Richard Hyatt: Book celebrates the life of President Jimmy Carter's mom
His life has been influenced by strong female figures, so Grant Hayter-Menzies now tells the story of women who have done extraordinary things.
His fifth biography celebrates the life of Lillian Carter. She gave birth to our 39th president, but 31 years after her death, Hayter-Menzies offers insight into a woman who didn't practice a do-good-on Sunday brand of compassion and who lived to heal, not to please.
"Lillian Carter: A Compassionate Life," (McFarland, $35) was prepared with the support of Jimmy Carter, so you would not expect raw edges. But the book is an honest appraisal of a woman who was described as Rose Kennedy without the hair dye.
Hayter-Menzies wrote the book in an effort to understand his own grandmother, who was deeply fascinated with President Carter's gregarious mother. To tell Miss Lillian's story, he introduces people important to her colorful life.
He talks to neighbors in Plains, where she served as a nurse. He talks to Peace Corps volunteers she served with in India and the brothers of Kappa Alpha -- the hell-raising fraternity at Auburn University -- that she served as housemother. He talks with a presidential aide who sneaked a bottle of Old Forrester for her into Jimmy's non-alcoholic White House.
He talks to Johnny "Rubberman" Walker about an unusual photo op at one of promoter Fred Ward's wrestling shows at the Columbus Municipal Auditorium. Hoping to crack his veneer of stiffness, Miss Lillian brought along her son.
When Walker donned his black and white mask, he was Mr. Wrestling II and he was Miss Lillian's favorite. That night Walker arranged a photo that had the suit-and-tie presidential candidate put a headlock on the masked man.
Hayter-Menzies calls it a canny strategy. "If everyone believed that what they saw in the ring was real, Lillian was not one to spoil their theater. She knew that politics and sporting events had much in common -- that in order to participate fully in politics, as in professional wrestling, one had to suspend reality, as one did at a theatrical performance, and root for one's hero till he won the contest."
The author closes with warm words about a visit to the Pond House, her favorite getaway in the pines of Sumter County, and what he believes would be her parting advice: "Just keep caring, keep soothing, and most of all, keep loving."
-- Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.
This story was originally published December 13, 2014 at 8:10 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Book celebrates the life of President Jimmy Carter's mom."