Iolan Richard Zahn is among those mourning former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100.
Zahn was not a fan of the Carter administration in the 1970s, but years later came to respect and admire the former president. Much of that was because of the former president’s work with the Carter Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization to resolve conflicts, advance democracy and prevent disease.
Mostly, though, Zahn appreciated Carter as a Biblical scholar. He heard him teach Sunday school four times at Maranatha Church in Plains, Ga., between the 1990s and 2010.
“He was a dynamic teacher. It was just a super enriching experience. This guy was talented, smart and extremely ethical,” Zahn said.
“I became a super fan because of all the things he’s done. His outreach to people, his command of the Bible and his ability to bring meaning to it, his ability to basically eliminate diseases in Africa. I have all his books.
“He had this rap that he was a failed president. He wasn’t. I think history has shown he was right about a lot of things.”
ZAHN’S story starts in 1976, when Carter, then governor of Georgia, ran for president. Carter held a political rally on the steps of a courthouse in Kansas City, and it was the first time Zahn attended any sort of political activity. He was around 25 and working as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company.
“I was not a fan,” Zahn recalled of his feelings for Carter. “I was a converted disciple. In my 20s, I thought, ‘What a loser.’ He seemed weak. He did things I didn’t think were great. But I tell you what, he lived a great life.
“As president, I think he got extremely bad press. He talked about how we were getting soft as Americans and weren’t adhering to who we are as a nation. He took a conservative approach and he had such personal integrity. He was not going to leave the White House as long as hostages were being held.”
Carter governed during the Cold War era. His administration faced turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal — the Camp David Accords — that established a framework for a historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
Yet he couldn’t overcome double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan.
After his one-term presidency, Carter and his wife Rosalynn opened the Carter Center in 1982, establishing themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights.
Carter vowed to eradicate multiple parasitic infections. The Carter Center sent an army of volunteers to Africa and Asia, where they trained villagers how to filter water and report infections. Teams in Latin America and Africa also fought to eliminate river blindness, another parasitic infection that is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide.
Carter also is known for his faith, and continued to teach Sunday School until the COVID-19 pandemic and his health forced him to stop.
YEARS AFTER that political rally, sometime in the 1990s, Zahn responded to a request for a donation from a friend, Kevin Gorman, who had worked for the Carter administration. Zahn offered to make the donation on one condition: He wanted to have dinner with Carter. His request was granted, so Zahn and three friends flew to The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Ga.
