As the nation mourned the passing of the 39th President of the United States last week, one local woman recalled how her husband once received a Christmas card from the late President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn.

“My husband endorsed and campaigned for Mr. Carter,” Retha Summers said of her late husband, Frank.

And for all these years, he kept the card in a scrapbook that contained other meaningful keepsakes related to his years of Civil Rights work, Summers said.

Summers also found a photograph of Frank standing with Chip Carter — the late President Carter’s son. He had made a trip to Vicksburg to help with his father’s campaign.

Summers said the Christmas card meant a lot to her husband since he had always admired Carter’s “good works.”

Summers said while she and Frank were once watching a TV program showing Carter building a Habitat for Humanity home, he had turned to her and said, “Retha, that man is a real Christian. He’s so down-to-earth and he truly cares about people.’”

“He thought very highly of Carter and his works,” Summers said of her husband.

Summers said she also admired Carter.

“He truly made a difference by helping all people in this world and he wanted equal rights for all people — African American people. He was a blessing to us,” she said, adding, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”

Carter died Dec. 29, 2024 at 100 years of age.

As president, he served from 1977 to 1981 and in 2002 he was awarded a Noble Peace Prize.

A state funeral was held for Carter Thursday at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and a burial followed at the family’s peanut farm in Plains, Georgia.

The Christmas Card

In describing the Christmas Card her husband received from Carter, postmarked in 1978, Summers said the front of the card has a vintage picture of the White House. On the inside of the card there is a presidential emblem at the top, and underneath it says, “With best wishes from our family for a happy holiday season.” It’s signed by both Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter. On the back of the card, photo credits are given to L.E. Walker.

According to whitehousechristmascards.com, Rosalynn Carter found the picture that is on the 1978 Christmas card while looking through the White House furnishings warehouse, searching for unused furniture and paintings.

The website stated, “Mrs. Carter came across a hand-colored engraving of a photograph of the White House by L.E. Walker. The engraving was originally featured in an 1877 edition of Harper’s Weekly, depicting guests in horse-drawn carriages arriving at the North Portico of the Executive Mansion. The First Lady was so impressed with the engraving that she decided to use it for the official White House Christmas cards of that year. In 1978, the Carters commissioned American Greetings Corporation to produce their Christmas cards. American Greetings printed 60,000 White House Christmas cards, each adorned with the Presidential Seal and the imprint, ‘With best wishes from our family for a happy holiday season.”