Before serving as the 39th president of the United States, before serving as the 76th governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter served in a smaller but just as vital role: his children’s Scout leader.
Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, served in a variety of adult leader roles beginning in 1951 for what was then known as the Chehaw Council. At various times, Carter was a troop committee member, committee chair and Scoutmaster; and also served as an Exploring Advisor and Cubmaster.
The Chehaw Council is now the South Georgia Council.
Mr. Carter’s youngest child, Amy, is the mother of Errol Carter Kelly, a Scout in Troop 101 in Atlanta. In one of his last public appearances before entering hospice care, the former president joined the Scouts of Troop 101 for a walk in Plains, Georgia.
After speaking with me for that story, Amy was nice enough to reach out to her brother Chip to get his memories of their father’s role in Scouting.
“Dad was the Scoutmaster,” Amy said.
She said Chip told her, “They did a lot of camping and a lot of hiking. No one ever missed a Scout meeting or Scout trip because it was just the happening thing that was going on.”
Jimmy Carter’s cousin, Hugh, a former member of the Georgia state senate who died in 1999, was an Eagle Scout, Amy said.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who died in November 2023, was also a Scout volunteer and served as the den mother for the Carters’ oldest son, John.
“Mom helped out a lot,” Amy said.
Scary ghost stories
Among Chip’s favorite memories of Scouting with their dad, Amy said, was camping in an area they called Little Grand Canyon (likely Georgia’s Providence Canyon State Park), building a donkey (or was it a horse?) out of pipes with the help of a local plumber, and perhaps most of all, hearing their father tell scary ghost stories around the campfire.
“Dad was famous for telling the best ghost stories around the campfire while camping,” Amy said. “That was his specialty.”
Chip told Amy that he remembered one time when his tentmate had to use the restroom in the middle of the night, but he was so scared from Mr. Carter’s ghost story that he wouldn’t go more than 3 feet away from their tent.
Carter always had his Scouts working on something that they could put to use at their next campout, Chip told Amy.
“He had a different project for every campout,” Amy said. “They had a lot of fun.”
Chip said the Scout hut in which the troop met is now a voting precinct in Plains.
Mr. Carter was known for his service to organizations like Habitat for Humanity long after leaving office. The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project is an annual home-building initiative organized by Habitat for Humanity International and its affiliates.
Amy said Errol seems to have some of those same traits, and she credits Troop 101 for reenforcing them.
“The idea of service is something Errol has really taken to,” Amy said. “That’s a wonderful thing that’s come out of Scouts.”
Silver Buffalo honoree
On April 23, 1977, the BSA held a Scouting Environment Day in support of President Carter’s appeal for an energy conservation program.
On Feb. 15, 1978, President Carter received the 1977 Report to the Nation in the Oval Office. He also received the Silver Buffalo award, Scouting’s highest commendation. The Silver Buffalo recognizes service to youth either nationally or internationally, whether connected to Scouting or not.
“As a former volunteer Scout leader, I am greatly impressed by the role of your fine program in our national life,” Carter said. “It is a constructive initiative on the part of young Americans to explore career interests and to become better prepared for a more satisfying and rewarding future.”
In June 1979, the Association of Baptists for Scouting presented Carter with the Good Shepherd recognition, an award for Baptist adult Scouters and pastors designed to recognize distinguished service “leading toward the spiritual, physical, mental and moral development of youth through service to the church and its Scouting program on all levels,” according to Scouting America records.
In addition to going on the walk with President Carter and Rosalynn last year, the Scouts of Troop 101 also got to talk with Donald Witham, a Secret Service agent assigned at the time to the Carter Protective Division. Witham, himself an Eagle Scout from Troop 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, told me via email that he had the opportunity to speak with the Carters about Scouting a handful of times.
“It has been an honor serving our former and sitting presidents for the last 25 years,” Witham wrote. “President Carter has embodied the teachings of Scouting throughout his lifetime of service.”
The Tough Scoutmaster
A newspaper story published after Carter was elected president, and now preserved in the Scouting America archives, called Carter “The Tough Scoutmaster.”
“I remember him as a serious man who was a strict disciplinarian,” said one former Scout from Carter’s troop. “He wanted an orderly troop — and he made sure he got it. There was no corporal punishment, no chewing out, but he had a way of talking and acting that gave him a great air of authority.”
Another former Scout said Carter the Scout leader “dazzled” the troop with stories of his time serving in the Navy.
“He used to bring navigation charts to Scout meetings,” he said. “He let us pore over them and taught us how to chart a ship’s course and use a compass. I was fascinated … and later spent three years in the Navy.”
Another former Scout said his greatest memory of Carter was how he encouraged everyone to strive to be the best at anything they undertook.
“He used to tell us, ‘Listen, if you’re going to do something, do it right. Set your goals high, and always try your hardest to complete what you start,'” the former Scout said. “I remember him telling us we should aim for the highest position in Scouting: the Order of the Arrow. I made it, but when Jimmy congratulated me, he said, ‘This is just the beginning. … Apply the same rule to everything in life. Aim for the top.’
“He was a great example.”
Photos from the Scouting America archives, taken in the Oval Office during the 1977 Report to the Nation.
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