Carter's support for the Peace Corps has led to enriched lives, enduring memories

I met former President Jimmy Carter when he presented me with the 2017 Lillian Carter Award at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

President Carter created the award to honor his mother, Lillian Carter, who at age 68 – and following the death of her beloved husband, Earl – told her children in 1966 that she was going to join the Peace Corps.

Lillian Carter told the Peace Corps recruiter she wanted to go “where it's warm, people have dark skins and need a nurse's service.” She was assigned to a remote village in India where she cared for the poor and the sick, just as she had in Plains, Georgia. Ironically, Lillian and Earl were often viewed as "controversial" in Plains because they openly rejected any and all racist organizations that degraded or persecuted Black people.

The Lillian Carter Award is given every two years to a returned Peace Corps volunteer who joined after the age of 50. I became a Peace Corps volunteer when I was 55, and I served from 1993 to 1996 in Senegal. I wrote a book about my experience – titled "Roller Skating in the Desert" – and I now serve as the president of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Gulf Coast Florida. In this role, I do my part to advance the third goal of Peace Corps, which is to “bring the world home.”

The Carter Center’s programs are globally famous and effective, as President Carter described in his book "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power." And when I read about "Miss Lillian" in another book authored by President Carter – titled "A Remarkable Mother" – I found some parallels with my own Peace Corps experience as an older female.

An unforgettable day

The date May 10, 2017, will always be an unforgettable day for me.

On that day several prestigious people made presentations from a stage in the Carter Center, and before an enlarged photograph of my face. The speakers ranged from the acting director of the Peace Corps to Jason Carter, a former Georgia state senator and President Carter's grandson.

Of course, I was beyond nervous. Midway through the ceremonies I was escorted backstage where President Carter, his inimitable smile lighting up his face, awaited me with a photographer nearby. President Carter wore a tweedy suit that hung on his frame; he took my hand in his and we walked to an area where our photo was taken. After we returned inside the event room, President Carter made a brief speech that began with a humorous remark. “I make a better statesman," he said, "than (a) president.”

Then it was time for my speech. It was primarily about "Miss Lillian," and I spoke about her experience in the Peace Corps while also sharing my own journey. At one point during my speech, I took a moment to quickly glance at President Carter sitting in the front row – and I saw tears in his eyes.

A glorious moment

He walked onstage when it was time to present the award, a translucent statuette of an androgynous figure with arms raised to the sky. As we stood together, President Carter suddenly told me he hoped I wouldn't mind if someone else carried out the role of actually handing me the award. "I fell the other day down in the lower 40 (acres)," President Carter said, "and I can’t use this arm.”

As the then-Peace Corps director placed the statuette into my hands, one thought couldn't help but cross my mind: “What the hell were you doing in the lower 40, Mr. President?” At that time President Carter was 92, and he was already battling major illnesses. But in truth it exemplified just how vibrant President Carter was as an individual, and how active and engaged he was in every facet of his life.

As we stood next to each other, I felt overcome by this glorious moment, and I wore a smile just as broad as the one on President Carter's face. When the ceremony ended, he put his good arm around my shoulders and said, “Y’all come back and visit sometime.”

President Carter, you will live on in my heart – and in the hearts of all the people you have inspired and uplifted.

Leita Kaldi Davis received the Lillian Carter Award in 2017. She is the president of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Gulf Coast Florida.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Jimmy Carter's Peace Corps support has inspired and changed lives