St. Genevieve Parish Schools in Panorama City forged a special relationship with former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at age 100 on Sunday, and his wife, Rosalynn. The friendship spanned decades and was consistently rekindled over the years with visits both in-person and electronic.
“I think our world is certainly a better place because of the two of them,” said Dan Horn, the school’s president/principal, on Sunday. “They were saint-like and worked to make the world a better place. After today, we are a little less without them here.”
There’s never been such a documented relationship, he said, between a first couple and a school that they did not attend.
The former president, he said, was a genuinely special man.
“Jimmy Carter was a man of faith and integrity,” Horn said. “They loved our school, especially our character education program. That was something that was truly special to him and Rosalynn.”
Horn said the school, now on holiday break, will certainly plan a special ceremony or other event to honor the former president and will announce the plans when ready.
Horn considered the Carters truly members of the school’s family.
“When Rosalynn passed away, we did several things to honor her memory,” said Horn. “I am sure we will do more of the same for Jimmy.”
Horn said he hopes to attend Carter’s funeral, if he is invited. He represented the school at Mrs. Carter’s funeral in 2023.
The affection the Carters had for the school extended beyond Horn, to the school’s faculty and students.
“The bond that President Carter had with St. Genevieve parish, school and high school is amazing he will be missed,” read the Facebook post from the St. Genevieve High School Alumni, added to the site on Sunday afternoon.
Little did Horn, then a teacher near Washington, D.C., know that a response from the former first lady would spur this one-of-a-kind friendship.
It all started with a fan letter to Rosalynn Carter after she released her autobiography in the mid-1980s.
“I was so surprised that she responded to my letter,” he said, after he got a hand-written note from the former first lady. “So I wrote her a second letter. I asked if I could come and meet her. I said I’d even help clean fish if I could come visit.”
In the ensuing years, Horn would arrange visits between the Carters and staff and students at St. Genevieve Parish Schools, where be would become principal.
He recounted being struck by Rosalynn Carter’s “down-home” and “inviting” tone in her 1984 autobiography and how he wrote to thank the former first lady for her book. To his delight, she wrote back. He responded that he would love to meet her.
Months later, Horn was invited to lunch with the former first lady in Georgia, the Carters’ home state.
In 2006, Horn, who by then had moved to Southern California, wrote to Rosalynn Carter again to inform her that the school he worked for in the San Fernando Valley had received national recognition for its character education program, and that St. Genevieve students would be traveling to Atlanta. The students were invited to Plains, Ga., about 2½ hours south, to watch President Carter teach Sunday school in the community where he’s lived most of his life.
The students only had a few minutes with the Carters, but Horn said Rosalynn introduced the guests to her husband as “friends from California.”
“Never before in history has there been a relationship between a president and a school that he did not attend that goes as deep and as intimate as this one,” Horn said back in October. “And so it just feels special.”
Since that initial trip, staff and students at St. Genevieve’s often have traveled back to Plains, with students performing songs and shows for the Carters. During one trip, the former president promised he’d visit St. Genevieve’s campus one day.
That day occurred in October 2010, while the former president was in Southern California on a book tour. It was a brief stop, lasting about 30 minutes, but Carter was regaled by the school’s choir and fielded questions from students about politics and history.
During the visit, the former president asked: “Can anybody guess what is my favorite high school in America?”
Carter returned with his wife in February 2013 to visit the school again. During that visit, the former president was said to be at a loss for words because the school had covered a wall with photos and mementos representing the ties between the St. Genevieve community and the Carters.
Among those mementos and images is a softball signed by the Carters. The ball was used during a game that the St. Genevieve faculty played during one of their visits to Georgia, which the Carters attended.
Over the years, Horn said, his school has raised money for the former president’s nonprofit, The Carter Center, and the Carters have helped promote the school and encouraged donors or philanthropic organizations to support the St. Genevieve community. Jimmy Carter wrote about the school to the W.M. Keck Foundation and to Oprah Winfrey.
In October, a choir of about 1,100 students gathered at the school to record a 100th birthday greeting video for Carter.
“Because of our relationship with the Carters, we are part of history,” Horn said at the time. “Today is a historical day. He’s the first president to reach 100 years old.”
In 2023, the preschool, elementary school and high school celebrated the former president’s 99th birthday. More than 1,100 students of all ages gathered to sing a song and congratulate Carter.
Each time students traveled back to Georgia, they would perform for the Carters, including one year when they performed “Carousel,” said to be Jimmy Carter’s favorite musical. The school’s jazz band has also performed multiple times for Rosalynn Carter’s August birthdays.
Before the Carters were overtaken by failing health, the relationship continued from afar.
“When they were well enough, we would have Zooms with them, put them on the school’s big screen and we’d pray together,” said Horn. “When Rosalyn was diagnosed with Alzheimers, we had a Zoom scheduled between their their birthdays. But then we got a call from their staff to day they wouldn’t be able to do that any more.”
Horn said he, as well as the school’s staff and students, will always cherish their friendship with Carters.
“It was an uncanny relationship,” he said. “Unlike any other.”
Staff writers Linh Tat and Olga Grigoryants contributed to this report.
