| Fishin' with Jimmy ...
We lost a good one this week. Or, rather, Rosalynn got her Jimmy back.
Former President Jimmy Carter died this week at the age of 100. Having served as president from 1977 to 1981, Carter was known as much for his post-presidency work, ranging from his efforts with Habitat for Humanity to his work with the guinea worm disease in Africa.
In his free time, Carter enjoyed fishing, and made multiple trips to Western Colorado to fly fish. Back in 2003, Montrose Daily Press News Editor Russell Smyth had the opportunity to speak with the former president during one of those fishing trips.
Here's an excerpt from Smyth's story: Carter Hooks Adventure on the Gunnison
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr.'s appreciation for the outdoors stems from his father, the late James Earl Carter, the former president said. "I grew up outdoors," Carter said. "My father was a farmer. He was an avid hunter and a fisherman. Of course we had just warmwater fish in south Georgia where we lived -- bass, bluegill. I never fished for trout until I became governor." Carter's first hunting experiences started during the predawn hours of the late 1920s along Georgia fields where he helped his father hunt doves. "The first thing I did in hunting -- when I was 5 years old I would take an unexcused absence from school to go pick up doves for my father," he said. "And then I began to hunt myself -- mostly squirrels, rabbits. I had a four-shot … Sears, Roebuck shotgun. I killed my first quail when I was 8 years old." Bagging that first quail was one of Carter's most memorable outdoor experiences, he said. "I remember when I killed my first quail that was a big deal. I had a new .410 gauge shotgun. I had a whole year and would go out with a black guy on the farm named Jack Clark. He taught me how to hunt with a bird dog. And (then) my daddy let me go hunting myself, so I went out and … a covey got up and I just closed my eyes probably and shot in the middle of them. A quail fell down. So I went and picked up the quail and ran all the way home and showed it to my father. 'Daddy, daddy, I killed my first quail.' He said, 'That's great.' He said, 'Where's your gun?' I said, 'I don't know.' … Everybody looked on the farm and finally found my shotgun. My daddy did me a big favor by not telling all the folks in Plains that I threw my gun away." You can read the entirety of Smyth's story here, at: Carter Hooks Adventure on the Gunnison
Have a Good One,
Jeremy Morrison, managing editor
jeremy.morrison@montrosepress.com
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