As former President Jimmy Carter lies in state at the U.S. Capitol ahead of his funeral on Thursday, one Northern Michigan high school teacher is sharing the story of his chance encounter with Carter.
Traverse City West High School teacher Tak Ready, who teaches AP Government and Civics, said he was fortunate to meet the president while on spring break in 2010. As soon as he heard of Carter’s passing, he made sure his slideshow presentation about the former president was ready to go.
“I always start off by telling my students a little bit about him as president before I even tell this story, because most kids don’t know who he is or have ever heard of him.”
He said he got the rare opportunity while on a visit to Plains, Georgia during his spring break 15 years ago.
“On my bucket list is to go to at least one historic site for all of the American presidents, and I’m about two-thirds of the way there,“ said Ready.
It was while visiting one of those sites that he befriended a former teacher, Miss Jan, who had close ties to the Carters.
“She had been Amy Carter's elementary school teacher. Her husband had been a classmate of Billy Carter, President Carter's brother,” said Ready.
Ready said Miss Jan offered to show him some sites and while visiting one of them, they ran into Jimmy Carter himself.
“We hear footsteps down below on the first floor of this haunted house. So she starts walking down, and then I follow her down, and President Carter is at the bottom of the stairs,” said Ready.
Ready said they exchanged greetings – “Such a genuine, kind, good person” – and took a picture with the president, which Miss Jan helped get signed and sent back to Ready.
“I look like a deer in headlights because I was so shocked. I was just frozen, but it was a chance of a lifetime,” said Ready.
He still doesn’t know if Carter’s appearance was truly by luck or if Miss Jan had something to do with it, but he said it’s a day he’ll never forget and enjoys sharing with his students every year.
“I want kids to realize that there are people out there doing their best – in his case, 100 years – to try to make the world a better place, through politics and through government,” said Ready.
High school junior James Smith has an interest in politics. He’s researched Carter but said he got a more in-depth understanding about the former president from hearing his teacher’s story.
“I just think he had a lot of respect for people. The way that Mr. Ready told the story, it felt like he was just meeting this day-to-day average person, but he was actually a former president,” said Smith.