogan, which was popular at the time on bumper stickers and coffee mugs.

Carter concluded his brief speech by talking about the people of Texas.

“I feel a great compatibility with what you all believe in — patriotism in its finest form, people who have shown in the past an ability to provide great leadership with Lyndon Baines Johnson and many others, and those who are always willing to face the future, not with fear or timidity or trepidation, but with courage, anticipation and confidence — that our great nation and your great stat will be even greater in the years to come.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2024 at 3:29 PM.

Harrison Mantas

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

817-390-7040

Harrison Mantas has covered Fort Worth city government, agencies and people since September 2021. He likes to live tweet city hall meetings, and help his fellow Fort Worthians figure out what’s going on.