The passing of former President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29 unlocked a flood of memories for Chris Goddard of Marblehead, who served in the Carter administration and credits him for helping shape her future.
“Working for him was fundamental in my career,” said Goddard, who runs a public relations firm, CGPR, focusing on outdoor lifestyle brands and businesses.
“Carter cared about the environment, the parks and the outdoors — and about taking action,” Goddard told the Current.
Goddard worked in the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, which Carter created in 1978. Part of the Department of Interior, the HCRS was focused on identifying and protecting natural resources. It was absorbed by the National Park Service in 1981.
“I worked for a pretty cool president,” Goddard said. “He was green before his time, thinking about conservation and renewable energy.” Carter installed solar panels on the White House roof in 1979. They were removed in the 1980s and installed again in 2002.
“He was one of the first presidents to think about climate change,” Goddard said. “It wasn’t called climate change then, but it was what was happening to the planet and he was standing up making sure people understood.”
Goddard remembers meeting Carter at the White House.
“We were celebrating some legislation that had passed,” she said. “He was gracious and humble. He was a president who had heart.
She continued, “He had a gentle soul. He was welcoming. It was such an honor and privilege to be there and to work for him. I was so aligned with his values.”
Goddard said it’s unlikely there will be another president like Carter.
“You have to be a different kind of person to be president today. The politics are brutal. You can’t be faint of heart. Carter followed his heart and followed his passion, and that gave him great joy. You could see that after he left the White House with what he did with Habitat for Humanity.”
Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, volunteered for decades building homes with the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity.
“We are deeply saddened by President Carter’s passing, and our prayers are with the Carter family,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “President and Mrs. Carter began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity near their home in southwest Georgia more than 40 years ago, and soon brought worldwide attention to the need for decent and affordable housing. We are grateful for the incredible impact the Carters have had on Habitat and on the families who have benefited from their shining example.”
Goddard has stayed involved in Democratic politics and volunteered at the Democratic National Convention last summer.
She is thinking about traveling to Washington, D.C. next week, where Carter is expected to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol before a state funeral.
Don Gardner, a Marblehead man who passed away in 2024, opened Carter’s Boston campaign office, according to his daughter, Rebecca.
“My dad loved to tell the story of hastily cleaning his old Volvo in order to pick Mrs. Carter up at the airport,” Rebecca Gardner wrote in a letter to the editor to the Current. “Mrs. Carter was ill-prepared for the New England cold, and the Volvo’s heater was overtaxed, so my father lent her his coat and gloves as he drove her to an event.”
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.
