News that Jimmy Carter, 39th US President and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, died on Sunday at the age of 100 was greeted with sadness around the world.
Known as much for his humanitarian work advocating for human rights and international relations as for his term in the White House, Carter was widely respected across the political spectrum and praised for his faith, his charitable works and his contributions to public health.
His tireless crusade and his thirst for knowledge took him all around the world, touching the lives of many, and the Cayman Islands was no exception. The Cayman Compass spoke to three people about Carter’s Cayman connections.
A cruise visit and a trip to Stingray City
It was in 2015 when Carter, his wife Rosalynn, his family and an entourage of Secret Service agents spent the morning – like many tourists have done before and since – on one of Captain Marvin’s tours, snorkelling and swimming with stingrays.
“The family came to the Cayman Islands on a cruise ship, just for the day, and they wanted to go on one of our tours,” said Ronnie Anglin, director and co-owner of Captain Marvin’s, the long-established tour company.
“Jimmy Carter wanted to go on a regular trip. He didn’t want any special treatment – that wasn’t his style – but with the timings and the Secret Service and so on, it might have inconvenienced other passengers, so we arranged a boat trip just for his party.”
Anglin’s wife Ruth and her mother Eulalie Smestad were in the group, alongside the crew, for the half-day excursion to Stingray City and a couple of snorkelling spots. According to Ruth, the then 90-year-old didn’t let his advanced years hold him back.
“He was the first one to jump in to snorkel,” she said.
At one point during the trip, Anglin said, Carter mentioned to the boat captain that he used to serve in the Navy and was promptly invited to pilot the boat, “which he enjoyed very much”.
“I think that was his first trip to the Cayman Islands,” he said, “so, when we took him back to the cruise ship, we gave him a tour of Seven Mile Beach and showed him where everything was. He loved it, kept on saying how fantastic and amazing everything was, and particularly loved the clarity of the water.”
Anglin added, “There was nothing flash about him. He always stayed close to his roots and I liked what he stood for. His greatest legacy was being an advocate for humanity.”
Birding and planting mangroves
Not many people can say that they’ve planted mangroves with a former US president, but Cayman Brac resident Martin Keeley is one of them.
It was on a trip to the small island of Guanaja off the Honduran coast, about 350 miles southwest of Cayman, in 2010 that Keeley met Carter and his wife Rosalynn.
Keeley was there thanks to his work with Mangrove Education, which has been instrumental in educating people on the importance of mangroves and other wetland ecosystems in many countries worldwide. Unknown to Keeley, the Carters were there on holiday to indulge their love of outdoor activities such as fishing and birdwatching.
“My friend Scott Duncan from Guanaja Mangrove Restoration picked me up from the airport and told me I wouldn’t be staying with him as usual,” Keeley recalled.
“It was then that he told me that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were visiting, and that I’d be staying on another atoll with the Secret Service agents!”
Keeley did get to spend time with the president, including having dinner with him and his wife on the second night of his stay.
“Jimmy was really interested in my work,” Keeley said. “He understood ecology and was open to new ideas and asked lots of questions.”
Keeley gave Carter a copy of his book, ‘Marvellous Mangroves’, and was rewarded with Carter’s help in planting some mangroves to aid the Guanaja Mangrove Restoration Project.
The presidential couple were also keen birdwatchers and Keeley offered to take them out to spot the rare vitelline warbler, which only lives in a few remote places, including Cayman and off the Caribbean coast of Honduras.
“We took a boat across to a tiny island where we saw a vitelline warbler,” Keeley said. “Both Jimmy and Rosalynn were really excited.”
Like many others who met the former president, Keeley only had praise for him.
“He was very humble,” he said, “and he lived his life the way he felt it should be lived.”
A true Southern gentleman
Flight attendant Val Kegel, an Honorary Ambassador of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, met Jimmy Carter several times while working with Delta Air Lines, and treasures her memories with him as much as she treasures the pictures of their encounters.
“He was always so friendly, a true Southern gentleman,” she recalled. “He was so courteous, always kind and never rude. The Secret Service people were a bit wary when we were having our picture taken with him, but he’d say, ‘Leave them be – they’re having fun!'”
One particular quirk of the former president, she said, was his need to shake every passenger’s hand, sometimes heading to the back of the plane the moment the plane had touched down, so he could work his way up the aisle to greet everyone.
Kegel said, “We’d have to say to him, ‘Sir, you’re going to have to sit down, the plane’s still taxiing!’ and he’d say, ‘OK, but I’m going to get up as soon as I can!’ and then he’d be straight down the plane again. People never minded – it’s not often you get to shake hands with a president!”
Kegel also met the former president in her hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, when he arrived to build homes with Habitat for Humanity, a cause strongly supported by the Carters.
“He would come to get volunteers to help build homes for people in need and he’d get really involved, even pounding the nails in himself,” she said.
Kegel has worked for 50 years with Delta Air Lines and, at the age of 72, is still working on her favourite route, Georgia to Grand Cayman, a route she has flown for the past 27 years.
It was while flying around the US from Georgia to the likes of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington that she met Carter, and as she remarks, “He became even more popular after being president” – something not all former leaders can claim.
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