Norton Shores man remembers working for Jimmy Carter

NORTON SHORES, Mich. – Former President Jimmy Carter’s passing has touched one Norton Shores man, Gary Packingham, more than most since he used to work for Carter.

From artist to political cartoonist, Packingham has held numerous titles in life. He developed an interest in art when he was a young teenager.

“It was just something that came and I didn’t necessarily pursue it, but it found me and I ended up coming out of high school with an art scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design,” Packingham said Wednesday.

He is also a military veteran and even spent some time as a local politician after his service.

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“Uncle Sam came and drafted me into the Navy. The Navy made me a doctor and sent me to the Marine Corps,” Packingham said. “While in college my senior year, I ran for township trustee and won by five votes. I was 27 years old, the youngest township trustee in Ohio, and that brought me to the attention of the county treasurer.”

However, it is his time to work for former President Jimmy Carter, whom he holds near and dear to his heart. It began in 1976.

“I went down, left my job, walked down the street, probably going back to school, and decided I had nothing to do. I’m going to volunteer for Carter right now,” Packingham said.

Packingham worked his way up from volunteering for Carter’s local campaign in Ohio to working for his national campaign as treasurer in Georgia.

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“He was extraordinarily bright and brilliant, and he was never willing to compromise his principles, but he was open to different ways of getting there,” Packingham said.

He described his relationship with Carter as a work, something that made his visit to Carter’s home in 1976 all the more special.

“He had been out walking in the woods with Amy and he came in and he had his plaid shirt and jeans on and pine needles in his hair and just a regular person,” Packingham said. “The house was just like the one I grew up in. It doesn’t do anything pretentious about it. And as I keep saying, he was an ordinary man at all, and he was very amiable down there, not that I had seen with other politicians.”

Carter may have been an ordinary person, but his extraordinary memorabilia on the walls of Packingham speaks for itself.

“These are prints that were given to the staff. I’ve had letters from him saying appreciation, thanks for my service and everything,” Packingham said.

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While the news of Carter’s passing was expected, he said it doesn’t make it any easier.

“You’re not prepared for the emotions that just keep rolling, because it brings back a lot of us,” Packingham added.

However, he said Carter will forever be a part of his own life’s journey.

“Jimmy Carter changed the trajectory of my life, which allowed me to impact other people in a positive way. And then his legacy will live on in ways that don’t get written about or anything, but that’s what happens. It still going forward. When a man passes, his legacy lives on,” Packingham said.

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