Remembering the night former President Jimmy Carter spent in Clinton, Massachusetts
CLINTON - Tributes have poured in for former President Jimmy Carter, who entered hospice care over the weekend after a series of short hospital stays.
As the nation now reflects on the 98-year-old's legacy of service, Dan Tenore marvels over the evening the president rested right here in Clinton, Massachusetts. Tenore is the third owner of a more than 130-year-old house brought from the Thompson family, who humbly hosted Carter during his first "meet the people" tour in 1977.
"The Thompsons, what they talk about, is President Carter didn't want to disrupt family life. They picked this house knowing there was a wall here; the Secret Service could set up here. He could sit at the dining room, in the living room and talk with the family without throwing their lives out of kilter. He wouldn't take the master bedroom. He slept in a guest room," Tenore said.
The overnight stay on Chestnut Street came after a packed town hall style meeting, with several hundred seated inside and even bigger crowds lining the sidewalks. All the excitement led to some tardiness for the Thompson kids the next morning; the president seeking their pardon.
"To teacher, from Jimmy Carter. Please excuse Jane for being late. She had a guest in her home. 3/17/77," Tenore read from a newspaper clipping.
Carter never forgot the family's hospitality, and even sent a letter of sympathy to the Thompson children when their parents later passed away.
"There's an awful lot to be said for President Carter," Tenore said.
