By 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, a memorial door at the entrance of the Habitat for Humanity Store in Bellingham was already covered with hand-written tributes to the late President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100 on Dec. 29, 2024.
Jamie Law, who signed the door first thing in the morning before shopping for furniture, said when she thought of the Carters’ legacy, kindness and inspiration were the first words that came to mind.
“He was so good in so many fields. Trying to bring peace, at the root of what gives people peace, and their children peace,” Law said.
Habitat affiliates around the world paid their respect to Carter on Jan. 9, remembering how he and his wife elevated the message of the Christian housing organization. Every year from 1984 until 2019, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteered on projects that provided decent and affordable shelter to people in need around the world. In those 35 years, the couple worked alongside nearly 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build and repair 4,390 homes, according to the Habitat website.
“We felt this was probably the most symbolic way to honor his memory,” said Habitat Whatcom Executive Director John Moon about the memorial display in the Habitat Store.
He said the board of directors had debated closing the Bellingham store for the day in observance — President Joe Biden named Jan. 9, the day of Carter’s funeral in Washington, D.C., a National Day of Mourning. But instead, the board decided to erect the memorial door and invite people to sign it, to acknowledge how Carter’s efforts “opened doors to brighter futures” for so many Habitat homeowners. Thousands of other Habitat affiliates are also putting up memorial doors in Carter’s honor.
In Whatcom County, Habitat will keep doing the work espoused by the organization: to build homes and build partnerships, and to offer “a hand up, not a handout,” Moon said. “Even though Jimmy Carter won’t be there to lead, those enduring values will continue.”
The door will be available to sign at the Habitat Store through the weekend, after which it will be hung up as a permanent display to remind visitors of Carter’s legacy. In addition to visiting the memorial, people are invited to sign the online memory book at habitat.org and read Habitat’s tribute to Carter.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
