In memory of Jimmy Carter: A reflection on the former president’s time in the Roaring Fork Valley
The Aspen Times archives
News of former President Jimmy Carter’s death reached longtime Carbondale resident Connie Calaway on Sunday night, shortly after she arrived home from Mexico.
Carter was known for his post-presidency humanitarian work, and the news of the 39th president’s passing saddened many. But for Calaway, the devastating headline was personal — she has fond memories of the former president that stretch back well over 40 years.
“ I just gasped,” Calaway said. “To lose someone so beautiful as he was is a real loss to this country at this point in our country’s life.”
Calaway knew Carter through her late husband, philanthropist and businessman Jim Calaway, who became good friends with the former president after a trip to the White House around 1979.
“(Carter) was a very good, generous and kind person,” Calaway said. “There wasn’t anything about him that was self-centered at all. He was always thinking about the people around him to make sure everyone felt comfortable. And his love for his wife, that wonderful partnership with the two of them, is memorable.”
lmost a decade ago, Jim’s friendship with Carter helped bring the former president to the Roaring Fork Valley for hour-long discussions in Aspen and Carbondale.
On the afternoon of June 23, 2015, Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter arrived in Aspen for a conversation with the Aspen Institute’s then-president and CEO Walter Isaacson. The discussion was the institute’s first event in the 2015 McCloskey Speaker Series and was an undisputed success.
The Carters appeared that evening at Carbondale’s Thunder River Theatre for another sold-out discussion, hosted by the Roaring Fork Cultural Council and moderated by Jim, before heading to Vail.
Scott Gilbert, former president of Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley, greeted the Carters in Carbondale. The former president and first lady were avid supporters of Habitat for Humanity and had worked alongside over 104,000 volunteers to build, repair and renovate 4,390 homes in multiple countries.
“He was a very calm, centered person,” Gilbert said “He was not rushing and he gave very kind, thoughtful answers to questions. That was the piece that stuck with me. It wasn’t so much what he said, it’s how he said it.”
During the hour-long discussions, Carter shared his thoughts on current issues, international affairs, race and gun violence, and the couple’s latest work through the Carter Center nonprofit.
Carrie Besnette Hauser, former president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College and current president and CEO of Trust for Public Land, was in the intimate 200-person audience at the Thunder River Theatre that June evening.
“What I think I remember most is how completely down to earth they were,” Hauser said. “The questions were open to the audience for Q and A to address the Carters. Mrs. Carter sat right next to him. Just about every question he got, most of them were directed to him, he turned to her and invited her to participate or to be part of the answer.
“That notion of an equitable partnership was something that I definitely walked away really appreciating about him,” she added.
Carter was 100 years old when he passed on Sunday afternoon in his home in Plains, Georgia.
“He passed just at the end of 2024 as we’re all gearing up for a new year,” Hauser said. “There’s an element of sadness and there’s also an element of renewal and hope, and I think that was very much what he stood for.
“It didn’t matter what your politics were, it didn’t matter what your faith was. He just cared about people,” she added. “He cared about people having good, decent lives, and that everybody enjoys all those blessings. It’s sad, and it’s also a reminder that if we can all treat each other better, and with great decency and humanity like he seemed to, we’d be a lot better off.”
You can watch the former president and first lady’s 2015 discussion at the Aspen Institute at aspeninstitute.org/tag/jimmy-carter/.
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