Learning life lessons from Jimmy Carter

Blake Sullivan did not realize how much his life would change the day he showed up for work at his forestry consulting business in Webster County.

A black SUV with two Secret Service agents pulled up, and a distinguished gentleman got out.

He rubbed his eyes. It was the 39th President of the United States.

Jimmy Carter did not have an appointment. He was a walk-in customer. The man who was once the leader of the free world asked Sullivan if he would help manage his farm and timberland.

It was the beginning of a strong, business relationship … and a beautiful friendship.

Sullivan, who has lived in Macon for the past 24 years, has often asked himself: “Why me?”

How did Carter find him in Dumas, a tiny community six miles west of Plains, where his late grandfather once operated a sawmill? As it turned out, everyone knows each other in small towns, and Carter’s parents knew Sullivan’s grandparents.

“I was not expecting it,’’ he said. “But I’ve thought about it a lot, and I kind of look at it this way. God puts people in your life at different places at times you don’t expect.’’

His parents, Matt and Jane Sullivan, moved to Americus in 1978 to care for his grandfather, Raymond Sullivan, who was in declining health. Sullivan helped his father open a building supply store before starting his forestry and land management consulting company.

“When I went into business, President Carter basically knocked on my door,’’ he said. “He was my first client.’’

The closest Sullivan had ever been to a “president” was his dad, who was named after one. Although everyone called his father “Matt,’’ his full name was James Madison Sullivan.

Carter, of course, gained prominence as a peanut farmer who became governor of Georgia and rose to the Presidency in 1976. He returned to Plains after he lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.  

The Carter family needed someone to manage their farm properties. Carter was an avid outdoorsman, and he was interested in using the land for hunting and fishing. The Carters also wanted to maintain and preserve wooded areas where the President and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter could go on walks and enjoy each other’s company.

Sullivan completed a study and made recommendations to make the farm more productive and self-sufficient. As the relationship between the two men gained trust, they communicated regularly.

“We spent a lot of time together in the woods,’’ Sullivan said. “It was a catharsis for him, a place where he could get away. When you go bird hunting with somebody, you get to know them well.’’

Sullivan will always remember where he was and who he was with on Jan. 17, 1998. That’s when the story broke about former President Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Sullivan was quail hunting with Carter and former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell when they heard the news.

There were times when Carter would ride with Sullivan to visit his farm properties, and the Secret Service would follow behind them. Carter sometimes included him in his inner circle, and Sullivan once sat in on meetings about a reforestation program in Africa. 

He accompanied Carter to Chuck and Rose Lane Leavell’s tree farm at Charlane Plantation in Twiggs County. He was at Carter’s side for the making of a forestry film called “From the Potomac to Plains” in 1987. He was invited to Kings Bay at St. Mary’s in 2005 for the commissioning of the USS Jimmy Carter nuclear submarine, the only Navy submarine named for a living president and only the third named for a living person.

Sullivan recalled a conversation he had with Carter in December 1994, before Carter left for Bosnia as a private citizen to successfully broker a four-month cease-fire in the war there.

 He was traveling home one afternoon when he got a call.

“It was a bag phone, and there was no caller ID, so I didn’t know who was calling,’’ Sullivan said. “It was him. We were talking about the farm. and I said, ‘Mr. President, are you still going over to Bosnia?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you wait a while? It’s pretty dangerous over there, and the Secret Service says they don’t know if they can protect you.

“There was a beautiful pause on the phone and he said, ‘Blake, it’s Christmas and nobody is helping those people.’ I never forgot that. I hung up, sat there in the truck and said to myself, ‘This is a guy who can probably make something happen in a place where everybody is telling him he can’t. At least he’s going to try.’ ’’

It wasn’t always about politics. It was about family. When Matt Sullivan died in June 2015, Blake Sullivan spoke at his father’s funeral at the First United Church in Americus. President Carter attended the service and told him, “Your daddy would have been proud.’’ 

That same summer, Carter was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery to remove a small mass on his liver. The surgery revealed melanoma had spread to his brain. He was 90 at the time.

Sullivan was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Forest Landowners Association in 2018. That same year, he took former Bibb County School Superintendent Curtis Jones to meet with Carter in Plains. Jones had been named Georgia Superintendent of the Year and was one of four finalists for the national award. Sullivan asked Carter to write a letter of recommendation for Jones. In February 2019, Jones was honored as National Superintendent of the Year at the National Conference on Education in Los Angeles.

Sullivan said when he graduated from college he was 6-foot-5 and weighed about 200 pounds. He was not a polished public speaker, and he was not fond of crowds. 

“I was an introvert,’’ he said “Working with him put me in a place where I had to get comfortable.’’

He said the Carters were “humble” people who were more interested in others than themselves. They cherished having fun and telling stories.

“When I would go over and talk to President Carter, we would talk a little about the farm but a lot about life,’’ Sullivan said.  

He sought Carter’s advice when he was contemplating running for mayor of Macon. 

“I told him I wasn’t a politician,’’ Sullivan said. “Mrs. Carter was sitting on the sofa. She spoke up and said how much she loved politics … that Jimmy didn’t care for it, but she loved it. I told her I didn’t love politics either. She said I would make a good politician. I was trustworthy and could get things done. President Carter told me he thought I ought to run. He had faith in me.’’

Sullivan qualified for the Macon mayor’s race in March 2020 but lost in the primary against eventual winner
Lester Miller.

Carter lived to be 100, longer than any U.S. president. He was married to Rosalynn for 77 years, longer than any couple in Presidential history. After Carter was diagnosed with brain cancer, Sullivan said Carter had told him he planned to continue teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains as long as he was able. 

Carter entered home hospice care in February 2023.  Sullivan went to see him in July. Carter was bedridden and non-verbal.

Sullivan knew it would be the last time he would see him.

“I sat by his bed and said, ‘Mr. President, I’m going to read your favorite scripture,’’ Sullivan said. “I opened my bible and read Second Corinthians 4:16-18. I said you’re getting close to going to eternal life, so I’m going to read you the last two chapters of Revelation. 

“As I read, he held my hand, squeezed it and smiled at me. I prayed for him, gave him a kiss on the forehead and told him goodbye.’’